David Peace - GB84

Just as Terry had planned.

Theresa packed Terry an overnight bag. Shirt. Vest. Pants. Socks. Razor. Toothbrush. Towel. She stuck the kids in the back of the car. Half asleep. She drove him to the station. They kissed him goodbye. He got the Manchester train. Taxi to the airport. The President and Joan were at check-in. They didn’t acknowledge him. He didn’t acknowledge them. The President was calling himself Mr Smith. He was wearing a hat. Sunglasses. They were not to speak to each other until Paris –

The flight took one hour.

There was a big car waiting at Charles de Gaulle. The President took off his hat. His sunglasses. He sat in the back between Terry and Joan. Pierre from the MTUI sat in the front with the driver. They went straight to their big modern offices in East Paris. They met François and Jean-Marc. They had good coffee. They talked about the dispute. The prospects for peace. Then the President and Joan went off with Pierre and François for the meeting with their international comrades –

The French, the Polish and the Australians.

Terry was sent upstairs to meet with Claude. They discussed international law. They discussed international banking. They discussed legal strategies. They discussed financial strategies. They discussed law firms. They discussed private banks. They discussed clauses. They discussed routes. They discussed lawyers. They discussed accountants. They discussed fees. They discussed funds. They discussed perjury. They discussed penury. They discussed sequestration. They discussed bankruptcy –

The meeting took two hours.

There was another big car waiting to take them to a late lunch at Chartier. They sat at the long tables. The waiters wrote their orders on the paper table covers. The President had the chicken and chips. A salad. The house red.

Terry Winters had the same.

The President leant across the table. He touched Terry’s arm. He raised his glass. The President said, ‘There’ll be no more scab coal from Europe, Comrade.’

Terry raised his glass.

The President shouted, ‘Vive la Révolution!’

The President loved Paris. Revolutionary City. Second only to sacred Leningrad. Holy City. The President loved the bread. The cheese. The good coffee. The red wine. The President carried Zola everywhere. Germinal.

Terry had a copy too. He couldn’t get into it –

Terry threw it across the hotel room. He hadn’t slept. He couldn’t –

The President and the fucking Frogs had bloody left Terry in town after lunch. The President and Joan had had their own plans for the rest of the day. The evening –

Plans in which Comrade Terry had not been included.

Terry sat up in his single bed. Terry could see the rooftops of Paris. The pigeons. He called Theresa. Click-click. The kids. He said he’d be home tonight. Terry hung up. He called Diane. She wasn’t there. Terry wished she was here. He went to the bathroom. He touched himself. He shaved. He washed. He went downstairs.

Pierre and Francois joined the Union for breakfast. The President ate croissants. He drank hot chocolate. Terry asked for toast and a pot of tea. Then they checked out. Pierre and François drove them back to the MTUI offices. They had informal meetings. They made informal plans. They ate another late lunch together. Pierre drove out with them to Charles de Gaulle.

The flight took one hour.

They were back in Manchester for half-five. The President put on his hat again. His sunglasses. Len was there to meet them. They didn’t offer Terry a lift –

They weren’t going his way.

Terry said he’d see them in London. Terry took the train home. It was raining.

*

Today is the day. The first of many days. The start of the action. The start of many actions. Neil Fontaine parks behind the Law Courts. Fred Wallace sits in the back with his two mates and the Jew –

Today is their day in court. Their first of many days.

Fred is here to issue writs against his own Union, at both area and national level. Fred will first argue the strike in the Nottingham Area is not official. Fred will then argue the instruction to strike does not have to be obeyed. Fred will also threaten to issue further writs if the local branch elections are postponed –

These are expensive arguments for little men in cheap suits –

Frightened men.

Neil Fontaine switches on the signal. He listens to the Jew rally his troops –

‘They stalk your streets while you work. Terrorize your women. Your children. They daub your houses in paint while you sleep. Break your windows. Slash your tyres. Kill your pets. They watch your windows to see when your lights go on. Force you to dress in the dark. Watch your doorways and drives to see who works and who strikes. How long before the arson starts? Before your women are assaulted? Your children? These are the same men who would have you thrown out of your own Union. The same men who are using your own subs which you have loyally paid — and continue to pay –

‘To intimidate you! You!

‘This is why you are here today. This is what you are here to stop –

‘Intimidation. Corruption.’

Neil changes channels. He listens to the Home Secretary make the same speech. Listens to the Home Secretary announce the formation of special squads to counter the intimidation in the pit villages of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire –

Intimidation squads.

Transit van. Boiler suit. House to house in Nottingham. Bringing out the dead scared. Twenty Yorkshire men still lodging down here with the striking families. Picketing pits. Twenty men still staying with the families on ThorneyAbbey Road. Intheir gardens —

In tents. In caravans.

The Mechanic sits in the Transit van. In his black boiler suit. He watches the pickets leave the tents. The caravans. Watches the pickets go into the Jolly Friar. Watches them leave the worse for wear. Watches the pickets buy their bags of chips. Watches them stumble back to Thorney Abbey Road. Watches them thank their hosts. Wish them goodnight. Head into the gardens —

Their tents. Their caravans.

It is gone midnight.

The Mechanic and his team get out of their Transit. They go up the drive of number 52. Round the back. Into the garden. There is an orange tent pitched on the lawn. There are two pickets inside. They are asleep. The Mechanic picks up a child’s bicycle. The rest of his team pick up some garden tools. Garden ornaments. Garden furniture. Theteam look at their leader —

The Mechanic nods.

They throw the objects onto the top of the orange tent. The pickets inside wake up. The pickets shout. Moan. The pickets try to get out of the tent. Thrash around —

The Mechanic and his team jump up and down on the tent. On the pickets inside. The pickets shout. The pickets scream —

They cannot get out.

The Mechanic nods again –

His team drag the tent out of the back garden. They drag it round to the front. Down the drive. They throw the tent and the pickets into the back of the Transit –

Lights going on up and down the street. Curtains opening. Faces at the windows.

The Mechanic and his team get in the back. The Mechanic bangs on the partition. The Transit sets off. The pickets tangled up inside the tent. Poles and ropes everywhere –

The pickets struggling to free themselves —

The Mechanic and his team punch them. They kick them. Beat and batter them —

The pickets shouting. The pickets screaming. Moaning and pleading.

The van stops. The Mechanic opens the back doors. His team jump out —