Chapter 62
Thursday 9 June 1983-
D-Day:
Flat 5, 28 Blenheim Road, St John’s, Wakefield -
Heart lost.
You can’t go to sleep; you can’t go to sleep; you can’t go to sleep -
The branches still tapping against the pane -
Everybody knows;
You are lying on your back in your underpants and wings -
The branches tapping against the pane -
Everybody knows;
You are lying on your back in your underpants and wings, black with his blood, black with all their blood -
The branches banging against the pane -
Everybody knows;
You are lying on your back in your underpants and wings, black with his blood, black with all their blood, that terrible tune and her words in your head -
Everybody knows; everybody knows, everybody knows and -
The branches cracking the pane.
You look at your watch. You see it is time:
2.25 a.m.
You get out of bed. You walk across the floor upon your knees.
You switch on the radio. The TV too -
The Hate:
‘Where there is discord, may we bring harmony -
The Hate:
‘Where there is error, may we bring truth -
The Hate:
‘Where there is doubt, may we bring faith -
The Hate:
‘Where there is despair, may we bring hope.’
Radio off. The TV too -
The branches have smashed the pane.
The rain pouring in -
No hope for Britain.
You open the bathroom door. You step inside. You turn on the bath taps. You put a circle of salt around the bath. You take out a pair of scissors. You cut your hair. You cut your nails. You take out a razor. You shave your head. You place the hair and the nails in an envelope. You put the envelope in the sink. You light a match. You burn the envelope. You look up into the mirror.
In blood, it states:
Nobody cares.
You get in the bath. You lie in the bath in your wings -
The water is warm.
You see the scenes; see the scenes as you could not at the time -
The shadows in your heart, the fear and the hate -
The hate and the fear.
You put all your fear and all your hate together and get:
Yorkshire, England, 1983.
You pick up the razor blade from the side of the bath:
My county, my country, right or wrong.
Four tears trickle down the sides of your nose.
But it’s all right, everything is all right, the struggle is finished -
The water red.
You write three last words on a piece of damp paper.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the following people for their support during the writing of the Quartet:
James Anderson, Marcel Berlins and the Times, the staff of Books Etc Covent Garden, Borders Leeds, Jenny Boyce, George and Gill Chambers, Hiroyuki Chida, Julian Cleator, Crime Time, Jim Driver, Simon and Chiaki Evans, Judith and Reg Eyles, Max Farrar, Anne and Dave Francis, Robert and Astrid Fraser and family, Gregory Gannon, Leland and Carolyn Gaskins, Shigeko and Daisuke Goto, Franзois Guйrif, Alan Hadden and family, Richard and Alison Hall, Tamako Hamaguchi, Paula Hammerton, Seishu Hase, Nick Hasted, Hiroshi Hayakawa and all the staff of Hayakawa Publishing, Michael Hayden and Sam Dwyer, Jon Haynes, Shizuyo Ide, Jonathan Kelly, Darren Kemplay, Mrs Lambert, Paul Landymore, Pete and Persis Lunt, Maxim and all the staff at Murder One, Hamish Macaskill, Takashi Matsuki, Yumiko Mikado, the Nash family, Chris Nelson and the Big Issue in the North, Yasuko Nomura, Joseph O’Neill, Basil and Felicity Peace, Jonathan Peace, George P. Pelecanos, Ruth Petrie, Justin Quirk, Jon Riley, Junzo Sawa, Yukako Higuchi and all the staff at the English Agency Japan, the staff of Serpent’s Tail, Stephen Shoebridge, Mario Tauchi, Stuart Turnbull, Cathi Unsworth, Nicola Upson at the New Statesman, Anna Vallois, Marco Vicentini, Andrew Vine and the Yorkshire Post, Tomohiro Yoshida, the staff of Waterstone’s Leeds and Manchester, Sarn and Tara Warbis, Daina and Keri Warbis, Paul Westlake, Lynda Wigelsworth and family, Bob and Celia Wilkinson and family, Gareth and Sophia Williams, Mark and Susan Williams, Michael Williams, and last but most of all Izumi, George and Emi Peace. Thank you.
David Peace
David Peace is the author of The Red Riding Quartet, GB84, The Damned Utd, Tokyo Year Zero, and Occupied City. He was chosen as one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists, and has received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the German Crime Fiction Award, and the French Grand Prix de Roman Noir for Best Foreign Novel. He lives in Yorkshire.
