Chris left without another word but unshaken in his defiance. He made for his office, intending to begin right away the removal of his private papers and odds and ends to his residence until he could vacate there as well. As soon as he stepped into his office, however, he was handed the telephone by a flustered secretary. His Excellency on the line.
'Yes, Chris. I have reconsidered this matter. You do have a point in not wishing to write the suspension letter yourself. I wanted to do you the honour of appearing to be still in charge of your ministry. But never mind. We will take it from here. Meanwhile the SRC Director will be chatting with you on a number of leads he has developed on the bungling of the referendum and other matters. For God's sake give him maximum cooperation.'
His excellency was living up to his threat to do things constitutionally even in the face of all the provocations. The letter to Ikem which was hand-delivered to his flat by a police despatch-rider that afternoon had been signed by a certain Chairman, Board of Directors of Kangan Newspapers Corporation, publishers of the National Gazette. A certain chairman because the board and the corporation in question had been moribund for the past three years or more. Ikem had never met the said Chairman or seen a single letter signed by him since he took up the editorship. Incredible!
He carried the letter like a trophy to Chris's house after he got a message that Chris wanted to see him urgently. Beatrice was already there when he arrived. She had something like a puzzled look on her face when she greeted him. Perhaps she had expected him to come in bristling with combativeness instead of which he seemed so strangely composed, even serene. Was it the look of a prospective martyr who has successfully trained his soul's gaze to look past the blurred impending ordeal to the sharply focussed crown of glory far beyond. She noted but said nothing about this new person and the effect it seemed already to be having on his host, for it was truly extraordinary the way these two sat down quietly and began to trade details of their separate and related predicaments like a pair of hypochondriacs reminiscing on their sweet injuries.
Without realizing it, Beatrice had responded by striking her characteristic pose of detachment — sitting somewhat stiff and erect, her arms folded firmly across her breasts. But instead of staring fixedly away into median space to complete the attitude she made a concession to her indestructible interest by constantly swivelling her glance from one face to the other as the two men carried on their surprising duet. At last her loaded silence struck Chris.
'BB, you are saying nothing.'
'What do you want me to say?'
'BB said all that needed to be said when it might have been useful.'
'But we were too busy with our private diversionary war.'
'Don't be so hard on us; we were not alone in that. All the wars ever fought in this country were, are, diversionary. So why not the little running battles we staged now and again to keep our sanity. You seem to doubt my claim? All right, you tell me one thing we… this government… any of us did in the last three years… or for that matter in the previous nine years of civilian administration that wasn't altogether diversionary.'
'Well the diversion has ended,' said Beatrice.
'Has it? I'm not so sure. This letter here and all this new theatre of the absurd that Sam is directing to get rid of me and to intimidate Chris, what's it in aid of? Diversion, pure and simple. Even the danger I see looming ahead when the play gets out of hand, what has any of this to do with the life and the concerns and the reality of ninety-nine percent of the people of Kangan? Nothing whatsoever.'
'Well, I still think that if you and Chris had listened to me and stopped your running battles as you call them early enough he would not now be trying to disgrace you.'
'Disgrace? I'm surprised at you, BB. I didn't know you could be so incredibly sanguine. Disgrace? The fellow wants to kill us! He is mad, I tell you. His acting has got into his head, finally.'
'Well, I think BB is closer to the mark. As usual. I agree the fellow is completely deluded and can therefore be very dangerous. But his interest at this point is limited to making us look small, not murder. What he told me on the telephone this morning was very significant I think. He was giving me a chance, he said, to still appear as the Commissioner for Information.'
'Did he say that? And what does that mean?'
'Well, appearing is very important to him. Not appearing is, of course, the worst kind of disgrace. And all this is tied up in his mind with his failed referendum for life president. The pain still rankles. I don't think I told this to either of you at the time. But after the failure of the referendum he had complained bitterly to Professor Okong that I had not played my part as Commissioner for Information to ensure the success of the exercise and that you had seen fit to abandon your editorial chair at that crucial moment and take your annual leave.'
'Professor Okong told you?'
'Yes, but I then confronted him. At first he pretended to make light of it but I wouldn't let go. So in the end he revealed his bitterness. He said that he was deeply wounded that we, his oldest friends, found it possible to abandon him and allow him to be disgraced. Those were his very words.'
'Did he really say that?'
'I reminded him that he never really wanted to be Life President. That made him truly, hopping mad. I didn't, he said, and you know I didn't but the moment it was decided upon you had a clear responsibility, you and Ikem, to see it succeed. You chose not to. I never before heard so much bitter emotion in his voice.'
'And you didn't mention this to Ikem? I don't ask about myself, who am I? But to Ikem, no? You never cease to surprise me, Chris. Nothing in this world can make your heart race!'
'That was more than two years ago. I didn't think then it was all that important. In fact I never thought of it in this light until you used the word disgrace just now.'
'It doesn't speak too highly of your power of analysis or insight which is what I have always told you.'
'Please Ikem, please, let's not slip back into our routine running battles, yet…'
'No no, BB. I am serious. If Chris had reported this to me at the time I should have insisted that we both resign there and then and we would not be in this mess today. You see what I mean?'
'Perhaps. But we lost that chance. What I want to know is what Chris proposes to do now and what he recommends you do.'
'Simple. I shall draft my letter of resignation tonight and have it delivered to him tomorrow morning. For Ikem I strongly, most strongly, urge a period of silence until…'
'Rubbish, Chris, rubbish! The very worst prescription for a suspended editor is silence. That's what your proprietor wants. Because he makes reams of paper available to you he believes he owns your voice. So when he feels like it he withdraws the paper to show you how silent you can be without his help. You musn't let him win'
'So are you going to set up a new paper of your own then?'
'Don't be ridiculous. If you can't write you can surely get up and talk. You haven't lost your vocal chords.'
'Where do you intend to talk? In a corner of Gelegele market?'
'Oh, Chris!'
'Never mind. All I say is careful! That's all. Or Kabisa. Though I haven't heard him use that lately.'
'Not when it has filtered down to motor mechanics,' said Beatrice.