Night had fallen and George felt a sudden urge to stay in a spike. As institutions devoted to the needs of those without shelter, they didn’t compare favourably with the Bonnington, but they had three things in common: a roof, lots of beds and an effective heating system. The combination had its attractions when – like now – it was so wet that the air itself seemed to advance like the Atlantic. The council was responsible for these night shelters. In some you had to lie awake holding your shoes against your chest; if you closed your eyes you’d lose your laces. The first time George had rolled up at a spike in Camden, he’d been given a bed near a white brick wall with posters dotted here and there to add a splash of colour. That night he’d met an old man, who’d told him an old story.
The fellow had matted hair and an overcoat that almost reached his shoes. A scarf with blue and red stripes trailed down his back. He was examining a picture of trekkers following a mountain ridge: the sky was blue and the hills were another kind of blue. In this refuge of chipped bedsteads, of strong odours and shouting, it was ethereal. Written on the bottom in red letters was ‘Andorra’. The man muttered, ‘You’d think it wasn’t there.’ He turned around and said, as if mildly surprised, ‘What brings you here?’
George said, ‘I’m tired.’
‘Then you’re in the wrong place.’
‘So what about you?’
‘I like the pictures. You’re new to this school, aren’t you?’ He didn’t mean the spike; he meant the street.
‘Yes.’ George’s eyes watered, but he ground his teeth. He no longer had the right to cry.
The man was called Nino. He’d been a traffic warden. After his ‘early retirement’ he had obtained membership in every library that didn’t require a fixed abode. His bed was beside George’s. When the lights were out Nino began to whisper.
‘Have you heard of Pandora?’
‘Yes. She had a box.’
‘That’s right. Hesiod says she was the first woman that ever lived. Do you know what she was made of?
‘No.’
‘Clay Do you know what was in the box?’
‘Worms?’
‘No. You’re confusing it with the expression “a can of worms”, which, I grant you, has considerable bearing upon the matter in hand. Before I go on, let me say at once that Pandora has been much maligned – I’ve checked every library in north London. The classical mind, like that of ancient religion, tends to blame women when it comes to moral catastrophe. I dissociate myself entirely from that tradition.’
George wanted to cry again. It was like being a boy once more, having a story told at night that he couldn’t quite follow His grandfather, David – whose name he carried and had abandoned – had been a wonderful reader of stories. Listening to Nino, George could imagine big pictures in a big book: a beautiful princess with long, golden hair, her fair hands holding a small, golden casket.
Nino said, ‘Now in that box stirred every imaginable evil. Do you understand?’
‘Yes.’
A very foolish fellow lifted the lid. Are you listening, stranger to the road?’
‘I am.’ George had started to cry. George bit his pillow and his hands gripped the mattress and his leg. Far off there was shouting. Someone cried in a scuffle.
‘The evils escaped,’ said Nino softly ‘and they caused great suffering. But do you know what was at the bottom of the box?’
George dared not release the pillow from his mouth. But Nino wouldn’t go on until George had spoken. ‘I’ve no idea,’ he gasped.
Nino’s whisper grew fainter, making George raise his head.
‘The last thing to rise from that unimaginable quarter was hope.’
George blinked, resolved to wait a little longer. There were tears in his eyes.