God's Crusade

Part Ten

Kieran Radcliffe watched the advertisement intently. It was a fine film, beautifully shot and edited together, fusing reality and fiction in the mind, pressing all the right buttons. First of all the disgusting scenes from the past, but not labelled as the past, of drunken women on the streets of Newcastle, half-dressed and out of control, and then of young men, running riot and fighting in those same streets, or what looked like the same streets. It was the old Britain, an echo of behaviour that was blatantly tolerated by the so-called permissive society, and even encouraged by the governments of the time. Then the scene cut to a serene nun, backlit, and thus almost angelic, mopping the fevered brow of a frail old man, all elegance and quite conspicuous care. The commentary was understated, letting the images tell the story. Young men in uniform working on a playground, or something like it. Putting things right for all the smiling children, such smart children, boys in ties, girls in long dresses, contrasting with the previous shots of past teenagers in short skirts and torn jeans.

"Still works," Radcliffe commented to his companion.

"I like it," Senator Shapleigh Nixon III smiled and nodded, seeing the message. It would work back home too, with a few tweaks.

"Rosen won't use anything like this for her campaign?"

"She will shy away from anything too closely linked to Reformism...she is a woman, after all...I guess it is difficult territory for her?"

"So, Reformism lite then?" Radcliffe laughed, using a term which had already appeared in the press, on both sides of the Atlantic. Most first world countries had a party which was at the very least adopting Reformist policies. Most were more Conservative's than Christian Democrats, or Republican in the case of the American's, but the economic strategy could be lifted without the full palette of social change. But some, all-powerful Germany foremost amongst them, had started down the Reformist road, and others would follow. Especially if Buckingham and Radcliffe encouraged them, which was why the senator was getting the red carpet treatment in London. He was a long-term card that might never come into play, since no one could predict who would rise to the top of American politics next month, let alone in two elections time, but Nixon was worth a punt. The smart money suggested that Sharon Rosen was on her way to the White House as the USA lurched back to the right, and she could serve two terms. Nixon was a candidate as her replacement and Radcliffe wanted to have friends in high places for when his own turn came.

۩

Sir James Middleton looked up from his work and pushed back his chair slightly, so as to admire his daughter better as she floated into the room. He watched with approval as, three steps into the smallish study, she dropped into a graceful révérence. Enjoying the sight of his sometimes headstrong daughter playing at being a demure maiden, he left her in her abased pose for far longer than usual, wondering just how much of her performance was still an act after her punishment. At last, he shot a look to Miss Freeman, and simply nodded. Mena was clearly learning something and it was time to find out exactly how much. Not that it mattered too much. He was confident that he would get his own way in the end, one way or another. It was just a matter of time.

"Rise, girl," The guardian said quietly. "Go and kneel in front of the Ambassador's desk at his side."

Mena obeyed as swiftly as she could. Her father watched with a half smile, admiring the way she dropped to her knees and remained kneeling motionless in front of him. It was then that he noticed that today the vision openings in her mantle seemed to have been reinforced with some close woven mesh sewn into the oval openings. He did not concern himself with this change as he knew that many Reformist ladies did the same so as to be better hidden from sin, even their eyes being concealed from men. What he did not know was that the guardian had sewn in the grills so as to make sure that her charge's father would not see how blood-shot her eyes were, the result of crying so much while she was being corrected three days previously.