Autumn in Catalonia Read Online Free PDF Page B

herself up in politics, make friends with a bunch of troublemakers who were just using her to get at her father. She was stupid, just stupid, and naïve if she thought any of that crowd of hers actually cared one iota for her. But it was just like her – she had no thought for her family, or for their position. She was without loyalty, without respect.
    She let the words flow around her, and tried to detach herself, but Sergi’s solid frame stood just a couple of paces from her, and the naked ferocity of his anger made detachment difficult. Parents all over Spain might be havingsuch conversations with their children right now, but surely not with the same fury. It made his face turn purple, and as his anger grew she wondered if he would contain himself, or if he would lose control and strike her, as he had so often before. She tried not to flinch at the thought.
    Behind Sergi, perched on the corner of the expensive leather sofa, Mama sat still and silent, slender and elegant as always, her face rather pale, but carefully turned away from Carla, studying the coffee cup with apparent concentration. Help me, Mama, Carla wanted to say, but there was no point – she knew better.
    As the tirade blew on, she realised that Papa was serious – that he really intended to take her away from the university. This was not some fit of anger which would fizzle out once he’d had his say. He was in deadly earnest, and intended to remove her immediately from her studies. Her blood chilled at the thought. All that she’d been working towards hinged on that degree. Papa didn’t know it, but for a long time now she’d been planning never to return to his life. It was why she saved her allowance so carefully, and why she worked so hard. She wanted her degree, and then she would go her own way.
    She’d been very careful recently when home for holidays, just getting by with her parents and hoping to finish her studies without major flashpoints. But she’d been spotted by some stupid family acquaintances, and now she was facing the ultimate flashpoint, and didn’t know how to get out of it.
    Sergi was staring at Carla, and she realised suddenly that he’d stopped, and was waiting for an answer from her.What to say? She longed to hurl her own anger at him as she had when she was a teenager, but there was too much to play for now, and she was no longer sixteen. If I can be conciliatory without giving everything up, then maybe it will be enough, she thought desperately, and made herself begin talking.
    ‘Papa,’ she said, and heard her voice quiver, then pulled herself together to continue more strongly. ‘Papa, it isn’t quite the way it has been painted to you. I haven’t done anything wrong, really I haven’t, and nothing that could create any problems for you. There’s a strong student movement just trying to make the universities more up to date, and allow us more access to the libraries, and to change some of the old staff. It’s not exactly subversive politics, and you know yourself that even the newspapers are beginning to talk about change, and modernising Spain. Students are just young, and want to be part of that change.’
    Never had Sergi looked less convinced. ‘Rubbish!’ was his response. ‘You’re just proving how naïve you are! These new student unions are in cahoots with the communists and the anarchists, and you’re all being manipulated by anti-government forces that you haven’t got the common sense to understand. I’ve heard some of your ringleaders – what’s his name, Pujol, a dangerous subversive if ever there was one.’
    ‘But I’ve never even met Pujol!’
    ‘No, but don’t tell me you haven’t joined his rallies! I know, Carla! They’ve got you well and truly indoctrinated. There’s only one thing for it, and that’s to get you out of there. What do you need a degree for, anyway? It was onlythat daft teacher of yours who convinced me to let you go.’
    ‘Yes, because you thought it