The Gospel of Us Read Online Free PDF
Author: Owen Sheers
the Company. This will not affect many of you. It will be a sacrifice borne by only a few, and we must applaud those brave and selfless enough who have already begun, with an eye to this town’s future, toleave their old homes for pastures new. Some will be returning to their relatives in the countryside. Others will be housed by us, the Company. But all, I assure you, will be catered for.’
The timing was perfect. No sooner had the Company Man said those words than the first families began arriving outside the perimeter fences. Wrap ped in blankets, carrying bags and boxes of belongings. Men and women, children and grandparents, a shuffling chorus of tired and angry faces, their lives in their arms, their worlds in pieces at their feet. Some of them began shouting at the Company Man through the fence.
‘You lying bastard!’
‘They’re taking the doors! They’re taking off the doors!’
‘They came with guns! Told us to leave!’
‘They took our front door, just ripped it off!’
‘They’re doing the whole street, the whole street!’
It didn’t take Old Growler long to have his men over there, the familiar swift tide of black riot gearfollowed by silence.
The Company Man, though, took it all in his stride. ‘Please,’ he said, his arms held out to pacify us. ‘Don’t be alarmed. Clearly there’s a certain amount of confusion. Some initial difficulties are only to be expected. I’m sure you understand a project like this is a huge undertaking and the road may be a little bumpy at first. I’ll leave it to your Mayor and Council to distribute the necessary information but I wanted to bring you the good news myself. And to assure you that with this new Passover Project, the Company and I will continue “Looking Out For Your Future”.’
He should have known better than to end with that. Showed how much he really knew us, how he had no idea that line was like a red rag to a bull for the protesters at the back. ‘Don’t believe them!’ they shouted in response. ‘Tell us the truth! The truth, the truth, the truth!’ Then the familiar chant began:
‘ICU – Looking out for themselves!’
‘ICU – Looking out for themselves!’
The Mayor stepped forward and tried to saysomething but it was clear no one was going to listen to him, so the Company Man came back to the microphone. This time, though, he looked different. Not so much ruffled, as angry.
‘I want to speak to our enemies now,’ he said, his eyes bright in the arc lights, his finger stabbing out at us. ‘The enemies of this town. I know you’re out there. I see you. Well, hear me now! You’re a cancer on this town. A plague. And I will not rest until you have been driven out of this place, never to return. If anyone here, anyone, has any suspicions about who these enemies may be, where they may be gathering, what they may be plotting, then come forward. I urge you, no matter who you suspect – it could be a neighbour, a friend, even a member of your own family – come forward. You can alert any one of my security forces – here to protect you – and they will be more than willing to assist.’
It was all the crowd needed. His words were like flames to blue touch paper. Together with what we’d heard from backstage, his slick speech, the news ofthe Passover Project, the families at the fence, this call to snitch was the final straw. The Resistance boys saw their chance and were soon sliding through the crowd like eels, stoking the fire, starting the chants, stirring it up. The police tried to keep control, but the crowd was too strong for them, so ICU security came in too, which only made it worse. Everyone was surging forward, forward, trying to get closer to where the Company Man stood up on the platform. I saw a woman start climbing the barrier fence in front of us. She was shouting as she climbed.
‘What do you want? What’s under this town? Tell us the truth!’
Her face was twisted in anger, in fear. She was
The timing was perfect. No sooner had the Company Man said those words than the first families began arriving outside the perimeter fences. Wrap ped in blankets, carrying bags and boxes of belongings. Men and women, children and grandparents, a shuffling chorus of tired and angry faces, their lives in their arms, their worlds in pieces at their feet. Some of them began shouting at the Company Man through the fence.
‘You lying bastard!’
‘They’re taking the doors! They’re taking off the doors!’
‘They came with guns! Told us to leave!’
‘They took our front door, just ripped it off!’
‘They’re doing the whole street, the whole street!’
It didn’t take Old Growler long to have his men over there, the familiar swift tide of black riot gearfollowed by silence.
The Company Man, though, took it all in his stride. ‘Please,’ he said, his arms held out to pacify us. ‘Don’t be alarmed. Clearly there’s a certain amount of confusion. Some initial difficulties are only to be expected. I’m sure you understand a project like this is a huge undertaking and the road may be a little bumpy at first. I’ll leave it to your Mayor and Council to distribute the necessary information but I wanted to bring you the good news myself. And to assure you that with this new Passover Project, the Company and I will continue “Looking Out For Your Future”.’
He should have known better than to end with that. Showed how much he really knew us, how he had no idea that line was like a red rag to a bull for the protesters at the back. ‘Don’t believe them!’ they shouted in response. ‘Tell us the truth! The truth, the truth, the truth!’ Then the familiar chant began:
‘ICU – Looking out for themselves!’
‘ICU – Looking out for themselves!’
The Mayor stepped forward and tried to saysomething but it was clear no one was going to listen to him, so the Company Man came back to the microphone. This time, though, he looked different. Not so much ruffled, as angry.
‘I want to speak to our enemies now,’ he said, his eyes bright in the arc lights, his finger stabbing out at us. ‘The enemies of this town. I know you’re out there. I see you. Well, hear me now! You’re a cancer on this town. A plague. And I will not rest until you have been driven out of this place, never to return. If anyone here, anyone, has any suspicions about who these enemies may be, where they may be gathering, what they may be plotting, then come forward. I urge you, no matter who you suspect – it could be a neighbour, a friend, even a member of your own family – come forward. You can alert any one of my security forces – here to protect you – and they will be more than willing to assist.’
It was all the crowd needed. His words were like flames to blue touch paper. Together with what we’d heard from backstage, his slick speech, the news ofthe Passover Project, the families at the fence, this call to snitch was the final straw. The Resistance boys saw their chance and were soon sliding through the crowd like eels, stoking the fire, starting the chants, stirring it up. The police tried to keep control, but the crowd was too strong for them, so ICU security came in too, which only made it worse. Everyone was surging forward, forward, trying to get closer to where the Company Man stood up on the platform. I saw a woman start climbing the barrier fence in front of us. She was shouting as she climbed.
‘What do you want? What’s under this town? Tell us the truth!’
Her face was twisted in anger, in fear. She was