Just William (10 page)

Next came a cat belonging to William’s sister, Smuts by name, now imprisoned beneath a basket chair. At the best of times Smuts was short-tempered, and all its life had
cherished a bitter hatred of William. Now, enclosed by its enemy in a prison two feet square, its fury knew no bounds. It tore at the basketwork, it flew wildly round and round, scratching,
spitting, swearing. Its chair bore the simple and appropriate notice:

William watched it with honest pride and prayed fervently that its indignation would not abate during the afternoon.

Next came a giant composed of Douglas upon Ginger’s back, draped in two sheets tied tightly round Douglas’s neck. This was labelled:

Ginger was already growing restive. His muffled voice was heard from the folds of the sheets informing the other Outlaws that it was a bit thick and he hadn’t known it
would be like this or he wouldn’t have done it, and anyway he was going to change with Douglas half time or he’d chuck up the whole thing.

The next exhibit was a black fox fur of William’s mother’s, to which was fortunately attached a head and several feet, and which he had surreptitiously removed from her wardrobe.
This had been tied up, stuffed with waste paper and wired by William till it was, in his eyes, remarkably lifelike. As the legs, even with the assistance of wire, refused to support the body and
the head would only droop sadly to the ground, it was perforce exhibited in a recumbent attitude. It bore marks of sticky fingers, and of several side slips of the scissors when William was cutting
the wire, but on the whole he was justly proud of it. It bore the striking but untruthful legend:

Next came:

This was Henry’s fox terrier, generally known as Chips. For Chips the world was very black. Henry’s master mind had scorned his paintbox and his watercolours. Henry
had ‘borrowed’ a blue bag and dabbed it liberally over Chips. Chips had, after the first wild frenzied struggle, offered no resistance. He now sat, a picture of black despair, turning
every now and then a melancholy eye upon the still enraged Smuts. But for him cats and joy and life and fighting were no more. He was abject, shamed – a blue dog.

William himself, as showman, was an imposing figure. He was robed in a red dressing gown of his father’s that trailed on the ground behind him and over whose cords in front he stumbled
ungracefully as he walked. He had cut a few strands from the fringe of a rug and glued them to his lips to represent moustaches. They fell in two straight lines over his mouth. On his head was a
tinsel crown, once worn by his sister as Fairy Queen.

The show had been widely advertised and all the neighbouring children had been individually canvassed, but under strict orders of secrecy. The threats of what the Outlaws would do if their
secret were disclosed had kept many a child awake at night.

William surveyed the room proudly.

‘Not a bad show for a penny, I
should
say. I guess there aren’t many like it, anyway. Do shut up talkin’, Ginger. It’ll spoil it all, if folks hear the giant
talking out of his stomach. It’s Douglas that’s got to do the giant’s
talking.
Anyone could see that. I say, they’re comin’! Look! They’re comin’!
Along the wall!’

There was a thin line of children climbing along the wall in single file on all fours. They ascended the scullery roof and approached the window. These were the first arrivals who had called on
their way to Sunday School.

Henry took their pennies and William cleared his throat and began:

‘White rat from China, ladies an’ gentlemen, pink an’ blue striped. All rats is pink an’ blue striped in China. This is the only genwin China rat in England –
brought over from China special las’ week jus’ for the show. It lives on China bread an’ butter brought over special, too.’

‘Wash it!’ jeered an unbeliever. ‘Jus’ wash it an’ let’s see it then.’

‘Wash it?’ repeated the showman indignantly. ‘It’s gotter be washed. It’s washed every morning an’ night same as you or me. China rats have gotter be washed
or they’d die right off. Washin’ ’em don’t make no difference to their stripes. Anyone knows that that knows anything about China rats, I guess.’

He laughed scornfully and turned to Smuts. Smuts had grown used to the basket chair and was settling down for a nap. William crouched down on all fours, ran his fingers along the basketwork,
and, putting his face close to it, gave vent to a malicious howl. Smuts sprang at him, scratching and spitting.

‘Wild cat,’ said William triumphantly. ‘Look at it! Kill anyone if it got out! Spring at their throats, it would, an’ scratch their eyes out with its paws an’ bite
their necks till its teeth met. If I jus’ moved away that chair it would spring out at you.’ They moved hastily away from the chair. And I bet some of you would be dead pretty quick. It
could have anyone’s head right off with bitin’ and scratchin’. Right off – separate from their bodies!’

There was an awestricken silence.

Then:

‘Garn! It’s Smuts. It’s your sister’s cat!’

William laughed as though vastly amused by this idea.

‘Smuts!’ he said, giving a surreptitious kick to the chair that infuriated its occupant still more. ‘I guess there wouldn’t be many of us left in this house if Smuts was
like this.’

They passed on to the giant.

‘A giant,’ said William, rearranging the tinsel crown, which was slightly too big for him. ‘Real giant. Look at it. As big as two of you put together. How d’you think he
gets in at doors and things? Has to have everything made special. Look at him walk. Walk, Ginger.’

Ginger took two steps forward. Douglas clutched his shoulders and murmured anxiously, ‘By Jove!’

‘Go on,’ urged William scornfully, ‘that’s not walkin’.’

The goaded Ginger’s voice came from the giant’s middle regions.

‘If you go on talkin’ at me, I’ll drop him. I’m just about sick of it.’

‘All right,’ said William hastily.

‘Anyway it’s a giant,’ he went on to his audience. A jolly fine giant.’

‘It’s got Douglas’s face,’ said one of his audience.

William was for a moment at a loss.

‘Well,’ he said at last, ‘giant’s got to have some sort of a face, hasn’t it? Can’t not have a face, can it?’

The Russian Bear, which had often been seen adorning the shoulders of William’s mother and was promptly recognised, was greeted with ribald jeers, but there was no doubt as to the success
of the Blue Dog. Chips advanced deprecatingly, blue head drooping, and blue tail between blue legs, making abject apologies for his horrible condition. But Henry had done his work well. They stood
around in rapt admiration.

‘Blue dog,’ said the showman, walking forward proudly and stumbling violently over the cords of the dressing gown. ‘Blue dog,’ he repeated, recovering his balance and
removing the tinsel crown from his nose to his brow. ‘You never saw a blue dog before, did you? No, and you aren’t likely to see one again, neither. It was made blue special for this
show. It’s the only blue dog in the world. Folks’ll be comin’ from all over the world to see this blue dog – an’ thrown in in a penny show! If it was in the zoo
you’d have to pay a shilling to see it, I bet. It’s – it’s jus’ luck for you it’s here. I guess the folks at the zoo wish they’d got it. Tain’t many
shows have blue dogs. Brown an’ black an’ white – but not blue. Why, folks pay money jus’ to see shows of ornery dogs – so you’re jus’ lucky to see a blue
dog
an’
a dead bear from Russia
an’
a giant,
an’
a wild cat,
an’
a China rat for jus’ one penny.’

After each speech William had to remove from his mouth the rug fringe which persisted in obeying the force of gravity rather than William’s idea of what a moustache should be.

‘It’s jus’ paint. Henry’s gate’s being painted blue,’ said one critic feebly, but on the whole the Outlaws had scored a distinct success in the blue dog.

Then, while they stood in silent admiration round the unhappy animal, came a sound from the next door, a gentle sound like the sighing of the wind through the trees. It rose and fell. It rose
again and fell again. It increased in volume with each repetition, till at its height it sounded like a wild animal in pain.