Prude & Prejudice (4 page)

“Oh
,
he spoke alright,” said Prue, sitting down at the table. “Mr Bradley asked him to help me with a platter and he
mocked my name and then
refused to assist the
hired
help. Those were his exact words
. He said I wasn’t
a delicate flower and could ma
nage on my own.” She shot her mother a dirty look. “
I told you I looked like an elephant in that
jacket
.”

“Who had the nerve to say s
uch a nasty thing about my Prue?
” said Mr
Higginbottom
as he joined them. “I have a good mind to go around and teach him some manners.”

“You’ll do no such thing,” said Mrs
Higginbottom
. “We need that business. They’ve already booked us for two more functions and Mr Bradley also wants us to cater a private pa
rty at his house in a couple of weeks
. Prue will just have to
live with it.”

“That’
s not all I heard him say. He’s
also a complete racist. After you had all left and I was cleaning up I heard him talking about immigration and how it’s destroying this country. He said it was time for ordinary people to stand u
p and take action, and he wants
to start a grass
roots movement in this town.”

“Oh my god,” said Cate. “Tha
t’s a worry
. I hope Charles
doesn’t feel the same way.”

“He said Charles
didn’t agree with him, but everyone else there seemed to. The last thing we need is people like that stirring up trouble
around here
.”

“Just because someone doesn’t agree with immigration, it doesn’t make them a racist,” said Mrs
Higginbottom
primly
.
“I’m proud to be British and if I think my country and values are being threatened, then I’ll jolly well speak up about it.”

“Oh no, here we go,” said Mary, rolling her eyes. “Can I be excused?”

“No
, you cannot
. What kind of world do we live in where people can’t express their opinions
in their own homes?
Its political correctness gone mad
, that’s what it is
.”

“My dear,” cut
in Mr
Higginbottom
, “If you read anything besides gossip magazines, you might realize
that the history of the human race
is the history of immigration. People have always moved around
the globe
extensively
and the kind of national pride you express is a
very recent thing, which in my
opinion is exploited by politician’s and shock
jocks for their own nefarious ends.
”

“
What about all those immigrants causing t
rouble, refusing to assimilate and
living off the government
?
Most
of them don’t even come here legally.
Why do we have to put up with th
em
?
You know they form their own ghettoes where decent people are too afraid to walk.
They bring their problems he
re and get involved in
crime and destroy the fabric of our
society.
Send them back to where they came from, that’s what I say, otherwise this country will soon be in even worse shape than it is now.”

“It’s not that simple m
othe
r.
Many of the people who come here are highly skilled and help the economy, not to mention all the international students and the money they bring to the country. The ones that aren’t skilled need
support through
English classes and
job programs to help them
find work
, and
it’s
not just immigrant
s
that need these things
either. There are many young people
out there
who feel like they have no future
.
All the service
s they need are
being cut
, and when trouble
inevitably
happens it’s easier to blame immigrants and stir up race hate than to deal with the real problems. People like you just play straight into the politicians
’
hands
.
”

“
You and your radical
ideas
,
Prue, they’ll be the death of me.
I know where they came from too
,
your father.
I should never have let him indoctrinate you girls when you were too small to know any better.
Young people with no hope for the future! Now I’ve heard everything. More like t
oo lazy to do a day’s work.
They
expect
everything to be handed to them on a silver platter and when it’s not they go on a rampage
and destroy the property of those who have worked their fingers to the bone for everything they have
.
”

“Things have changed since your day, Mum,” cut in
Cate
. “
Many kids have grown up in households with no role models and they have no one to teach them what it means to have a work ethic. Drugs are much more easily available and there aren’t enough jobs to go around.
They are harassed by the police…..
”

“My
day
,
let me tell you about my day…,” interrupted their mother.

“Seriously, can I be excused?” said Mary.

“No! My generation kne
w the meaning of hard work,
and earning a pound
. We d
idn’t expect a governme
nt handout. We got off our bums
and worked
hard
for a living, and now you want to tell me that these immigrants and lazy young people shouldn’t have to do the same? It’s a joke what is happening in the world, and I for one am more than happy to
stand up for
basic decency and
old-fashioned Christian values.”

Even though Prue had sat through h
er mother’s lectures on many occasions
and knew her pol
itical opinions well,
she had already bitten her tongue once that day and she was not prepared to do it again.

“Y
ou sound exactly like Mr
Darling
,” she yelled. “Why don’t you go an
d join his grass
roots movement?
You can harass the Singh f
amily and drive out the Nguyen’s
while you’re at it for destroying your precious British values.
It’s high time we had a bit of racial intolerance around
here,
it will do wonders for the town. Maybe
a
lynch mob or t
wo
would
liven
things up a bit as well
.
”

“Now you’re just being s
illy. You know
the Singh’s
make
delicious curries, and the Nguyen’s are very nice people. She always stops for a cha
t and her English is impeccable
.”

“So how do you thi
nk they
will feel if people start banging on about the evils of immigration?
How long till it gets violent and ugly? Hatred breeds hatre
d
,
Mother
, and I have news for you, y
ou don’t own this country. Just because some accident of fate you were born here
it doesn’t give you the right to decide that other people don’t belong here and to get all up in arms because they don’t speak English on the train
.
You’re
just like those horrible women
I saw
on
Youtube
.
Y
ou really make me sick
and at times like this I’m ashamed to be your daughter
.”

“Come on
,
Prue, I think that’s enough,” said her father. “Whatever your mother thinks, she’s still entitled to her opinion
, and you need to show some respect under this roof
.”

“S
he can express her opinion all she likes
under this roof
, because I’m leaving.” With that she got up
from the table and
stomped across the kitchen to
grab
her coat
from the rack
near the door
.

“A
t least
stay and
finish you dinner,” called Cate
after her
.

“I’ve suddenly lost my appetite.”

“Thank you very much for informing me about Mr
Darling
’s grass
roots movement
,
Prudence
,” said Mrs
Higginbottom
in her
sweet
est
voice. “
It sounds very interesting and I will
definitely be looking into joining it
.
It’s about time someone was prepared to stand up for what is right
around here
.
” Her mother always had to get the last word in and Prue
knew her
only
response was to
slam
the door shut
behind her
.

****

Prue
pulled up in the drive
of her cottage twenty minutes later, but instead of getting out of the car she
stayed seated
for a few moments
and
took some deep breat
hs to calm herself
. Despite the frequent
provocations she endured
from her mother
, she usually managed
to keep her cool
, but tonight was different. She
was still smarting from William
Darling
’s
rude comments about her appearance, and she was
also
deeply concerned about the conversation she ha
d overheard. Her mother’s prejudices j
ust added to her fears
that his ideas might catch on
.
If
he was
creating
tensions in her own family
already
she could only imagine what would
become of their peaceful
little
town if his grass
roots movement took hold.

“Damn that man,” she said as she got out of her c
ar and slammed the door closed.
The deep breaths
in the car
had not done much to quell her anger but as the darkness and silence of the countryside envelope
d her she began
to relax a little.
The rhododendrons in the garden were blooming and their sweet scent mingled with the fragrance of freshly turned earth
drifting
from the plot where she had planted som
e green beans a few days earlier
.
Instead of going straight to the house s
he wandered through the garden, with only the moonlight to guide her, check
ing on the animals and topping up
their water bowls.
By the time she let herself inside she was feeling much better
,
but even after a glass of wine, she still could not get
William
Darling
out of her head completely.
With her cat Muppet curled up on her lap, and her Labrador Sunny at her feet, she spent the next hour
chatting with friends
online and updating her profile on various sites. S
he
was about to shut her computer down and turn in
for the night when it occurred t
o her that she could do a search on William
Darling
to find out more about him
.

Feeling a little like a stalker s
he typed his name into a search engine and
then trawled through the results. There were many other people with the same name, and although she
eventually
man
aged
to locate
a couple
of his
social networking
profiles, they all
had
maximum
privacy settings,
and she could
find
nothing
at all
about his p
olitical views
. S
he was about to give up when she came across a site called Cheating
Dirty
Bastards.com, and when she clicked on the link
,
the photo
that appeared on her screen
left
no doubt he was the person being referred to.
He was
at what appeared to be a work function
with an attractive dark-haired woman, but from the comments written about him
by Georgina
Wickham
, it was evident it had not ended well between them.