Part 16 (2/2)

'I can't do this, Mother, please,' implored Judith, looking straight at Miss Strange. 'Harry's my husband. I have...

Miss Strange looked at all of us.

'Did you know,' she began, 'that it was a Judith who saved the Jewish people? The people were under siege so Judith used subterfuge, the subterfuge of a woman. She flirted with the attacking general, drank him under the table and she and her maid ... what was her name?'

Helen shrugged.

'No,' Miss Strange nodded. 'History doesn't like women to have names. Anyway, she and her maid whacked off the general's head, stuck it in a picnic basket and escaped back to the Jewish camp. They staked his head high over the gate so when soldiers charged the camp they saw their general leering down at them and ran away. Judith set her maid free and all the women danced in her honour.'

'We can hardly put Harry's head on a pike, can we?' said Aunt Bonnie, not entirely averse to the idea. The sirens were right outside now and there was a rattling at the gate.

Miss Strange stood up. 'Maybe not, but we will dance.'

Harry's voice boomed out through a megaphone: 'This is the Mayor speaking. You are required by Town Ordnance Four Hundred and Sixty-two to let me in and examine the premises.' The megaphone fell silent and you could just hear Harry yelling, 'Go on, Joey, go on.' The megaphone burst back into life. 'These animals are being held illegally without license and must be destroyed.' He had completely flipped out.

Miss Strange looked at us. She took Judith's hand and pulled her to her feet. One by one we moved together to the gate and looked out. Harry was standing on the fire engine with the lights blazing at us. Either side were two patrol cars and next to one of them was Joey's van. Joey looked nervous.

'Get your gun, Joey,' commanded Harry.

Joey yelled back. 'I don't need my gun.'

'You gonna do this job or what? Get the f.u.c.king gun.' Joey looked at the gathered men. The whole of the football team stood lined up behind Harry and the brigade. Other men from the town had come in pickups, cars and trucks. Mr Torchinsky stood over to one side next to his hea.r.s.e. About a hundred men facing the zoo entrance. Joey opened the back of his van. He reached in and took out a shotgun. He leaned against the car cradling the gun in his arms.

Miss Strange spoke quietly to Cosmos. 'Open the gate.'

'Are you sure?'

'Yes.'

Cosmos stepped forward and took the chain and padlock from the gate. She pushed the heavy metal entrance to swing open as Miss Strange turned on the floodlights. Now Harry and his crew could see what they were up against. Seven females, a goose, a grey parrot and an orangutan.

'Give it up, Grace,' bellowed Harry. Miss Strange lifted her head and matched his voice with no megaphone to aid her.

'You cannot wins she called to the men. 'This zoo has been here for forty years and it's not going.'

'This place is a danger to the community. There are animals missing. Dangerous foreign animals. You do not know how to control wild creatures. Even as we speak a government inspector is on the way,' yelled Harry. 'You are a threat to the community.'

'You will not touch a single creature,' replied Miss Strange, standing completely still.

The bright lights had woken up Girling the Gorilla in his cage behind Miss Strange. In the unnatural silence he began to beat the bars of his pen and make wild, threatening noises. Miss Strange calmly removed a plastic ice-cube tray divider from her pocket and held it aloft. Girling fell silent instantly. It was a pretty impressive use an ice-cube tray divider. No one really knew what to do.

'You will not harm us,' said Miss Strange firmly.

'Yeah? Says you and whose army?' called a lone male feeling safe behind the fire truck.

'Say I and great women down through the generations. We shall stand here like Lady Mary Banks, who held Corfe Castle against parliamentary forces with only her daughters and gentlewomen to defend her. In charge of our own destiny, like Queen Adelaide, Queen of Italy and Holy Roman Empress; Princess Aelgifu, ruler of three countries; Zoe, Empress of the Byzantine; Queen Asma, ruler of Yemen; Agnes of Courtney, Crusader Queen of Jerusalem; Blanche of Castille, Queen of all France; Caterina Corner, ruler of Cyprus; Anne of Beaujeau, Queen of the Bourbons; Grace O'Malley, Irish war leader; Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman ... Sojourner Truth...' Miss Strange was beginning to fade a little. 'And...'

Lily Tomlin,' added Sweetheart, slightly off the point.

It was probably the only name Harry recognized. Mr Honk screeched approval at the top of his raucous voice. He wasn't perhaps in tune with how serious everyone was, as he then paraded up and down between the warring factions showing off his plumage.

'Come on, men. Joey, bring the gun.' Harry moved forward with the football team slow on his heels.

'b.o.l.l.o.c.ks,' called Mr Paton, changing his repertoire for the occasion.

Helen began to chant in Swahili. I knew she was actually saying, 'Six drunken Europeans have killed the cook. Do not pour treacle into the engine,' but it sounded very impressive. A deep primal tone which Harry could not fight.

'Order,' cried Harry over the noise.

'We don't give a f.u.c.k for your order,' I yelled.

This caused a moment's frisson. No one on either side was quite sure that this was okay. I mean, I was ten. There were those who were perhaps unaware that I was merely being historical. It was then that we saw the women. Dozens of them, some walking, some in cars, all moving up the drive to the zoo. Some carried candles and others had children with them. They moved silently but with great purpose. Judith looked at them and then at her husband. In a calm, dignified and loud voice she began to speak.

'Remember the dignity of your womanhood.

Do not appeal, do not beg, do not grovel. Take courage, join hands, stand beside us. Fight with us.'

Harry turned and looked. The women of the town moved without speaking. They walked silently past the engine and the police cars, past the men and the young football squad. As they walked, the men parted and quietly let them in the gates of the zoo. Standing in front of Mr Girling, Mr Kruger and Mr Goss, who all paced in their cages, the women began to hold hands. The world was being destroyed and we were in a cosmic dream. The women stood united, facing the men. It was a powerful moment. Better even than press-ups in the wind.

'Come on, men,' yelled Harry with some desperation but no one moved. Harry jumped down from the fire truck and moved slowly toward us. As he came through the gates, Sappho, not aware of the tension of the moment, reached out and flipped his boater off his head. Harry was incandescent with rage. He leaped backward screaming, 'See, see. That animal is dangerous. It's out of control.'

It probably didn't help that a few people actually laughed.

'Joey! Joey!' Harry sounded like a desperate little boy. 'Joey, do your duty. For Christ's sake! Go on, you nancy idiot.'

Joey moved forward carrying a large net. He looked ridiculous. Sappho reached out and flipped that away too. Then the orangutan picked the net up and started after Joey. All the men laughed as Joey ran back to his van. He was humiliated. He began loading his gun and organizing ammunition. Harry started screaming.

'Can't you do anything, you ridiculous a.s.shole?'

Joey was sweating now. 'Don't call me that. I am not ridiculous.'

'You've always been ridiculous, you dwarf. You can't do anything right. Look at you, you're nothing. You think people in this town aren't laughing at you? The dog catcher who thinks he can be mayor. You're not even a good dog catcher. You're a coward, Joey. You can't deal with more than a G.o.dd.a.m.n poodle. No wonder you never married, huh, Joey? Who the h.e.l.l would have you? Judith didn't want you, did she? Did she?'

Joey had begun weeping. 'I stood by you, Harry. In school when they teased you, I was always there for you. You knew Judith was mine. You knew that and you took her from me. Helen didn't want you so you took Judith. You weren't good enough for Billie's daughter.' Joey pushed his way through the throng to his van, where he stood holding his gun and sobbing.

The women stood still. Silently facing out. Harry was shaking with rage. 'This is insane. You women, go home. You are ruining this town.' No one moved. 'Do as you're told!' he screamed, but no one moved. 'Right,' he called, 'fire up the engine. You asked for it.' Harry gestured for the engine to start and Mr Walchinsky from the hot-dog stand moved to get in the driving seat.

'Hey, Frank,' I called. He stopped and s.h.i.+elded his eyes from the lights.

'Dorothy?'

'Yeah. Only hot-dog stand in America designed by an architect.'

He looked at me and nodded. 'That's right.'

'You gonna knock down John Junior's zoo? And Mr Torchinsky.' I put my hand on the bronze statue of Billie which loomed above us. 'Most beautiful thing you ever saw. Remember? Come see the elephants, Mr Torchinsky? Frank?'

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