40

When the executioner came, Joseph noticed two things.

He was a weasel of a man wearing a grey suit. In fact, the suit was so ill-fitting that it would be fairer to say that the suit was wearing him. He had the look of a boy left alone to play in his father’s wardrobe.

The other thing Joseph noted, within minutes of the executioner and his associate arriving at the zoo gates, was that the suited man had clearly never met anyone like Mrs F before.

And this, more than anything, was to be his downfall.

When they arrived, Joseph had been feeding Adonis his evening meal through the bars while Mrs F watched from the bench. The ape was delighting in hurling carrot tops back through the bars, which brought a smile to her face. But her mood changed with the sound of rattling gates.

‘Yes?’ she said, in her regulation bark as she approached. But she knew what they were doing there.

The party, if you could call it that, was only two strong, the man-child in the giant’s suit, and another man in army attire, a rifle swung across his shoulder.

‘Mrs Farrelly?’ the weasel man enquired, making a meal of reading the name from a letter in his hand.

‘If you say so. Question is, who might you be? Because I’m guessing you’re not here to read the meters,’ she said with a nod to the soldier’s rifle.

The weasel laughed, revealing a set of teeth well on their way to an early death. If the rest of him was as unhealthy, then it was no surprise he was here doing this, rather than bearing arms abroad.

‘Well, quite. I wish it were only meters I was here for, Madam, but sadly that’s not the case.’

‘So, what is it, then? I’ve things to be doing.’

If the man was coming to do the unspeakable, then she wanted to hear it from his lips.

‘My name is Ingleford. From the council. I’m afraid it’s about the ongoing issue of the danger to the public residing at this address.’

‘Well, that’s a first,’ she said, turning to smile at Joseph. ‘I’ve never been called that before.’ She turned back to the man. ‘And besides, my house is twenty minutes that way.’

Another laugh, yet this one was fattened by nerves.

‘Yes, very good. But back to the matter in hand. You have, I’m sure, received various correspondences relating to the dangerous ape which attacked a boy some weeks hence.’

Joseph scrunched his eyes up. Hence?Had the man been reading the Old Testament before he came?

‘I’ve received them, yes.’

‘And digested them, also?’

‘On many occasions. Though I must say, they left me with a rather bitter aftertaste.’

This time, the man did not smile.

‘Well, I’m afraid that the deadline for finding alternative residence for the animal has passed. So we have no option but to make the area safe ourselves.’

And that, was that. The last word was everything Mrs F needed to respond.

‘SAFE? Are you really telling me that ending the life of an ape in a cage is going to make this city safe?’

‘Well, that is of cours—’

‘Because for a second there, it occurred to me that you might not have been awake for the past year. Or perhaps you’ve been so busy down your little hole, hunched over your typewriter, punching out ridiculous, petty letters, to notice that the REAL danger we face in this city is absolutely nothing to do with Adonis.’

‘Madam, the monkey attac—’

‘He’s an ape. A silverback,’ interrupted Joseph, which drew a proud nod of approval from Mrs F.

The man corrected himself, both his stance and his words.

‘The ape attacked a boy. And but for God’s will, could easily have ended his life.’

‘A boy who was trespassing in a dangerous place, a place that was also closed to the public at the time it happened. Now, Sir, if you look above the gates, you’ll see quite clearly the letters that spell out what place this is.’

Joseph hoped the man didn’t look at the sign. He looked officious enough to point out that the Z was still missing.

Regardless, Mrs F went on. ‘The boy chose, very unwisely, to ignore this and having climbed over the wall, went on to attack Joseph here, before simply walking too close to the ape’s enclosure.’

‘There should be signs to warn people. There should be railings to keep people at a safe distance.’

‘And there were. Both of those things. The signs are there still, you can see them from here. And as for railings, they were taken and melted for the war effort. Far as I know they were last spotted in France being fired at Nazis. That’s why the zoo’s not open. That’s why the gates are locked.’

‘Mrs Farrelly, please.’ The man sighed. ‘Might we come in? There’s little dignity in us conversing with a gate between us.’

To some individuals, this would’ve worked. But to Mrs F these things didn’t matter a jot.

‘Anything you have to say to me can be said from there. I’ll not be letting you in. Not by choice, not today nor any other day, for that matter.’

‘Madam, please, this isn’t something that is going to just go away. It is, in fact, a matter that could be resolved very... very quickly.’ He gestured behind him, not so much to the soldier, but to the rifle on his shoulder.

‘I doubt he’ll have much success shooting from there.’

‘Such range wouldn’t be a problem, I can assure you.’

‘Maybe not. But you can’t shoot what you can’t see.’

‘I’m sorry, I don’t understand.’

‘Then understand this. Pull that rifle on my animal, and any bullet will have to pass through me first.’

‘And me,’ chimed in Joseph, pushing his chest out.

‘Mrs Farrelly, please! There’s been too many deaths around here already.’

‘You’re absolutely right. And you’ll not be adding to them today.’

The man sighed theatrically. ‘Then I am afraid we will be back tomorrow. And if you refuse, again, to let us in, then we will have no option but to gain entry by force.’

‘I’m looking forward to it already,’ she answered, though she didn’t move. In fact, she made a point of blocking any semblance of a view to the cage that either man may have had: she and Joseph both. This left Ingleford to sigh in the boy’s direction, as if offering his condolences, before striding officiously away, his suit somehow looking even bigger in his defeat.

No one said a word until they disappeared from view.

‘I hope you know what you’re doing,’ Joseph said.

‘Not a clue,’ she replied.

And he watched her walk away, legs moving so slowly, and shoulders so rounded, that it appeared she carried not just him or Adonis, but the weight of the entire city on her back.