Various Pets Alive and Dead (44 page)

Shame Clara couldn’t come, but she sent a message of love from Copacabana, where she’s gone to set up a school for slum children with that social worker of Oolie’s. Doro was distraught when they got together. Apparently she can’t stand him, God knows why. Seems a perfectly sound young man, solid working-class background, and Oolie really took to him.

Talking about Oolie, there was all that fuss about her phantom pregnancy. He could have told them nothing would come of it, if anyone had bothered to ask him, as it’s well known that Down’s syndrome men are generally infertile. Clara gave her a baby hamster instead, before she left, and that seems to have done the trick. And Doro’s helping her start a garden at her new place, planting flowers and vegetables and a plum tree. They’re still together, Oolie and the young man – in fact, there’s talk of him moving in with her. He came up for the wedding with his ghastly mother. She bought Oolie a housewarming present, a little illuminated glass egg timer. Only £280, she said. Saw it in ‘How to Spend it’. Poor Doro almost fainted. She and Doro seem to have got quite pally, God knows why. Megan was there too. The three of them got drunk and started sobbing during the reception. It was hideously embarrassing.

Ouch! Enough idle gossip for now. Time’s running short, and there are still serious issues to be resolved. As predicted, capitalism is crumbling under the weight of its own contradictions. And it’s gratifying to know that they’ve all made their own contribution to its downfall, Clara with her championing of the children of the oppressed, Doro with her environmental concerns, Oolie by mounting a challenge on the resources of the state and, above all, Serge with his bravura penetration into the heart of the satanic mill, which he succeeded in destabilising temporarily. Entryism at its most daring.

As for him, he still has his major theoretical work to complete, the history of the Autonomist Movement of the seventies culminating in an analysis of how it could pave the way for a post-crash renegotiation of the social contract. Although he’s been working on it for seven years, there’s much that is still unclear. In fact, it seems to get more unclear as time goes by. Things change so fast. A whole lot hangs on the result of the next general election. Will the world move towards a steadier more regulated form of capitalism? Or will the global financiers be unleashed to push the whole rotten system crashing finally to the ground? There’s so much he could contribute. If only he didn’t feel so tired all the time.

Ooh-aah! He shifts his weight in the chair, leaning forward to ease the pain. That’s better. It’s a good thing they’ve got this wedding out of the way. Doro had her doubts of course, but he persuaded her it could help with adopting Oolie. And as it turns out, it’s probably for the best. She’s a wonderful woman, sensual, passionate, kind – yes, he’s been lucky to share his life with her. And if the result this afternoon goes against him, at least she’ll get whatever’s left of his pension. Ouch!

Many brains have contributed to this book, most of them much better than mine.

I would first like to thank all those who helped me so generously with research into the financial world, especially Peter Morris, without whom I could never have got started, and Robert Deri, Roger Leboff, Roger Johnson, Gareth Jones, Steven Bell, Robert Farrer-Brown and John Scott, who between them advised me about the financial crisis, short selling and naked short selling, spread betting, derivatives and options, the physical layout and organisational structure of investment banks, the roles of quants and traders, pay scales, security procedures, departmental organisation, scams and frauds, rating agencies and the goings-on in the disabled loo. All credit is due to them, and any errors are entirely my own.

I’m grateful to Gary Clemitshaw and Alison Tyldesley for explaining the primary school curriculum. Also to Dorothy Kidd, Sheila Ernst, Dave Feickert, Dave Kent, Max Farrar and others who have reminded, encouraged and informed me about women’s liberation and the commune days; any shortcomings in the depiction are wholly down to me.

Many thanks also to those who read through various drafts, offered their comments and weeded out mistakes: Donald Sassoon, Sonia Lewycka, Carl Cramer and Shân Morley Jones. Thanks to Martin and Juliet Pierce for the use of their cosy writing room, and all those cups of tea.

Finally, thanks to my agent Bill Hamilton and my editor Juliet Annan – who between them killed off several minor characters, pruned out weedy subplots and generally sharpened things up – and to the terrific teams at Penguin and Fig Tree who have made the book happen.

FIG TREE

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First published 2012

Copyright © Marina Lewycka, 2012

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Illustration: Ben Newman

All rights reserved

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book

ISBN: 978-0-14-193248-4