The Transition. Luke Kennard

Чтение книги онлайн.

       11

      ‘WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?’

      ‘I was working out.’

      ‘You look like you’ve been hit by a car.’

      Karl gingerly climbed into bed and put his head on Genevieve’s shoulder. She smelled of a medicated facial scrub she used sometimes, a smell he associated with their university halls: bare-brick stairwells, a pasted-up lightning crack in the side of the building.

      He only realised he’d been asleep when the room filled with light. Janna and Stu were standing at the end of the bed, holding two envelopes. Karl sniffed, sat up in bed, nudged Genevieve.

      ‘Really sorry to wake you,’ whispered Janna.

      ‘We won’t make a habit of it,’ said Stu.

      ‘Is something wrong?’

      ‘No, no.’ Genevieve shuffled out of the bed and stretched. ‘Don’t apologise. I don’t know what … We never fall asleep this early.’

      ‘You’re exhausted,’ said Janna. ‘Poor things.’

      ‘We’ll keep this quick,’ said Stu. He held the envelopes out to Karl.

      Karl found it hard to move his arms from his sides; it was as if an important pulley system had snapped.

      ‘What are these?’

      ‘We want you both to read a newspaper,’ said Stu. He sat on the end of the bed and Janna sat down against the wall.

      ‘We’ve got you subscriptions,’ said Janna. ‘To The Guardian and The Telegraph. Every day.’

      ‘Every day?’

      ‘You get up an hour early and you read them both, quickly, cover to cover, then swap. Get into the habit. It’s like keeping an allotment.’

      ‘I’ve tried to read newspapers,’ said Karl, rubbing his left eye. ‘It doesn’t feel like they’re for me.’

      ‘And that’s the problem,’ said Stu. ‘You need to be an active participant in society. We got the paper editions because the symbolism is important – you could just read it all on your tablets, but I want you to think about your parents, and how serious they seemed when they were behind newspapers.’

      ‘It’s not that we’re not interested in what happens in the world,’ said Genevieve. ‘Really it’s just that I’m busy or I would read one. At least once a week.’

      ‘But you’re apolitical.’

      ‘I’m disillusioned.’

      ‘No,’ said Stu. ‘The problem you’ve got is that you don’t feel worthy of newspapers. Be honest. A part of you still feels that newspapers are for grown-ups and that you’re not grown-ups.’

      ‘Look at this,’ said Karl. He had been rifling through The Guardian to the property section and had now folded it on Bargain of the Week, a two-bedroom flat for £1.2 million. ‘This is supposed to be the newspaper for intelligent poor people,’ he said, ‘but we’re completely unrepresented. Newspapers are written for the wealthiest fraction of a fraction of society.’

      ‘We spend most of our lives living in a fantasy of the future we think we deserve,’ said Janna.

      ‘This is part of the programme,’ said Stu. ‘This is something you have to trust us on. Try it for the next couple of weeks. You read the papers first thing. We discuss home and international news over breakfast. Deal?’

      ‘If we can talk about X-Men comic books over dinner,’ said Karl.

      ‘Okay, second nag,’ said Janna. ‘Teeth. Has either one of you ever been to a dental hygienist?’

      ‘How does that differ from a dentist?’ said Karl.

      ‘It’s like the difference between a doctor and a coroner,’ said Stu. ‘Not even joking.’

      ‘We are incredibly backward about teeth in this country,’ said Janna. ‘It’s seen as separate from health. Most of the population, they might as well be walking around with radioactive waste in their mouths. Name any disease: your teeth and your gums can give it to you. Do you floss?’

      ‘No.’

      ‘Genevieve?’

      ‘Once.’

      ‘Why did you stop?’

      ‘I meant once in my life. It was horrible.’

      ‘Okay. We’ll start with flossing. There’s a complete guide on your tablets with films.’

      ‘I can’t believe this is part of The Transition,’ said Karl.

      ‘There’s very little point in any of this if you’re not even taking care of your own mouth,’ said Janna.