Short of Glory
Alan Judd
Language: English
Pages: 263
ISBN: B01K93YAKS
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
A satirical romp through the corridors of the Foreign Office as Patrick Stubbs is posted as third secretary in the British Embassy in Lower Africa. Mayhem awaits him - an absent-minded ambassador, a bullying first secretary with a dipsomaniac wife, and a crush on the police chief's wife!
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Himself it did but faced with her he did not know what it was. ‘No.’ After a while she put out the light and they lay together in the darkness. She turned restlessly two or three times, then switched on the light and sat up. ‘Please go.’ She pushed the hair back from her face. Her mouth was set hard, showing little lines where she normally smiled. He felt willing to say whatever she wanted if it would make her fond once more but instead he sat up. ‘D’you really want me to?’ ‘Yes. I can’t.
You know about it – doesn’t the embassy know?’ ‘No.’ ‘I thought that’s why you were here.’ Chatsworth rubbed his hands. He was awkward and nervous. He looked round. ‘Snap’s okay. I’ve tied him to the tree by the rubbish heap. Most of the house is all right. No structural damage.’ There was a stretcher on the forecourt. A grey blanket covered something, but one brown leg, wearing a blue slipper, protruded. ‘She must’ve been trying to move it,’ Chatsworth continued. ‘She was right over it.
Mouthpiece back into the clock, then faced Patrick, his hands in his jacket pockets. ‘Now: Whelk.’ He was in no doubt that the telegram was from the L and F man, though MacKenzie was not a name he recalled. It didn’t matter because it could only have come from him. Mind you, he shouldn’t have sent it because the Lower African authorities were likely to get on to it. They might think it odd and so sniff him out. Embarrassment all round, accusations about British spies and so on. Fortunately the.
Bad to give money to bad boys.’ ‘I thought they would look after the car.’ ‘No. They steal. But now they will not come back.’ The supermarket turned out to be an underground town on a scale beyond anything in Britain. Escalators led down through several levels, and opening off each of these were arcades and avenues of shops. They radiated like spokes from a central well about thirty yards across. At the bottom a great chess-board had been painted on the ground. The pieces were four or five.
Your full allowances.’ He reopened The Times. ‘Anything I can do, don’t hesitate.’ Patrick stepped carefully over the file. The rain beat steadily against the small window. Mr Formerly looked up. ‘Couldn’t switch on the light on your way out, could you?’ Patrick flicked the switch. Nothing happened, but Mr Formerly was already reading. Not all Foreign Office briefings were like Mr Formerly’s. Some were lengthy and thorough, even energetic. The longest and worst was the two-day Going Abroad.