A. J. CRONIN¹

The citadel

(an excerpt)

Christine and Andrew went into the sitting-room. “Sit here.” She stretched out her arm. “I want to tell you something.”

He went over to seat himself beside her, when suddenly there came the loud braying ² of a Klaxon from outside.

“Krr-krr-krr-ki-ki-ki-krr”.

“Damn!” said Christine concisely. Only one motor horn in Aberalaw could sound like that. It belonged to Con Boland.⁴

Hearing the car slow down and pull up at the gate, Christine and Andrew came out to meet the Bolands. The family had arrived in the reconstructed motor car —Con at the wheel in a bowler hat and enormous new gauntlets, with Mary and Terence beside him; the three other children sat close around Mrs. Boland, who had the infant in her arms, in the back, all packed like herrings in a tin.

Suddenly the horn began again: “Krr-krr-krr-krr---------” Con had accidentally pushed the button in switching off and now it was stuck. The Klaxon would not stop.

“In the name of God,” Con cried, “I’m wastin’ ⁵ juice.⁶ What’s happened?”

“It’s the button, Father,” Mary told him calmly. She took it out with her little fingernail. The racket stopped.

“Ah! That’s better,” Con sighed. “How are ye, Manson, my boy? How d’you like the old car now? I’ve had her ⁷ lengthened a good two feet. Isn’t she grand? Mind you, there’s still a little trouble with the gearbox, but she never ⁸ broke down. We didn’t quite manage the hill, as ye might say!”

“We only stuck a few minutes, Father,” said Mary.

^“Ah! Never mind,” said Con. “I’ll soon put that right when I re­pair her again. How are ye, Mrs. Manson? Here we all are, to wish ye a merry Christmas ⁹ and take our tea with ye!"

“Come in, Con,” Christine smiled. “I like your gloves!”

“Christmas present from the wife,” Con answered, admiring the gauntlets. “Ah! What’s gone wrong with this door?”

Unable to open the door he threw his long legs over it, climbed out, helped the children and wife from the back, looked over the car with care — fondly removing a lump of mud from the windscreen,— then tore himself away to follow the others to Vale View.¹⁰

They had a cheerful tea party. Con was in high spirits, proud of his car. “You’ll not recognise her when she has a coat of paint.” Mrs. Boland, as was her habit, drank lots of strong black tea. The children began upon the chocolate biscuits and ended with a fight for the last piece of bread. They cleared every plate upon the table with lightning speed.

After tea, while Mary had gone to wash the dishes, — she insist­ed that Christine looked tired, — Andrew took the baby from Mrs. Boland and played with it on the hearthrug before the fire. It was the fattest baby he had ever seen, a Rubens infant. It tried repeatedly to poke a finger into his eye. Every time it failed a look of solemn wonder came upon its face. Christine sat with her hands in her lap, doing nothing — watching him playing with the baby.

But Con and his family could not stay long. Outside the light was fading and Con, worried about his “juice”, had doubts which he did not care to express about the functioning of his lamps.

The Bolands were on the point of leaving when Con delivered the invitation: “Come out and see us start.”

Again Andrew and Christine stood at the gate while Con packed the car with the children. After a couple of swings ¹¹ the engine obeyed and Con, with a triumphant nod towards them, pulled on his gaunt­lets. Then he raised himself proudly into the driving seat.

At that very moment the car gave out a groan and sank to the ground. The wheels shot outwards, there was the sound of pieces dropping off; then the body of the car came to rest on street level. In the front was Con clutching the wheel, in the back his wife, clutch­ing the baby.

Andrew and Christine gave out a shriek of laughter. Once they began they could not stop. They laughed till they were weak.

“In the name of God,” Con said, rubbing his head and picking himself up, “she failed me.” Seeing that none of the children were hurt, that Mrs. Boland remained, pale but undisturbed, in her seat, he looked with sadness at the car lying in pieces. For a moment he seemed at a loss. Then his face brightened. He took Andrew by the arm and pointed with melancholy pride to the bonnet, beneath which the engine still made a few convulsive beats. “See that, Manson! She’s still runnin.”

Somehow they dragged the remains into the back yard of Vale View. The Boland family went home on foot.

“What a day!" Andrew exclaimed when they had calmed down at last. “I’ll never forget that look on Con’s face as long as I live.”

They were silent for a moment; then, turning to her, he asked: “You did enjoy your Christmas?”

She replied oddly: “I enjoyed seeing you play with Baby Bo­land.”

He glanced at her.

“Why?”

She did not look at him. “I’ve been trying to tell you all day. Oh, can’t you guess, darling? I don’t think you’re such a smart phy­sician after all.”

NOTES

1. Cronin, Archibald Johnson (1896-1981). An English physi­cian and novelist, he was educated at Glasgow University. He was in general practice in South Wales (1921-24), and in London (1926- 30). He is the author of Hatter's Castle (1931), The Stars Look Down (1935), The Citadel (1937), Keys of Kingdom (1941), The Green Years (1944), Shannon's Way (1948), Crusader's Tomb (1956), The Northern Light (1958) and other books.

2. The sound made by Con Boland’s motor horn was loud and ugly, very much like the braying of an ass (ослиный рев).

3. Aberalaw: an imaginary mining town in South Wales.

4. Con Boland, dentist, who was to become Andrew Manson’s life-long friend.

5. Along with a heavy Irish accent Con Boland also had a carelessness of speech which the author gives through the exact letter expression of the pronounced words: “ye” for “you”, “wastin”’ for “wasting”, “runnin”’ for “running”.

6. juice (sl): electric current зд. ток от аккумулятора

7. she: this pronoun will often be used when an object (in this case a car) is regarded as living, or is, in other words, personified. It will be noted that a sailor in speaking of his ship will say “she”, the sun is usually “he”, and the moon “she”.

8. never: used for emphasis’s sake, a stronger form of not, rather colloquial. Eg 1. That will never do! Это никуда не годится! 2. Nev­er mind! He обращай внимания! 3. He never said a word against the plan. Он и слова не сказал против плана.

9. Christmas: also Xmas, a religious holiday рождество; Christmas Eve: Dec. 24th; Christmas Day: Dec. 25th. There’s custom to make presents at Christmas as well as send Christmas cards wishing a per­son “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year”.

10. In England it is a tradition for suburban houses to have names, not numbers. People of high social position have country houses with names, that is why a house with a name seems "better" than a house with a number.

11. The car didn't have a starter and Con Boland would start the engine running with the help of a special handle (заводная ручка).