A Brief History of Montmaray by Michelle Cooper Read Free Book Online Page A

– perhaps it’s all the fighting going on there. Or else the batteries are dying; they’re the ones that came with the wireless, so they’re getting a bit old. Heaven knows how we’ll ever manage to recharge them, or afford to buy new ones.
    Meanwhile I tidied the bedrooms and Simon disappeared into Uncle John’s room for a chat. Uncle John tolerates Simon, for some reason – it must be because Simon is Rebecca’s son. Rebecca is the only one Uncle John will normally have anything to do with. He ignores the rest of us – except on the odd occasion when he doesn’t, which is worse.
    Last night, for example, Rebecca made Veronica knock on his door and ask what he wanted on his supper tray, and the moment he caught sight of Veronica, he had one of his fits. This time, he hurled his chamber pot at her. Fortunately he missed (even more fortunately, Henry had just emptied it); unfortunately, it hit the long looking glass. Then Rebecca rushed in and shouted at Veronica for upsetting him, and Veronica shouted back, and Henry ran in to see what was going on and stepped on Carlos’s tail, making him yelp. So, what with Rebecca moaning on and on about how we’d have seven years of bad luck now, and Simon and Veronica snapping at each other, it was a thoroughly miserable evening.
    But never mind about that, I need to finish what I was writing yesterday about Spain. Except now I have only a lot of unanswered questions. For example, what is the difference between a Socialist and a Communist? Who are the Falangists? What exactly is Fascism? But the biggest question is: which side are we supposed to support? The side of our cousin Alfonso and the Monarchists? But from what Veronica said, even if General Franco wins, King Alfonso will not be allowed to return to power. And in any case, how could anyone support Franco, a person whose forces massacred all those civilians in Badajoz?
    And yet – the other side are Communists! Who murdered the Russian royal family, all those poor Romanov children shot dead (and we are related to them too, distantly, which is why Great-Aunt Elizabeth was being courted by that Russian nobleman in the first place). Of course, some of the Russian people did have reason to be unhappy with the Tsar. Not all monarchs are wise, kind and just. Sometimes they make mistakes, I know that.
    How could I not, when each time I catch sight of the stone cross at South Head, I’m reminded of all those young Montmaravian men who were slaughtered in the Great War? Was it necessary, politically? Did their sacrifice achieve anything worthwhile? Veronica might be able to attempt a response to those questions, but I can’t. All I know is that it happened in 1917, when Uncle John had just become King and was, perhaps, over-eager to prove himself worthy of the title. At any rate, he decided to give some of his fellow Old Etonians a hand in their war and volunteered a battalion of Montmaray men, with himself as their commanding officer. The men, all fishermen, none of whom had even seen a rifle before their basic training, lasted only two days at the Western Front. Not that rifle expertise would have helped them much – the trenches they were defending were shelled by German aeroplanes. Only six of them survived, all but one wounded badly. And apparently Uncle John was never quite the same after that.
    But to return to the current war, the one in Spain – most of the people of Spain wanted their king to leave, and they did vote the Communists into government. It makes choosing sides very complicated. I don’t suppose my opinion counts, either way. It’s not as though it can really affect us, here in Montmaray. And yet, watching Simon and Veronica argue so passionately about it last night made me feel I should care about it, too.
    And there it is, what I wanted to have a think about. You see, I couldn’t help feeling just the tiniest bit envious yesterday as I observed the energy Simon devotes to his dislike of Veronica.