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22-04-09

12M

p3

Stain

by

Gabriel Kealy

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Synopsis

Gregory and Frances McKeever acquire an independent boarding special school. It’s the culmination of his life’s work in which his hopes and dreams of new beginnings and prosperity lie. When Pius, his identical twin, hears the news and realises he’s been excluded from a partnership in the enterprise he’s eaten up with jealousy. Initially Pius threatens to produce a video about Gregory to explode the myths surrounding him. Gregory regards Pius’s behaviour as a fit of pique and ignores him. He keeps his distance knowing he could make an even more sensational video about Pius. As the months go by and the first year passes Pius becomes increasingly desperate; he needs money and he seeks revenge. He blackmails Gregory accusing him, amongst other things, of falling in love with young boys. Pius threatens him with Childline. Gregory feels he has no option but to face the blackmail down. He reports Pius to the police. Gregory becomes the subject of joint investigations by the police and Mantleshire Social Services. Two months later he is cleared but the fallout blights his life. His relationship with Pius is dead. He discovers his wife is having an affair. He loses his grip.
As Gregory’s mental health deteriorates he spends more time in school with the boys. He wants to be like them. He’s had enough of responsibility. Frances insists on moving off site; Gregory reluctantly agrees. As he struggles to cope with the conflicting demands of family life and running the school he escapes to a hotel. One of the pupils finds him there and in an act of compassion he allows the boy to stay. This error of judgment leads to his ultimate destruction. He attempts suicide and receives treatment. When he has recovered, he discloses the hotel incident to Mantleshire Social Services. Regulatory bodies ignite a firestorm in the school. Gregory is disturbed by nightmares and voices. He struggles valiantly against the overwhelming forces of the regulatory arms of the State as his mind insulates itself from the awesome reality of what befalls. When the school is forced to close he returns to therapy. He instructs solicitors to challenge the Secretary of State. He is vindicated in the High Court but within three months of that judgment he is arrested and charged with indecent assault on the boy. He’s re-admitted to a psychiatric ward. When he is acquitted his solicitors litigate in damages against the authorities.
Meanwhile Pius cuts his losses. He has an affair with an OFSTED Inspector who helps him qualify as a registered state regulator. His mistress is just a means to an end. Pius fancies his step daughter, and introduces her to shoplifting. The child is caught. He gets away with it. He confines his stepson to his bedroom and makes him earn his clothes back. He strips his fourth wife of all her assets to write off his debts. One night sitting in his negligee and Gucci shoes, ignoring the ferrets scratching under the floorboards, he downloads an agency for Russian brides. His choice has a young daughter and is desperate for a British passport. Pius divorces his fourth wife to marry his Russian quarry. He grooms her little girl. He gets his come-uppance when he’s arrested and charged with a string of offences relating to child abuse. He becomes the self-fulfilling prophesy of his identical twin’s accusations.
Gregory wins his battle against the authorities and obtains compensation. He is now able to move on with his life. He has achieved the goals of a new beginning and prosperity but not in the way he expected or wanted. His marriage and family life have endured but his values are changed.
By twists both stirring and paralysing, Stain is about a search for the unreachable, an attempt to unravel the intricacies of interpersonal relationships and the offering to be made in the pursuit of self-fulfilment where the true nature of the soul cannot be concealed.

Chapter 1

  

It was a warm and sunny Wednesday afternoon when I stood waiting in the middle of the gravelled courtyard outside the grand Georgian entrance to Eaglestone Hall School. The sun emblazed my balding middle-aged scalp so I felt a little sweaty and overdressed, standing six feet tall in my smart business suit. Surveying the beautiful countryside surrounding the magnificent edifice, I inhaled a deep breath of the fresh, purifying air. It tasted of the sweet scent of clover carpeting the pasture. I heard birdsong resonating from the trees and hedgerows and the hot din of the singing bugs clicking, buzzing and creaking, calling for mates from the grasses, shrubs and treetops. How good it was to be part of God’s creation.
Then a shiver ran down my spine as my thoughts returned to thirteen months earlier. It had been a Friday autumn night when I was due to make my weekly telephone call. A letter that morning had put me in a state of excitement. Then, as the time drew on, my mood changed. The children were in bed and Frances lay on the lounge sofa. As I entered the room she sat up.

    “What are you going to say?” she asked.

    What I intended to say churned me up. I’d thought of all the options, going round in circles. Frances didn’t have to tell me that Pius would be devastated but she was trying to reassure me. He talked himself into it.

    “You didn’t put the idea into his head,” she said.

    I couldn’t reply. I was too anxious. I shouldn’t have been so enthusiastic about the plan.

    I looked at my dear wife and took a deep breath. “I’ll do it now”, I snapped.

    Although Frances smiled I remembered the strain in her face. Going into the kitchen, I lifted the phone and dialled the number. It was answered almost immediately. I remember the conversation word for word. How could I forget it?

    “Hello, Pius McKeever.”

    I replied in our skittish customary term of endearment mimicking our father. “Hello laddo.” It usually made us laugh but not on this occasion. I was too tense to carry it off and Pius seemed preoccupied.
    “How did you get on?” He asked sharply.
    I knew what he meant but pretended no to. “About the school?”
    I detected impatience in my twin brother’s voice. “No! Your meeting at the DTI.”
    I hesitated. I couldn’t spare his feelings the dream was too important to me. He had to be told. I breathed out loudly.

    “I see. Well, the Small Firms Service is happy with the business plan. They’ve put me in touch with city accountants to tweak it.”
    I waited for his reply knowing what was coming next.

    “Where do I come in?” he asked. This was all he was interested in. He never asked me the name of the financial advisers or where they were based. The tension between us was palpable.

    I couldn’t duck the issue. Pius would know if I did so bracing myself  I replied “You don’t.” I wanted the line to go dead.

    “What?” Pius shouted. I felt his shock and pain.

    “I’m sorry Pius.” It sounded so trite and feeble and I perceived the bafflement disappointment and anger in my twin brother’s reply.

    “When you told me about the advert for the sale of the school you promised to include me as a partner.”

   Although relieved that a third party had made the decision for me I knew it could only be interpreted by Pius as duplicity and he was right. I loved him but couldn’t work with him. I needed a way out. The Counsellor said there was no realistic prospect of raising the cash other than through a mortgage on Eaglestone Hall. He said a bank would expect it to be in Frances’s and my name, husband and wife.

    I will never forget Pius’s rage. “I don’t believe this. We’re identical twins for God’s sake!”

    My mouth dried up as I fumbled my words. “I know. I’m sorry but it’s the way it is.”

    Those utterances went down like a weighted sack of kittens that had been thrown into a canal. My terminal meows were deafened by the thunderstorm I had fuelled in my twin. I felt his pain but couldn’t have him near the school. It would be me who was left to shoulder the burden whilst he basked in the glory of it.

    I could feel Pius’s anger. “You didn’t even try. You’ve put that wife of yours before me. Why’s she on a pedestal? You had to go through a dating agency to find her, sad bastard.”

    I felt outraged and couldn’t contain my feelings. Why did he bring Frances into the disagreement?

    “How dare you!” I shouted but he ranted on.

    “Right nigger-nose, have it your way. I’m going to set the record straight.”

    I thought for a moment. Was he losing his mind or was this the monozygotic rivalry thing, the game of bluff and counter bluff we played as boys to see who would gain the upper hand?
    “What?” I asked discerningly.

    “You know,” he abruptly replied.
    Our sixth sense was at play. I felt apprehensive. Over the years we had shared each other’s innermost secrets. Surely Pius wouldn’t betray me? My insides somersaulted but I need to hear him say it. “Spit it out!”
    Pius seemed animated. “I’ll make a video. When it is done copies will go to all interested parties. You’ll be sorry you signed!”

    I couldn’t believe it. I felt breathless and paused to think. I had to rationalise his vitriol towards me. He had lashed out at others like this in the past but never in this way to me before. It was so shocking but I didn’t want to fuel further hostility. Pius could make an issue of my past but I couldn’t believe he would do such a thing. Those games of bluff and counterbluff we played as children always had happy endings as we finally resolved our differences. Our relationship must pull through. As I rationalised the debate I felt comfort in the logic of dismissing Pius’s threat as a peak of angst and jealousy.
    My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a cascade of children, all dressed in PE kit, streaming out of the front doors and down the steps colliding with each other, laughing, skipping, doing piggy-backs or jumping into the air raising their fists.

                               

 

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