Sirens Page #2

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He's just a very depraved man,

I'm afraid, Mr Campion.

No one's safe.

I'm bloody bored!

Have you seen those fairies lately?

A couple of them were out

last Friday.

- They were not!

- They were too.

They always come out

on Fridays round midnight.

They do not. Do they, Mummy?

Yes, you don't see them

cos you're asleep.

Tonight's Friday,

as a matter of fact.

But then you'd be

too bloody bored to see them.

No, I'm not, Mummy.

I promise I won't be bored.

- Even bloody bored?

- Promise!

Well, if you're gonna be up

at midnight, get to bed now.

- Say good night to everybody.

- Good night, everybody.

- Do they really come, Mummy?

- Fairies only live in books.

The Industrial Revolution

killed the fairies.

They were left with nowhere to live.

- Except our imaginations.

- lmaginations are a luxury.

- Beg your pardon?

- Most people can't afford them.

I don't think imagination

is dependent on economics, is it?

In a factory you're doing exactly

the same thing day after day.

An active imagination is what allows

people to do that kind of work.

Oh, well, you'd know, of course!

I just think

that's what you'd have to do.

You'd have to be imagining

other things.

Please don't tell us

what the working class think,

thanks very much.

I think what the Bishop's

really hoping for

is that we can come to a compromise,

find some other examples

of your work.

The great thing is no... Your chair.

- No one wants to see you excluded.

- Now, that is a comfort.

I hadn't realised the Church's

interest in contemporary painting.

It's just The Crucified Venus

we're uncomfortable with.

- Pooh?

- It's me.

Come in.

Poor old Piglet.

Pru gave you a bit of a working over.

I'll survive.

Did you get anywhere with Mr Lindsay?

He insists it's up to the public

to decide for themselves

if they want to see his pictures.

Of course, they have to see them

first to decide,

by which time

the damage has been done,

but that is a bit of logic

which is lost upon him. Never mind.

I'll have another shot

in the morning before we go.

Do you think the pictures

actually damage people?

I think that the sexual ones

are just rather childish

but I do think

negative images build up

and don't any good in the long run

and I think The Crucified Venus

is offensive and downright arrogant.

- I'm coming, I'm coming!

- Hurry up, stupid!

- I'm running as fast as I can,

you disgusting thing!

My guess is they're tooth fairies.

- Shall we?

- Come on, then.

- Swimming?

- What's the time?

The train doesn't leave until 12.

All right.

Anthony.

What'd you do to him?

He's exhausted.

- Anthony!

- Don't wake him up.

Well, he might be dreaming.

It's dangerous to wake somebody up

if they're dreaming

because you leave part

of your brain behind.

If it happens a lot,

you go feeble in the head.

Yeah. You're living proof.

All right, I'll join you in a minute.

- Are you rich?

- Not very.

- What does your father do for crust?

- Why do you ask?

Well, Pru thinks you're bourgeois,

that's all.

Mine was taken by a shark.

God, how awful!

There wasn't much left of him.

So I was brought up mainly by my mum.

She runs a sweet shop.

But I'm quite ambitious all the same.

I was determined to keep my figure,

which was hard with chocolate wombats

and toffee apples everywhere.

- But as you can see, I succeeded.

- Because you wanted to be a model?

Oh, no.

Modelling is just to get known.

I'm going to be a famous actress.

People will know me through

Mr Lindsay's paintings,

then I'll move on to

stage and screen.

They're just doing it to show off.

They're very common.

They can't help it.

Sheela's got

ten brothers and sisters.

She wants to be an artist like Norman

but poor girl, she's hopeless.

- And Pru wants to be an aviator.

- Aviatrix.

I'm gonna splash you.

- Be careful of the water snakes.

- There aren't any water snakes.

Quick, someone's coming!

- Hide!

- It's all right, he can hardly see.

- Devlin!

- Come and have a swim.

Don't get him to come in.

He might...brush against you.

Come in.

You shouldn't have anything to do

with him. He's a criminal.

- You dream about him, don't you?

- I do not!

You lie on the ground

while he licks your belly button.

You're so disgusting, flaunting

yourselves. You're so cheap!

He wouldn't know

if we were dressed or not.

Do you have to carry on

in front of Estella?

- What's wrong with her?

- She'll think we're...barbarians.

We are!

Don't. Don't. Don't.

- Morning.

- Morning.

The papers got hold of it.

"When the exhibition arrives in

London, the English will be convinced

"Australia is peopled by degenerates

afflicted with sex mania."

Must be why they deported us.

The other news is that it seems

we'll be here for another day or so.

The train was derailed and a

section of track has to be repaired.

Rose is very kindly giving us a ride

into town this afternoon

to see how long it's going to be.

These flies are

remarkably persistent.

I just...ate one, I think.

Came in on me honey.

Made me feel funny...

in me tummy.

- May I speak?

- Briefly.

I just wondered if you'd be

interested in today's editorial?

I try to ignore the press

as much as I can.

Isn't it hard

to sustain your vision

when it flies so completely

in the face of public opinion?

So the arrows of your detractors

bounce off, do they?

Vanity is a formidable armour.

Oh, here we go.

"The excesses of Lindsay have

long been a source of consternation

"to clean-living citizens

of this country.

"He paints people who seem to be

slaves of cocaine or similar,

"which has reduced them to

frenzied and shameless morbidity.

"Today, however, not content with

scorning standards of public decency,

"he profanes the most sacred image

of Christianity, the Crucifixion."

As if I give a damn about

these Wesleyans, these wowsers.

Well, it's quite a lot of people

who hold the Crucifixion sacred.

- Anyway, you're busy.

- Mr Campion, I am an artist

and I refuse to be compromised by

the scruples of the public!

- Scruples or beliefs?

- And this Crucifixion business.

When I was a boy,

my mother used to try to instruct us

on the sad story of Jesus,

how He died on the cross for us.

My whole being rose in revolt

against the idea!

It's a vile notion

that a god should sacrifice himself

for the sins of mankind,

it's a pestilent notion.

- Well, I couldn't agree with that.

- Hang on.

As for the suffering my poor pictures

will cause a few people,

it's nothing compared to

the suffering the Church has caused.

The burning of witches,

the Spanish lnquisition,

the slaughter of pagan tribes

and so on.

Anyway, there we are.

Must get back to work.

I don't think the Church

can be blamed

for everything done in-in-in-in its

name but we'll take this up later.

Well, now, here's a thing.

You see the article in here about

Atlantis? There's a new theory.

Off Norway, they reckon.

When it sank,

it must've caused a tidal wave,

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