Sirens Page #4

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- Just closed a few minutes ago.

- Well, the main bar's open.

- The main bar's for men.

- Don't worry. Let's go.

- We came here for a drink.

Hey, Tom! Lewis.

Get us some drinks, will ya?

Forget 'em. They're pretending

they don't know us.

That boil in the

middle of your bum...

you should have it

looked at by a doctor.

It might go septic.

Your whole bum might fall off.

- What if we drink outside?

- That's against the law.

It's against the law

to be open on a Sunday.

Get f***ed.

One, two, three!

- Your mother's a trade unionist?

- Yep.

The sort that'd put people like you

up against a wall and shoot 'em.

- My family aren't wealthy.

- What does your father do?

- He's an antiques dealer.

- Mine was a sailor.

He's dead.

Taken by a shark?

Blown to bits in a battle.

They only ever found his foot.

- What's funny?

- I'm sorry.

One, two, three!

- Let go of my foot.

- One, two, three!

- Let go of my foot!

- One, two, three!

You haven't caught us yet.

All right, girls. Jiggle your biceps.

This'll be piss easy.

Charge!

- Hopeless!

- Pitiful!

- Kelly O'Hara!

- Sean Connolly!

- Seamus O'Hurd!

- Patrick O'Shaugnessy!

I'm gonna be honest with you. I find

your lustful women preposterous.

- That doesn't surprise me.

- I am married, Lindsay,

so I do have some experience

of the opposite sex.

I can assure you my wife is about

as far from your debauched harridans

as animal is from vegetable.

And which is she, Mr Campion?

- Sorry.

- Animal or vegetable?

What are you doing, Giddy?

Dancing away all my impure thoughts.

I'm filled with them.

You should be doing it.

You need to more than me.

Oh, not you, Estella.

She needs to more than anyone.

Ah, the world's going round.

What are you picturing

in your mind, Giddy?

Nothing.

- You're getting slippery.

- What do you mean?

I know somewhere...

where she'd be really ticklish.

Don't.

He leaps from rock to rock

with the grace of a mountain goat.

- You all right?

- Rose. Yes, I'm fine, thank you.

- Just a bit out of breath.

- Were you running?

Walking.

Briskly.

I think it's time

you paid a visit to Mr Devlin.

I don't chase men.

It's undignified.

What's that in his hand?

- It looks like Estella's hat.

- Yes.

I...I lost it when I went out for

a walk. He must've picked it up.

So that's why you were blushing

in the car.

I was feeling ill, I told you.

Let me go.

You ticklish?

Excuse me.

Would you...please untie me?

Please, will you untie me?

My hands are going to sleep.

Thank you.

- That tunic suits you.

- I thought we might go to evensong.

All right, I'll go and change.

So must I.

- Where were you?

- We went into the town.

You went to the pub.

I can smell it on your breath.

Why are you wearing

that ridiculous outfit?

It's...part of what they've been

using in the latest paintings.

Yes, I'm well aware of that.

Does this mean

you'll be doing some modelling?

There's no need to be offensive.

- Estella, what's wrong?

- Nothing is wrong!

In its long history, one of

the enduring strengths of the Church

has been its capacity

to withstand persecution,

insult and ridicule.

Since its inception,

those who have sought to

mock Christians have been legion.

Even Jesus Christ Himself

felt their lash -

on the street, in the marketplace,

even at the end on the cross.

"Where are you now,

you King of the Jews?"

they called out to Him in his agony.

In every age,

still more come forward

to scorn His name

and to defame His most sacred images.

But true Christians,

secure in their faith,

can identify such detractors

for what they are -

the disciples of the devil,

the destroyers of all

that is precious in family life,

the harbingers of darkness and chaos.

Please be seated.

- What on earth is wrong with you?

- Nothing.

What strange, deluded, conceited

creatures we human beings are.

We think we have secrets

but how can we have secrets

from God,

who knows our innermost thoughts

every moment of the day?

Giddy, what's wrong?

He's in the studio.

He's staying there tonight.

I'm going to seduce him.

You're drunk.

Did he say anything...

anything about me

- when he untied you?

- No.

He's too shy, you see?

I think you should lie down

for a while.

We're so out of touch

with our passions.

I mean, I'm such

a bourgeois little thing,

too scared even to reveal myself

to a painter.

I'm going to start walking around

without any clothes on

because, well,

clothes are just ost...

"ostentatious figments

of middle-class imagination."

That's Pru's nonsense.

It's just a bit cold tonight.

Well, I'd better go and get ready.

This is the first day

of my new life.

No, the first night

of my new life.

She'll have to cross the Arafura Sea.

She'll be here in a few days.

What are you trying to do?

Look. This is where Amy Johnson's

got to in her plane.

She was almost eaten by cannibals.

What are you trying to do to Giddy?

She'll make a fool of herself.

You've seen her.

She's about to burst out of her skin.

- She doesn't know what she's doing.

- Why are you so concerned?

- You jealous?

- Don't be ridiculous.

- You like him too, don't you?

- We didn't speak when he untied me.

- You didn't need to.

- You're really shocking.

Your characters all seem so ravenous.

Can't love ever be gentle?

Yes, of course it can,

but I'm not painting love scenes.

Sorry, yes - "lust scenes."

But there is a fierceness in desire,

isn't there? In lovemaking?

One of life's great conundrums.

The only one,

according to your paintings.

I admit that the human universe

is infinitely richer

than my meagre palette.

For instance,

I do absolutely no justice at all

to the nervous Nellies and

the shrinking violets, the saints...

You're very contemptuous

of shrinking violets.

Dear Estella,

I'm a shrinking violet myself.

I choose to live

not in the real world but in here.

I flee from the real world

into my little studio

and there before me is the

unlimited canvas of my imagination.

But your paintings,

they do go out into the real world.

While you have a wonderful

imagination, most are stunted

and you have no idea what effect

they'll have on people

or what they might

incite them to. Rape?

Mr Campion, in my opinion,

the female body is the most

beautiful thing in the world

and if it turns you into a ravenous

maniac I'd suggest it's a good idea

if your wife takes the greatest care

to get undressed behind a screen.

Estella's seen the pictures too.

Are we in danger from her?

You're so patronizing, Mr Campion.

Everyone has a rich imagination.

What stunts it

is capitalist exploitation.

Go to Soviet Russia

where they've been liberated,

there's an explosion of creativity.

Have you been to Soviet Russia, Pru?

Have you?

I thought for a moment someone knew

what they were talking about.

Communism has exploded every value,

leaving a vacuum of moral anarchy.

- Anarchy is freedom!

- Balls! Sorry. Sorry.

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