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WILLIAM. Judith. Before Samuel gets back... I have a few more questions.

  JUDITH. Oh?

  WILLIAM. I need to ask about your... conjugal relations.

  JUDITH looks at WILLIAM, shocked.

  Nothing to worry about. Just a few easy questions.

  JUDITH. Why do you want to ask me about that?

  WILLIAM. I have to examine every part of my patient. Otherwise how can I be sure that I haven’t left the tumour festering in the dark?

  WILLIAM tries a reassuring smile. JUDITH stares at him.

  I thought, given what you’ve said about Samuel’s illness, that you’d prefer it if I put my questions to you. But I can put them to Samuel when –

  JUDITH. No. I’ll answer.

  WILLIAM. Good. Could you sit down?

  JUDITH sits at the table.

  Judith. You and Samuel have no heir. This puts the long-term future of this farm in jeopardy.

  JUDITH. We’re trying for another baby.

  WILLIAM. Ah. Good. That’s good.

  WILLIAM makes a note.

  You are having regular... sexual intercourse?

  JUDITH nods. WILLIAM makes a note.

  With your husband?

  JUDITH. What?

  WILLIAM. I have to ask. Are you having intercourse with Samuel, or with other men?

  JUDITH. With Sam!

  WILLIAM. And is your husband having intercourse with anyone else? A neighbour, perhaps... Sarah?

  JUDITH. No. Of course not. He’s not... We’re not like that!

  WILLIAM makes notes.

  WILLIAM. How many times a week do you have sexual intercourse? On average?

  JUDITH. I don’t know. Once. Twice.

  WILLIAM. Have your sexual habits changed over the last year?

  JUDITH. No.

  WILLIAM. Does Samuel suggest new or unusual practices?

  JUDITH. No.

  WILLIAM. No violence or...

  JUDITH. No!

  WILLIAM. Good. Uh. In what position do you usually... uh.

  WILLIAM takes a breath. Swallows.

  Face to face? Or does he... uh... from behind...?

  JUDITH. I don’t see how that –

  WILLIAM. Answer the question.

  JUDITH. Face to face.

  WILLIAM. Is it... good?

  JUDITH. What?

  WILLIAM. Is it good? Does he... does he make you orgasm?

  JUDITH stares at him. WILLIAM looks away, flushed.

  The door opens and SAMUEL walks in.

  SAMUEL. More questions?

  SAMUEL glowers at WILLIAM. WILLIAM flips his notebook shut and puts it away.

  WILLIAM. Nothing important. I’m finished now.

  SAMUEL. Finished? You’re going then?

  WILLIAM. I’m finished for today.

  SAMUEL. Huh.

  JUDITH. Dinner’s nearly ready.

  JUDITH gives SAMUEL a quick kiss on the cheek. He’s not expecting it.

  Casserole. You like casserole.

  SAMUEL. Aye. Aye.

  SAMUEL takes off his coat and hangs it up. He washes his hands at the sink, and dries them with a clean tea towel.

  Temperature’s dropping. Might be a frost tonight.

  JUDITH. Good. It’ll make the leeks sweet.

  SAMUEL sits down at the table opposite WILLIAM. He takes some bread, butters it and tears off a chunk with his teeth. Chewing, he looks at WILLIAM. WILLIAM squirms a little under his gaze.

  SAMUEL. How old are you, Mr Bloor?

  WILLIAM. I’m nineteen.

  SAMUEL. ’S young.

  WILLIAM. As I was telling Judith earlier... I began my training at the age of five.

  SAMUEL. How many farms you been to then? How many...

  JUDITH. Investigations.

  SAMUEL. Aye.

  WILLIAM. Three.

  SAMUEL. Huh.

  WILLIAM. I’m fully qualified, Samuel.

  SAMUEL. Did they have foxes, those other farms?

  JUDITH. That’s none of our business. I’m sorry, William.

  WILLIAM. I’m happy to say that my other investigations led me to conclude that the farms were simply victims of bad management and nothing more sinister.

  SAMUEL. Bad farmers.

  WILLIAM. Exactly.

  JUDITH. What happened to them?

  WILLIAM. I recommended that the farmers remain in residence and simply... try harder.

  JUDITH is heartened to hear this.

  JUDITH. You gave them a second chance.

  WILLIAM. I did what I thought best for the productivity of the farms in question.

  JUDITH brings warm plates and a jug of water and puts them on the table.

  SAMUEL. He found a rabbit skull, Jude. Did he tell you?

  JUDITH. No.

  SAMUEL. It’s a symbol, he says. A warning.

  JUDITH. Oh?

  WILLIAM. It could be. It’s too early to say definitively.

  SAMUEL. How long will it take to say?

  WILLIAM. It’s too early to say.

  SAMUEL glowers at WILLIAM. Annoyed, WILLIAM glares back.

  JUDITH gets the casserole dish out of the oven and brings it to the table. She puts on a smile.

  JUDITH. Shall we eat?

  7

  WILLIAM is sitting on the bed, his head in his hands.

  Anguished, he pulls off his nightshirt, reaches into his travelling bag and brings out a small whip.

  He kneels on the floor and begins to whip himself, bringing the whip down rhythmically over his shoulders and onto his back.

  WILLIAM. I. Am. Clean. In. Body. And. Mind.

  8

  The garden of SARAH’s farmhouse. SARAH is pegging wet clothes – mostly children’s clothes – on the line. JUDITH is helping her. Both keep one eye on their surroundings, looking out for anyone approaching.

  JUDITH. In the morning he takes some bread and he goes out. All day, even when it’s raining. He comes back covered in mud... shivering, shaking... I feel sorry for him.

  SARAH. I don’t. I hope he catches pneumonia.

  JUDITH. Sarah.

  SARAH. What’s he said? He going to give you the all-clear?

  JUDITH. I don’t know. He was friendly at first, to me at least. But now he’s gone quiet. He has dinner with us every night and he barely speaks.

  SARAH. Good. You won’t have to listen to his idiocy.

  JUDITH. A couple of times I’ve caught him looking at me...

  SARAH. Looking at you how?

  JUDITH. I’m not sure. It’s strange.

  SARAH. Well... he’s been at yours a week today. Maybe that’s how long they’re supposed to stay. Maybe tomorrow morning he’ll take his bread and his bags and bugger off.

  Pause. JUDITH doesn’t look convinced.

  Abe says the worst thing we can do is panic. It’ll make us look guilty. Arouse suspicion. We carry on as normal. All of us.

  JUDITH. I can’t be more normal without acting like a lunatic.

  SARAH smiles.

  SARAH. Did you read the pamphlet?

  JUDITH. Yes.

  SARAH. And?

  JUDITH. Who wrote it? How do you know they’re telling the truth?

  SARAH. Have you ever seen a fox? Has anyone you know ever seen a fox?

  JUDITH. Foxes are sly. Everyone knows that. Just because you can’t see them. Doesn’t mean they’re not there.

  SARAH. Wake up, Jude! It’s a fairy story, the whole thing! The foxes are gone, but anyone who speaks out, anyone who talks about their doubts... they’re arrested!

  JUDITH. Why?

  SARAH. Because they’re terrified of the truth and what it can do, that’s why! They don’t know why the weather’s gone bad, or the crops are failing, and they don’t know how to stop it. They’ve been wrong all this time, and all those people who lost their farms... all those people who died... Something like this... It could bring the whole bloody Government down.

  JUDITH. He believes it. William Bloor. He believes in what he’s doing.

  S
ARAH. Course he does. Wouldn’t be very convincing otherwise, would he? Anyone will believe anything if you get to them young enough.

  Pause. JUDITH sighs.

  JUDITH. I don’t know what to think. I just want him to give us the all-clear.

  SARAH. He’s not been over here yet. That’s a good sign. And you said he’s never found foxes before... Maybe he thinks you’re behind because of... bad management.

  JUDITH. Maybe.

  SARAH. Abe was right. No point panicking. This could all come to nothing. So long as you keep on...

  Rain begins to fall. SARAH looks up.

  JUDITH. Being normal?

  SARAH. Yes. Bloody hell.

  The women unpeg the clothes from the line as quickly as they can.

  One dry afternoon. That’s all I needed....

  They run off inside with the washing in their arms.

  9

  WILLIAM stands in his room holding a large, leather-bound book.

  WILLIAM. The red fox, Vulpes Vulpes, is as the name suggests, most usually reddish brown, but its colour ranges to silver and black. It has slender paws, a long muzzle, erect, pointed ears and a tail covered in longer hairs, giving the appearance and name ‘brush’. The eyes of the beast are a dull yellow-gold with dark, vertically oriented pupils like those of a cat.

  Usually the size of a large dog, an adult male can grow up to two and a half metres long from nose to tail tip. Novices should be aware that from a distance, a large brown dog can resemble the beast, but their silhouettes are in fact quite different. Study the diagrams and illustrations that follow and submit them to memory to aid you in your identifications.

  The fox is an omnivore and will eat almost anything; fruit, carrion, insects, and small- to medium-sized mammals such as mice and rabbits, unwary cats, small dogs, newborn lambs and sickly calves. Many incidences have been recorded of a mother leaving her baby unguarded outside for only a few seconds, returning to find it gone, taken and devoured. The beast’s bloodlust far outstrips its appetite and it will slaughter every hen in a henhouse, leaving the headless carcasses behind. A perfectly evolved killing machine, the beast’s teeth can grow up to ten centimetres in length, and its claws can disembowel a man. Sly in nature, the beast is active mainly at dusk and during the night, when it can go about its deadly work unseen.

  The beast has influence over the weather, and blights farmers’ crops with unseasonable rainfall or periods of drought. It can also cause fires (see ‘Fox Fire’, Chapter Four), and is riddled with parasites and dangerous diseases to which it is immune but which it revels in spreading about the countryside.

  The fox has powers to confuse and can send visions to the mentally unstable and disturb the dreams of the weak. Under its influence, the good and hard-working become fat, lazy alcoholics or...

  WILLIAM is disturbed. He takes a minute to collect himself.

  Or sexual perverts.

  Some are victims, turned away from their honest labours unwillingly. Others have allowed the beast to sway their minds or welcomed it with open arms. Differentiating between the guilty and the innocent is very difficult and it is better to view all those living on contaminated farms with suspicion.

  You, foxfinder, must be clean in body and mind. Always remember that the smallest fault in your character could become a crack into which the beast may insinuate himself, like water awaiting the freeze that will smash the stone apart.

  Clutching the book to his chest, WILLIAM sits down on the bed.

  10

  WILLIAM is sitting at the kitchen table. It’s almost dark. He looks nervous. He gets up. Looks out of the window. Paces. Sits back down again.

  JUDITH and SAMUEL enter in coats and boots. JUDITH has mud all over her hands and front.

  WILLIAM. Judith. Samuel. Where have you been?

  SAMUEL. Pigs got out.

  JUDITH. We’ve been out there an hour trying to catch them. I went over in the mud like an idiot. Thank God the rain let up before –

  WILLIAM. Are you injured?

  JUDITH. No, no.

  WILLIAM. Good. I’m glad you’re back. I need to –

  SAMUEL. Pigs are smart. If someone leaves their gate unlatched, they’ll open it.

  WILLIAM. I didn’t leave the gate open.

  SAMUEL. Huh.

  JUDITH. I’m sorry, William. You must be starving. I haven’t had a chance to put dinner on yet.

  SAMUEL. Could have put it on himself if he was that hungry. Don’t they teach you how to cook at your Institute?

  WILLIAM. There’s something we need to discuss.

  JUDITH. Oh.

  SAMUEL lets out a weary sigh.

  SAMUEL. Can we take our coats off first?

  WILLIAM. Yes. Yes, I suppose so.

  SAMUEL and JUDITH take off their coats. JUDITH wipes her hands clean.

  JUDITH. Should I put some coffee on?

  WILLIAM. No. Sit down. Please.

  They sit down at the table. WILLIAM takes the fox leaflet that SARAH gave to JUDITH out of his pocket and puts it on the table in front of them. He smoothes it out.

  Would either of you like to explain this?

  SAMUEL. What is it?

  WILLIAM. Propaganda. This leaflet supports the fox and his kind.

  JUDITH. Someone shoved that in my hand when I was at the market last week.

  WILLIAM. Someone?

  JUDITH. It could have been anyone. It was crowded. I meant to burn it. I’ll burn it now.

  JUDITH tries to take the pamphlet but WILLIAM takes it and puts it back in his pocket.

  WILLIAM. I’ll keep hold of that, thank you.

  JUDITH. I couldn’t throw it on the floor, could I? What if a child had picked it up... or someone saw it and thought I was the one giving them out?

  WILLIAM. I found it in the pocket of your dress.

  SAMUEL. You went through my wife’s dresses?

  WILLIAM. I searched the house and the outbuildings while you were both out today.

  SAMUEL. You’ve no right!

  WILLIAM. On the contrary. I have special dispensation to search the properties of anyone under my suspicion.

  JUDITH. I forgot about it. I forgot it was there.

  WILLIAM. You wore the dress last week. On the day Sarah Box came to see you. Didn’t you notice it still in your pocket?

  JUDITH. There’s often bits of paper in my pockets. Lists... notes...

  SAMUEL. She’s busy, for God’s sake.

  WILLIAM. Did you read it?

  JUDITH. Only enough to see what it was.

  WILLIAM nods.

  WILLIAM. I don’t think you were distributing these leaflets, Judith. But mere possession of this is enough to get you in serious trouble. You should have destroyed it as soon as you were given it.

  JUDITH. I’ll do that. If it ever happens again.

  Pause.

  WILLIAM. There’s something else. As you both know, I spent this week examining your land. Early on, I noted several ominous signs, which required further investigation.

  JUDITH. What signs?

  WILLIAM. And on the second night, I became aware that the beast was... attempting to influence me.

  JUDITH. What do you mean?

  WILLIAM. It is impossible to explain to the untrained. Rest assured, I resisted him, easily. This... incident, the signs I have mentioned and your answers to my questions have led me to conclude that this farm is indeed suffering from contamination.

  JUDITH. No. God, no.

  WILLIAM. I know this is very serious news for you both.

  SAMUEL. Did you see a fox?

  WILLIAM. I wanted to confirm or deny my fears with an actual sighting and searched for hours both during the day and –

  JUDITH. You didn’t find anything.

  WILLIAM. No.

  JUDITH. So it’s all right. You were mistaken.

  WILLIAM. I was not mistaken! It is hardly surprising that I could not find the beast after an incomplete search of only a few days. In any case, there is enough e
vidence to confirm my belief, not least the cluster of negative events that occurred here in March this year and, I think, marked the beginning of his assault.

  JUDITH. But if you haven’t seen one how can you –

  WILLIAM. I believe that the beasts may be responsible for the death of your son.

  Pause. SAMUEL and JUDITH are speechless.

  Your son was not a sleepwalker. There was no reason for him to go outside. He had never done so before. Is that not correct?

  JUDITH. He was curious. I think he woke up and went exploring.

  WILLIAM. Curious. That fits my theory.

  JUDITH. I don’t...

  WILLIAM. I suspect that the beasts were watching your house that night. They saw you, Judith, leave. They crept closer, and through the window saw you, Samuel, fall asleep. For a few moments Daniel lay unguarded and they used that time to call to him. They lured him outside. They led him into the muddy water and they laughed as he drowned.

  JUDITH. It was an accident.

  WILLIAM. There is cancer here, Judith. And if you ignore it, it will destroy you.

  JUDITH. We don’t have foxes.

  WILLIAM. Continued denial of the infestation is one of the signs of collaboration. The corrupt farmer wants to hide the truth for as long as possible so that they can continue to sabotage their own farm and –

  JUDITH. But we’d never!

  WILLIAM. – hasten the collapse of civilisation. Is that what you want? To live wild and savage? To rut in the woods, grunting and sweating like a filthy beast?

  JUDITH. No!

  WILLIAM. Then you agree with my findings? Your farm is contaminated?

  JUDITH. I... I suppose... it’s possible.

  WILLIAM nods.

  WILLIAM. Good. Good.

  JUDITH. What does this mean... for us?

  WILLIAM. I will need to perform a more extensive examination before I can make any recommendations. It may take some time.

  JUDITH takes WILLIAM’s hand.

  JUDITH. I swear to you... we’re not collaborators.

  WILLIAM is disturbed by her close proximity.

  WILLIAM. I, uh...

  He draws his hand away from hers.

  I have work to do. Could you make me a simple sandwich, and bring it to my room? Be sure to knock before you enter.

  JUDITH nods. WILLIAM goes upstairs.

  JUDITH. Oh God. What do we do now?

  SAMUEL. Make him his sandwich. You sit down. I’ll do it.