From the Times.
Not that one, the real Times.
in London.
A new book, titled, curiously enough, Utterly Monkey:
Nick Laird’s first novel is an inventive, arresting variation on a familiar theme: that your home stays with you, wherever you go. In the case of Danny Williams, a young London lawyer with a bachelor pad in Dalston and newly single status to go with it, home is Ballyglass, a small town in the centre of Northern Ireland, where “for every Protestant business . . . there was the Roman Catholic equivalent”. This complicated “instance of the parallel universe becoming visible, as if two separate towns existed and somehow inhabited the same space” seems safely distant until Danny’s old friend Geordie pitches up on his doorstep in London...
Odd parallel universe in a single town.
Sheesh. How about a whole province?
An odd parallel world in which facts are fiction and fiction becomes fact. in which it is somehow both know to the accused and relevant that a fellow alleging the Premier flouted the province's cell phone laws is a "NAPE worker".
Sorta like the time Danny Junior got the crap kicked out of him downtown and without evidence Dad was saying the whole thing was connected to NAPE. That was the parallel universe where an experienced criminal defence lawyer suddenly didn't know the correct procedure to be followed, so he called directly to the cop shop at 4:00 AM. The fact the lawyer was also the first minister didn't enter into the issue, supposedly, at least in the first minister's skull and his call early in the wee hours would not at all influence the conduct of the investigation.
How about after he appears in staged photo ops with the chief and other police officers, in what appears to be a pretty plain violation of the police act, during and election campaign? No influence there either?
The union had nothing to do with either incident, but ya know, this latest police issue might just go away for lack of hard evidence.
Then there's the other thought, this being a parallel universe and all: that's not the first time "Danny on the cellphone in the Avalanche" has been reported in townie conversation. And cell phones these days come with cameras that take stills and movies.
So really, no matter what the outcome of this episode, it's only a matter of time before pictures of Danny start turning up all over the place.
Candid snaps.
On his cell phone.
In the Avalanche.
Out buying groceries.
Playing golf.
Boarding an airplane for parts unknown.
Picking his nose.
You name it.
The local mini-paps will be taking snaps of their Fearless Leader. They'll be posting them to facebook or sending them to blog writers or the local newspaper or television station.
And the next time something happens, there'll be instant pictures.
Yep. The place will be utterly full of shutter monkeys.
All watching Danny Williams.
-srbp-