1984 - Planet eBook

a dice-box, and laughing excitedly. His mother was sittingopposite him and also laughing.It must have been about a month before she disappeared.It was a moment of reconciliation, when the nagging hungerin his belly was forgotten and his earlier affection forher had temporarily revived. He remembered the day well,a pelting, drenching day when the water streamed downthe window-pane and the light indoors was too dull to readby. The boredom of the two children in the dark, crampedbedroom became unbearable. Winston whined and grizzled,made futile demands for food, fretted about the roompulling everything out of place and kicking the wainscotinguntil the neighbours banged on the wall, while theyounger child wailed intermittently. In the end his mothersaid, ‘Now be good, and I’Il buy you a toy. A lovely toy—you’ll love it’; and then she had gone out in the rain, to alittle general shop which was still sporadically open nearby,and came back with a cardboard box containing an outfitof Snakes and Ladders. He could still remember the smellof the damp cardboard. It was a miserable outfit. The boardwas cracked and the tiny wooden dice were so ill-cut thatthey would hardly lie on their sides. Winston looked at thething sulkily and without interest. But then his mother lit apiece of candle and they sat down on the floor to play. Soonhe was wildly excited and shouting with laughter as the tiddly-winksclimbed hopefully up the ladders and then cameslithering down the snakes again, almost to the startingpoint.They played eight games, winning four each. His tinysister, too young to understand what the game was about,