The Uninvited

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Stephanie registers it, she doesn’t let itshow. Her eyes stay concentrated onFreddy.Stephanie says urgently, ‘And how doyou feel when you and your friends talkabout how to kill grown-ups?’ Freddylooks up and crumples his empty crisppacket and grins slowly. Who is he now?His eyes are panes of blue light.‘It’s epic,’ he says. ‘We feel good.’And he smiles wider. You can see all histeeth and the gaps between.<strong>The</strong> door opens. It’s Kaitlin. She sees meright away. Her voice is cold. ‘Well helloeveryone.’Raindrops glitter in her hair.‘Hello Kaitlin,’ I say. She looks olderthan when I last saw her, three months
ago. But she is still beautiful and her hairis still messy and piled high, like a bird’snest. I see some grey in it now, at thetemples. She’s brandishing a bouquet ofwhite roses.‘Hi Mum,’ says Freddy. He’s looking inthe Lego box for a plastic cog.‘Hello pumpkin,’ says Kaitlin.Stephanie leaps to her feet. ‘Hey.Lovely that you’re back so early.’She reaches to touch her, but Kaitlinblocks it by flinging the bouquet and herhandbag on to the sofa, then turning herback to remove her raincoat. She isdressed differently from usual, in brightcolours: Jade Mist and Sea-Burst. I quoteSanderson, 1993. <strong>The</strong>y hurt my retinas.Stephanie must have had an influence.‘Mum and Steph are lesbians,’ Freddy
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For Clare Blatchford ReesAn inspira
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CONTENTSPrologueChapter 1Chapter 2C
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PROLOGUEMass hysterical outbreaks r
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she’d put it to her father’s fa
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pewter glint of the Atlantic. I’d
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Taiwan working flat out on the sabo
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The TV showed a semi-detached house
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existence. Ever since the High Ener
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stepson aiming his catapult at anot
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attracted you to Hesketh when you f
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the package called Hesketh Lock and
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some of the ‘normal social graces
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of the country, or even abroad, to
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evidence of dark forces: demons, sh
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selling tofu, lychees, starfruit, s
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cross-culture specialist, who has a
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aid triggered further investigation
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several hours, kept awake by coffee
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The next morning I was at the timbe
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though my Chinese was unfortunately
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computer. It all added up, and he a
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Martin Yeh sighed. ‘If I had been
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police asked me the same thing. And
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The loading of the trunks and the s
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His face mask hid his features. I
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drying up from the wood dust.‘The
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He shook his head. ‘It’s bad. L
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the concrete prairie. I like to be
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and paint-colour charts (here I use
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do what they want.’ As he spoke,
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He took a deep breath. ‘The spiri
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they are all dead. But they are ali
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Chen seemed absorbed in his ownthou
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the city. Up here, we were right on
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shaking the black-stemmed bamboos a
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with gold. Hell notes. Each leaf of
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leg. I would have bent it to form a
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The laugh came again. ‘Sure, I wi
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settled it on the marble slab betwe
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‘I made it,’ he said. ‘That
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‘Do you fear that there will be a
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sandalwood. I recognised it instant
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it from me. I need to know why.’
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should not ask.’‘Later she regr
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too.’ I meant it.‘We will say g
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As the taxi drove off, I looked bac
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oof had lost a few tiles, and a dea
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starting these miniature contained
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the surface in tiny bubbles likecha
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‘I know your mum has already talk
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to do. So I cleaned it up. A few mi
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toothpaste.Sometimes we pretended w
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Taiwan whistle-blower?’Sunny Chen
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said? Sunny Chen. Your factory-mana
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don’t feel anything.But I do feel
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feelings: they are a component of t
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‘Ashok. Just tell me.’‘Er, Je
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She is generally considered to beex
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here and there, white blobs in a mu
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publicity generated by a disgruntle
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The French term un acte manquédesc
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CHAPTER 3Sometime at the end of the
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Taiwan report. Chen’s suicide mea
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visible behind his left ear. I don
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the matter in hand, so I say, ‘I
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applied it. Last Christmas he sent
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doodling a bunch of amoeba fucking,
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over.’I was doing a tricky blintz
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stuck through their combs where the
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Station in Copenhagen, where I chan
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The morning after my arrival in Sto
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confused.’‘Is there no explanat
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not Japanese and nor is Lars Axel,
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If I am on to something, my blood f
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invent, and get messy. He is a fan
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choose it a name.’ He is very kee
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woodlouses.’ His voice has change
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field of study and secondly because
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dog. But she would like one. I ask
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established a definitive momentum m
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‘No, but I’d like to,’ I tell
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interrupted sex with the demographe
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her smile, and led to her questioni
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applying for. She told me she wante
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By now I have studied Sverige Banke
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CHAPTER 4When Ashok skypes me in th
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‘Swiss-German. Attending a UNconf
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a state of enlightenment. Was thiss
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Svensson is probably in her mid-fif
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violent. Never. He’s become anoth
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happened at the bank.’‘So sit d
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‘The fucking . . . creature. It
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doctor buzzes an alarm. ‘You fuck
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follow. Outside, others are chasing
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on his mobile phone. Within seconds
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Svensson and what followed. When I
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combination with other things, have
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get it over with.’ They look at e
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else the image freezes. So I say,
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Then I text Ashok asking for thedim
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Men attacking institutions that the
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fingers across the bicep, and a thu
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gum in his mouth. Numerous studies
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neurophysiology of self-deception.
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fears which dominated the lives of
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they had done.The Venn diagram in m
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significance, on some level. ‘Som
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would be catastrophic for farming -
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‘Well, enjoy the rest of your lif
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‘And what kind of fucked-up weird
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He’ll shout, ‘Jesus Christ, Hes
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she once claimed to find endearing.
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the car and we put the dead body in
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grow and then we eat the plants,’
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is Afghan, so I try out a few words
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day here, so at 8am local time I co
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only travel in one direction. But n
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shown that there are dimensions tha
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At 10.30 I am heading upwards in a
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the rest are erecting and dismantli
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ig muscled arm to show me ‘the wo
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lady, Halla. Very traditional. Can
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they feature as recent additions to
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overloaded now. I rock harder and h
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child he stops licking his arm, he
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Later, when I am being interrogated
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him. I didn’t push him.’ I say
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matter as you’ll be dead. But som
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e shouting.I don’t usually shout.
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construction elevator. Its slow sha
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against my faith. And it’s not in
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and he crumbled something into it.
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with three daughters. One said she
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de Vries then Mazoor could solve th
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it seemed. And I heard her too. She
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observes them, then looks up at me.
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To the mother-root, when they haveb
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epresentations are highly accurate.
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speculations it has led to.‘I bel
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honeybee. Serviced by a million dro
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one. Quite rare, though it’s on t
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This day has not been a good one so
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comes to escort me back to my hotel
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CHAPTER 6There is an explanation fo
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At the time though, there was nocon
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version. Lot and his wife and daugh
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many tribes of Africa. He’d have
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Is she beautiful? Most of my maleco
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‘Whatever it is, now is not the t
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speculation, I have to tell you. As
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glass as I speak.‘With Chen it’
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uprising. And there are other thing
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together?’I grab a napkin and dra
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Care Units for them. Drafted an arm
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A classic distancing technique. You
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‘A small figure,’ I say. ‘Chi
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esults I’m waiting on. It may mea
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Page 323 and 324: ‘Superstition was part of Hesketh
Page 325 and 326: Whybray.‘The girl,’ I say. ‘I
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Page 329 and 330: their sudden, intense camaraderie a
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Page 337 and 338: strain to hear it. ‘Don’t think
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Page 341 and 342: No. I am not OK.I clear my throat.
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Page 347 and 348: CHAPTER 8Kaitlin’s house, built i
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Page 355 and 356: ‘I say, ond som jooz. Ploz.’A m
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Page 361 and 362: ‘What do you mean, Freddy?’ ask
Page 363 and 364: Three ways to die. ‘Except there
Page 365 and 366: He shrugs. ‘You saw the girl with
Page 367: Freddy K?’He wipes his nose on hi
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Page 373 and 374: Freddy and Hesketh both want to see
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Page 379 and 380: has flown up around her neck, distu
Page 381 and 382: I go to the window I see only one p
Page 383 and 384: make you spaghetti. Out in the kitc
Page 385 and 386: Stephanie says, ‘My sister says i
Page 387 and 388: him into another mood. He pulls awa
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Page 391 and 392: Care Unit. In the meantime there’
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Page 395 and 396: At five, Stephanie calls from the h
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Page 399 and 400: ‘Yep?’‘It was an accident. No
Page 401 and 402: Freddy is a collector, and tins are
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Page 415 and 416: lind!’ he calls after me as I lea
Page 417 and 418: Professor Whybray - but the line’
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nuts. I don’t know where he got h
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‘Hesketh.’ That reedy, throaty
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swayed by the culture.’‘You onc
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‘Secondary hysteria?’ Is that w
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‘Well the human extinction lobby
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anomalies. ‘Any eye infections am
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living in the cottage on the island
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‘What do you mean, bones?’I rec
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options to choose from on the BBC
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anomalies, this information is unli
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calls again. She sounds exhausted,
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Freddy down,’ I say. ‘You need
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changes often occur in patients who
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information it contains.I’d antic
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of denial, anger, bargaining, depre
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did. In a manner of speaking.’ I
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crap they wanted. There’s no way
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intrigued me.If Freddy and I were g
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the vast orange ziggurat of Sainsbu
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taller, but not much older. Ten per
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signal again. The sign of the eye.
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camera angled at us from the corner
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left with a glass door, through whi
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you can join the others. OK?’‘Y
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telling if it’s peaked. And there
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where he waves at the three supervi
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‘Glossolalia?’‘Except that I
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eaching in his pocket. ‘Phone cal
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I ask, ‘Do you have children?’S
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ecame intimate, we would have to ha
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emarkable,’ says Professor Whybra
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I pull up a seat and glance through
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eyes.’I jump up. ‘That fits!’
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world with no adults, no toilets, n
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answer. ‘He’s still Freddy. His
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from life itself. If I am ‘waterp
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CHAPTER 11The practical side of loo
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on his head. ‘Freddy K. Mum’s i
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next to the basin. ‘We were talki
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eyes and it is as if the clock has
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means?’I watch him in the rear-vi
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for a place to settle. Her hair is
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Stephanie together, the images I co
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Stephanie. ‘Thank you, Hesketh.
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she calls after me: ‘I heard toda
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CHAPTER 12‘It was a disgrace,’
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‘believed to be the work of anarc
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a distaste for it. Contempt, even.
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call it the White Death.’ The pro
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e born and then you made us live li
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hand on my shoulder. ‘Good work,
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the unexpected. And then adapt. It
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few, Hesketh. Hold on to that.’We
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‘Hey!’ calls a male voice. I gl
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lessing.’As we approach, a couple
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two worlds can occupy the same spac
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Vries jumped. I say urgently, ‘Pr
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gently tries to prise her off. But
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donning face masks. I call out a br
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‘The reason for that is that supe
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I slide some origami paper from the
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global economy, bang goes capitalis
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its knees. You heard about the arre
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heading back to the Stone Age. At l
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Ashok waves him into a seat and ask
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what Svensson’s autopsy showed. I
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They’re children for ever, like P
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‘Hesketh,’ she says evenly, ‘
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I give the short version.‘So I an
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out what impact this has on our oth
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‘Stop,’ I say. ‘This is now.
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and started writing very fast. So I
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Professor Whybray drops his noteboo
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CHAPTER 14Kaitlin Kalifakidis is de
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Kawasaki rose in an envelope marked
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forced into a wide detour: a burst
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since she organised this event, she
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While the others head for the group
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Mazoor. Mrs Helena Whybray’s. She
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My belief is that when you die, tha
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Freddy starts clicking his tongue.G
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‘No,’ he whispers. Then he stan
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nodding at the door. ‘Go now.’A
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has no power in it. My groin is thu
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‘Where are you?’ I keep my voic
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wearing a necklace like the one Fre
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with no sign of human life. I can i
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shouts, violent elbowing, shoving a
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comprising ten or so kids. Then the
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Then the world shrinks to a pinpric
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which forms a little tent. I don’
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the pillows behind my head.My mouth
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unexplained anomaly of the kidneys.
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CHAPTER 15The next morning I wake i
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pointing upward. ‘That’s lasagn
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another soldier on guard. I show hi
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een cordoned off. Some soldiers are
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notebook and then find Naomi.‘How
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hand-prints in human blood.Freddy i
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The door has a small reinforcedwind
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‘Because there’s one in here.
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She puts a hand on my shoulder.‘Y
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Freddy in the car again. They haves
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of human history has begun.
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after a storm. We’d walk beyond t
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Svensson. Here’s where I’ll exp
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attention - or seemed to, until I s
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pressed him further. Why I kept dig
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the island, he told me. All native
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to me daily, sometimes hourly. And
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There is a lot more in this vein. M
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We are a species in crisis: a speci
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the one I made for Sunny Chen. Irem
Page 645 and 646:
what happens next, Freddy?’ He do
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eality.Once upon a time the Earth w
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‘Stop. It means we want you to st
Page 651 and 652:
think. They’ve come back to stop
Page 653 and 654:
swivelling in my chair and watching
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new course is set. You know that,He
Page 657 and 658:
metaphysics of being. I am not a gr
Page 659 and 660:
you open them out, their intended s
Page 661 and 662:
encouragement.My thanks also go to
Page 663 and 664:
for the Orange Prize for Fiction an
Page 665 and 666:
Also Available by Liz JensenThe Rap
Page 667 and 668:
The Ninth Life of LouisDraxNine-yea
Page 669 and 670:
My Dirty Little Book ofStolen TimeI
Page 671 and 672:
War Crimes for theHomeLonglisted fo
Page 673 and 674:
Click for more information
Page 675 and 676:
a world of compulsive consumption,
Page 677 and 678:
Since the year all British women be
Page 679 and 680:
sister for backup, Hazel Sugden, fo
Page 681:
SydneyA CIP catalogue record for th
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The Uninvited

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