BACK LIST
Collected Poems Rupert Brooke (Sidgwick & Jackson £7.95 each) Light-hearted letters (relatively). plus the well-known war poems.
I Robert Louis Stevenson James Pope-Henncssy (Cassell £7.95) Another version of RI-S’s colourful life and times.
g I’ ‘ I ‘ . 1 4" ~ .“ \ I
I Kindly Leave The Stage: The Story of Variety 1919—1960 Roger Wilmut (Methuen £7.99) History. glossary and comic sketches of and from those all-singing. all-clowning. all-dancing days.
I Tianenmen Diary: Thirteen Days In June Harrison E. Salisbury (Unwin Hyman £5.99) I~Iot-off-the-press. first hand account of the unforgettable events in (‘hina by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist.
I Will You sun Love Me Tomorrow“): I
olrl Groups From The 508 On Charlotte : Greig(Virago £9.99) Doo wopto hip : hop. sexploitation to liberation - it‘s all in here.
I Counterblasts: Into The Dangerous World Marina Warner(Chatto £2.99) Another in the polemical pamphlet : series.Warnerlooksat'I‘hatcher‘s l children.or childrenunder I Thatcher, and argues that they might be better off not being born at all.
I Beyond The Bordechnny Robertson (Chapman £3.95) Third
in the New Writing Series from one ofScotland's leading literary magazine lights. Robertson‘s better
EVENTS i
Glasgow
I Book Trust Scotland continues its autumn programme ofevents with a conference. Books Are For Everyone. on the importance of literacy. with special emphasis on children's reading. Anyone with an interest in the subject should contact the Book Trust on ()41 3320391 for details.
Edinburgh
I The tercentenary exhibition. 300 Years, 300 Books. continues at the National Library ofScotland. George IV Bridge. until 11 November. Open Mon—Fri
9.3(lam—5pm. Sat 9.3(lam—lpm and Sun 2—5pm. Free.
LEARN FRENCH WITH THE FRENCH
- LANGUAGE CLASSES AT ALL LEVELS -
Classes for Adults and Children Regular and Intensive Courses Business French
CLASSES START MONDA Y 2ND OCTOBER ENROLMENT FROM MONDA Y 18TH SEPTEMBER
suonr sronv
REPEAT PLEASE
A vividly painted short story by Edinburgh writer Dilys Rose.
She rings the doorbell. She speaks through the entryphone. It is noon. She is always on time. sometimes a little bit early. She says ‘Hello. it's Jane. Teacher.‘ TeacherJane thinks I do not remember her voice from one week to the next. I press the button and the downstairs door opens for her. I wait for her to knock on my door.
When Teacher Jane knocks on my door I open it. This is the arrangement. She comes once a week to teach me English words. She says ‘Hello. how are you.‘ She smiles a big smile. She wants that I say ‘I am very well thank you.‘ I say only ‘Come‘ and she follows me inside.
I am not so very well thank you. I am cold. Since I have been here. since I came down the steps of the plane at London three years ago I feel as if the sun has not touched me. It rained the day I arrived. not the rain we have at home. not the big bright drops which crash down and vanish. Here the rain wraps itself around you like a wet sari.
Ali met me at the airport. He was holding an umbrella and a raincoat. He gave me the coat. He told me I would need a coat. He took my suitcase and began walking. I
followed him. We travelled by bus,
by train. We walked up a windy street and stopped at the downstairs door. He showed me my name next to his on the entryphone. We walked up the stairs. He took me inside. The flat was empty. He told me this would be home. It is not home. It is only a house.
When Teacher Jane comes I am tired. Since Izmir was born I do not sleep. I try to sleep but the baby wakes me. or my dreams do.
I am walking. feeling the hot earth under my feet. I am walking to the river. the wide slow yellow river. Beside me is my sister. She has her small pitcher on her head. A plane crosses the sky and we look up. It is not one of the great white birds which brings wives to husbands across the world. It is small and black, buzzing. My sister does not know the difference. She waves at it and runs down the bank into the water.
When Jane rings my doorbell I do not want to answer it. I do not want this to be my door. I cannot step outside into the yard and throw rice to the chickens. I cannot pick fruit from the tree. Teacher Jane says ‘Hello how are you‘ I say only ‘Come’ because that is all that is necessary. Jane is not doctor. She is teacher of words only. She cannot make baby eat. cannot mend my dreams. She cannot find Ali a better job. He goes out in the morning early. He comes home in the middle ofthe night. I get up. prepare some food. He cats. he tells me how many curries were sold at the restaurant. He smokes some cigarettes and goes to sleep. Ali goes to sleep and I lie beside him. waiting for the baby to wake up.
We wade until we are waist deep. We begin to wash. my sister splashing and ducking her head underwater. On the far bank. the ferry is loading up with passengers, the local ferry which has standing room only. in one straight line. I count seven women. one little old man.
On the far bank it is peaceful. There is a temple. a small tea plantation and a forest oftall trees. My grandfather told us that these trees came all the way from Scotland. He would go to the forest often. to walk. he‘d say. but with only one leg he did not walk so much. Mostly he would sleep in the shade of the Scottish trees.
Teacher Jane sits on the bed and opens her bag. She takes out a notebook and a pencil. This is the lesson beginning. She empties the contents of her bag on to the floor, piece by piece. She stops at each item and says its name. She says this name two or three times then I must ‘Repeat please‘. When Jane‘s bag is empty — and my room is untidy again — she asks me the names again and I
remember one or two. Paper pencil book — always Jane has books and newspapers and magazines. I think in her house she must have only books and magazines because each
so The List 15 — 28 September I989