Problems, Problems

Keast did not try to leave. He stood, folded the handkerchief into exact quarters, and spoke to the hall as if to a committee.

"I believe, and I still believe, that a sociology which refuses to engage with those who govern leaves governing to people who have never read a page of it. Marian asked me to stand where it happened. I stood. She said she would take the licence to the standards committee at ten the next morning. And then she said a thing I have not stopped hearing." His voice stayed level, which was worse. "She said: 'Roland, you've turned every person in this city into a column. When you look at that water, which column is it?'"

He looked at the empty place in the front row. "There was a red lever with the word PUSH on it. It took four seconds. I have replayed them more often than any footnote I have ever written. I went back inside with my pass because I told myself an unlit quay is an accident, and the Strategy has always been very good at absorbing accidents."