Report on Probability A

Over the café ran a long board on which, in two sorts of letters, were printed the words ‘Stationer Family G. F. WATT Grocer Café Snacks Draper.’

G. F. Watt struggled with a machine that made noises as it sucked dirt off the floor; he was too busy to move out of G’s way. G squeezed between him and a large case that contained brightly coloured paper books and sat down at a small square table covered by a cloth printed with a design of red and white squares. G recognised the cloth. He put his hands on it as he sat down on a chair of wood constructed so that it could fold up into a small space when not in use. As G knew from a demonstration he had been given, the chair folded up efficiently, although it was not comfortable to sit on. G remembered he had once had an uncle who had sat on a chair which collapsed; G had not seen this happen, but the uncle had related the incident to him. The uncle had laughed when he related the incident.

Working methodically, G. F. Watt pushed the machine to the further end of the shop; there he switched it off and took it behind the counter, where he disappeared with it through a small door covered with an advertisement for a circus, leaving G alone in the café.

Through the café window, the front of the house could be seen; G surveyed it with care. The front door was reached by ascending two curved steps and was sheltered by a heavy stone porch, also curved, and supported by two stone pillars. To the left and the right of this door were windows. The window on the right – that is, the window nearest to the brown side gate – belonged to the sitting-room; the window to the left belonged to Mr Mary’s study. On the first floor were three windows; the one on the right, over the sitting-room, belonged to the room that was Mr Mary’s bedroom, as did the one in the middle over the front door, thus constituting the third window to this bedroom, the first one being the small bow window on the north-west side of the house visible from the wooden bungalow; the window on the left belonged to Mr Mary’s wife’s bedroom. It had red curtains. Above these windows on the first floor, which were each of the same size and smaller than the two windows on the ground floor, was the line of the roof. The angles of the roof were capped by carved stone, as was the roof tree, which bore a weathered stone urn at each end. The roof was covered by blue-grey slates. In the middle of it was a small dormer window; this window belonged to the attic; projecting from the woodwork immediately above this small window was a white flagpole no more than a metre in length, which bore no flag. G had never seen it bear a flag.

To the left of the house, a section of red-brick garden wall had been removed to make room for a garage. This garage was constructed in a style and of materials different from those of the house. Large slabs of asbestos strengthened at intervals formed three of its sides, the front being entirely formed by two doors of a light metal. Small sealed windows were set above the doors at the front and in a similar position at the rear (the rear one being concealed from G’s point of observation), the whole being capped by a corrugated metal roof.

Thus from G’s post at the table in the café he could observe seven windows belonging to Mr Mary’s property; equally, he could be observed where he sat from seven windows belonging to Mr Mary’s property. He saw no movement at any of the windows.

G. F. Watt now returned through the door bearing the advertisement for a circus. He had disposed of the cleaning machine in the back regions of his premises; he bore a tray which he carried round the counter and placed on top of the red and white squared tablecloth, pronouncing as he did so a tentative opening to a conversation.

‘Another strike in the car factory.’

‘They say the conditions are bad.’

‘Conditions have been worse.’

‘I’m sure you are quite right, that is the price we have to pay for progress – conditions have always been worse. It’s like in the fish shortages.’

‘How do you mean? This is a fine piece of poached haddock.’

‘In a fish shortage, the price of fish goes up.’

‘Taste your poached haddock.’

‘The coffee is good.’

‘The haddock?’

‘Excellent. Poached to a turn. Are you busy?’

‘I haven’t seen Mr Mary’s wife this morning.’

‘Perhaps it’s the strike?’

‘How do you mean?’

‘There’s another strike in the car factory. They say conditions are bad.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘Men hanging about the streets. She might not like to go out.’

‘I see what you mean.’

‘Men hang about in the streets, you know.’

The two men both cast their gaze into the deserted road. G. F. Watt did not remove his until G had finished the meal; even then, he continued standing exactly where he was, close behind the chair that folded efficiently, so that when G rose to go he pushed the table forward to enable himself to rise. G moved to the door, opened it and went through onto the pavement. He looked up and down the road, found it empty of cars, and crossed it, heading for the brown side gate. The brown side gate was open, as he had left it.

G went through the gate and made for the wooden bungalow. When he reached it, he put his shoulder to the door of the wooden bungalow and pushed it open. The key lay inside on the floor, on the bare boards between the threshold of the door and the first of the fibre mats with green and orange stripes. G entered the bungalow without picking up the key.

Domoladossathought,‘We’llhavetodecide.ItmaybepossibletocommunicatewithProbabilityA.We’llhavetodecide–I’llhavetodecide–whetherthesepeoplehavehumanresponses.’

Heglancedaheadatthereport.Hewantedtoknowabouttherestoftheoccupantsofthehouse.Whatdidtheydo?Whatwastheirlifeabout?

Chapter Four (#uc72d14b3-1fd0-5405-8d07-f21fc8c6d136)

As G closed his door behind him, S walked round the west corner of the house, treading on the blocks of concrete that formed the path to the brown side gate and avoiding the cracks between the blocks. He reached the brown side gate, opened it, went through it, and shut it behind him.

For a while he stood on the edge of the pavement, breathing deeply and looking to his left and to his right. A car passed him, moving slowly with a flat tyre, and disappeared down the road towards the white marble cross. S crossed the road.

He entered the café opposite the house. Nobody was there. Inside the door to the left was a small table covered with a red-and-white squared cloth which S recognised; there was a wooden chair beside the table, on which S sat; the seat of the wooden chair was not cold. S observed the house opposite. He noticed that the red curtain in one of the upper windows had not been drawn back tidily, so that it hung crookedly. He did not see anything move in any of the windows.

Behind the counter of the shop was a door covered by a poster advertising a circus that had once appeared locally; the circus had a Dozen Huge Untameable Lions performing in it. The door now opened. Through it came a man bearing a tray containing breakfast.

The man brought this tray round the counter and set the contents of the tray down upon the top of the table where S sat.

S looked down at a slice of haddock and adjusted it so that it lay in the middle of the white bone china plate. He spoke to the man who had brought the food.

‘No doubt it is a lovely morning in Tahiti this morning.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘I said, No doubt it is a lovely morning in Tahiti today.’

‘I see. Another strike at the car factory.’

‘Fish looks nice.’

‘Conditions are bad there, they tell me.’

‘I compliment you on the taste also.’

‘A fine piece of poached haddock.’

‘Why are they striking?’

‘They tell me conditions are bad there.’

‘Higher wages, I suppose? Does she speak of it?’

‘I haven’t seen her this morning; she’s afraid of men hanging about in the streets, so I hear.’

‘What men? I don’t see any.’

‘How do you mean?’