Page 179 of Edge of Eternity (The Century 3)

"How can we guarantee that?"

"Could you deploy U.S. troops near Birmingham, but not actually in the city? That would demonstrate support for the agreement. Connor and Wallace would know that if they misbehave, they will forfeit their power. But it would not give the whites the chance to renege on the deal."

They talked it up and down for a while, and in the end that was what they decided to do.

George and a small subgroup moved to the Cabinet Room to draft a statement for the press. The president's secretary typed it. Press conferences were usually held in Pierre Salinger's office, but today there were too many reporters and television cameras for that room, and it was a warm spring evening, so the announcement was made in the Rose Garden. George watched President Kennedy step outside, stand in front of the world's press, and say: "The Birmingham agreement was and is a just accord. The federal government will not permit it to be sabotaged by a few extremists on either side."

Two steps forward, one step back, and two more forward, George thought; but we make progress.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Dave Williams had a plan for Saturday night. Three girls from his class at school were going to the Jump Club in Soho, and Dave and two other boys had said, casually, that they might meet the girls there. Linda Robertson was one of the girls. Dave thought she liked him. Most people assumed he was thick, because he always came bottom of the class in exams, but Linda talked to him intelligently about politics, which he knew about because of his family.

Dave was going to wear a new shirt with startlingly long collar points. He was a good dancer--even his male friends conceded that he had a stylish way of doing the Twist. He thought he had a good chance of starting a romance with Linda.

Dave was fifteen but, to his intense annoyance, most girls of his age preferred older boys. He still winced when he remembered how, more than a year ago, he had followed the enchanting Beep Dewar, hoping to steal a kiss, and had found her locked in a passionate embrace with eighteen-year-old Jasper Murray.

On Saturday mornings the Williams children went to their father's study to receive their weekly allowances. Evie, who was seventeen, was given a pound; Dave got ten shillings. Like Victorian paupers, they often had to listen to a sermon first. Today Evie was given her money and dismissed, but Dave was told to wait. When the door closed, his father, Lloyd, said: "Your exam results are very bad."

Dave knew that. In ten years of schooling he had failed every written test he had ever taken. "I'm sorry," he said. He did not want to get into an argument: he just wanted to take his money and go.

Dad was wearing a check shirt and a cardigan, his Saturday morning outfit. "But you're not stupid," he said.

"The teachers think I'm thick," Dave said.

"I don't believe that. You're intelligent, but lazy."

"I'm not lazy."

"What are you, then?"

Dave did not have an answer. He was a slow reader, but worse than that he always forgot what he had read as soon as he turned the page. He was a poor writer, too: when he wanted to put "bread" his pen would write "beard" and he would not notice the difference. His spelling was atrocious. "I got top marks in oral French and German," he said.

"Which only proves you can do it when you try."

It did not prove any such thing, but Dave did not know how to explain that.

Lloyd said: "I've thought long and hard about what to do, and your mother and I have talked about it endlessly."

This sounded ominous to Dave. What the hell was coming now?

"You're too old to be spanked, and anyway we never had much faith in physical punishment."

That was true. Most kids were smacked when they misbehaved, but Dave's mother had not struck him for years; his father, never. What bothered Dave now, however, was the word punishment. Clearly he was in for it.

"The only thing I can think of, to force you to concentrate on your studies, is to withdraw your allowance."

Dave could not believe what he was hearing. "What do you mean, withdraw?"

"I'm not giving you any more money until I see an improvement in your schoolwork."

Dave had not seen this coming. "But how am I supposed to get around London?" And buy cigarettes, and get into the Jump Club, he thought in a panic.

"You walk to school anyway. If you want to go anywhere else, you'll have to do better in your lessons."

"I can't live like that!"

"You get fed for nothing, and you have a wardrobe full of clothes, so you won't lack for much. Just remember that if you don't study, you'll never have the money to get around."

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