The Party Line by Sue Orr Page B

Why don’t you tell us the story? Then we can discuss it at the end.’
    ‘I’d like it if you told it, as the expert on the Bible,’ said Gabrielle. ‘If you did the talking, we could reflect.’
    It seemed that Father Brindle didn’t know how to cope with Gabrielle. He leaned back in his chair and just looked at her.
    ‘I thought it was good to reflect,’ she said. ‘Generally. When it comes to church stuff.’
    ‘It is a good thing to do,’ he said. ‘Generally. But telling a story is a good way of making sure you remember it.’
    ‘Alright then,’ said Gabrielle. ‘You should stop me, though, if I make a mistake.’
    Father Brindle nodded.
    She started her story. Herod was happy until he heard a rumour that a new baby was going to be born, and that baby could take his place as king. Herod heard that the three wise men were going to visit this new baby, so he had them followed. The three wise men were actually really wise because they took a tricky route and managed to shake off their followers.
    Everything seemed alright, said Gabrielle, but no one had counted on the stubbornness of King Herod.
    ‘Herod ordered his soldiers to go out and murder every single boy baby in the land. Just to make sure that Jesus didn’t get to be king.’
    ‘How many?’ a little kid asked.
    ‘Hundreds. Or maybe thousands. They had to bust into people’s houses and check the bedrooms for babies. If they were under two years old, then bang. Lights out.’
    ‘Can we ask questions?’ said the little kid.
    ‘Yes,’ said Gabrielle.
    ‘I thought Jesus died on the cross.’
    ‘He did,’ said Gabrielle. ‘Jesus escaped Herod’s massacre. Joseph had a dream that it was going to happen, so he sneaked baby Jesus away to safety. To Egypt.’
    Gabrielle smiled at Nickie, as she mentioned the dream. Nickie knew what the smile meant, that Gabrielle was lucky with her own dreams.
    Father Brindle said that was enough now and Gabrielle had to go back to the mat and sit down like everyone else.
    ‘But I didn’t ask my question,’ she said. ‘Was it evil?’
    ‘Was what evil?’ said Father Brindle.
    ‘The killing of babies, just because they were boys. The killing of any living creature, just because it’s a boy. Or a girl.’
    Gabrielle looked at Nickie; it took a few seconds for Nickie to understand. Bobby calves. Killed simply because they were boys.
    ‘Yes,’ Father Brindle said. ‘To kill is bad, always. But to kill babies — babies of any kind, any … sex … yes. There’s no other word for it but evil.’
     
    They would choose boy calves for Calf Club Day. It was part of the plan to stop the senseless evil killing of bobby calves. The plan was to save all of them somehow, but Nickie and Gabrielle began by pretending they couldn’t decide which boy calves they wanted. Then they really couldn’t decide.
    ‘We’ve got to take a comprehensive view of this,’ said Gabrielle.
    They were sitting on the railing of the calf pen waiting for Mrs Janssen to bring out more hot milk for the feeder.
    ‘What do you mean, comprehensive?’
    ‘The whole big picture.’
    ‘Alright.’
    ‘So, in this situation, what we need to do is imagine not just how good the calves look. And not just how well they walk when we lead them. The comprehensive picture would also include how we look, walking along with them.’
    ‘I get it,’ Nickie said, though she wasn’t sure she did.
    ‘Yep. So. When it comes to show time, we have to actually look good, too. We have to match our calves. Complement our calves. Complement is the word for it, not like paying a compliment but matching two things together well. Though if we complement our calves, we’ll probably get compliments. And ribbons.’
    Gabrielle jumped down off the fence. She held her hand out to one side, in the air.
    ‘Imagine I’m leading my calf around,’ she said. She walked slowly around the pen. Her nose was in the air and her back was straight. ‘So everyone else is