The Porcupine by Julian Barnes Page B

Crown Prince offering himself as saviour of the nation. You are proud of these swift achievements?’
    ‘There was always crime. You just lied about it.’
    ‘They sell pornography on the steps of the Mausoleum of the First Leader. You think that is funny? You think that is clever? You think that is progress?’
    ‘Well, he isn’t inside to read it.’
    ‘You think that is progress? Come on, tell me, Peter.’
    ‘I think,’ replied Solinsky, who despite his weariness retained his lawyer’s instinct for leverage, ‘I think it’s appropriate.’ Petkanov looked at him sharply. ‘The First Leader specialised in pornography, I’d say.’
    ‘There is no comparison.’
    ‘Ah, but there is, an exact one. You said you gave the people hope. No, what you gave them was fantasy. Big tits and huge cocks and everyone screwing one another endlessly, that’s what your First Leader was selling, its political equivalent anyway. Your Socialism was just such a fantasy. More of one, in fact. At least there’s some truth in what they’re selling outside the Mausoleum nowadays. Some truth in that muck.’
    ‘Who’s going in for cheap analogies now, Peter? And how delightful to hear the Prosecutor General defending pornography. You are no doubt equally proud of the inflation, the black market, the whores on the streets?’
    ‘There are difficulties,’ Solinsky admitted. ‘This is a period of transition. There have to be painful readjustments. We must understand the realities of economic life. We must make goods that people want to buy. Then we shall achieve prosperity.’
    Petkanov cackled delightedly. ‘Pornography, my dear Peter. Tits and cocks. Tits and cocks to you too.’

    ‘You know what I think?’
    ‘You think we should stop watching, Dimiter.’
    ‘Yes, but now I know why I think that.’
    ‘Beer, please.’
    ‘It’s like this. We were brought up, weren’t we, in school and with the newspapers and television and our parents, or some of them anyway, to think that Socialism was the answer to everything. I mean, that Socialism was right, was scientific, that all the old systems had been tried and didn’t work, andthat this one, this one we were lucky enough to live under, this one was … correct.’
    ‘No-one thought that, Dimiter, not really.’
    ‘Maybe not, but that’s what we thought other people thought, didn’t we, until we knew, until we found out that most of them were just pretending. And then we realised, didn’t we, that Socialism wasn’t an unanswerable political truth, and that there are two sides to every question.’
    ‘We realised that with our mother’s milk.’
    ‘Yes, there’s always a choice of two.’
    ‘Very funny, Atanas.’
    ‘So what I’m trying to say, watching this trial, day after day, listening to the prosecution, listening to the defence, waiting for the judges to decide, is that it’s being … it’s being far too nice to him.’
    ‘Because the charges are so trivial.’
    ‘No, not that at all. Because the whole thing doesn’t represent reality. Because there comes a point when there aren’t two sides to every question any more, there’s only one side. All that’s coming out of his mouth is lies and hypocrisy and irrelevant shit. It shouldn’t even be listened to.’
    ‘We should have had a moral trial?’
    ‘No, nothing at all. We should just have said, this is a question which doesn’t have another side. Just holding a trial is giving him false credit, is admitting that even in this case, even in this worst of cases, there is another side to the story. There isn’t. End. With some questions, there’s one side only. End.’
    ‘Bravo, Dimiter. Give him a beer.’
    They were silent for a while. Then Vera said, ‘We’re at Stefan’s tomorrow. Normal time.’

    ‘Lieutenant-General, anyone would think you were working for a verdict of not guilty against the former President.’
    ‘Mr Prosecutor?’ The Head of the Patriotic Security Forces was