| Synopsis: |
'Now are you sure that there is nothing else, my son?' asks Canon Reilly at the end of confession. Morley Charles assures him that there isn't. But later it suddenly occurs to him that there almost certainly is, and he has been doing it enthusiastically and almost daily for the last three or four months. He should have guessed from the very beginning: anything so pleasurable has got to be sinful - even Mortally Sinful. And he knows only too well the consequences of unconfessed Mortal Sin. The problem is he doesn't know what it's called - apart from its rude names - and until he does, he can't confess it. But there is nobody who he can ask. His quest for a respectable description is a major thread of the story. This is not his only problem: he has several, which he frequently reviews. He is below average size for his thirteen years, his expression prompts people-even strangers-to say, 'Cheer up son, it might never happen', he has a back to front name, he lives in a municipal house, he wears a brace on his upper teeth and he stammers. But all is not gloom. Morley is very good at art and nervously anticipates going to art school in September.He is also a budding mimic, and sometimes masquerades as a French boy when well away from home and acquaintances. When French, he never stammers and is filled with an unaccustomed confidence. He considers being French to confess his Mortal Sin. Meanwhile the Second World War rages - It is spring 1945. Despite his preoccupations, Morley is not oblivious to it. On the contrary, he thrills to its glamorous portrayal in films, books and boys' papers. In dreamy unfocused moments he hopes the war won't end - just yet. But he recognises these thoughts as indulgences: he wants his soldier father back unscathed, and some decent watercolours and a film for his never-used camera. Not very popular, self-conscious, sometimes a butt for the scruffs who hang around the pig bin just up the road, Morley eventually - through an incident-packed fortnight - finds an answer to his most pressing problem and goes some way to coming to terms with one or two of the others. |