Page 142 - Eggs and Ashes pages

Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday of Holy Week 141

Nine
The boss took risks – he offended the establishment; he didn’t always mix with the
right kind of people – and where the boss went, the firm went too.
Ten
Our man didn’t always approve of the company the firm kept, but he kept his
thoughts to himself.
Eleven
Sometimes the group split up and operated in pairs – the boss trusted them to do
this.
Twelve
They discovered that they could do most of the things the boss could do; they
were excited and pleased.
Thirteen
The firm stayed together for three years – they were good together.
Fourteen
The partners did not always agree about what the boss had asked them to do –
there were sometimes arguments.
Fifteen
The boss settled arguments quickly – they knew that he was fair; he tried not to
have favourites.
Sixteen
Our man had clear ideas about what he wanted from the firm and where he
wanted the boss to take them.
Seventeen
As the days went on the boss appeared, to our man, to be getting fanatical about
challenging the establishment.
Eighteen
Our man could see where things were heading and he wanted out.
Nineteen
Our man had choices: he could try to persuade the boss to change direction, but
that seemed unlikely, or he could go to the establishment and offer them a way to
bring the firm down.
Twenty
Our man sensed that the boss knew what he was up to – if the other partners discov-
ered what he was up to he was in trouble. But if the boss was choosing not to tell
them, maybe he secretly approved of what our man was contemplating and wanted
him to do it, or maybe he didn’t – it was a chance our man would have to take.
Twenty-one
What finally led our man to take action was the night the boss turned on him for
criticising a woman – all that talk of ‘the poor’ and ‘death and burial’; that might be