Dialogues of the Dead

335 who started it, I think. He was one member of staff who wasn't at all fazed by Dee's little games. In fact he joined in, often managing to cap him. And it was him that drew attention to the significance of Dee's initials. O.E.D. And after that Dee started finding E-words for all his collections so they could be OED's too. Like Orson's Erotic Dictionary.' 'But where's the Richard?' enquired Pascoe. 'What? Ah, Dick, you mean? No, that was the English master's joke. He started calling him Dictionary Dee, and it stuck. Dick is short for Dictionary. Gerrit?' 'I see,' said Pascoe. He could also see Dalziel yawning again. He said, 'So it was exit Karl and Orson, enter Charley and Dick, right?' 'And enter Johnny too. No more taking the piss out of Sinjon.' 'So now they belonged?' 'They were accepted rather than belonged,' said Wingate judiciously. 'They never let the rest of us forget how we'd once treated them. They started a magazine called The Skulker, only two copies of each edition, one for themselves, one they rented out. It was real samizdat stuff, so outrageously subversive that everyone wanted to read it, even though it was us as much as the staff who were being subverted.' Pascoe recalled his visit to Penn's flat and said, ' "Lonesome's loblance", that mean anything to you?' Wingate looked at him curiously and said, 'You have been doing your research. Lonesome was Mr Pine, Head of Dacre House. Everyone hated him.' : 'Dacre House ... known as Dog House?' guessed Pascoe. 'And , loblance'? Let me guess. One of Dee's names for the male organ?' 'Don't recall it precisely, but it sounds likely.' 'Simpson? Bland?' 'Head Prefect of Dacre and his second-in-command. Dee and Penn's greatest enemies. They had a running battle with them.' 'Who won?' 'It was no contest by the time they got to the Fifths. Dee and Penn were in pretty well total control. From time to time they; would even call each other Kraut and Whoreson very publicly, ;i though no one else dared, of course. It was like they were saying,,; Just because we condescend to coexist with you lot doesn't mean we've ' really got anything in common. We 're still different, and different means better. Anyone care to argue?' 'And did anyone?' 'Occasionally. But by the time Dee had sorted them out verbally and Penn physically, they realized the error of their ways.' 'And little Johnny Oakeshott, did he stay part of the team?' asked Pascoe. 'Johnny? Sorry, didn't I say? He died.' 'Died? Just like that? Christ, I know they're all stiff upper lip, these places, but I'd have thought they took notice of dead kids!' said Dalziel. 'How did he die?' asked Pascoe. 'Drowned. Don't ask me how. There were all kinds of stories but all that ever came out officially was that he'd been found early one morning in the school swimming pool. Midnight bathing was a favourite rule-breaking sport. It was assumed he'd gone in by himself, or joined some group and got left behind. We don't know. Penn and Dee went ballistic. They brought out a special edition of The Skulker. Front page was all black with J'ACCUSE scrawled across it in white.' 'Who did they accuse?' Wingate shrugged. 'Everyone. The system. Life. They claimed to have got in touch with Johnny through a ouija board and promised that all would be revealed in the next edition.' 'And was it?' 'No. Someone told the Head and he came down hard. Told them what they'd written already was enough to get them expelled. Anything more and they'd be finishing their education in a pair of crummy comprehensives, miles apart. That was a clincher. Together they could survive, even prosper. Apart... who knows?' 'So they caved in and conformed?' 'Caved in? Perhaps. Conformed? No way. From that time on, the pair of them refused to have anything at all to do with the formal structures of the school. They never became prefects, refused to accept prizes, had nothing to do with organized sports or any other extra-mural activities. And as far as I know they've never attended any Old Boys' get-together or responded to any Appeal. They went through the sixth form, got university places,