2 The Bench of the Spies

Transcript

Angela

Mum and Dad wouldn’t believe me when I told them about the bench of the spies.

But then neither did my friends and they were playing with me at the time.

None of them had heard what I had heard or so they insisted: even though they were within feet of the bench. How come none of them heard?

So what did I hear?

A man and a woman, the spies, though I didn’t know that at first of course, were sitting on a bench separated from our playground area by a fence. They began to talk.

I can only suppose they thought the fence acted as a sound barrier, insulating the conversation from our childish ears. Or maybe they just didn’t think children are important enough to take precautions against their being heard, such as lowering their voices, which they didn’t trouble to do. Then again, I was the only one who bothered to listen.

They arrested my attention at once, a plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament on Guy Fawkes Day.

It left me restless and I could not sleep, but although I kept watch from my bedroom window, my home overlooked the bench of the spies, I did not spy the spies again, even at 3am. The broken street lamp and overcast moon did not help; besides, I was terrified of Mum and Dad catching me.

Maybe what happened that day is the reason I work for MI5 now

I would believe a child, as they didn’t believe me.

Until security found the gunpowder. Not in time.

I often go back to the bench of the spies. Once, when I was in the area, I heard a child cry out - “Mum, those two people on the bench are talking about blowing up…” You can believe I was at that child's side in a flash.