Phantom Horse: the end
Awwwwwright. This seems the right time to wind up the Phantom Horse story when it turns out that the entire nation has been eating horse all along (zenithed called it).
Our “heroes” spend time duffing around the police station while the clock inexorably ticks forward. Jean says things like “Meanwhile our horses die.” and the coppers say stuff like “I don’t know anything about that.” Soon enough Angus, as the originator of this sad situation, gets it in the neck:
“He’s dying. Phantom’s dying, they are killing him now. I feel it in my bones,” I cried. “I shall never see him again, never. And it’s your fault,” I shouted at Angus. “He’s dying because you wanted a moped.”
And then … their mum and dad turn up. They have rushed back from Geneva in response to a phone call or something. They drag the kids out of the police station and rush round to Geoff Craig’s place. The coppers are questioning him but the doors are open. And inside … it’s Phantom Horse! He has refused to get in the horsebox to doom.
Phantom stood tied up, soaked in sweat, with the weals from a whip fresh across his quarters, and blood on his hocks. He looked very sad with his head hanging low, and I knew he must have battled for a long time but that somehow he had won.
But Killarney is not there. He has gone to the abattoir. Nobody can look at Angus.
Until it turns out that Geoff Craig’s disinterested daughter has phoned up and said to put Killarney aside and send him back. She is not a bad sort after all. She says the horses always know when they are going to their deaths. Killarney comes back in a horsebox and stands there sweating ‘with nothing but fear on his face where once there had been wisdom.’ It is well profound.
There is another chapter where they fuck about walking forty miles home while they are tired and go down the wrong road and then they have soup and sandwiches. But nothing dramatic happens apart from Angus announcing he is going to travel across Europe on a bicycle.
And with that I am done with Phantom Horse. The book is going back into the Book Crossing economy. Even if I see Phantom Horse Goes To Scotland I am going to look the other way. I don’t have the mental resilience for this kind of drama. Thank you for your moral support, and sorry you had to wait five years for the conclusion.
CHEERIO PHANTOM HORSE.