The Voice off the Wall

"If walls could talk..." The youngest one said quietly, touching the weathered stones of the old wall. There was no reaction from the others, as if they’d never heard him. He took a bite of his sandwich and chewed on it, studying the stonework.

“Look,” he said to no one in particular, “the stones at the bottom of the wall are much older than those above, see how worn they are?” Two or three sat nearby stopped chatting and looked at the boy, then at the wall.

“So they are, what of it?” asked the big one with the black hair. “This wall must be hundreds of years old, who cares which stone is the oldest?”

“Well, no, what I mean…” the boy was stumbling for words. “What I mean is, with this wall being so old, it would be interesting to know what it had seen. Over the centuries, like…” his voice trailed away, too late. They had the scent now.

“Put your ear to it, maybe it’ll tell you,” ventured the blond one, Dandy Andy, they called him.

“But make sure you’re wearing a hard hat, or the Forman is gonna have you,” another one chipped in. Some laughed.

“And if you can’t hear anything straight away, try banging your head against it,” someone added a helpful suggestion.

“No, that’s not how you do it,” objected the blond one, standing up. “You need to be gentle with it, like with a woman. A few quiet words. A light touch, here and there,” the blond one demonstrated as a few more stopped eating and turned to watch. “Next, you put your arm around the shoulder. Then a kiss. And another.” Everyone was watching now. “And THEN you bang it!”

The boy’s face turned red as laughter burst out all around him.

“Look, our Georgie boy is blushing, he must be in love. And with an old wall, no less!”

“All I meant,” Georgie was trying to explain, “was that these walls could tell us a lot about our history, if they could talk…”

“If walls could talk,” the Foreman’s voice had an edge of authority, “they would tell you to shut up, finish your lunch and get back to work. There’s plenty to do before the sun goes down. And I’ll have no more bullying, you hear me?!”

The laughter stopped as if cut with a knife.

“Hmm, that was interesting, don’t you think?” The old wall had a raspy voice. “But I’d rather he’d kept his dirty paws off me. It’s bad enough that I have to watch him having his way with the girls he brings around here. Did you see him last night, with that pretty Black girl?”

The new wall stood silent.

“Of course, you didn’t, silly me, they’ve only just peeled the formwork panels off you.” The old wall pondered a moment. “I suppose I should be thanking them for that, as I can finally see you in all your glory, my dearest new neighbour.”

The new wall stood silent.

“Anyway, that pretty Black girl I mentioned. She’s pregnant, only he doesn’t know it yet. I heard her talking to her friend a few days ago. They were sat on that bench, over there, see?”

“She was all crying and sobbing, I’ll tell you. Half the time I couldn’t understand what she was saying. Nor did her friend, I think. Or she wouldn’t be telling her such silly things, I promise you. You’ve got to tell him, she said. You’ll have to marry him, she said. He’ll be good to you, she said.”

“Leave him! Go your own way, I shouted. He doesn’t love you, you’re just one of many to him, I know, I saw. I screamed at her till the mortar in my joints started crumbling away. She never heard a word. People never do.” The old wall fell silent, brooding.

“Forgive the old wall for prattling on, if you can, but it has been so long since I had a neighbour.” The old wall paused, as if awaiting a reply.

“Yes, I was so happy when the diggers came in all those months ago, for it could only have meant one thing. A new building. And new walls. New friends. And there you are, all modern and smooth. And silent. So silent.” When that failed to provoke a response, the old wall continued.

“I’ve been so sad and lonely for so long, you know. Oh, there are always people to watch, strolling through the park, playing games, running, laughing. But there was no one to talk to, except for my sister wall on the other side, but talking to her makes me even more sad. You know why?” The new wall didn’t seem interested.

“Well, I’ll tell you anyway. I’m much taller on the other side, but that is because I look over the pit. Well, that’s what the gravediggers of old used to call it. Burry them in the pit, they’d say, whenever a plague came around and people were dying in their hundreds and thousands. There are no fancy gravestones in the pit. Nor any guardian angels carved in stone. Only bones, quietly rotting away in mass graves. Forgotten by all. But I remember. And my sister wall remembers, too.”

The new wall stood silent, still.

“That was a long time ago. The cemetery has been closed to new burials for a hundred years now. You probably don’t want to know all that anyway. I heard people talking about you. You are going to be the new visitor centre. Interactive and digital. So exciting, if only I knew what it meant… Maybe you can explain it to me?”

But the new wall stood silent.

“Look, I don’t mean to be rude, but you’ve got to start talking to me at some point. We’re neighbours and neither of us is moving any time soon.”

“Nothing to say? Come on, I know it can be hard to find your voice at first, but you’ve got nothing to be shy about. They can’t hear you anyway…”

“Am I annoying you? Do I talk too much? Or maybe I’m too old for you?”

“Come on, just let me hear your voice. I can feel the tension in you, it seeps through the ground, like water.”

“Come on, just one little word. I’m sure you can manage that.”

“Oh, don’t…”

“BOOM!” The new wall had a powerful voice, and clear as a bell. It reverberated through the air and the ground seemed to tremble and shake.

“Did you hear that?” Georgie asked, turning his head left and right. The others froze, listening.

“There was nothing,” the big one with the black hair went back to his lunch box.

“Maybe the wall is calling you?” the blond one had a vile grin. “Maybe you should…”

Suddenly, the dismantled formwork panels stacked near the edge of the excavation fell and slid down into the hollow.

The workers were on their feet in a blink, running to the edge.

“Stay away,” the Foreman’s voice carried over the commotion. “I don’t want any of you falling down the hole. Enough mess as it is.”

“Who was responsible for securing the panels?” The Foreman’s gaze rolled from one face to the next, until it rested on the blond one.

“Boss, sorry, I didn’t think it was necessary to tie them up,” Dandy Andy’s voice was shaky. “You said yourself that the trucks were coming to pick them up right after lunch…”

The jaw muscles twitched in the Foreman’s face as he looked at Andy for a long time. When he spoke, his voice was just above a whisper, but razor sharp.

“Mark, get the ropes ready, we’ve got to pull the panels up.”

“Ready with the ropes, Boss.” Mark knew what was needed, before the Foreman said it.

“Andy, you and your four clowns, get down into the hole and sort out this mess.” They were running even before the Foreman finished speaking. “And if any of the panels is damaged, or the wall, I’m gonna have you. Big time!”

“I think they heard you, my little sister,” said the old wall. “Loud and clear.”