Noughts And Crosses

Callum reads an article about an informant inside the Liberation Militia, causing the militia’s work to be put on hold. He has been sentenced for kidnapping and raping Sephy and reflects on his life from his prison cell. He remembers his sister Lynette and recalls how he lost himself in the militia. A prison guard named Jack, whom Callum has made friends with, tells Callum he has a visitor. The visitor is Kamal Hadley, and he offers Callum a deal to avoid execution. If Callum admits to kidnapping and raping Sephy, he will be out of prison in 8 to 10 years. Kamal hopes this will help Sephy make the decision to abort their child. He lies to Callum and tells him Sephy has only kept their child to repay him for helping her escape. Kamal Hadley demands an answer to his offer, and Callum chooses not to take the deal.

Sephy’s father enters her room. He tells Sephy that Callum will be hanged. He offers to save Callum from execution if she aborts their baby. Sephy weighs the pros and cons of the decision. While terminating the pregnancy would allow her and Callum to be together again once he gets out of prison, she realizes that sacrificing their first child to be together would weigh heavily on them and their relationship for the rest of their lives. By the end of the chapter, she decides what she will do, but the reader is not told her answer just yet.

On the day of his execution, Callum has learned that Sephy has spoken out publicly on his behalf and has denied he raped her. As Jack and Callum play cards together in Callum’s cell on the day of his execution, Callum wonders what life in a world run by noughts would be like. He imagines it would be “a world with no more discrimination, no more prejudice, a fair police force, an equal justice system, equality of education, equality of life” (481), but his friend Jack tells him that things are not so simple. Then Jack tells Callum that Sephy has tried to see him numerous times, but the governor has demanded he have no visitors. Callum asks the guard to give Sephy a letter, and Jack agrees to deliver it. Callum wishes he could apologize to his mother, and he wonders where Jude is and if Sephy will have their child. Callum is led to the scaffold. He searches the crowd for Sephy before a hood is placed over his head. He hears Sephy screaming that she loves him, and he yells that he loves her back.

Sephy watches Callum die. She prays that Callum heard her declare her love for him. The chapter ends with the birth announcement for Callum and Sephy’s daughter, Callie Rose McGregor.