Noughts And Crosses

Sephy and Minnie visit their mother in the hospital. Two weeks have passed, and Sephy’s mother’s attitude has completely changed. She is now affectionate and effusive. This change discomforts Sephy. Their mother asks for her makeup bag and a bottle of champagne to “celebrate my lucky escape” (195). When Minnie questions the request for alcohol, her mother’s new pleasant demeanor breaks for just a moment, and she tells them to just follow her directions. She then tells them to never make a mistake like she did, referring to her affair, because they will pay for it the rest of their lives.

Three months have passed since Lynette’s funeral. Callum notices changes in both his father and his mother. His mother goes for long walks alone for hours, and both his parents seem distant and angry. He feels that Lynette being gone has untethered the family, and they are all drifting apart. He catches his father and Jude looking over blueprints to something. Callum feels excluded and confronts his father and Jude about their involvement with the Liberation Militia. He begs his father for permission to quit school at Heathcroft and join the militia, but his father insists he is not old enough to join LM, and even if he allowed Callum to come with them, he would be kicked out of school if he were seen there. His father makes Callum promise to stay in school and then go on to college. Jude also reminds Callum not to tell Sephy about their involvement with LM or they will be hanged for it.

Sephy grows more concerned over her mother’s drinking. She addresses the issue with Minnie, but Minnie does not seem bothered by it. Her mother is being extremely affectionate, but Sephy feels helpless as she watches her mother’s drinking become more troubling.

Five and a half months have now passed since Lynette’s death. Callum is now 16 years old, but he still struggles with the secret of Lynette’s suicide. Callum calls Sephy, who tells him she has to go shopping with her mother. Callum teases Sephy about all the money they are going to spend and tells her she should enjoy it, but Sephy still complains. They make plans to see each other at the shopping center as Sephy shops with her mother or later at the beach if they miss each other at the shopping center.

Callum finishes lunch with his family and attempts to leave for the shopping center, but Jude stops him. Callum realizes “the Liberation Militia were planning something at the Dundale” (210). Concerned about Sephy, Callum rushes to the shopping center to save her.

Sephy, who has suffered through shopping with her mother for hours, waits in the shopping center’s café as her mother packs the car. Callum runs up to Sephy and urges her to leave immediately, but she resists, demanding to know what is going on. Callum drags her out of the café. Alarms begin to go off in the shopping center. As they run for the exit, they see a flash and hear a loud boom. An explosion knocks them off their feet. For a moment, Sephy questions Callum’s involvement in the explosion before she runs off to find her mother. When she turns around, Callum is gone.

Callum returns home. He and his mother watch a news report on the explosion, which informs them that at least seven people were killed and many more wounded. His father and Jude return home and watch the news with them. Callum’s mother confronts Ryan about his and Jude’s involvement in the explosion. He denies his involvement, so Callum’s mother asks Jude, who confirms they were involved. Jude claims there was supposed to be a warning issued an hour before the explosion so “everyone would be evacuated in plenty of time” (219). Callum’s mother condemns his father for being involved and slaps him, breaking a finger. She asks Jude to take her to the hospital, and Ryan offers to take her instead, but she refuses to be in his company. Jude takes her to the hospital, and Callum leaves the house to follow them.

Sephy’s mind is racing, and she struggles to fall asleep. Sephy’s mother was not injured in the explosion, and she only has minor injuries, but she can’t help thinking about how Callum knew what was happening. Though Sephy wanted to help at the scene, her mother refused and took them straight home. She gets out of bed and thinks some warm milk might help her sleep, but she finds an opened bottle of chardonnay and drinks from it instead. She enjoys the feeling of it, and it allows her to fall asleep peacefully.

Callum, Jude, and their mother wait in the emergency room, which is crowded with other patients who include nought victims from the shopping center explosion. At his mother’s request, Callum walks away so his mother and Jude can speak privately. He watches them talk and “all the color drain from Jude’s face as he stared at Mum” (227). They continue to talk until Callum returns to join them. Jude leaves abruptly but returns a short time later. A nurse calls Callum’s mother and informs them that she needs to see Meggie’s identification card to treat her because of a new restrictive government policy against noughts. Callum’s mother does not have her card. Jude and Callum show their cards to vouch for her per hospital procedure. The nurse scans their cards and informs them their fingerprints will be stored in the hospital’s database, which Callum’s mother protests. The nurse assures them their fingerprints will be deleted once Callum’s mother brings in her own ID card. A doctor treats Callum’s mother and tells her she must keep her hand bandaged for three weeks, which will be difficult for her since she is a housemaid. Before leaving the hospital, Callum’s mother confirms with the nurse that Callum and Jude’s fingerprints will be deleted from the system once she returns with her ID card in the morning, but Callum continues to worry about being in the hospital database.

Sephy drinks a glass of wine each night, though she tries not to drink so much that it leaves her hungover in the morning like it did the first time. She understands why her mother drinks so much wine because she too finds “[i]t smooths out of the rough edges” (236). Sephy likes how the wine quells her anxiety.

Although she deleted Callum and Jude’s fingerprints from the hospital database, Callum’s mother continues to be paranoid. She demands Callum’s father move out because of his involvement with LM. Ryan insists that he is part of LM to help make a better future for their sons, but Meggie does not agree that a better future would be the outcome. Jude proclaims that if his father leaves, he will follow him and continue to be a part of the militia. The three of them continue to fight and do not notice Callum leaving the house.

Sephy is drunk when she meets Callum at the beach. He is angry and warns her that she will be as unhappy as her mother if she continues in her footsteps. Sephy confesses she is having trouble coping with her family and with the expectations of her impending adulthood. She then promises Callum to try to stop drinking. When he rejects her kiss because she smells of alcohol, Sephy tells him he is treating her just the way her father treats her mother and then accuses Callum of being part of the Liberation Militia. He denies this, but they fight more and Sephy tells Callum she sometimes wishes he had let her die in the explosion. He kisses her passionately and their “hands began to wander” (240).

As he struggles to fall asleep, Callum imagines his and Sephy’s future together. He prays again for him and Sephy to grow old and have a family together. Just as Callum finally falls asleep, the police invade his home with tear gas. They handcuff him and take him away in a police car.

Sephy struggles with her feelings for Callum. Though he kissed her, she doesn’t believe he would be truly interested in a real relationship with her. She feels that she needs to get away from everything, so she asks her mother if she can go away to boarding school. Her mother refuses out of a selfish desire to keep Sephy at home, so Sephy concocts a plan to escape.

The police question Callum about his family’s involvement with the Liberation Militia. He denies that any of his family is involved in LM, but the questions keep coming. Overwhelmed, Callum passes out. When he wakes up in a cell with his mother, she informs him the police are still questioning his father and Jude was not home at the time of the police’s invasion. Callum discovers Jude has been implicated from his fingerprints on a soda can found near the bomb in the shopping center. The police used his fingerprints from the hospital database to match the fingerprints from the can. Jude is being accused of planting the bomb, and he faces execution when the police apprehend him. A $50,000 reward has been issued for Jude’s capture. Callum is in disbelief over Jude’s involvement in the bombing. The police release Callum and his mother and inform them that Callum’s father will be charged with political terrorism and murder.

Sephy tries to call Callum to tell him about her plans to attend boarding school. He does not answer.

Callum and his mother venture to a lawyer’s office to find representation for his father. Four lawyers have already rejected his father’s case upon learning about his charges, but finally a nought lawyer named Mr. Stanhope agrees to meet with Callum’s father. Callum and his mother wait at the police station for the meeting to finish. Mr. Stanhope soon emerges and ushers Callum and his mother to his father’s cell. Meggie tells Ryan that Jude is still missing, which surprises him because the police lied to him and told him they had found Jude and were also questioning him. They claimed that they had all the evidence to convict Jude for the bombing, so Ryan confessed to save Jude. He also tells them that Jude’s fingerprints were “also found on part of the bomb casing that survived the explosion” (254). Callum doubts Jude’s involvement and wonders if the Crosses are framing Jude. His father insists he is guilty, not Jude, to protect the family from any charges.

Sephy hears of Ryan McGregor’s arrest and confession on the news. She immediately doubts Ryan’s involvement and considers ways she can help Callum’s family. Minerva points out the political implications of the McGregors’ former employment at their home and their father’s role at Head Minister. If Ryan is found innocent of the bombing, then people might believe that Sephy’s father was playing favorites with a former employee, which would ruin his political career. Sephy insists on Callum’s father’s innocence. Her mother accuses her of being naïve. Despite their criticism, Sephy is determined to prove Ryan McGregor’s innocence.

Callum and his mother return to Mr. Stanhope’s office. Mr. Stanhope has requested this meeting despite his previous decision not to represent Callum’s father. Callum and his mother have moved in with his mother’s sister after they received hate letters, death threats, and someone threw bricks through the window of their family home. Mr. Stanhope informs Callum and his mother he can now take on their case with Kelani Adams, a renowned Cross attorney. He also tells them the fees have been “all taken care of” by “an anonymous benefactor” (269). Callum instantly suspects the anonymous benefactor is Sephy, and he vows to repay her.

Sephy returns home from school and discovers her father has returned home, but she soon realizes her father has only returned home for Ryan McGregor’s trial. Sephy’s mother implies the verdict is a foregone decision and seems to relish Sephy’s distress over it.

Callum meets with the headmaster of Heathcroft, who notifies him that he will be suspended until the conclusion of his father’s trial. With Callum’s suspension, there is only one nought student remaining at Heathcroft. Callum confronts the headmaster about this fact and accuses the headmaster of expelling the nought students purposefully. The headmaster denies this and dismisses Callum from his office. Callum slams the door on his way out and leaves.