T he sublime

« The frightened boy runs out of the house followed closely by a mad Mrs Knox, knife in hand. But she doesn’t pursue Jamie. Instead she makes for the house immediately next door. She bangs her fist on the door.

Mrs Knox: ‘Ya whore, ya whore, ya whore. Bitch! Bitch! Bitch! Bitch out of hell!’

Jamie running away. Disappears over the brow of a hill.

Jamie, his hand held by a policeman, returns to Mrs Knox’s house. The policeman knocks on the door.

Classroom. A rear view of children behind desks. They are singing. Jamie is finally isolated. ‘Summer suns are glowing / Over land and sea / Happy light is flowing / Bountiful and free / Everything rejoices / In the mellow rain / Earth’s one thousand voices / Join the sweet refrain.’

Jamie has wet the floor. All the children front view. ‘All good gifts around us / Are sent from heaven above / So thank the Lord / Oh thank the Lord / For all his love.’

And as the singing continues we see what will become of the children.

We are in the cage, inside the pit shaft gate. Once more we are leaving behind the good light and once more the black earth is rushing up to shut it out.

Miners’ faces in the darkness of the cage. Blackness. Pinpoints of light from the miners’ headlamps bob up and down and reflections of the lights break up in the dark water. »