Car 6

186
Mrs Margaret Thatcher

Outward appearance

Short-haired woman in workman's jeans and donkey jacket. Reading The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony . Understandably, looks bored.

Inside information

Mrs Thatcher is a thatcher, currently working on the roof of the new Globe Theatre. It's traditional straw and reed, fireproofed and hiding a sprinkler system.

Margaret has lost her car keys. This is particularly poignant as her husband Dennis has just lost his.

What she is doing or thinking

Margaret is reasonably certain that the keys fell out of her pocket while she was on the scaffolding yesterday. If so, they will be bundled up with the thatch.

The scaffolding has moved. She can ask the works supervisor, but he's hardly likely to re-erect the scaffolding just for her. Or allow her onto that steep roof without it.

She's had the keyring since she was in university. The medal, in the shape of a panda, says on the front "Sold to assist the World Wildlife Fund." On the back it's engraved, " Awarded to Margaret Thatcher for excellence in canoeing."

She imagines 500 years from now, when they tear down the Globe. The beams are held by wooden pegs; the walls are horsehair and lime. They'll think it's the original theatre, and as it falls, they'll find a keyring with a panda. A World Wildlife Fund? Pandas? In Elizabethan Britain? Awarded to Mrs Thatcher? The Prime Minister? In Elizabethan Britain? Why was she canoeing? Was this a traditional Thames pastime for politicians?

History's just a myth anyway, something we make up to reconcile evidence. Margaret leaves with a smile.


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