Find it

But look," he said, "the world isn't really going to end now, is it? I mean, just look around. It's not like there's any international tension . . . well, any more than there normally is. Why don't we leave this stuff for a while and just go and, oh, I don't know, maybe we could just go for a walk or something, I mean-"

"Don't you understand? There's something here! Something that affects the area!" she said. "It's twisted all the ley-lines. It's protecting the area against anything that might change it! It's . . . it's . . ."

There it was again: the thought in her mind that she could not, was not allowed to grasp, like a dream upon waking.

The windows rattled. Outside, a sprig of jasmine, driven by the wind, started to bang insistently on the glass.

"But I can't get a fix on it," said Anathema, twisting her fingers together. "I've tried everything."

"Fix?" said Newt.

"I've tried the pendulum. I've tried the theodolite. I'm psychic, you see. But it seems to move
around.”

Newt was still in control of his own mind enough to do the proper translation. When most people
said "I'm psychic, you see," they meant "I have an over-active but unoriginal imagination/wear black nail varnish/ talk to my budgie"; when Anathema said it, it sounded as though she was admitting to a hereditary disease which she'd much prefer not to have.

"Armageddon moves around?" said Newt.

"Various prophecies say the Antichrist has to arise first," said Anathema. "Agnes says he. I can't
spot him-"

"Or her," said Newt.

"What?"

"Could be a her," said Newt. "This is the twentieth century, after all. Equal opportunities."

"I don't think you're taking this entirely seriously," she said severely. "Anyway, there isn't any evil here. That's what I don't understand. There's just love."

"Sorry?" said Newt.

She gave him a helpless look. "It's hard to describe it," she said. "Something or someone loves this place. Loves every inch of it so powerfully that it shields and protects it. A deep-down, huge, fierce love. How can anything bad start here? How can the end of the world start in a place like this? This is the kind of town you'd want to raise your kids in. It's a kids' paradise." She smiled weakly. "You should see the local kids. They're unreal! Right out of the Boys' Own Paper! All scabby knees and 'brilliant!' and bulls-eyes-"

She nearly had it. She could feel the shape of the thought, she was gaining on it.

***

Good Omens - Saturday