with short legs, swift scuttling movements, and
fat inscrutable faces with very small eyes. It was the type that seemed to
flourish best under the dominion of the Party.
The announcement from the Ministry of Plenty ended on another trumpet
call and gave way to tinny music. Parsons, stirred to vague enthusiasm by
the bombardment of figures, took his pipe out of his mouth.
'The Ministry of Plenty's certainly done a good job this year,' he
said with a knowing shake of his head. 'By the way, Smith old boy, I
suppose you haven't got any razor blades you can let me have?'
'Not one,' said Winston. 'I've been using the same blade for six weeks
myself.'
'Ah, well -- just thought I'd ask you, old boy.'
'Sorry,' said Winston.
The quacking voice from the next table, temporarily silenced during
the Ministry's announcement, had started up again, as loud as ever. For
some reason Winston suddenly found himself thinking of Mrs. Parsons, with
her wispy hair and the dust in the creases of her face. Within two years
those children would be denouncing her to the Thought Police. Mrs. Parsons
would be vaporized. Syme would be vaporized. Winston would be vaporized.
O'Brien would be vaporized. Parsons, on the other hand, would never be
vaporized. The eyeless creature with the quacking voice would never be
vaporized. The little beetle-like men who scuttle