Sentence The Fiftythird
Meanwhile, at the Jeanie Deans Tryste, the long anticipated and rather feared – because it came about after the hiatus of Dixie O'Hooligan's absence from Edinburgh, following an acrimonious rift between them – reunion of Dixie and Jeannie Deans (or Bunty Longformacus, or Bernie Brigantine. or rather yet, Bunty O'Hooligan, for, yes, the two were indeed sisters, had taken place; a great white whale had swum through their relationship – taking many shapes and forms, but ultimately becoming, for each sister, an obsession impossible to throw off; for Bunty, an obsession with discovering their roots, their pre-natal history, their true identity and descent, while for Dixie, it was a conviction that they should regard their birth as year zero, and for her, nothing existed prior to that event, nor mattered; Dixie, one full minute older than Bunty, had taken the responsibility of being the elder and acted as bellwether for this summit, which she had feared would produce a pentimento, would reveal long-hidden, long-forgotten, truths about themselves as each layer of their lives would, when scraped aside, leave them naked and exposed; she had dreaded this, but forced herself, by an enormous effort of will, to make the approach to her twin and return to the city of their birth for this showdown, no matter what the psychological cost to either of them; that their father was undoubtedly a charlatan neither had doubted, indeed their mother – their 'sainted' mother as the sisters always referred to her – had, on her deathbed, just those few years ago, revealed certain facts to them, facts which, in Dixie's case, had driven her to leave Edinburgh, vowing never to return and for Bunty, caused her to divide herself into many different identities and create a myth about herself which to this day caused her name (or names) to be mentioned with fear in the hearts of many a prominent citizen, for her intelligence network far excelled those of Police Scotland and the Masonic Order combined and gave her power previously undreamed of by the wee lassie from Wester Hailes; but now, the first brief contact in Deacon Brodies having produced this informal meeting between the twins and each had shown herself willing to set aside the differences which had led to their break-up, and a willingness to build – brick by brick – on the foundation they had established – they were united, of course – in a desire, nay, a determination – to discover the identity of Angus Og's assailant; this would be their first joint operation since the severance of their birth-bond, and they were united in their love for the tall man who had been such a firm friend and confidant to them both; whatever it took, wherever the trail might lead, they would discover, and destroy, the person or persons responsible for so foul an act; and now Dixie sat in the Ladies at Jeanie Deans Tryste and made plans for her opening moves.
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