Page 6 of An Eye for an Eye

‘And as we don’t have enough of our own,’ added her mother, ‘we have to rely on other countries to supply us.’

‘Including Saudi Arabia, it would seem,’ said Artemisia, unable to hide the contempt in her voice.

‘And what has Saudi Arabia done to annoy you this morning?’ asked her father, as he put his paper down.

‘It’s not the country that has annoyed me,’ said Artemisia, ‘so much as the Labour government, who are trying to close an arms deal with the Saudis in exchange for oil.’

‘That’s what’s known as bartering,’ her father tried to assure her. ‘We supply the Saudis with arms and in return they give us oil. Nothing new in that.’

‘But you’ve always taught us,’ said Peter, siding with his sister, ‘that two wrongs don’t make a right.’

‘What makes you think they’ve done anything wrong?’ asked Beth, who agreed with her daughter but wanted her to argue her case.

‘If I had been born in that country,’ said Artemisia, looking directly at her mother, ‘I wouldn’t have been treated as an equal.’

‘Examples?’ said Beth. ‘You can’t get away with generalizations. Facts win an argument.’

‘Women still don’t get the vote in Saudi, despite the fact we’re in the twenty-first century.’

‘If Arte had been born in Riyadh, not London,’ chipped in Peter, putting down his spoon, ‘she wouldn’t have been allowed to go to a school with boys.’

‘And if you’re gay,’ said Artemisia, taking both her parents by surprise, ‘you could end up being stoned to death in the market square.’

‘I think you’ll find that barbaric custom ceased some time ago,’ said William. ‘In fact, everyone accepts the new Saudi leader is more enlightened and is instigating far-reaching reforms.’

‘Not far-reaching enough for those women sitting at home, while their less competent brothers go to work and are overpaid.’

‘So what are you up to today, Beth?’ William asked his wife, as he suspected he was in a minority of one when it came to the Saudis and the supply of oil.

‘Dealing with a lack of funds,’ said Beth. ‘Not an unusual situation for the director of a gallery like the Fitzmolean,’ she added, with a wry smile, ‘but this time I need to raise an extra half a million.’

‘Is it a new roof or a new boiler you need this time?’ enquired William.

‘A new picture,’ said Beth, ‘or to be more accurate, an old picture. The Fitzmolean has been offered a rare preparatory Rembrandt drawing of an angel for a million pounds, and the government has agreed to match us pound for pound if we can raise the first half million and quickly.’

‘How long have you got?’ asked William.

‘Only until the end of the month,’ replied Beth, ‘and if we haven’t raised our half by the deadline, the drawing will come on the open market and probably end up going abroad, never to be seen again. We’re past the two hundred thousand pound mark, but I just don’t know if we’ll get the full amount in time.’

‘If someone from Saudi Arabia were to offer you the half million,’ asked Artemisia, not willing to let go, ‘would you take it?’

William looked across at Beth, glad he hadn’t been asked the same question.

‘It wouldn’t be my decision,’ said Beth. ‘But if the board were to seek my opinion, I would recommend accepting it, so that millions of women would be able to see Rembrandt’s masterpiece.’

‘None of them from Saudi Arabia,’ Artemisia reminded her mother.

‘Perhaps we don’t have the right to disapprove of the laws and customs of another country,’ suggested William, testing his daughter’s resolve.

‘Possibly,’ said Artemisia, ‘but we do have the right not to make deals with a country who refuses to grant women equal rights.’

‘But it was no less a figure than Winston Churchill,’ said William, ‘who told us he preferred Jaw Jaw to War War, even when dealing with his enemies.’

‘Does that include Miles Faulkner?’ asked Peter, silencing his father. ‘Because I have a feeling he doesn’t do Jaw Jaw when dealing with his enemies, and I heard Mum saying that he’ll be coming out of prison in a few weeks’ time.’

‘Well, I ought to get moving,’ said William, ‘if I’m not going to be late for work.’

The rest of the family burst out laughing.