Noughts And Crosses

Sephy recalls the last picnic she and Callum went on together. She had lied to her mother, telling her she was spending the day with another wealthy Cross girl from her class. Excited for their picnic, Sephy had used her own money to buy two first-class train tickets for her and Callum instead of asking for money from her mother.

As Callum waits for Sephy at the train station, he worries Sephy will not show up, even though she always did. Callum always wonders “each time if today was the day Sephy was going to let me down” (110). She startles him, but he is relieved when she arrives.

Sephy and Callum ride in first class on the way to Celebration Park. The police begin a routine inspection and ask for the identification cards of the passengers. The police question Callum about how he could afford to buy the first-class ticket, and when he admits he did not purchase the ticket they attempt to take him off the train. Sephy steps in and informs the officers she purchased the ticket. After Sephy gives them the name of her father, the Home Office Minister, and his secretary, the officers quickly relent and move on, refusing to bother with checking Sephy’s ID. Callum stares silently out the train window and seethes about the inequality of his treatment as a nought. He tries not to see Sephy as part of the group that oppresses him, but it is difficult, and he feels that the entire trip is ruined for him.