men transform

But now it was beginning to dawn on those who watched all this that only the men had changed. Not a single woman had changed. The film crew, too, and the journalists, were all still as they had been, staring down at the dark, beaky faces, the great hard mouths opening and closing, the round astonished eyes. The giant water creatures could not come out. Nor did they want to go away. They bobbed at the river’s edge, along the concrete of the riverside walkway, lifting their heads out and even resting their chins on the concrete, gaping silently, sometimes gasping a dry croak, then rolling under to breathe, while the secretaries and canteen women and aroma chemists gazed down, and the scaly long bodies swirled and heaped in the foamy suds of the river.

‘If that water hurt the Iron Woman’s eyes,’ said Lucy, ‘think what it’s doing to theirs, and to their gills.’

Even as she said that, a great catfish hurled itself into the air, shaking its head. Then a giant barbel. Then a sturgeon. Soon there were three or four fish in the air at any moment, shaking their gills and contorting their bodies, while eels rocketed out of the water and speared under again.

‘They’re trying to get away from the water,’ said Hogarth. ‘But they can’t.’

‘The river water’s poisoning them,’ cried Lucy to Primula. ‘You know what I told you. Look at them. It’s poisoning them.’

‘She’s right,’ cried Primula, ‘it’s a river of tortures! Just look at them. Get that!’

- The Iron Woman, Chapter 5