22

• 22

  Offred tries to tell Moira’s story.
• This is the story of what happened to Moira.

  Part of it I can fill in myself, part of it I heard from Alma, who heard it from Dolores, who heard it from Janine. Janine heard it from Aunt Lydia. There can be alliances even in such places, even under such circumstances. This is something you can depend upon: there will always be alliances, of one kind or another.
• For every rule there is always an exception: this too can be depended upon. The Aunts are allowed to read and write.
• I want you to keep your ears open. Maybe one of the others was involved.
• We avoided her when we could, were charitable to her when it couldn’t be helped. She was a danger to us, we knew that.
• Moira had power now, she’d been set loose, she’d set herself loose. She was now a loose woman. I think we found this frightening.
• Already we were losing the taste for freedom, already we were finding these walls secure.
• Nevertheless Moira was our fantasy. We hugged her to us, she was with us in secret, a giggle; she was lava beneath the crust of daily life. In the light of Moira, the Aunts were less fearsome and more absurd. Their power had a flaw to it.