“So sorry,” said Jalli feeling the disappointment too. “Is there nowhere else you can take them… on foot?”
“Mr Pero,” said Kakko. She had got an idea. “You know you were telling us about the man that owns the big villa on the headland.”
“Mr Zookas, yes.”
“Well yesterday we met three of his children, and the oldest one – ”
“A lad of about nineteen?”
“Yeah. And another boy and a girl.”
“His younger three. He has four altogether. Go on…”
“Well the nineteen-year-old, invited me and Shaun and Bandi to go on his boat today. They’re going to the island out there,” she said, pointing in the direction of the sea. “He said we could bring any of our friends. I saw the boat in the harbour as we passed. It’s huge. There’ll be more than enough room for twenty kids and their volunteers.”
“And you get to go on the boat and to the island after all,” said Jalli. “I don’t think this is on, Kakko.”
“But Mum!”
“Wait,” said Pero. “It might work. The kids would love it. But Zookas’ children did not have my kids in mind I expect.”
“I’m sure they didn’t,” said Jalli.
“But let me call Zookas. He might like to hear that his children are doing something useful with their time. If he says, yes, then his children will have to agree.”
“But…” said Jalli. But Pero was already on the phone.
“Hello, my friend. How’re you feeling today…? Good. Look, Zookas I’ve a problem…” and he explained about the bus. “But I’ve got some young people with me who were invited yesterday by your Adnak to go on your boat to Lona Island… yes, and his brother and sister. They’re with the children here and I was wondering… yes… really. Well, they have their own picnic… well, OK. Wonderful. That’s more than I could ask… thank you Zookas… yes, I’d like that but I have some guests with me… You would? My dear Zookas… good! I will. Thank you. Good-bye.” Pero smiled broadly.
“Mr Zookas says that not only can all the children and their helpers go on the boat, but he will lay on food for them. He’s going to have a word with his children who were just about to leave. Then he’ll contact his friend in the port and get him to bring more food to the boat. He says to be there in forty minutes. Can we do that?” he asked the house-mother.
“No problem. All they have to do is go to the toilet and we can walk them to the harbour.”
“And we, you and I,” said Mr Pero smiling at Jack and Jalli, “have been invited to the Zookas’ villa.”
“Cool,” said Kakko. “See what knowing the right people can do for you!”
“Kakko!” thundered Jack.
“But I really am grateful to you,” the house-mother said. “This young lady has saved the day!”
Kakko smiled, but rather sheepishly. She knew her father was right. She had spoken out rather too arrogantly. But Shaun ensured the humilty didn’t last.
“The power of the female,” he whispered in her ear, “put on a bikini and change the world!” and then ducked as Kakko went to whack him. The children laughed at their clowning.
***
Forty minutes later Kakko, Shaun and Bandi, together with the children and their young volunteers, arrived in a crocodile line down at the harbour. The children were so high. This was going to be the most brilliant day of their lives! They had never ever dreamt that one day they were going to be allowed onto this boat, let alone go out of the harbour on it.
However, Adnak and his friends were a mixture of confused, disapproving and scared. They were not, however, in charge of the cruiser which boasted a captain, two crew members and a chef, all of whom had been fully briefed. They were very welcoming. Jalli got the impression that they were pleased not to be at the beck and call of spoilt rich kids who, they suspected, were going to get drunk and lewd.
The children were carefully conducted up the gangway. The house-mother gave final instructions to the volunteers and she, Pero, Jack, and Jalli watched as the engines came to life with a throaty roar. The children waved frantically as the boat slid out of the harbour entrance and headed for the open sea.
“That was wonderful!” exclaimed Pero.
“I must get back to the centre,” stated the house-mother. “The others will be coming up to their mid-morning break. Would you like to share refreshments with us?” she asked Jack and Jalli, who were feeling rather strange watching their children head for the horizon.
“They’ll be OK,” said Jack squeezing his wife’s hand.
“I know,” said Jalli. “It’s just that they’re all growing up so fast!”
They walked back to the centre and were soon caught up with the remaining children. They all sat on mats with them as the older ones came round with plates of biscuits that they had decorated with icing. They were works of art.
“Wonderful,” said Jalli. “Do we have to eat them? They look too good to eat.”
But the children insisted that they be eaten. For them the decorating was as much a way of piling on sugar as the artistic designs.
“This centre must have been very hard to set up,” said Jack to Mr Pero. “I mean with all the original opposition.”
“Yes, I suppose so. It took time. It’s easier now. But at first it was very hard. They didn’t even want the children in the warehouse. The council objected on the grounds that it constituted a change of use, but they didn’t just want to turf us out either because some people liked the idea of getting the children off the streets. We installed a kitchen (first things first!) then I bought beds and bedding and got in carpenters to put up partitions. In the beginning I used members of the hotel staff to do the cooking. There was no problem in attracting the children when there was food around!”
“You paid the cooks?”
“Oh, yes. They were mainly in the hotel but came here on a rota basis. There weren’t so many children in those days. But gradually I got people who came to volunteer. This was hard because not all of them were suitable. I used to get the police to check the names – that put off the wrong sort.”
“This must have taken a lot of your time,” said Jalli.
“It did. But in those days we didn’t have anyone with the children overnight. After all, they had been living rough for years. But then one day some men attempted to get in. The children had bolted the doors, but they tried to get in through the windows. The children let up so much noise that eventually the men ran away. After that we had to have paid guards, and I knew we had to be much more coordinated. So, I met with the volunteers and we agreed to set up a proper organisation. We appointed governors and founded a company that employed people. We soon had house-mothers, kitchen staff, security people seven days and nights a week. We took in more children and they were properly enrolled. They had to commit to staying – they couldn’t just come and go any more.”
“Didn’t that put them off?” asked Jalli.
“We lost some of them, but most stayed.”
The house-mother told Jalli that the children were all there voluntarily. However, while they were there, there were house rules that required the children to wash and keep their clothes and rooms tidy and swept. The only other rule that was non-negotiable was that they had to be present at all meals, three times a day. If they wanted to skip school they could, so long as they were back at lunchtime and tea-time. If they missed a meal they ran the risk of exclusion from the centre.
“Do they often miss school?” asked Jalli.
“Hardly ever. The schools have their own rules – but most like learning anyway. They appreciate the opportunity.”
“You’ve done well,” said Jack.
“And now it is time for your trip,” said Pero. “We should go up to the headland and check in with Zookas. You can see the island from there.”
“We are taking all your time,” said Jalli. “You must have so much to do.”
“I’m retired!” replied Pero. “Today, I can do what
I want!”
8
As soon as the boat was beyond the harbour entrance the children had started to explore every bit of it. The crewmen came to the volunteer leaders and urged them to make sure the kids moved about safely. There was too much to trip up on and they didn’t want anyone overboard. But they needn’t have worried. As soon as the boat began to rise and fall in the swell the children calmed down and found seats inside and outside. This was a new experience for all of them. None of them had ever been on the sea before. Some began to look queasy and Kakko, Shaun, Bandi and the other volunteers were hard at it, reassuring and cuddling where necessary. Kakko soon found that the romance of the trip was to be enhanced for her as she dealt with a child who was sick – fortunately on the lee side of the vessel. She took note of this. Had he been leaning over the other side they would all have got some! As it was, there was not much clearing up. To her surprise as soon as the boy had finished being sick, his colour changed back to normal and within a minute he was happy and chirpy again.
At first Adnak and his friends kept themselves aloof. But one by one they resigned themselves to the fact that this was not going to be the kind of outing they had envisaged when they set out, and then got involved with the children until it was difficult to distinguish them from the volunteer leaders. One or two held back, Adnak in particular, Kakko noticed. Some of the girls in his party normally turned on by his personal attractions – he was rich, good looking, tall, self-confident – were now succumbing to the lure of the children instead.
“Who needs men when you’ve got kids to amuse you!” said a tall girl about the same age as Kakko.
Kakko agreed. There was no competition. She struck up a conversation with Kloa, the volunteer leader in charge. Kloa was still getting over being on the boat herself.
“Funny to think that some of these people come from the part of society that wants to get rid of these kids for being on the street,” she remarked. “Even our government would rather deny there is a problem. They have nowhere secure to take them.”
“What, nothing else? Is the Paradise Centre the only place for them?” marvelled Kakko.
“There used to be an institution but it was so bad that many of the children got sick and died in it. It was such a scandal it became an election issue. When the new government came into power they closed it down, but they didn’t put anything in its place. Some of us still say it was more of a cost-cutting exercise.”
“What about those children who don’t come to the centre? There must be others.”
“Lots of them. We have two outreach workers who try to look after those on the streets,” she said. “They make sure they don’t starve and get them medical care when they can. Most of what they do is just protecting them from the gangs who go round abusing or killing them.”
“Killing them!” Kakko almost shouted. “Killing children?”
“It doesn’t happen where you come from?”
“No-way! How can you kill children and not be locked up?” exclaimed Kakko.
“Very easily,” said the girl. “As long as you don’t get caught doing it, it is not regarded as anything serious here. Some people see it as culling vermin, but our outreach workers are there and can call in help if they see anyone with guns.”
“It sounds a dangerous job,” said Shaun, coming into the conversation.
“It can be. But they are properly equipped with phone links. They are told not to confront the gangs. Last year some of the gang members were caught and the police had no choice but to charge them because public opinion is changing… slowly.”
“Same thing with the centre,” added a second volunteer. “At first there were petitions against it, but now it is different. When the council tried to tell us we were to move, some local businesses around us wrote up and told them they wanted us to stay. The council backed down.”
***
The cruiser covered the distance to the island in less than half-an-hour. It wasn’t a slouch. And anyway, the captain knew that the young children were not going to want the slow journey he had anticipated for the young people who sought to sun themselves in various states of undress while they supped on bottles of cold, alcoholic beverages. But now the fridges remained shut and the young people were nearly all involved with the Paradise children. On reaching the island, the captain pulled into a small narrow inlet with a long white beach on one side and trees right down to the water’s edge on the other. They approached the end of the beach from which a jetty had been built.
“The island’s uninhabited these days,” said the girl Kakko had been chatting to. “There was an old recluse but he got sick and had to leave. Since then people only come here for fun or to study the birds.”
The children were all anxious to get off the boat and explore.
“OK. Listen up,” said Kloa. She waited for the noise to subside. Eventually the children realised there was no going ashore until they had heard her out.
“You can go in any direction you like. There is no-one else here on this island so you can’t get into trouble, but you need to be safe. There are three rules. Remember the house up there is derelict. So the first rule is this: if you go into the house, DO NOT GO UP THE STAIRS. Why? Because you might very well fall through. I mean this. Fran, Jeno,” she said looking at the more lively of the girls and boys whom she deemed the most venturesome and the more likely to disobey her, “I am putting you in charge of making sure that people DO NOT GO UP THE STAIRS. Got it?” Fran and Jeno nodded their agreement, chuffed that they had been given responsibility.
“OK. Second rule. This island is used by ground nesting birds. What does that mean Jess?” she asked one of the bright girls.
“That there might be nests with eggs in them, miss.”
“Correct, nests on the ground but hidden among the grass and undergrowth. So if you leave the paths what might you do?”
“Tread on the eggs, miss,” said Jess.
“So the second rule is, KEEP TO THE PATHS. OK?”
They all shouted their agreement.
“Besides,” said Kloa, “there are goof-adders and you don’t want to disturb them, do you?”
The children stood silent and shook their heads.
“OK?”
“What’s the third rule, miss?” asked Jess, feeling bold.
“Oh. I nearly forgot. Mr Captain, can you make the boat hoot?”
“Sure,” he said and gave a blast on the horn.
“When you hear that you are all to come back here, OK? It will mean there is food!” The children cheered loudly. The gangway was deployed and they filed over it… and then disappeared!
Kakko was alarmed. But the volunteers didn’t seem to be fazed.
“Will they be OK?” asked Shaun.
“This peace is bliss!” said Kloa. “They’d do it wherever we take them. At least here they can’t get lost or picked up.”
The crew began to deploy the picnic stuff at the top of the beach.
“When would you like to eat?” asked the captain.
“Give them an hour. That’s all they’ll need. Most of them will be back before then anyway.”
“Fine.”
“Do you want any help?”
“No. We’ve got it covered. You go off and check on the kids.”
Adnak made a suggestion to some of the others that now was the time to chill out on the beach as they had planned. But no-one else seemed interested. The distinction between his ‘guests’ and the volunteers had virtually vanished. Before long, most had also disappeared to join the children. Adnak was left either to help the crew, which was way beneath him he thought, or join the rest. He slowly made his way up the path that led to the old house, which had become the subject of an invasion. The children were darting about it, in and out of the doors and some even climbing through the windows. When he got there, he discovered there was a board across the bottom of the stairs bearing the word ‘danger’ on it. He recalled that the owners of the island had been warned
to protect the public. There had been an article in the local newspaper about how some person had reported the floor was rotting. That’s where Kloa had probably got her information from. He looked up the stairs. There were boot prints in the dust, but nothing recent. The kids were following the rules. They zoomed past him and even played hide and seek behind him. There didn’t seem to be any other leaders about.
“Sir?” said one. “What’re goof-adders?”
“Dunno. Never heard of them,” said Adnak.
“What do they do to you if they get you?” asked another.
“I suppose they might bite you.”
“Yu-urk! I ain’t never going to go off the path. They don’t come onto the paths do they?”
“Never seen one.”
“That’s OK then.”
And they were off. “Bet you can’t catch Jeno?”
Adnak had nothing better to do and soon he was traipsing all over the island the same as the others.
At last there was a blast of the boat’s horn, and suddenly from all ends of the island people emerged at top speed – none of them leaving the paths though.
What a spread! Zookas had not just provided a picnic but a banquet! There was exotic stuff the kids had never even seen, let alone eaten. The seafood didn’t go down so well as the pastries. Even after everyone had eaten as much as they could there appeared to be just as much left over. The beer and the wine, however, remained in the fridges. It just wasn’t appropriate, and, to his own amazement, not even Adnak missed it much – these kids were really entertaining, even if they never stopped talking or yelling!
9
As Mr Pero drove Jack and Jalli up the headland to Zookas’ place he explained, “Our numbers grew. We were getting new kids all the time – and they weren’t leaving. Eventually we got more support from the town – people like Zookas. Some of them gave generously and we were able to build a new purpose-built house for the teenagers round the corner from the warehouse. We call it ‘Paradise House’. It has up-to-date facilities with two to a room and tiled bathrooms. That helps the children gain self-respect. We promise to keep them there until they find somewhere to go to as older teens.”
Ultimate Justice Page 6
