by David Belbin
I tell her about the allotment. “I feel safe there but it’s cold at night.”
“The days are getting warmer,” she says. “You will be OK.”
“Why don’t they let you go to school?” I ask.
“Too many jobs here,” Nadimah tells me. She looks at the clock on the wall. “You must go. She will be back soon.”
“Come and see me,” I say. “They let you out, don’t they?”
She shakes her head. I see a scratch on her neck.
“Are you OK?” I ask.
“You must go,” she says again.
I hurry across the road. On the path to the allotments I meet Stefan.
“Why aren’t you at school, Aazim?” he asks.
“I’ve finished school.”
“I thought you had another year to do,” Stefan says.
“Me too,” I say.
“Do you want to tell me what’s going on?” he asks.
“Not here,” I say.
We go into his allotment and I tell him what happened.
“You need help,” he says.
“Please. Don’t tell people where I am.”
Stefan shakes his head. “I’ll see what I can do.”
I trust him. I have no choice. I have nowhere else to hide.
Chapter 9 - The Invaders
After dark, the boys come. At first, I think they’re foxes. Then I hear a laugh. I hear glass smash. They’re in the allotment next door. Tam warned Dad about vandals. When the weather is warm, they come to smoke and drink. One time they burnt down his shed. Tonight they smash the windows of his greenhouse.
What can I do? I pull on my trainers. I open the door. I look over the fence. There are three boys. I hear them talk.
“Let’s do the next one. There are new people there. They might have some good stuff.”
“I want to burn down the shed first.”
“Takes too long. Come on, there’s nothing to nick here.”
They smash another window. The moon comes out from behind a cloud. I can see their faces. I know one of them from school. Hakim. He is in the year below me. I should not be scared of him. But we are not at school now.
The hedge between the allotments is high. I hear them plot how to get over it.
“I’ll climb on your back,” Hakim tells one of the others. “We’ll have a look round. See if they have a ladder we can use.”
We have a ladder. I won’t let them have it. I think quickly. We have a torch too. I hurry back into the bothy. I pick up the torch and I put on a baseball cap. I rush back out. Hakim’s head pokes above the hedge. I shine the torch under my chin. He stops moving. Then I begin to shout in my own language.
“Get out of here you good for nothing sons of Satan! Do you think you can steal from people who have less than you? Do you think you have the right to break into places that don’t belong to you? Get the hell out of here before I beat you to death!”
As I speak, Hakim screams. He falls. I hear him hit the ground. Then there’s panic. “Quick!” Hakim says.
“What was that?” says one of the others.
“Who cares?” the other one shouts. “Let’s get out of here!”
They run out of the allotment. I don’t think they’ll be back.
Chapter 10 - The Job
Next day, I want to explain to Tam about the vandals. But I can’t, because I’d have to tell him I sleep here. Tam is English. He might go to the police. Stefan came from Poland when he was my age. There was a war, he says. So he knows what it is like to have to leave your country. He will not turn me in.
At midday, Stefan brings me food. Cold chicken in a bread roll. A pint of milk. I offer to pay him. He shakes his head.
“How much money do you have?” he asks.
“Not a lot,” I reply.
“You want to work? Cash in hand, as the English say. Off the books?”
“I’ll do anything,” I promise. “I work hard.”
“That’s what I thought,” Stefan says. “I’ll bring someone by later. Be here about seven. OK?”
“OK.” I tell him about the boys last night. He frowns.
“Best to use clear plastic for greenhouses on allotments. Glass is always getting smashed. You scared them off, did you? Well done!”
I wait until Mrs Ubani goes shopping, then I cross the road. Nadimah lets me in. There’s a children’s book on the table.
“Is that yours?” I ask.
“I’m trying to learn English,” she tells me. “I learn lots of words by watching television, but reading is hard.”
“Let me help you.”
“Can you read English?” she asks.
“Yes. I’ve been at school here two years. Until last week.”
I get her to read aloud to me, the way I would get Malik and Sabeen to read to me, the way Dad would get me to read to him and Mum. I miss them all. But I must not be sad.
“I would like to see where you live,” Nadimah tells me before I go. “Maybe I could come at this time tomorrow?”
“I’d like that,” I say.
We agree to meet by the allotment gates at eleven the next morning.
Chapter 11 - The New Path
Stefan keeps his promise. His son is Karl. He brings him to the allotment. Karl tells me about his gardening business.
“Lots of people with big gardens don’t have time to look after them,” Karl says. “Some can’t do the heavy jobs because they’re getting too old. It’s hard work but there’s plenty of it. I’ll pick you up at seven tomorrow. By the gates. Don’t be late.”
“I won’t.”
I don’t ask what he pays. Nadimah is meant to be here tomorrow. But I’ll go and see her and explain.
At half past six in the morning, I wait in the alley by the Ubani house. It’s raining. Nadimah does the bins about now. But she isn’t here. I wait. I get wet. At ten to seven, I hear Mrs Ubani shouting. She’s shouting in an African language but I can tell what’s happening. She’s angry with Nadimah. Perhaps she overslept. At five to seven, I have to go. I can’t be late for Karl.
He doesn’t come until ten past seven. On the side of the van it says Sherwood Garden Services. Karl drives. He’s about thirty.There are two more workers, Sam and Darren.
“Short drive today, lads,” Karl says.
Five minutes later, we’re on Richmond Drive. It’s a wide road, full of big houses. There are big gardens at the front and back. We’re laying a path at the back. We dig. We cut turf. We move turf. We lay hardcore. We pour sand. We carry heavy stone slabs. It’s hard work.At twelve, we break for lunch. The others have rolls. I have nothing. Karl gives me a cheese roll.
“Next time,” he says. “Bring your own lunch and a flask. Today we were lucky – the people here gave us a hot drink. Most people don’t bother.”
I give him a look and he remembers how I live.
“I’ve got a spare flask you can have if you want,” he says.
I thank him. We finish work at five. He drops me off and hands me twenty pounds.
“Well done,” he says. “Same time tomorrow.”
I look for Nadimah before I go back into the allotments. She isn’t there. I’m too tired to wait. Back in the bothy, I sleep until it gets dark. Tomorrow morning I will find her, and explain.
Chapter 12 - A Bad Smell
When I get there at six-thirty, Nadimah is cleaning. She has a black eye.
“Yesterday I overslept,” she says.
“I know.” I explain why I wasn’t there to meet her.
“I didn’t come,” she says. “I was too scared.”
“I have to work on week-days,” I tell her. “Can you come at the week-end? We can read together then.”
“I don’t know.” We hear a noise upstairs. “You have to go.”
Karl comes to pick me up again. He drives me to a village a few miles away. He drops off Sam and Darren at another job on the way.
“Get a peg for your nose!” Darren says.
“What?
” I say. The others laugh.
The village is called Stoke Bardolph. It’s full of pretty gardens. It looks like the England you see in picture books. I’m going to work for an old woman called Mrs Babcock. She makes me a mug of tea, then I begin to weed. I think about Nadimah. I want to help her. Wanting to help her makes me feel happy. Then the wind changes. What’s that smell?
The smell reminds me of two years ago, when I started school in Nottingham. At break, two boys put my head down a toilet. It hadn’t been flushed. The smell makes me feel sick. But I keep working. It will pass soon, I tell myself. But it doesn’t.
Mrs Babcock brings me out a sandwich for lunch. I don’t mention the smell to her, but she talks about it.
“The stink’s bad today, isn’t it?” she says.
“What is it?” I ask.
“The sewage plant down the road.”
“Do you get used to it?” I ask.
“No, but at least it keeps house prices down,” she says. “The smell’s worst on Wednesdays, because we have the maggots as well.”
“Maggots?” I do not know the word.
“Insects. Little grubs. People use them for bait in fishing. They breed them here.”
“At the sewage plant?”
“No.At a farm just outside the village. They breed them in the fishing season. The maggots smell ripe in the middle of the week. Then the smell goes. They sell them at the weekend. Then they breed more and the smell starts again. It’s bad today.”
“How do you stand the stink?” I ask.
I must look disgusted, for the sweet old lady laughs. “We all have to put up with some shit in life,” she says.
Chapter 13 - Visitor
Saturday morning. I wait for Nadimah by the allotment gates. Big mistake. Two boys from school go by. One of them, Paul, is from my year. He was one of the boys who put my head in the toilet.
“I thought they’d deported you, raghead,” he says.
I tell him where to go.
The other boy, Jack, gives me a warning look.
“Where you living?” Paul asks.
“Foster home,” I lie.
When they’re gone, Nadimah arrives.
“Who were they?” she wants to know.
“Bad boys. I hope they don’t tell on me.”
“Do you think they will?” she asks.
“No.They’re too stupid to know who to tell.”
Nadimah doesn’t understand what I mean so I explain. We go inside the allotments. It’s early.There aren’t many people around. Tam is in his allotment with the gate open. He waves as we go by.
“Your dad not here today?” he shouts.
“Not today.”
“Your girlfriend looks a bit young for you,” he teases.
“She’s just a friend from school,” I say.
We hurry away from him, into the allotment.
Nadimah looks around. It’s been raining.
Everything is very green.The bushes are full of red berries that look good but are too hard and sharp to eat. She admires the small pumpkins.
“Where do you sleep?” she asks me.
I show her my hard floor. She lies down on it.
“This is not too bad,” she says.
She has a small bag. In it, there are two oranges and an old book. She hands me an orange, then opens the book.
“I found this.Will you help me read?” she says.
I sit on the cold floor with her. We try to follow the story but I think it’s a bit young for me. I read the words aloud. Nadimah follows them with her finger.
“This is better than learning words from TV,” she says.
A tear drops onto the page. We are not at a sad bit of the story.
“What’s wrong?” I ask her.
“I heard the Ubanis talk,” she says. “Roland comes tomorrow. He brings them a new girl. He will take me away.”
“Where to?” I ask. “Will it be somewhere better?”
She shakes her head. “I am nearly thirteen,” she says. “He will want to use me for bad things.”
I guess what bad things she means. “Stay here,” I say.
“It’s not safe,” she says.
“It must be safer than being with Roland.”
“Here is too close to the Ubanis. And Immigration are looking for you,” Nadimah says.
“I’ve been here for weeks. I have a job. I can look after you.”
“I don’t know,” Nadimah says. She stands up. I spot a mark on her thigh.
“Who did that?” I ask.
“Mr Ubani.”
“You have to get away, Nadimah. Maybe we can go somewhere else, somewhere safer. Don’t go back. Stay here.”
Nadimah looks around the dark, damp bothy. She looks out of the window at the wet, green allotment.
“I have to get my stuff,” she says at last. “Things from home.”
“Let’s go now,” I tell her. “While the Ubanis are out.”
We cross the road.The Ubanis’ car is not back. Nadimah lets herself in with a key that’s hidden under a loose brick on the wall.
“They don’t know I know about the key,” she says. “Will you lock the door and put the key back for me?”
“What does it matter, if you’re running away?”
“They may come back. Keep watch. Call me if they come. If they don’t come, you can unlock the door and let me out again.”
“OK,” I say. She goes inside and I lock the door. I put the key back behind the brick and watch the road. I wait. And wait. I look at my watch. I thought she would be five minutes at most, but it seems longer. No, only four minutes have passed. Five. Six.
Soon, the Ubanis’ Range Rover comes. You cannot park on the main road.The car signals to turn onto the side road by the house. I bang on the back door and shout. “They’re coming! They’re coming! Come quick, we can still get away!”
Nadimah doesn’t come. I have to go before they see me. I hurry out of the alley, onto the road. I go up the road and hang by the bus stop.There they are, Mr and Mrs Ubani and their three kids. A tall African man in a suit is with them. He has angry, staring eyes. I know who he must be. Roland.
Chapter 14 - Escape
I go back to the allotments. Stefan is in his. Karl is holding the ladder while Stefan cuts a rotten branch from an apple tree.
“Mrs Babcock wants you back next week,” he tells me.
“I like Mrs Babcock,” I say.
“She asked about you,” Karl says. “I said you were sixteen and you’d finished school.”
I nod. I want to ask Stefan about Nadimah. But I don’t want to tell Karl about her. They go back to their jobs.
“Do you want help with the raspberry canes?” I ask.
“You’d better go,” Stefan says. He points over the fence. “You have a visitor waiting outside.”
I hurry back to my allotment. There is Nadimah, with a bag over her shoulder. She is shaking.
“What happened?” I ask.
“I ran out through the front door.”
“How did you get into the allotments?”
“Someone opened the gate,” she says. “I ran in past them. Roland saw me. I ran across the road before he could catch me. But he knows where I am. You must hide me.”
“Get in the bothy,” I tell her. “I’ll see if he’s coming.”
I hurry back up the path. There are six allotments between mine and the road. I don’t pass Roland. I don’t like to be out in the open on a Saturday. Too many people around.
There’s a patch of open ground beside the gate to the allotments. It’s full of brambles and people dump rubbish there. Every so often the council clear it. I stop there and hide.
Roland’s on the other side of the gate. He’s waiting for someone to let him in. Maybe he’ll give up. Maybe not. I run back to the allotment, but stop before I get there. I go in to see Stefan and Karl.
“There’s a big African man,” I say, and tell them about Roland. They’ve seen Nadimah, so I
have to trust them.
“Give me your key,” Karl says.
“What?”
“I’ll lock your allotment from the outside, so it looks like no one’s in. I’ll come round and let you out when he’s gone.”
Karl follows me and locks the door behind me. I go into the bothy where Nadimah is hiding. She’s still shaking with fear. I try to hold her but she doesn’t let me. I suspect more bad things have happened to her, bad things she does not want to tell me about.
“You’re safe here,” I tell her.
I hope it’s true.
Chapter 15 - Stew
On a fine morning at Hungerhill Gardens the birdsong is magical. Sometimes I wake early and go outside to listen and watch. Bird calls drown out the sound of cars. The air tastes sweet and clean. But today I can’t relax. I don’t know if I can stay here.
Nadimah sleeps. She is stronger than me, I think. I miss my parents, my brother and sister. All the time. I worry that Roland will come back. He did get in to the allotments last Sunday, the day after Nadimah ran away. He made up a story about why he was looking for a young girl. No one said they’d seen her.
There is an exit at the bottom of the allotments. Nadimah could have gone out through there. I hope Roland thinks so. I hope he is gone for good. But I can’t be sure.
A big old fox crosses the allotment. It sees me and stops. The fox looks at me for a moment, then moves on. I hear a door open behind me. Nadimah is up.
“Are you OK, Nadimah?” I ask.
“Is there anything to eat?”
We eat some crisps and drink fizzy pop. Then we read her book. We do not talk about the future. At seven, I go to work.
When I come back, Nadimah has made a stew.
“Where did you get all these vegetables?” I ask.
“I dug them. Stefan gave me some. And he lent me ... I don’t know what it’s called.”
She points to a long stone.
“A knife sharpener. What did you need a sharp knife for?”
“Taste,” she orders.
The stew is very good. There’s meat in it. Chicken, I think. It is chewy but nice.
