by Alex Brown
‘Shuuuuuush.’ Harvey looked back at her over his shoulder after stopping abruptly. April almost fell into him as she came to a sudden halt. Oscar was sitting on the grass beside another wooden stile surrounded by head-height brambles leading into what looked like another orchard, and swishing his tail from side to side with a very gleeful look on his face.
‘What is it?’ April whispered.
‘He’s found something …’
April followed Harvey towards the stile. Oscar leapt up on to all four paws and then hunched down and practically commando-styled his way underneath the stile, before sitting again in the grass and staring intently at Harvey, who took a step up, and after bashing the brambles out of the way, was just about to climb over the stile when he looked up and promptly stopped.
Silence.
Then.
‘FLAAAMING HELL.’
‘What? What is it?’ April pulled herself up on to the stile and then leant around Harvey to get a good look.
And gasped.
‘WOW!’
There was an old wooden gypsy wagon in the field. And part of the arched roof was covered in glorious striped yellow-and-orange knitting! Yarnbombed. And it was beautiful. And April couldn’t wait to take a closer look, having always wanted to go inside a proper gypsy wagon, ever since watching The Diddakoi on the telly as a child.
‘What are you doing?’ Harvey’s face was a picture.
‘Going in to take a look of course.’ April beamed. Harvey gave her a sideways look of incredulity. And then he was outraged all over again.
‘Are you mad?’ he expostulated. ‘I’ll call Mark. He knows how to deal with squatters!’ And Harvey went to pull out his walkie-talkie. ‘It’s one thing abandoning horses in fields but moving your whole gaff in is a bloody liberty.’ He was off on one again …
‘Oh don’t be ridiculous.’ And April hopped down off the stile and walked over to the wagon, keen to see inside.
After stepping up the little wooden ladder propped outside the gypsy wagon, April was just about to duck down to go through the arched entrance when a figure in a green hoodie and black jeans shoved her sharply aside – April landed face first in the alcove seated area – and then leapt over the ladder, landed on the grass and went to run off.
‘OH NO YOU DON’T. COME ’ERE!’ Harvey hollered, rugby-tackling the person to the ground. A yelp resonated around the field.
‘Get off me. You’re hurting me!’
Harvey grabbed the person’s wrists and attempted to wrestle them into submission. April hurried down the ladder and darted forward to intervene. The person pinned underneath him on the grass was a young girl of about thirteen, with a petrified look in her eyes.
‘Harvey stop it! That’s enough. YOU’LL HURT HER,’ April yelled, yanking his shirt.
‘Her?’ Harvey immediately stopped wrestling and leapt to his feet.
‘Yes. Her! Didn’t you hear the girl screaming?’ April admonished, helping the girl up and giving her a cuddle. ‘Poor thing is terrified and is it any wonder with you going in so gung ho again? You’re damn lucky Mark isn’t here or it would be you facing arrest right now for attacking and scaring the living daylights out of a teenage girl.’
‘I, er … Jesus! I didn’t realise.’ And to give him his due, Harvey did look horrified as he pushed a shaky hand through his hair. ‘I’m really sorry, I … um …’ He stopped talking.
‘What’s the matter?’ April looked first at the girl and then at Harvey.
‘Please don’t tell my dad, he’ll go mental.’ The girl went to bolt again, but April took charge this time and managed to get her hand and hold on to it.
‘Hey, it’s OK,’ April soothed, putting her hand on the girl’s back. She was horrified to feel her thin frame trembling all over. ‘Surely it’s not that bad … look, why don’t we all calm down and see if we can sort this out.’
Harvey and the girl exchanged glances, and then he nodded his support for April’s suggestion.
‘Fine by me. But your dad will be worried, love … Why aren’t you at school?’ he asked the girl, and April was surprised by the tenderness in his voice. Harvey then turned his face to April and said, ‘This is my mate’s girl. Bella.’ He shook his head, concern etched on his face.
‘I came to see the horses! That’s all. Nobody cares about them and they’re hungry … and ill. What if they die?’ Bella was crying now as she stared at the grass curled around her trainers.
‘That’s OK,’ April said brightly, ‘and that’s why we are here too. I’ve got a vet coming later to take a look at poor Darby and Joan … you see, we do care.’
‘Then how come you’ve let them get so bad?’ Bella accused.
‘Well, I didn’t know about them until recently … and my great aunt – this is her orchard – she’s getting forgetful and things have got on top of her a bit …’ April’s voice faded under the furious teenager’s scrutiny.
‘Look, Bella, you really shouldn’t be here on your own, it’s not safe,’ Harvey walked towards the wagon. ‘Could be an axe murderer hiding in here.’ He put his hand on the side of the wagon. ‘Have they hurt you?’ Harvey pulled out his walkie-talkie, not even waiting for an answer from Bella. ‘Right, that is it! I’m calling your dad.’
‘No, please don’t. Nobody else comes here. Only me. The wagon was empty when I first found it. I swear,’ Bella cried. ‘I didn’t do anything wrong.’
‘Then how do you explain the giant … er …’ Harvey paused, searching for a suitable word, ‘jumper that’s draped all over the roof?’ and he grabbed a corner of the knitting and gave it a good tug. ‘Ahh, I bet there’s one of those hippies in here, isn’t there?’ He stomped up the wooden ladder and went inside.
Bella was full on sobbing now.
‘No. There isn’t. There’s nobody in there. Only me. I did it!’ she stammered in between sobs. ‘I like knitting and wanted the wagon to look nice. I’ve cleaned it inside too, and I …’ She stopped talking and buried her head into April’s shoulder.
April felt baffled and utterly in awe of the young girl and the marvellous yarnbomb. It really was an achievement. But what on earth was going on in her life that made her want to hide out in a decrepit old gypsy wagon in Aunt Edie’s orchard?
‘Come on. Let’s see if we can find the horses and then you can tell me all about it,’ she said, letting go of Bella and giving her a cheery smile. ‘Here, wipe those tears away. It’s going to be fine.’ April handed Bella a clean tissue from her jeans pocket. ‘You’re not in trouble. And I think a yarnbombed gypsy wagon in my aunt’s orchard is a wonderful thing.’ April gave Harvey a surreptitious look as if to say, ‘Probably best if I handle this situation from here on after the blithering mess you’ve made of it so far, so make yourself scarce for a bit.’ He immediately got the hint, a look of relief spreading all over his face, and wandered off in the opposite direction.
April had managed to calm Bella down enough to walk for ten minutes or so with her telling April that she had decorated the inside of the wagon too, with new flowery printed seat covers using some old fabric she had bought from a charity shop in Market Briar, and had been busy knitting the next section of the yarnbombed roof when they had discovered her. Seemed Bella liked spending time in the wagon most afternoons when she should have been busy learning lots at school …
‘I hate everyone at school, and they all hate me,’ Bella blurted out as if she couldn’t keep it inside herself any longer, all the while sniffing and wiping her nose with the tissue that April had given her.
‘Oh dear, I’m so sorry to hear that,’ April said gently, conscious of saying the wrong thing, and rather taken aback by the girl’s desperation to tell her all about it. In the short time they had been talking, Bella seemed so volatile and anxious – almost as if she was in a constant state of hyper-alert, continuously looking for signs of danger – things, or people, that might hurt her. April’s heart went out to her, what a sad existence for such a young gir
l. But she seemed to want to talk, to open up … maybe because April was a stranger, it was easier for her, but whatever it was, April figured it best that she just let the girl tell her what was troubling her.
‘The other girls are such idiots with their make-up and big hair and rolled-over skirts and smartphones. And the boys are disgusting … you know one of them went to grab me down there …’ Bella motioned with her head towards her pelvis. ‘It was in the sports field. When nobody was looking. And I decked him. But then I got suspended when he told the Head of Year that the split lip I gave him was totally unprovoked. They took his word over mine ’cos he’s a prefect and so they believed him.’
‘But that’s shocking! Isn’t there anyone …’ April paused to pick the right words as she was now raging inside on Bella’s behalf. The poor girl was clearly desperately unhappy from being bullied at school. No wonder she came here to the orchard to escape from it all – school kids could be so cruel. ‘… That you like at the school?’
‘No. Would you, if they slut-shamed you on social media?’ Bella blurted out, before scrubbing the tears away again.
‘Um, er … no, I’m pretty certain I wouldn’t,’ April started, shocked by her outburst, and not entirely sure what ‘slut-shaming’ was, but she could hazard a guess and now felt a mixture of anger and utter hopelessness on Bella’s behalf. ‘And what does your mum say about it all?’
‘Nothing. She’s gone. And I answered the email from school to my dad, before he even saw it. I deleted it right after of course, I’m not totally dumb,’ Bella said in a monotone matter-of-fact voice, as if she regularly managed this kind of stuff for herself and it was really no big deal.
‘Oh dear. And your dad? Have you talked to him about school? Told him what’s going on? I could chat to him for you, or be with you when you explain, if you like. It might help to have …’ April offered tentatively, conscious of not wanting to be seen as interfering in matters that were none of her business, but she couldn’t just stand by and do nothing. And Bella had been hiding out in her aunt’s orchard, and had chosen, for whatever reason, to confide in her so that made April involved, whether she wanted to be or not.
They had reached the far corner of the orchard where a hedge separated it from the lane on the other side, when Harvey reappeared.
‘I’m sorry, Bella. But your dad would never forgive me if I didn’t …’ And before he could finish, a vehicle screeched to a halt in the lane. With the engine still running, the door slammed and someone practically hurdled over the hedge and into the field, landing with a giant thud on the grass in front of April and Bella.
Matt.
It was the guy driving the Only Shoes and Horses van. The one with the romantic gypsy curls and the mesmerising eyes and very few words. The man who had helped April when she had lost her way.
‘But why?’ Bella yelled, and instantly went to bolt again, but it was Matt who caught her this time.
After wrapping his arms around Bella and pulling her in close to him, he then gently pushed her to the ground and sat down beside her keeping one arm, firmly but tenderly, around her shoulders.
‘What’s going on, sweetheart? Harvey here says you’ve been hiding in the field …’ Matt’s voice was soft and kind and April was about to walk away, not wanting to intrude on their father–daughter time, when Bella sprang back up and stood adjacent to her.
‘No I haven’t.’
‘Then what are you doing here? Why aren’t you at school, Bells?’
‘Don’t call me that!’ Bella folded her arms and kicked the toe of her left trainer into an extra-tufty clump of grass, over and over. Matt stood up, unfazed, or so he appeared on first glance, but April spotted the vein pulsing at the side of his neck and the now underlying look of fear in those intoxicating eyes.
‘Sorry,’ he said, and April bit her bottom lip, unsure of what to do. She felt so sad for them both. Matt looked crushed, with his shoulders sagged and his head bowed, as if he was carrying the whole weight of the world. And Bella was doing a wonderful job of being furious to cover the excruciating pain that she was enduring. And Harvey was no use; he was fiddling with his walkie-talkie, pretending to be trying to switch it off or whatever, clearly out of his depth, or oblivious, or most likely both, when it came to handling sensitive situations.
‘She knows!’ Bella blurted furiously.
‘Who does?’ Matt asked.
‘Her.’ Bella indicated sideways with her left thumb. And April felt them looking at her, including Harvey. Even Oscar stopped pottering around in the grass and stood squarely in front of April with his little furry head tilted to one side as if to say, ‘Come on then, tell us all what you know.’
‘Oh, I, um …’ April started, desperately trying to gauge whether Matt was going to be OK with his teenage daughter opening up to a complete stranger when she had clearly kept him in the dark. ‘Well, we chatted, that’s all. I found Bella in the wagon … which is no problem at all by the way, she’s very welcome to come here any time. Well, not during the school day obviously, that’s not what I meant, I’m not encouraging …’ April stopped talking, cleared her throat and then started again, cutting to the chase. Now was not the time to babble on offering niceties; Bella needed her help. ‘What I meant was, that Bella was telling me about school, about the bullying and—’
‘Bullying?’ Matt interjected, running a hand through his curls. And then, ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ in a far quieter voice, and April saw his shoulders sag some more, if that was even possible.
‘Because you don’t understand … you never listen. All you do is tell me what to do. I hate you,’ Bella screamed. Silence followed. April looked at Bella and then at Matt, his green eyes several shades darker now, or so it seemed, and fixed intensely on April like a laser, with a mixture of bewilderment and fury. April held eye contact until she could bear it no longer, feeling slightly dizzy on realising that she was holding her breath. She drew in an enormous gulp of air before exhaling hard. It was extraordinary the effect Matt was having on her.
‘I guess it’s just easier sometimes to chat to a stranger,’ April offered. Matt blinked and went to speak, but Bella bolted again. And this time she ran so fast and hard that neither Harvey, Matt or indeed April were quick enough to catch her. The three adults looked at each other.
‘I need to go after her,’ Matt said, and went to go, but then hesitated. He looked back at April. ‘You were lost,’ he nodded, locking his emerald-green eyes on to her again. A moment’s silence. April opened her mouth to reply, but hesitated too. Harvey leapt in as always, striding towards April to stand alongside her and opposite Matt as if they were a team, together in agreement. But before April could speak, Harvey jumped in.
‘Yes! Matt, you should go after her.’ And he slapped Matt on the arm as if to pack him off right away. Matt looked at Harvey and then at April. He seemed to want to say more to her, but stayed silent, and then, just as he had in the van, he appeared to refocus.
‘Er, yes. Yes I should.’ And he ran off. ‘OK if I come back later to sort things out? Repair any damage, that kind of thing …’ he then called out over his shoulder. Harvey went to reply, but April gently but firmly touched his arm as if to say, ‘He’s talking to me, thank you very much.’
‘Yes, of course. Any time. No damage in any case. As I said, Bella is welcome here whenever she likes, it’ll be school summer holidays soon …’ April called out and Matt waved a hand up in the air to signal his thanks.
As soon as Matt was out of earshot, April turned to face Harvey square on.
‘What did you do that for?’
‘Whaaaat?’ He feigned ignorance.
‘You know very well what. Tell her dad she was here. Bella was talking to me about all her problems. How she comes here to escape. That her mum isn’t around. And my guess is that she doesn’t have many people to confide in, poor girl. Why else would she talk to me, a complete stranger? She’s desperately lonely, and is being bullied at school,�
�� April said. ‘And now she’s in trouble with her dad too.’
‘Ahh, Matt will sort it out. We go back years. He’s my pal and he’s had it tough with the girl, bringing her up on his own since the missus buggered off without so much as a goodbye. A single dad. But he does his best. Bella is a handful. Like most teenagers.’
‘She seemed lovely to me. Kind and creative. She was genuinely concerned for the horses and the knitting was amazing. She’s having a very tough time … so is it any wonder she’s angry?’ April said, instinctively protective of the girl she had just met, who had reminded her of herself a bit as a young teenager. Sixteen, her parents had gone, she was living in a new town up north where nobody talked like her, she had been going to a new college where the other teenagers hadn’t particularly welcomed her into their established friendship groups … Yes, April knew how it felt to be lonely, the odd one out that didn’t fit in. And had then had to deal with the same thing all over again when she had moved to the hospital in London, and then Basingstoke as part of her nurse training.
‘Maybe so. But she can’t be staying in a gypsy wagon in the middle of a field. It’s not right. What if something had happened to her and Matt didn’t even know where she was?’ Harvey shook his head vehemently. ‘Nah, I for one wasn’t taking a chance. Don’t want that on my conscience. He’s my pal and he had a right to know.’
‘Well, I guess it could be a bit dangerous …’ April agreed. She knew that practically it wasn’t a feasible thing for a thirteen year old to be doing, hiding out in a gypsy wagon, but secretly thought it seemed like a wonderfully romantic adventure and one that she would have loved to have experienced as a teenage girl. Though under happier circumstances than Bella was going through, of course.
‘Let them sort it out. Trust me, you don’t want to be getting involved,’ Harvey added. ‘Come on, what time is that vet of yours arriving? Don’t want to keep him waiting … time is money and all that. Old Patrick will be rubbing his hands together in glee at this rate.’
