‘What’s it got to do with him?’
‘Int you heard? He’s the big I am, thinks he’s got the rulin of us.’
‘How’d he get that idea?’ asked Trey.
‘Just decided, you know what he’s like.’
‘That bully,’ shouted Lamby. ‘We should do somethin.’
‘I int gettin involved,’ said Trey.
Kids were jeering and knocking into each other and the threat of fight was everywhere. Above their heads the air fizzed and bumped with question marks and when Wilder appeared the tent threatened to unpin itself from the earth with the interrogating heat.
‘Fellow inmates,’ he shouted and he climbed up on to the serving counter and stamped his feet on the metal slab. ‘You better shut up cus if you don’t you int gonna eat.’ He cleared his throat for dramatic effect. ‘You think you got problems?’ he continued. ‘Let me tell you, I’m the one with the problem.’
‘You can say that again,’ whispered Lamby.
‘I’ve taken it upon myself to take charge of you sad lot.’
Somebody shouted for him to get on with it and Trey watched as one of Wilder’s gang toppled the boy and dragged him outside.
‘Likes the sound of his own voice that one,’ said Lamby. ‘Big stupid voice he got too.’
‘Shut up, will you, I’m tryin to listen.’ Trey moved closer.
‘What’s there to hear? I am great you are not, I am the boss you are my minions.’
‘Where’s the chaplain?’ shouted one of the girls. ‘Int he meant to be around?’
A few kids chimed agreement.
‘He’s around,’ said Wilder.
‘We wanna see him.’
Wilder sighed and Trey could see he was losing patience.
‘Sly bastard,’ said Lamby. ‘We all know the chaplain’s a pushover but he int likely to let Wilder put himself in charge.’
‘Someone get the chaplain, will they?’ shouted Wilder. ‘If he’s so bloody important to you.’
‘He should be in charge,’ shouted somebody at the back. ‘Not you.’
Wilder ignored them but Trey could see the anger in him was rising; he was close to losing the one thing he needed in his life to survive: power.
The chaplain arrived and Wilder pulled him up on to the slab beside him.
‘You’re all right, int you?’ Wilder asked. ‘Int got no problem with me takin the initiative have you, old man?’
The chaplain looked down at the crowd and he put out his hands and waved them for the calm. ‘I know you have questions,’ he nodded. ‘And some of you might feel a little confused right now, but I’m here to assure you that you’ve not bin forgotten.’
Wilder whispered something in his ear and when the chaplain shook his head Wilder pushed him to get down.
Trey wished he could say something about Wilder being the Preacher’s son, but then he’d have to admit that some of that mad blood ran riot in his veins too.
‘What bout the guards in the towers, where they gone?’ shouted one of the boys. ‘Why can’t we do a runner?’
‘And what about the authorities?’ asked another.
Wilder looked worried, his brain working double time. ‘The fences,’ he shouted finally. ‘The fences are still on and them stayin on till the authorities decide what to do with us. Gate’s locked too so don’t bother wonderin.’
‘How’s he know what the authorities is plannin?’ asked Lamby.
‘He don’t,’ said Trey and he looked at Lamby and said they should go for some food before things got worse.
They pushed through the mob and found Kay and the twins standing at the serving area and together they waited for the bit of bread and cheese and better-days apple that had been granted by Wilder.
‘You got anythin else?’ Lamby asked the boy serving. ‘Anythin hot or drinks or diffo?’
‘Nope. You want it or not? Just keep movin, will you.’
They took what was offered and when the boy turned to argue with the next kid in line they scooped up anything they could into the sack and ran.
‘Miserly offerins,’ shouted Lamby as they hurried through the tent. ‘And not just that, a ploughman’s lunch style miserly offerins.’
‘Least it’s somethin,’ said Kay when they stopped to catch their breath away from the crowd.
‘I was hopin for some of the leader’s rations,’ said Lamby. ‘Least I managed to nick some tea.’
Trey knew it wouldn’t be long before chaos took up permanent residence in the camp and as they walked around the compound he thought out everything they might need but when they got to the yard he realised it was too late.
Some girls stood arguing in the doorway of their bunkhouse with handfuls of clothes gripped between them and around the back they saw a group of boys outside the medical room preparing to break in.
‘Somethin’s boilin,’ said Kay as they crossed the yard. ‘Won’t be long till things explode.’
‘We should get more food and store it,’ said Lamby. ‘Stockpile.’
‘Could do with collectin up wood and tools and whatever else useful,’ Kay added. ‘Might only be for a few hours till authorities get here but with Wilder in charge I dunno.’
‘Sanctions,’ said Lamby. ‘Enforced sanctions, who reckons?’
Nobody answered him because nobody knew what he was talking about. What they did know was Wilder held all the cards, food and shelter and protection and more. All things counted and considered, they equalled power and power was the greatest commodity a boy could have. They stood for a while to see if heat spores would rise or fall amongst their campmates and Trey turned his lighter over in his pocket until its power seeped and settled skin deep. He could no longer think along sensible lines.
He stood and flicked the lighter just because and when he saw Wilder kick and shout his way across the yard Trey thought the demon that had recently left him had entered his cousin.
‘Maybe I should talk to him after all,’ he said. ‘Maybe there’s sense there yet.’
Lamby laughed and so did John and David, they doubted it.
‘What you plannin on sayin?’ asked Kay. ‘Really.’
Trey shrugged. He didn’t know what, but the boy that was blood and abandoned same as was still just a boy.
‘Wilder,’ he shouted and went to stand in his way.
‘Not now, Rudeboy, can’t you see I’m busy?’
‘Busy gettin nowhere. What’s the use?’
Wilder tried to push past him but Trey remained steady and he told him that they both knew this wasn’t the answer.
‘I’ll get somewhere with em sooner or later, stand my ground is all.’
‘Stand your ground on what? Bullyin?’
‘Nobody’s bullyin,’ he laughed. ‘Just gotta keep order is all.’
‘Why?’ asked Trey. ‘Don’t you wanna escape?’ He looked at him for a long time and everything he needed to know was in Wilder’s eyes. The boy didn’t want to escape, he had everything he needed right there. It was power and status, but perhaps camp gave something else to the kid who was as good as orphan. It provided him with a kind of family no matter how disaffected.
Trey watched Wilder join his gang as they walked towards the farmhouse and shouted for him to answer but he was soon gone from the horizon.
They went back to the stables with wonder swinging between them and made a circle of the bales of straw for benches and one in the middle for the tumble of food and Kay said it was nicer than the usual breakfast stodge and she told them to save back the apple cores for the horses.
‘You love em horses more’n people,’ said Lamby. ‘I reckon anyhow.’
Kay nodded. ‘I like em well enough.’
‘Don’t talk back ’n stuff. That’s probably why you like John and David.’
Everyone looked at the twins and they smiled as if Kay liking them was their ultimate goal in life.
Between mouthfuls of food Trey thought about what Wilder had said. ‘He’s a psycho,
that boy, always knew it, and now all this gonna go to his head.’
‘What we gonna do?’ asked Kay. ‘Toe the line or are we out on our own? We gotta decide what goes with what?’
‘Food goes with one and hunger the other,’ said Trey. ‘I think we should play along a little, keep our heads down and an eye on what’s what.’
‘I int goin back to the bunkhouse,’ said Lamby. ‘No way José I’m sleepin in with Wilder no more.’
‘Don’t think we got much choice,’ said Trey.
‘What bout here?’ asked Lamby. ‘We were all right last night, weren’t we, Trey? Let’s move into the stables.’ He looked at Kay and held his hands together in prayer.
‘Maybe,’ she said and she looked at Trey and shrugged. ‘Maybe for a few nights, till we know what’s what.’
Lamby jumped to his feet. ‘I love this. Let’s put it to a vote.’ He smacked his hand into the air and the others reluctantly did the same.
‘Yes,’ he grinned. ‘Democracy wins.’
‘Won’t last long,’ said Kay and she collected up the apple cores and snapped them and fed a piece to each of the horses.
‘We gonna make it like a house?’ asked Lamby.
‘Just leave it as it is,’ said Kay.
‘I’ll put a few more bales round for sleepin.’ Lamby grabbed the twins and together they arranged one of the stalls into sleeping quarters.
‘How you doin?’ asked Kay and she came to sit next to Trey.
‘OK, I spose.’ He shrugged and then he looked at her and smiled.
‘You were out of it a good while.’
Trey sighed.
‘Don’t need to say why but if you do I’m here for listenin.’
‘I want to say,’ said Trey. ‘But there’s so much to process, I wish I knew how.’
‘Bout camp?’
‘Bout everythin.’
‘Well just when you’re ready.’
Trey nodded. ‘Lamby got his pack of cards then.’ He saw the three boys start a game of poker in the stall.
‘He found them scattered on the bunkhouse floor.’
Lamby looked up and smiled. ‘Almost a full pack.’
‘Seems cards int so useless,’ said Trey. ‘Keeps him quiet anyway.’
‘Takes my mind off food,’ he shouted. ‘Takes my mind off sockin that Wilder into the ground.’
‘He found some old newspapers too,’ said Kay as she knelt to light a fire. ‘Just as well use em for the fire.’
Trey watched her crumple the sheets into paper balls and when a headline caught his eye he shouted for her to stop.
‘What?’ she asked.
‘Let me see that a minute.’
Kay unwound the newspaper sheet and she laid it between them and smoothed it flat.
‘ “ Mob Rule. Children as young as nine go on the rampage”,’ they read in unison.
‘What’s that?’ asked Lamby and he and the twins came to sit beside them.
‘Truro,’ said Trey and he put the paper on to his lap. ‘It’s a local paper.’
‘What’s the date?’ asked Kay.
Trey looked at the date on his watch. ‘Last week,’ he said and he read on. ‘Apparently it’s bin goin on all over the country, says society has broken down more’n before.’
‘Don’t reckon,’ said Lamby. ‘Can’t be as bad as backalong. What em doin?’
‘Lootin, arson, fightin, riotin in general.’
‘What’s the Army Police doin?’ asked Kay. ‘Int this why they bin on the streets for the past year?’
‘And they’re armed,’ added Lamby. ‘You’d think more would take notice of a gun.’
‘Dint you see anythin while you were out of camp?’ asked Trey.
Lamby shook his head. ‘Don’t reckon anyway.’
‘Well that’s us ruined.’ Kay stood up and she put her hands on her hips. ‘Int nobody gonna prioritise us now, is they.’ She went to the store at the corner of the stable that kept broken tools and tack.
‘What you doin?’ shouted Lamby.
‘Just lookin.’
‘For what?’ He got up off the floor and joined her.
‘We’ve bin left to fend for ourselves.’
‘We’re gonna fight, int we?’ Lamby grinned and Trey told him that to have no fear was to have no awareness of anything at all.
‘We gotta be prepared.’ She handed Lamby bits of farm tools that still had something nasty to them. ‘Can’t wait round for rescue no more.’
Trey agreed. ‘What we got?’ he asked.
‘We got a scythe and a knife and a pitchfork with two prongs broke. What else? Two pickaxe handles, they’ll come in handy.’
‘A tool for all seasons,’ said Lamby. ‘I begsy that big knife thing.’
Kay gave it to him and she carried the rest of the haul over to the others.’
‘Not bad,’ said Trey. ‘And we got hammers and stuff, what about the chainsaw?’
‘No fuel. Don’t much fancy goin at someone with that thing anyhow.’ She sat and fingered the blade of the scythe and Trey could see her wondering and his wondering was the same. They were preparing for something that they didn’t want to prepare for, something beyond youth and courage and reasoning.
‘You know a lot bout tools,’ he said to keep the things from becoming weapons.
‘I guess,’ she nodded.
‘You bin taught good, whoever taught you.’
‘What you mean?’
‘Bout farmin and stuff.’
Kay shrugged.
‘She reads lots of books,’ shouted Lamby as he started to flip cards for a new game of poker. ‘Don’t she, boys?’
The twins nodded.
‘One book, I read a lot of one book.’ She passed the scythe she’d been petting to Trey. ‘Just some old book from backalong, found it amongst the junk long time ago.’
Trey felt the full weight of the scythe settle in his hands and he stood up and stretched the ache from his bones. ‘I feel like the grim bloody reaper,’ he said. ‘Feels good’n all.’
‘Don’t get carried away with it,’ said Kay. ‘We’re protectin ourselves is all.’
‘Who said we would?’
Kay ignored him and gave the twins a wooden handle each. ‘For protection,’ she said. ‘Just till the authorities come.’
‘Can I keep the knife?’ asked Lamby.
‘Long as you keep it down the back of your trackies. Don’t need to be swingin that thing round till you need to.’
‘When will that be?’
‘How do I know? When someone comes at you with somethin bigger.’
‘What you got, the pitchfork?’
‘We’ll keep it standin at the door, in case.’
Trey wanted to say how brave she was, how nothing fazed her. He also thought her too courageous, but there was so much more about her than he could think about in one given moment.
‘We headin out?’ he asked.
‘You int.’
‘What you mean?’
‘You still don’t look too good.’
Trey rested his wrists on the metal curve of the tool. ‘I’m fine.’
‘After last night you need to rest up and clear your head. You’re the cleverest we got.’
‘I guess.’ He sat back down and the warm purr of flattery rested with him.
‘Don’t answer the door,’ said Lamby. ‘And if anyone does come knockin keep that scythe in your hands.’
Trey nodded.
‘Brothers in arms,’ shouted Lamby suddenly and he scooped the twins up from the floor.
‘We’re off.’ He smiled and he threw the pack of cards on to the bale of hay beside Trey. ‘Help yourself,’ he nodded as they left the stable.
Trey flicker-booked the cards and he laid them out for a maybe game of solitaire, then gathered them up and pushed them back into the box.
He got up and said hello to the horses and he petted the bay that he was fond of because it was fond of Kay.
Through the thin-plank stable walls he could hear the occasional shout and he hoped his little gang would be safe enough and that they raided what they could because he was getting way beyond hungry. He drank some of the water they had stored in a dozen plastic bottles and felt the warm liquid curve and bury itself deep down into the hollow drum of his gut.
He leant against a wall and looked up into the trussed roof space and his jellied mind took him so far wandering he didn’t know up from down.
He listened to the rain hammer out tunes on the roof and he found familiar chords in the melody and words that he had not remembered since childhood came to him in a song. He slid to the ground and closed his eyes and he could hear Mum’s harmonies. When the song went round a hundred times and the rain turned back to just rain drumming he sat with his head between his knees until the need to cry subsided.
If Mum were really there she would make tea like backalong and Trey got up and set water to the tiny flame on the gas stove Kay had placed in the centre of the stables. When the water got to boiling he took up the box of stolen teabags and he made a pot and poured himself a cup for the sake of settling. He took his time to sip his drink and continued to hum the tune and he closed his eyes and for a minute he could have sworn Billy was there with him in the stable.
He could see him clear as day and he was a man that sat before him. Trey smiled and his brother smiled back.
‘You’re better,’ said Trey and Billy shrugged.
‘Spose you know all what’s bin goin on.’
Billy nodded.
‘You heard bout the Preacher and Dad and everythin?’ Trey shook his head. ‘Still can’t believe it. Dad was a good man, weren’t he, Billy?’ He looked into his brother’s eyes despite their fade.
‘You knew, dint you?’ He leant forward so he could be closer one second more. ‘You was fifteen, Billy, why don’t you tell me what you know?’
Trey watched his brother disappear completely and he knew everything in his head was made of his own imagining.
‘I bet you knew somethin,’ he said to himself and he opened his eyes to the revelation.
* * *
‘Nobody gonna be escapin anytime soon,’ shouted Lamby when he burst through the stable door and he made Trey jump. ‘That fence is still on, you’d be fried soon as look at it, razor wire good as new all round. I don’t fancy anyone’s chances.’
The Light That Gets Lost (Shakespeare Today) Page 12
