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by Robert Muchamore

  Empty bottles littered the streets. Beggar kids dragged the empties in trolleys made from scrap. They could collect two cents deposit on each one.

  Our progress was slow. There wasn’t much traffic, but the streets heaved with bodies. Soldiers laid wherever they passed out drunk and pedestrians refused to budge, even when Sami blasted the horn. Whenever we slowed down, merchants started hammering on the truck trying to sell us stuff. ‘Cool beer, follow me’ A man shouted. ‘Cool beer. Sexy girls.’ A man climbed on the side of the truck. He stuck his arm in the window and waved a bag of dried

  leaves in Sami’s face. ‘Hashish,’ he yelled. Sami used unladylike language and punched him into the dirt. ‘We need somewhere quiet to ditch the truck and get Adam out,’ Sami said. Billy knew a bit about Kisumba from his days in the army. ‘Just keep driving,’ Billy said. ‘There’s an old cargo port a couple of kilometres away where nobody ever

  goes.’ Sami pulled up a side road and we took a sharp left into a litter filled alleyway where there were less bodies in the way. Huge rats fought over the rubbish with birds and stray dogs. We pushed up the windows, but the stench was still unbelievable. People had built shacks amongst the filth. A couple naked toddlers were splashing in a puddle of yellow water.

  Billy was right about the port. There were a few small cargo ships and a wharf with decrepit cranes and warehouses with all the windows smashed. The government banned commercial traffic along the river when the war started. The largest boat was called the Pride Of Paris. Its hull had rusted through and it laid on the riverbed with brown water lapping over the deck.

  Sami stopped the truck under the front canopy of a warehouse. I pulled down the tailgate and raced inside to release Adam. He’d drunk all his water and looked shattered. I sat him up, pinched his cheek to liven him up and handed him my bottle of water. ‘You OK?’ I asked. ‘Feel a bit sick,’ Adam said. I ran my hand through his sweaty hair and kissed his cheek. ‘What was that for?’ ‘I’m really proud of you,’ I said. ‘You’ve been through a lot and you’ve held up really well.’ ‘How long will it take to get to the capital from here?’ Adam asked. ‘I’m not sure,’ I said. ‘If there’s a bus, it’ll probably take three or four days. Longer if we have to

  hitchhike or walk part of the way.’ We all got in the back of the truck and started stripping off. I put on the trainers, shorts and t-shirt that I’d been wearing the day I arrived in the country. I gave Billy one of the Aussie’s t-shirts and a pair of his shorts. The only civilian clothes Sami had was the white dress she’d got married in. She reckoned it looked too clean, so she rubbed it against the ground making it all dirty before putting it on.

  Weapons were our next dilemma. We wanted to pass the rest of the journey as civillians, which meant we couldn’t go walking around with grenades and M16s on us, but we still wanted to defend ourselves if someone tried something on. We settled on everyone caring a pistol and a knife, except Adam, who only got a knife. We decided to give Billy some of our money. It seemed fair after he’d looked after Adam and driven most of the way here. He needed to buy or steal a set of identity papers if he wasn’t going to get arrested.

  We stuck our packs on. They felt light without ammunition and grenades. We began walking towards town. One of the disused warehouses we passed had an Amanda Trading sign over the front door, it was my Dad’s company. I lifted Adam up so he could see through the broken glass. There wasn’t much to see, just a desk standing in a puddle and a few filing cabinets. ‘That’s our plane,’ Adam said. He was pointing at an out of date calendar on the wall behind the desk. It was a picture of the three

  DC3s lined up in front of the terminal in the capital. ‘I’m not surprised it crashed,’ Sami said. ‘Looks like a heap of junk.’ We walked slowly. As we got nearer the centre of town, we started noticing a few more people on the streets. We reached a row of shops and market stalls. Most people out here were civillians. The soldiers tended to stick around the bars near the river.

  We went inside the first shop we came to. There didn’t seem to be different kinds of shops in Kisumba, they all sold a bit of everything. Billy and Sami looked excited. Neither of them been in a shop for years. ‘Can I help you?’ A girl sitting on a stool behind the register asked. She was only about thirteen. The shelves were stacked up to the ceiling. Half the bulbs were blown out and there was condensation dripping off the ceiling, giving me a nasty feeling that we might all get electrocuted. ‘I need some shoes,’ Sami said, looking at her bare feet. The girl got a ladder out and climbed up. ‘Plimsolls, sandals, flip flops?’ The girl chucked a few different kinds down. Sami picked out a pair of white cotton plimsolls to go

  with her dress. Billy got himself some flip flops. ‘Have you got any kid’s clothes?’ I asked. Adam’s only set of clothes were wrecked. I’d been able to wear army camouflage and the Aussie’s stuff, but Adam had been wearing one set of clothes since he arrived. The girl moved the ladder across and threw down a selection of Adam sized shorts, t-shirts and underwear. Adam picked out a Simpsons t-shirt and a some counterfeit Nike stuff, then he started eyeing up the boiled sweets on the counter. Billy wanted a belt for his shorts. Sami noticed a skirt she liked.

  The assistant called out the back door for her two younger brothers to come and help. They started grabbing stuff off the shelves. There was soon quite a pile on the counter and a man who’d been sitting out front in a folding chair decided to come inside and see what was going on. He rummaged through the pile on the counter and looked at me accusingly. ‘Do you have money for this?’ He asked, raising a single eyebrow. I pulled a few banknotes out of my pockets and his mouth turned into a wide grin. He put his arm

  around my back. ‘My friend,’ he beamed. ‘I have beautiful linen suits in your size. Just one thousand dollars.’ I shook my head. He grabbed an orange tasselled lampshade off a shelf behind him and stuck it in my

  face. ‘This would make a beautiful present for a lady, young man. Are you two married?’ I nodded, ‘Yes.’ ‘How long?’ The shopkeeper asked.

  ‘Afewweeks.’ ‘Newlyweds, how sweet. Do you want babies yet?’ I grinned, ‘Not yet.’ The shopkeeper reached up behind the counter and dumped a giant box of condoms on the counter. ‘You want them?’ The shopkeeper asked. ‘Hundred percent safety.’ I nodded. It was embarrassing, but I’d never wanted anything so badly my whole life. ‘What are those?’ Adam asked, looking at the box. ‘None of your business,’ I said. Adam started to crack up laughing, ‘Oh… I remember what they’re for now.’ The shopkeeper looked at Adam, ‘I have lots of toys over there.’ Adam seemed intimidated by the shopkeeper and put his arm around my back. The girl started ringing it up. The whole lot came to $1,300. I peeled off seven two hundreds and told the girl to keep the change. She looked shocked. ‘Is there anything else I can help you with?’ The shopkeeper asked eagerly. ‘You know a good place to get a room for the night?’ I asked. ‘I’ll get my son to show you, there’s a little boarding house two streets over.’ Sami jabbed me in the ribs. ‘We won’t stay there,’ she said. ‘Lets go.’ We trailed Sami out of the shop. ‘You shouldn’t have showed off with your money,’ Sami said. ‘You might as well walk around with a

  card on your back saying Please Rob Me.’ ‘Sorry,’ I said. ‘Is that why you didn’t want him to know where we’re staying?’ ‘Exactly,’ Sami said. ‘It’s not just your fault. We all got a bit carried away in there.’ Adam ripped the top off a packet of sherbet and poured it in his mouth. Billy bought three beers and a

  Pepsi off a street vendor. We wandered for nearly an hour, trying to find somewhere to stay. There were a few hotels, but they either looked nasty or had been boarded up. We eventually got fed up looking for ourselves and asked a taxi driver.

  ‘My cousin owns the best place in town,’ the driver said. ‘Hop in. I’ll take you there, no charge if you take a room.’ ‘Is there a shower?’ Sami asked. ‘Private shower is an extra five dollars a night.’ We hadn’t washed in nearly four days and Adam was whin
ing about his legs hurting. The four of us

  piled into the taxi. The driver roared off, blasting his horn and sending a crowd of pedestrians diving for cover. ‘Scum,’ the driver shouted out of his window. Then he turned to us, ‘If you’re too stupid to move out

  of a car’s way, you deserve to get run over.’ The driver reached across the front passenger seat and shook Billy’s hand. ‘I’m Quentin,’ the driver said. ‘If you don’t like my cousin’s hotel, I’ll drive you back. It’s very good

  value.’ After ten minutes racing down narrow streets and making pedestrians dive for cover, we arrived in a lively avenue lined with stalls selling hot food. Every building seemed to be a hotel or dormitory. Quentin jammed his horn for the millionth time and a doorman walked up to the cab. ‘Two rooms with showers,’ Quentin said. The doorman handed Quentin a few dollars for his trouble and opened the car door for us. Another passenger got straight in the cab. Quentin didn’t stick around to honour his promise of a free return trip. The reception looked OK, with flowering cacti railing down counter and a shabby looking bar. The doorman walked behind the counter. ‘Eighty dollars a night, per room, in advance.’ I was ready to hand over the cash, but Billy moved my hand away. ‘Show us the room before we pay.’ The doorman took two keys from a rack behind him and led us along a damp smelling corridor. He

  opened one door and we walked in. There was a bit of mildew on the walls, but everything looked clean. ‘Good plumbing,’ the doorman said. He opened the bathroom door and switched on the tap. A jet of clean water burst out of the shower

  head. ‘Sold,’ Billy said. We paid the doorman and got our keys. Adam went off to Billy’s room. I started pulling off my shoes

  to go in the shower. Sami was admiring herself in the mirror on the back of the door. ‘I’m all grown up,’ she said. She pulled her dress over her head and started at herself naked. ‘The last time I looked at myself in a proper mirror, I was ten years old.’ I put my arms around her and for some reason she started to cry.

  19. PHONE

  We showered, got some dough balls and kebab type thingies off a stall outside the hotel and crashed in our room. We set up the electric fan so it blew a breeze over our bed. The fan kept slowing down as the electricity flickered on and off. I hadn’t been on a proper bed with a pillow for months. The matress smelled funky, but I cuddled up to Sami and we slept easily. Adam woke us up, banging on our door at 2AM. ‘Billy asked the doorman to get him a girl,’ Adam explained. ‘He said I could stay there, but I don’t

  want to be in there with that going on.’ We let him sleep between us. ‘Sex is so weird,’ Adam said. ‘I don’t ever want to go sticking my thing inside anyone.’ ‘Bet you will when you’re older,’ I said. ‘At least I’m not a dog,’ Adam said. ‘Then I’d have to go round sniffing girl dog’s butts.’ ‘Jake does that to me all the time,’ Sami giggled.

  . . .

  I always seemed to wake up first. I had a quick shower. Sami and Adam looked peaceful, so I wandered down the corridor to get a breath of outdoor air. A different doorman was on duty, a short fellow with white hair. ‘Good morning young Sir,’ he said. ‘Sleep well?’ I yawned, ‘Yeah, good.’ ‘Will you be staying another night?’ He asked. ‘Hopefully we’ll be on a bus to the capital by then. Do you know where they run from?’ ‘The bus station is near the port,’ the doorman said. ‘There’s a few drivers who will take you all the

  way.’ ‘How often do they run?’ I asked. The doorman rocked back in his chair, ‘I wouldn’t expect one with all the rain we’ve had. Maybe

  someone will try the journey in a few days, if the roads dry out.’ ‘A few days,’ I said, shocked. ‘If it stays dry. Trucks are much hardier than busses, you might get a driver to take you, but lots of

  people will want to make the journey and with no busses running, they’ll be able to name their price.’ I thought it best not to mention that we had plenty of money. ‘The best thing to do,’ the doorman said. ‘Is go to the bus station. There’s always a few characters

  around who know what the situation is. If there’s no busses, someone there will set you up with a truck driver.’ While we were talking, I’d noticed there was a payphone beside the reception desk. ‘Does that work?’ I asked. Not much,’ the doorman laughed. ‘It’s like playing the lottery: sometimes you win, but mostly you

  loose.’ I pulled a fifty dollar note out of my shorts. ‘Have you got change?’ ‘If you put money in the telephone, it’s between you and the telephone company. I can’t give refunds.’ I nodded, ‘I’ll give it a whirl. Someone has to win the lottery.’ The doorman gave me ten five dollar coins from the register. I walked across and picked up the

  receiver. There was a sign saying Press 0 for operator. The woman’s vioce was all crackley, ‘Kisumba operator.’ ‘Hello,’ I said. ‘What number do I dial for Britain?’ ‘You need the international operator, dial one hundred.’ I hung up and dialled 100. It rang about fifteen times before a surly man answered. I got the impression

  I’d woken him up. ‘International,’ he yawned. ‘I want to call Britain,’ The operator let out a little groan, ‘I’ll test the lines.’ I waited a couple of minutes, half convinced the operator had abandoned me. ‘Please deposit twenty dollars,’ the operator said. I put four coins in the slot.

  ‘Whichnumber please?’ I gave him our home number. It was early in the morning. Hopefully Mum would be in bed. It rang a

  couple of times before the operator’s voice came back on. ‘I’m sorry,’ the operator said. ‘There are no international carriers available at the moment.’ ‘Will there be later?’ I asked. ‘It’s hard to say,’ the operator said. ‘If you keep trying, you might get lucky.’ ‘I’ll try later, thanks.’ I put the receiver back in it’s cradle and pressed the refund button. One of my four coins tinkled into the slot. ‘You trying international?’ The doorman asked. I nodded. The doorman sucked air through his teeth. ‘Good luck,’ he said. ‘You’re doing well if you can place a call to the other side of town in less than ten

  attempts. You’ll only get international on a satellite phone.’ ‘Is there anywhere I can use one?’ The doorman shrugged, ‘Rich men and Generals have them, that’s about it.’ ‘Oh well,’ I said. ‘You can only try.’ ‘Are you a rebel?’ The doorman asked. ‘No,’ I laughed nervously. ‘What makes you think that?’ The doorman smiled, ‘If you came here from the west, you’d know the busses only run in the dry. If you were a local farm boy visiting relatives or looking for work, you wouldn’t have the money to stay here. By my reckoning, that means you came over the river. If you came over the river, you’re either a deserter or a rebel and I never saw a deserter check in in with a wife and a young boy. Which makes you a rebel in my book.’ I was frightened by how easily he’d seen through me. I didn’t know how to answer. ‘Judging by the uneasy silence, I’m on the mark,’ the doorman said. ‘Don’t worry yourself. If I wanted to turn you in, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I’m from a village in east myself. Most of my uncles and cousins died fighting for the rebels.’ ‘Sorry to hear that,’ I said. ‘If you stick around much longer, you’ll get stopped and questioned by soldiers. They only need to

  suspect you to toss you in jail.’ ‘Pack your bags and get out of town this morning. Try and get a bus or a hitch a ride. If you can’t get a lift, start walking towards Blake. It’s a logging town two-hundred kilometres away. If you can’t get a ride before you reach Blake, there’s hundreds of truck drivers who’ll pick you up from there.’ ‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘I’ll go and talk to my wife.’ I peeled out a fifty dollar note and stuck it on the counter. The doorman shook his head. ‘Keep it young man, you’ll need it.’ I woke up Adam and Sami and told them what had happened. ‘Get Billy,’ Sami said, swinging out of bed. ‘If the doorman can suss us out, everyone can.’ I hammered on Billy’s door. ‘Not locked,’ Billy groaned. He was laying naked on his bed, with lipstick all over his face. The floor was littered with beer bottles. The only woman he’d seen over the
last five years was Grandma, so it’s hardly surprising he gave in to temptation. ‘We’ve got to get out of here fast,’ I said. ‘If we can’t get a ride, we’re walking to Blake.’ Billy sat up, holding his head. He took a mouthful out of a half drunk beer. He’s face turned horrified

  and he spat out a drowned cockroach ‘Jesus,’ he shouted. I couldn’t stop laughing while I tried to explain everything. ‘You three should go ahead without me,’ Billy said. ‘I need to get identity papers before I move on. I’ll

  stay somewhere more down market than this and claim I came here looking for work.’ Adam would be upset, but Billy was right. He wouldn’t get anywhere without identity papers. It shouldn’t be too difficult to pick a dead soldier’s paperwork off a conscript returning from the front. Adam and Sami were out of the shower and half dressed when I got back to our room. I expected tears when I told Adam that Billy wasn’t coming, but he was still miffed about Billy having a girl in their room and didn’t seem too worried.

  We packed up, hugged Billy and thanked the doorman on out way out. Quieten, the cab driver was parked outside the hotel. We jumped in. ‘Bus station,’ Sami said. There were less pedestrians for Quinton to kill at this time in the morning. The station was only a few minutes away. There were beggars all huddled up under rusty metal shelters and a few stalls selling food. The concourse was in a state, with grass and weeds growing out of cracks in the concrete and the conspicuous absence of anything resembling a bus. As soon as we got out of the taxi, a fat man came waddling towards us. ‘You looking for transport?’ He asked. ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Buy tickets from me,’ he said. ‘How far do you want to go?’ ‘The capital,’ I said.

  ‘Four-hundred dollars each,’ fatty said. ‘Where’s your bus?’ Sami asked. The man broke out in a big smile, ‘I’m not a driver, I’m a ticket seller.’ ‘You’re a conman,’ Sami laughed,. ‘Show us a bus and I’ll show you our money.’ The fat man seemed to realise he’d been rumbled and sloped away without another word. We walked across to one of the food stalls and bought some of the kebab thingies for our breakfast. After I paid, I asked the vendor if there was any chance of getting a bus. ‘Roads dry out fast,’ she said ‘Two days, if you’re lucky,’. ‘What about a truck? Are there any drivers around?’ ‘There’s plenty of guys who’ll offer to set you up with a driver,’ the woman said. ‘But you’ll do just as well if you start walking and wave some cash at the passing traffic. It might take a while, but someone will give you a lift.’ ‘Thanks,’I said. The three of us sat on a low wall and started biting our kebabs off their skewers. ‘I’m starting to think we should have passed through here and kept going in the army truck until we