by Tom Avery
About an hour after lunch I saw it. A man in a smart suit carrying a briefcase and a laptop bag. That was bound to be worth a lot of credit. I pointed him out to Jamal and we followed the man for a while, looking for an opportunity.
It came when he bent down to tie his shoe-lace. He put both his bags down beside him. I was going to take both of them. There was probably good stuff in the briefcase, I thought.
He was about twenty metres away from us and I knew I needed to be quick. I set off at a sprint, dodging past a family. They were pulling large suitcases and I nearly tripped over one.
Seconds later I was slowing down and crouching, ready to snatch the bags. I was a metre away when the man started to straighten up. Our hands reached the handles of the bags at the same time. I gripped on tightly and so did he. We both went tumbling to the ground.
I was on my feet straight away, still clinging to the bag. He was not as quick getting up, but he was much stronger. I was going nowhere.
I took my eyes off the bags and looked at the man just as he looked at me. I knew that face. Then I remembered.
‘SD,’ I said before I could stop myself.
‘What? It’s you!’ the man said. ‘So I didn’t just lose my wallet!’
I didn’t know what to say or do. I just stood there.
He had stood up by now, but we both still clung to the bags.
‘Do you do this for a living?’ he said. ‘Do you?’
I didn’t reply.
‘Do you need help?’
I carried on staring at him. Maybe I nodded.
‘I’m not bothered about the wallet, I’m not going to call the police. Don’t worry.’
I still just stood there, staring, so he carried on speaking.
‘Maybe I can help you. Take this,’ he said. He let go of his briefcase slowly, and with his free hand he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a leaflet. He held it out to me. I had both my hands on the handles of his bags, but I was curious. How did he think this piece of paper could help me?
I let go of the briefcase and it dropped to the floor. I reached out towards the leaflet. As my hand closed around it, the man collapsed to the floor. Jamal was standing behind him and he shouted, ‘Run!’
Jamal must have kicked the back of his legs, but I didn’t wait around to find out. I ran and Jamal followed. The man had held on to his laptop, but I had the leaflet screwed up in my fist. I shoved the piece of paper into my pocket as I ran.
We ran hard, in and out of the crowd. No one tried to get in our way. We stopped behind a kiosk selling scarves and ties. Jamal looked back. No one was following.
Before I got my breath back, Jamal slapped me across the face.
‘You fool!’ He said. ‘Why the hell didn’t you run? Did you think you were going to pull the bag out of his hand?’
I thought about hitting Jamal back. I thought about answering him. I even thought about running away from him. But I knew that there was nothing I could do or say. Jamal was right. Why didn’t I run?
I stuck to simple steals for the rest of the day. Jamal barely spoke to me, but once we met up with the others, he wouldn’t stop talking. He told everyone about my mistakes. ‘What a fool!’ he said.
Prince laughed as hard as everyone else, and clung to Jamal and his friends.
***
That evening, back at the house we were staying in, Terri tried to talk to me.
‘Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘Jamal’s an idiot.’
‘I’m not worried,’ I replied, not looking at her, and staring at a book that I wasn’t reading.
‘Just don’t let him get to you, Em.’ She put her nose back in her book and we continued in silence.
A while later, maybe ten minutes, maybe half an hour, I was still not reading.
Terri looked up again. ‘What is it, Em? What’s the matter?’
I looked at her then. ‘I don’t want to do this,’ I replied. ‘I don’t want to stay with Mr Green and Jamal. I don’t want to steal things.’
‘Me neither.’ She said this really quietly, as if she didn’t want anyone to hear.
‘OK, we won’t. We’ll find somewhere else to go.’ I knew that it was not so simple, but in that moment I wished that it could be.
‘OK,’ she said again quietly, and this time sadly. She knew as well as I did that we could wish all we liked, but we had nowhere else to go and no one else to help us.
From that day I was determined. We weren’t staying with Mr Green. Me and Terri and, I hoped, Prince. ‘There must be someone who will help us, someone better.’
I just didn’t know who.
Chapter 20
I was desperate to get away from Mr Green for many reasons, but one day all these reasons got overtaken by another. On that day Mr Green was no longer the magic thief who could make wallets disappear and reappear. That day I knew, as I hadn’t known before, that Mr Green was a real, bad guy.
We were working on a busy high street. The one where I’d spent that first working day with Kieran. Mr Green said it was the best ‘money spot’. Lots of tourists. Tourists didn’t really watch their bags that carefully.
Me and Terri were looking out for the easiest steals. Open bags, phones left on tables, loose jackets with big pockets.
I had already taken enough that day and Terri needed to catch up. We were looking for likely targets.
‘What about that guy?’ Terri said. She pointed to a man with a green backpack. He was passing us on the other side of the road. As Terri pointed, he looked straight at us, and his eyes narrowed. ‘Maybe not,’ Terri whispered as we disappeared into the crowd.
‘What about them?’ she said, pointing at a couple of teenage boys who were walking away from us. They both wore caps and I could see why Terri had picked them. One of them had a wallet poking out of the back pocket of his jeans.
‘OK,’ I replied, ‘let’s do it.’ We strolled through the crowds, slowly catching up with the pair. We could hear them chatting. They had Asian accents and spoke quickly to each other.
When we were a few metres away from them, something happened that made me stop. One of their phones started ringing. It played a tune that I hadn’t heard in a long time. The same Lil’ Legacy song that my friends, Asad and Ikram, had been singing all that time ago.
I stopped and Terri turned to me.
‘Why have you stopped?’ she hissed. And then, more gently, ‘And what are you smiling for?’
I was smiling. A sad smile. A remembering smile.
***
The rest of the afternoon was much the same. Almost steals and missed steals. Terri didn’t take much more and we were worried. Worried that Mr Green might be angry. But in the end Mr Green had something else to be angry about.
We arrived back at the meeting place at the same time as Prince and Kieran. Prince punched me on the arm and said, ‘All right, bro!’ His mouth was smiling at me but his eyes weren’t.
‘All right,’ I replied and tried to smile back. Terri stood a pace behind me, like she always did when any of Jamal’s friends were around, even Prince.
Most of the others were already waiting. Mr Green hadn’t arrived yet. Ibby was showing anyone who would look, three watches, all strapped to his wrist. Jamal glared at me for a moment, then beckoned Prince and Kieran over. I saw them begin to compare loot.
‘Who are we waiting for?’ Terri asked me. ‘Apart from Mr Green, I mean.’
We both looked around the group. Most of them were laughing and joking. Carla and Sofina were wearing matching hats today, bright pink. You couldn’t miss them.
‘Erm,’ I began to reply, ‘Julia. . .’
‘And Sastre,’ Terri finished. ‘That’s not like them, being late.’
‘All right you lot, what you got?’ Mr Green’s voice was clear over the top of everyone’s laughter, his London accent strong as usual.
One by the one the kids brought their takings to Mr Green. He inspected, praised, even gave a few winks. It was nearly my
turn to approach Mr Green when someone shouted, ‘Oi, watch out!’ and Julia came crashing into the middle of the group, panting.
‘It’s Sastre,’ she spluttered. ‘He’s. . . he. . . I think he got caught.’
Ibby was giggling but Mr Green soon stopped him. His large, pale hand swung up and hit Ibby on the back of the head.
‘What?’ Mr Green exclaimed, not loudly but with real power. ‘Where? Show me. Now!’
Julia straightened up and began to lead the way.
‘Jamal. Prince.’ Mr Green barked and both boys followed. When they were a few paces away, Mr Green called over his shoulder, ‘The rest of you wait right there. Stick everything in the bag.’
We knew what he meant by that. Whenever he met us after work he brought a great big, black hold-all. He put all the stolen stuff in it. Me and Terri threw our loot in quickly and waited. Like all the others we waited in near silence. We waited a long time, maybe half an hour, maybe an hour. After a while people started chatting again, but there was no more laughter.
Jamal and Prince returned first. They told us what they knew. ‘He was nicking from a shop, the idiot. A fat security guard grabbed ‘im,’ Jamal said.
‘Mr Green’ll kill him if he finds him,’ Prince chipped in.
A few minutes later Mr Green returned with a sobbing Julia. She was holding one side of her face and there was blood on her swollen lip.
No one spoke. Mr Green picked up the hold-all and we followed him.
As soon as we arrived at another new house Mr Green exploded. He tore open the hold-all and poured the contents on to the floor.
‘What is this?’ he screamed, kicking a wallet aside. Julia began sobbing again. ‘You lazy little. . . !’ He looked around at us all. Then, in a lower but equally scary voice, he said, ‘How can I look after you if you can’t look after yourselves?’
No one answered.
‘All of you, keep your heads down. If you cause me any more trouble I’ll do more than make you cry.’ He said this looking at Julia, then grabbed Jamal by the collar. ‘Get in here,’ he commanded through gritted teeth. ‘You too, Prince.’ He beckoned them into the house’s large front room.
The others began to disappear, each trying to get as far from Mr Green as possible. I didn’t move. What was Mr Green going to do to my brother?
Terri touched me on the arm and whispered, ‘Come on, Em.’
I shook my head in reply, then said, ‘You go.’ I heard her creep off behind me. I had to make sure Prince was OK.
I moved as quietly as I could to the door through which Mr Green had taken Prince and Jamal. When I was a few steps away, I could hear Mr Green’s voice clearly.
‘What do you mean, there was nothing you could do?’ He was still shouting. ‘You are meant to be looking after this bunch of idiots.’
The door was open a crack, so I moved even closer and peered through. Mr Green stood in the middle of the room, towering over Jamal and Prince. They were seated on a sofa. Prince was looking at the floor and I could see that he was close to tears.
Jamal was meeting Mr Green’s gaze. He looked defiant. ‘What d’you want me to do?’ Jamal said. ‘Like you say, they’re idiots. I can’t keep my eye on all of them.’
Mr Green took a step forward and slapped Jamal across the face.
Prince let out a yelp. Jamal looked even angrier but it was Mr Green who spoke first.
‘Who do you think you’re talking to? I ain’t your mate, Jamal!’ With that, Mr Green reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out a gun. He levelled it at Jamal. ‘You’re gonna watch your tongue, Jamal, and remember who looks after you. Now get out, both of you. I’m staying here tonight.’
For a moment I was rooted to the spot. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Then I ran.
That evening in the house the gang was different. Less laughter, no games, fewer smiles. All we could talk about was whether Sastre would dob us in.
And all I could think about was whether that would be a bad thing or a good thing.
Chapter 21
Sometimes dreadful things happen and you can do nothing about them. Sometimes you can wish all you like but nothing changes. Sometimes you’re powerless. In the end I couldn’t change what happened.
It took a surprisingly short time for things to return to normal. A few days, and we were acting like we’d never known a boy called Sastre. A boy who liked football and crisps and had dark, curly hair. We had moved house several times. Mr Green may have been worried. But on the outside he had returned to his normal self too.
A week after I’d seen Mr Green pull a gun on Jamal, we were staying in a huge house in north London. Big enough for us all to squeeze into and still have room for ‘crockery catch’.
Me and Terri were working our way through a new book. I can’t remember what it was called, but it was really sad. I do remember the main character’s name. He was called William, but people called him Willy. That kept making me laugh. He was a little boy in the war. He got sent to the country and an old man looked after him. Then his friend died and his sister. His mum was horrible too. I don’t know what happened at the end. We never got a chance to finish it.
We had been at this house for a few days. We woke up one morning to the sound of Mr Green shouting up the stairs. ‘Come on you lot, get up!’ He didn’t sound happy.
I jumped up from the chair I’d been sleeping on. Terri was lying at the top of the bed, the book open in her hand. Julia, who sometimes liked to hear Terri read, was curled up at the bottom of the bed. I stepped quickly across the room and shook Terri awake.
‘What’s going on?’ I heard Julia murmur through a yawn.
‘Mr Green’s here,’ I replied, and in a moment, Terri and Julia were on their feet, picking up jumpers and books and games and shoving them into bags.
‘Come on, we’re moving, hurry up!’ Mr Green was shouting now and Jamal burst into the room.
‘Hurry up,’ he growled through gritted teeth.
We grabbed the last of our possessions and flooded down the stairs. It had only taken a few minutes and a bit of fear. All of us were in the hall pulling on shoes and coats.
Mr Green was already at the door, holding it open a crack. He looked really angry. When we were all ready he just said, ‘Come on,’ and walked out of the door.
Normally we’d have gone a few at a time, as we didn’t want the neighbours to get suspicious, but we could see what kind of mood Mr Green was in. I helped Terri put her rucksack on, as me and Prince exchanged looks. He was scared.
I was one of the last through the door, with Terri on my heels. Mr Green was halfway down the street. We ran to catch up. Everyone was hurrying.
Mr Green led us to the same high street where me and Prince had started our life of crime. It wasn’t very busy. It was still quite early and most of the people were wearing suits and walking quickly. Not the kind of people you tried to pick-pocket.
We gathered together around Mr Green. He wasn’t as confident as usual. He chewed his lip before he spoke.
‘Right, you lot, make yourselves scarce. Don’t do anything stupid. I want to see you all here at four.’ As he said ‘here’ he pointed to the floor, then motioned with his head and said, ‘Jamal.’
Jamal went white as he approached Mr Green. So did Prince, but he stood like a statue.
As the others began to pair off, I walked over to Prince. Terri was waiting for me, but I wanted to talk to my brother.
‘Are you OK?’ I said.
‘Yeah. What?’ Prince had become more aggressive over the past few days. He had picked fights with Freddie and Ibby. Nearly all his time was spent with Jamal. I was worried about him but didn’t know how to talk to him. How could I tell him I’d been right outside the door and done nothing to help.
‘Nothing, it’s just,’ I lowered my voice, ‘Mr Green seems a bit angry.’
‘It’s fine, don’t worry, brother.’ And that was it. Prince still looked anxious but he wasn’t going to talk to
me about it.
Me and Terri didn’t do much stealing that morning. Enough, we hoped. We did not want to be in trouble with Mr Green. After we had done the minimum, we found a nearby park to sit in. We read a bit and talked a lot. We had begun talking more and more about what life could be like without Mr Green.
‘You could be a writer,’ I told Terri. ‘You could carry on the story you started with Manon and write lots of them and be really rich.’
She laughed. ‘Only if you would read all of my books and tell me what was rubbish and what was good.’
I agreed to that, it sounded like a fair deal.
Around lunchtime, when we ventured out of the park, we saw Prince and Jamal. They were standing by a fast-food restaurant, laughing as they watched Kieran hold Ibby in a head-lock. Jamal saw us, tapped Prince on the shoulder and pointed us out.
Prince smiled and ran towards us. ‘Huh!’ Prince faked a punch to my face. I flinched and Prince laughed. I could see Jamal smirking at me, just over Prince’s shoulder.
‘You were right, Em,’ Prince began. ‘Mr Green is really angry. His friend’s been arrested. The one that gets us all the houses. That’s why we had to move quick this morning. He thinks Sastre must have squealed and told them about the houses.’
I glanced at Terri. She looked worried. I knew that Prince made her nervous but it was more than that.
‘Are you sure?’ I asked my brother.
‘Yeah, Jamal told me,’ he replied.
‘What are we going to do then, I mean tonight?’
Prince shrugged. ‘We’ll see later, I guess. In a bit, yeah?’ With that he turned and walked back to Jamal.
The rest of the afternoon, Terri and I were both quiet. We talked a little about what Mr Green might do with us. Maybe we’d have to go to his house. Maybe we’d have to just stay outside. Maybe Mr Green would not come back.
I knew that the last idea was why we were both so quiet. We didn’t like Mr Green. We wanted to be somewhere, anywhere else, without him. Still, we felt we needed him. Who else would keep us safe?
