Time School: We Will Honour Them

by Nikki Young

  “Woah, do you think we can stay in? It’s not much warmer in here but there’s no way I’m going out in that,” Ash said.

  “Come on, let’s go back to the hall and take a look around,” Tomma said.

  They made their way back into the main hall, where it was busy, so they were less likely to stand out. Jess went straight over to the War Memorial.

  “Look,” she said. “There are names on here from the Second World War. I knew it!”

  “How long ago that was?” Nadia asked.

  “It can’t have been that long, not judging by the way Miss Morgan is dressed,” Jess said. “My nan took us to this Wartime 1940s weekend once and there were loads of women there dressed up just like her—the same hairstyle and everything.”

  “I thought it looked familiar,” Nadia said.

  “But it’s after the war, so it must be late 1940s or maybe even early 1950s,” Tomma said.

  “We could just ask someone,” Ash suggested.

  “Don’t be ridiculous! How could we do that? They’ll think we’re really stupid.” Jess tutted. “We don’t want to draw any attention to ourselves. You’ve seen what some of them are like.”

  “I’m sure they’re not all that bad,” Tomma said.

  Nadia hoped not. There was no tolerance of violence towards other pupils in the Hickley School she knew, but that didn’t mean there weren’t problems between students. It was just a bit more underhand. She shuddered as she gazed at her surroundings and her eyes were drawn to the door as the boy they’d seen being attacked walked into the hall.

  “No, you’re right,” she said. “They’re not.”

  Without taking her eyes off the boy, Nadia walked over towards him, trying not to stare at his face. His right eye was now swollen and bruised.

  “Hi, I’m Nadia,” she said, holding out her hand.

  He didn’t take it and avoided looking directly at her.

  “Kam,” he said, whilst seeming to concentrate on something in the distance to his left.

  Nadia took the opportunity to study him, noting his high cheekbones and sharp nose; the hint of brown hair showing beneath his school cap.

  “Pleased to meet you, Kam. Would you like to come over and join us?” She gestured towards the others.

  Kam looked over at the three expectant faces of Jess, Tomma and Ash before pulling his cap down lower over his face. “No thank you.”

  He started to move away, but Nadia kept up with him.

  “We’re not all bad around here you know.”

  “I do know,” he said, continuing to walk, with Nadia scuttling along by his side. “But I prefer to be alone.”

  They had travelled the full length of the hall now and out of the sight of her friends.

  “Oh, okay but can I just ask a quick question about this year? Like, what is it exactly?” She tried not to cringe as she said the words.

  Kam stopped and looked at her, a puzzled expression crossing his face, before he seemed to consider her question. “I’ve often thought the same thing.”

  “You have?” Nadia wondered whether Kam had travelled back in time too.

  “Yes, I mean, this weather, the cold, the hunger. We’re no better off even though the War’s over. It doesn’t seem at all fair.”

  Kam was looking at her and Nadia thought she could see the beginnings of the hard shell he had formed around him starting to soften.

  “Didn’t we already tell you once to get lost?” A voice came from behind causing Nadia to jump. Her senses were suddenly on full alert and she could see how, in an instant, Kam’s armour was back on and his whole body became tense and guarded. “You’re not welcome round here no more. Don’t talk to our girls. Don’t eat our food. Just get your scummy little backside out of here and go back to where you came from.”

  Nadia turned around as slowly as she could, ready to stand up to the perpetrator. She was faced with a tall, stocky boy with sticky-out ears and blond hair, swept over to one side in an almost-quiff. He was flanked on either side by a couple of older boys, one with very short ginger curls and freckles and the other with hair so short it was practically shaven. They each had their hands in their pockets and were standing, feet apart, looking at them as though they were on a mission to do some damage.

  “Why can’t you leave him alone?” she said, undeterred. She stood as tall and straight as she could manage, even though her legs were beginning to feel a little wobbly.

  The blond boy, clearly the spokesman of the group, began to laugh.

  “Who is this little girl you’ve got sticking up for you, Kam?” he asked.

  “She’s nothing to do with me. I’ve no idea who she is,” Kam said, before leaning towards Nadia and whispering. “You should go.”

  “No! This is ridiculous!” Nadia said, her voice raised in a mixture of anger and anxiety. “You shouldn’t have to put up with this, and you—” She poked the boy opposite her right in the centre of his chest. “You should be ashamed of yourself.”

  The other two boys laughed, which caused their leader to turn and glare at each of them in turn.

  “You want to watch out, sweetheart. This is none of your business.”

  “Well, I’m making it my business because you’re offending me,” Nadia said, poking him in the chest again. “And I’m not moving just so you can take your anger out on someone because of where he comes from.”

  Nadia had no idea what she was talking about, but was just picking up on what the boy had said. As far as she was concerned, Kam had as much right to be there as they did, regardless of what his story was. By now she was puffing out her chest and getting ready for her own fight.

  “He’s right Nadia,” Kam said. “Don’t waste your breath on these idiots.” Kam glared at them and shoved himself between Nadia and the boys. They tousled and the other boy punched Kam in the stomach causing him to double over and fall to the floor, groaning.

  “Nadia, what’s going on?”

  Jess came round the corner with Tomma and Ash, and Jess gasped when she saw Nadia at the centre of the angry-looking scene. Tomma and Ash stepped forward.

  “This how you get your kicks, is it?” Tomma said, coming over to place himself in front of the three boys. He was face to face with the ringleader. Nadia held her breath as she watched the boy grind his teeth, his face red with rage.

  “I don’t know whose side you’re on,” the blond boy said, taking a step back and spitting on the floor. “Polish scum.”

  Nadia took a sharp breath and was unable to speak as she watched him turn and walk away, with his gang following behind. The others looked at her.

  “Did you just hear what he said?” Nadia asked, her mind whirling.

  Was he talking to me?

  Even though she hardly considered herself Polish and rarely thought about her background, being talked to in that way opened up something within her and it was deeply painful.

  “I’m sorry about that,” Kam said. He slowly tried to stand up but he was clearly in pain. “This is my problem, not yours. Please don’t get involved. It’s not worth it.”

  “But you heard what he just said to me. He called me Polish scum. Why would he say that?”

  “He didn’t say that to you. It was directed at me,” Kam said.

  “What? You’re Polish?” Nadia frowned.

  “Yes,” he said. “My name is Marcel Kaminski, but everyone calls me Kam.”

  Chapter 8

  What Is Spam, Anyway?

  Nadia had so many questions. She was just about to ask Kam why the other boys had such a problem with him being Polish, but the bell went, signalling the end of break. Kam walked away without saying a word or looking back at them.

  “He has the same surname as you. Do you think you’re related?” Jess asked, as they made their way back to the classroom.

  Nadia shrugged. “There are probably loads of Kaminskis, just as there are loads of Chadwicks, in the world. It’s just a coincidence, nothing more.”

  Jess
was just about to speak, but Nadia gave her a look that willed her to stop. Yes, it was highly likely Marcel had something to do with her. That was how this time-travelling thing seemed to work. Jess had met a distant relative when they’d travelled back to 1918. That said, Nadia wasn’t ready to think about that just yet. Meeting Kam, seeing the way he had been treated, and all because he was Polish, had shocked her to her very core. She was going to have to process that before she could think about anything else. Thankfully, Jess got the message and stopped short, clamping her mouth shut. Jess knew not to push her friend on things she wasn’t ready to talk about and Nadia was grateful for that.

  They went back to the classroom and settled into an English lesson with Miss Morgan, who seemed to have relaxed into her role. Nadia ignored the whispering stares from some of the other pupils. She was grateful the school had taken in pupils from the nearby flooded school, as at least it gave them a valid reason to be there and would prevent them from being asked any awkward questions.

  English wasn’t one of Nadia’s best subjects—she preferred maths—and she had to concentrate hard in order to understand the Jane Austen text. She began to notice the low growls of her stomach calling for lunch and couldn’t help but focus on the rhythmic ticking of the clock as she waited for the lunchtime bell.

  When it eventually came, Nadia flopped over her desk in relief. Concentrating so hard, as well as being hungry, was exhausting. She thought she might just fall asleep right there.

  “Come on lazy, it’s lunchtime,” Jess said, giving her a nudge.

  Jess loved English and was clearly hyped after that lesson, bouncing around with the energy of a puppy who had just woken from a nap.

  Nadia clutched her stomach. “I’m starving,” she said, sitting back up and reaching down for her bag. “Let’s go and see what the food’s like, shall we?”

  “I don’t care what it’s like. I’ll eat anything,” Ash said, rubbing his stomach.

  “That about sums you up,” Nadia said, rolling her eyes at him, before giving him a smile.

  She loved that Ash was the most uncomplicated person she had ever met. The term ‘what you see, is what you get’ could have been written specifically for him.

  They walked out of the classroom and across the hall to the doors that led to the adjacent dining room block. Unsure what to expect, Nadia was surprised how familiar it was. The Formica tables, which formed a hexagon when put together, each seating six people, were dotted about the room. They were brown, of course, with brown matching chairs. In fact, everything about their school tended to be brown.

  You couldn’t see into the kitchen, but dinner ladies were bringing out over-sized trays and taking them to each table, where a student, who presumably had been volunteered for the job, was serving it up to each person sitting there.

  Tomma pointed to an empty table and they went over and sat down, looking around at what everyone else was doing, not sure what to expect.

  “Should we go up and get something or tell them we’re here?” Jess said, biting her fingernails.

  “It looks like they bring it to you,” Tomma said, just as a lady came over to their table and dumped a large stainless-steel tray in front of him.

  “There you go. You can be monitor,” she said with little enthusiasm, handing Tomma the largest serving spoon Nadia had ever seen.

  “What is it?” Ash said, standing up and leaning over to get a closer look.

  “I don’t know but it looks a bit like burgers,” Tomma said, scrunching up his nose.

  “Hmm, that’s taking it a bit far,” Ash said. “That’s offensive to McDonalds, that is.”

  “Just serve it up, Tomma! I can’t take it any longer,” Nadia snapped. She pulled a face. The greasy meat smell was assaulting her nostrils.

  “I would if I had something to put it on,” Tomma said.

  Jess stood. “I see the others going to get their own plates. I’ll go get some.”

  She came back with a pile of plates and put them next to the tray. Tomma plonked one of the burger-type things on each one, followed by some carrots, green beans and potatoes.

  “There’s not much to go round,” he said, looking up as they were joined by two older boys, but he shared it between six plates anyway meaning they each ended up with something no bigger than a young child’s portion.

  Nadia took hers, thanking Tomma and feeling grateful to have something to eat. She cut into the meat, taking a small piece of it on her fork. It was salty and greasy, tasting nothing like beef and unlike anything she had ever tasted before. She couldn’t decide if she liked it or not.

  “What’s this called?” she said to one of the boys sitting opposite, holding up her fork with another piece of meat on it. Both boys looked at each other and chuckled.

  “Where you from? Mars?” one of them said. “Everyone knows what Spam is. We’ve been living off this stuff the whole War. Sick of it, I am.”

  Nadia shrugged. She’d heard of Spam. It was something old people talked about. It wasn’t something her mum had ever bought.

  Jess nudged her and looked at the boys apologetically.

  “We came from that. . . erm. . . Whitley School, you know, where they had a flood,” she said.

  “Don’t they have Spam there then? Too posh are ya?” The boys looked at each other and laughed.

  Jess went bright red.

  “What meat is it, exactly?” Nadia said, as she moved another piece around her mouth, still undecided about whether she actually liked it.

  The boy shook his head, his expression one of disbelief. “It’s tinned beef, of course.”

  “Beef?” She looked again at the meat, a suspicious shade of pink on the inside—which wasn’t down to being cooked medium rare—and doubted there was much actual meat in there at all.

  The other three were now laughing.

  “What?” Nadia said.

  “Oh, nothing,” Jess said. “It’s just you’re so funny. You can come out with random stuff to complete strangers and don’t even feel the slightest bit of embarrassment, but when it comes to standing up in front of people, you’re a jabbering wreck.”

  “Except when she’s cross,” Ash said. “Maybe you have to get angry before you do your grandad’s eulogy, then you won’t care about who is watching you.”

  “Oh, don’t mention that. I’m in denial about it, remember?” Nadia said.

  The two strangers finished their meal in record time and put their plates into the empty serving tray left in the middle of the table. The others did the same, just in time for the arrival of dessert.

  “This is more like it,” Ash said, tucking in to sponge pudding drenched in thick custard. “Just what’s needed on a cold day like this.”

  Before Tomma had even finished dishing it up, the two boys had cleared their bowls. They got up to leave.

  “Anyone would think you hadn’t eaten for weeks,” Ash said, chuckling to himself as he looked at his friends, one side of his mouth bulging with sponge pudding.

  The smile disappeared from his face as he realised the boys were looking at him as though he was a complete moron before walking away.

  “Ash you shouldn’t have said that!” Jess said. “Perhaps they are starving and you hit a nerve.” She turned to Nadia.

  “Did you hear them? They mentioned the War. It must be the Second World War judging by the extra names on the memorial, but we need to find out what year this is. Does anyone know how long rationing continued after the War? We can’t just carry on acting like this is any other normal day. You know we’ve come here for a reason, right?” Nadia rolled her eyes. “Well, you know it’s not a coincidence that we met someone with the same surname as you, Nad, however much you try to deny it. I think we should go find Kam and try to talk to him.”

  Nadia nodded. “Come on then,” she said, pushing her chair away as she stood. “You coming?” she said to Tomma and Ash.

  Ash sat back and rubbed his stomach. “I’m staying here where it’s warm,”
he said. “It’s like being in the Arctic out there and no one seems to have noticed because they haven’t even put the heating on. This is the warmest place I’ve been all day, so I’m staying put until they chuck me out.”

  “I’ll stay with Ash too,” Tomma said, an apologetic smile spreading across his face as he looked at Jess. “Don’t stay out there too long or you’ll freeze.”

  “Suit yourselves. Come on, Jess.”

  Nadia’s thoughts turned to Kam as they left the boys. The way he was being treated wasn’t right and it seemed to be because he was Polish, which was terrible. They needed to find out why Kam being Polish was a problem to those boys, and however hard she tried to, Nadia couldn’t shake the niggling feeling that having the same surname as Kam was much more than a coincidence.

  Chapter 9

  Weren’t We On The Same Side?

  Nadia zipped up her coat and pulled on her hood. Normally she didn’t like wearing it because it came so far forwards she couldn’t see properly. Today, she realised why the coat had been made like that. Shielding her face from the bracing wind, she was glad of the extra protection.

  “I just don’t get why it’s so cold,” she said. “Have you ever known a winter like this?”

  Jess shivered as she pulled her hood tighter around her head. “It’s ridiculous,” she said. “Ash’s comments are normally massively over-exaggerated, but this time he might be spot on—this really could be the Arctic. I mean, not that I’ve ever been to the Arctic, but if I had been, this is how I’d imagine it to be.”

  “It has to mean something,” Nadia said. “I’m going to look it up when we get home. A seriously cold winter can’t have gone unnoticed.”

  “Yep, a seriously cold winter, not long after the War and when they were still on rations. They can’t have eaten Spam for pleasure can they? It was gross.”

  Nadia nodded as she felt the layer of fat still stuck to the roof of her mouth and the salty dryness in the back of her throat. She felt sorry for the people who were having to live on something so grim.

  “Come on, let’s go and look for Kam. We can see if the hockey pitch is there, or if it’s still an allotment?” Nadia said.