I guess there are some things you are wondering about. Here’s one thing I think you would like to know the answer to. How did Mr Green always find empty homes to house the gang? I didn’t find out the answer to this till much later.
Mr Green had a friend who worked for an airline. I think it was one of those really cheap ones. You know, the ‘fly somewhere for £5’ ones. Mr Green’s friend did something with computers for them. He was able to go into all the files on their computers.
Mr Green paid him money each time that he found what Mr Green needed. A big family, who were going on holiday, leaving an empty house. Mr Green would make a phone call, his friend would go on his computer, and as if by magic we had a house to sleep in.
Here’s something else you might be wondering about. Didn’t the neighbours ever notice? I guess a lot of the neighbours weren’t that bothered about what went on next door. But sometimes they were. Sometimes we got into trouble. Once we nearly got caught.
We were staying in this massive house. It was in the south half of the city, over the river. It was full of loads of interesting stuff. Including thousands of books.
We had been there for a few hours. Jamal and his friends had found some stuffed animals and were charging round the house with them. Julia and her friends were playing in the enormous garden. Carla and Sofina were upstairs trying on the clothes that the house’s owners had left behind. Terri was rooting through the book shelves, trying to find something she’d like to read. I was sitting close by, watching my brother.
Prince had a stuffed fox’s head. He was holding it up in front of his face and doing silly voices. Ibby was giggling. I was smiling too.
Prince smiled over at me. ‘Hey, Em, do your impression of an old man,’ he shouted.
But before I could respond we heard a sound that made us freeze. Police sirens. Lots of police sirens, getting nearer.
Carla and Sofina came charging down the stairs and Carla shouted, ‘They’re coming this way!’
By the time the pair had reached the bottom of the stairs we were all heading for the door. We pushed each other out of the way. Terri was left at the back.
I grabbed Prince’s hand and ran. Through the kitchen. Out the back door. Across the garden. Over a back fence. Another garden. Down an alleyway at the side of a house. Following the person in front. Being followed by others.
That was terrifying. Not knowing whether it was a policeman you could hear two steps behind, or a friend. I held on to Prince the whole time we ran. We stopped a few streets away, in front of a closed newsagent, and I finally let go of his wrist as he shook me off with a tut.
‘You didn’t need to drag me.’ I looked at him. He looked back at me angrily, then glanced over at Jamal. Jamal was leaning against the wall, staring at us.
‘Whoa!’ Ibby screamed, his face to the sky. ‘We made it.’
Everyone else was still catching their breath. I watched Jamal straighten up and then look around. ‘Everyone all right?’ he panted.
People gave nods or breathed out a yes. I looked around, scanning the faces. Julia, Kammy, Dwayne, Kieran, Carla supporting Sofina, Alex, Sastre, Ibby, Freddie, Jamal, Prince. Where was Terri?
I thought this and then said it out loud. ‘Where’s Terri?’
Jamal looked around too, and then echoed my question. ‘Where is Terri?’
Everyone was looking round now. Terri definitely wasn’t there.
Jamal looked down the street we’d come from, then said, ‘Mr Green is gonna be well pissed if she’s been arrested.’ Prince was looking at me. A worried expression crossed his face. ‘She’s such an idiot. He’s gonna kill us!’ Jamal continued.
‘Are we going back for her?’ I said.
Ibby snorted a laugh but it was Jamal who replied. ‘Are you mad? Go back for her and get ourselves arrested too?’
I glanced round the group. I couldn’t believe they would all agree with Jamal, but no one spoke up.
‘I’ve gotta call Mr Green. Where’s a phone box?’ Jamal said. Jamal was the only one in the group who had Mr Green’s phone number.
‘You’re serious?’ I said. ‘We’re not even going back to look for her?’ I could feel myself beginning to get angry. The kind of anger where you can’t stop yourself exploding. Even if you’re speaking to someone that you know you should be nice to.
Jamal stared at me. He wasn’t used to people questioning him.
‘Shut up, Em,’ Kieran said, taking hold of my arm lightly.
‘But she could be in trouble!’ I said, brushing Kieran off and staring back at Jamal. I could feel most of the group backing away. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Prince, his gaze shared between me and Jamal.
‘Emmanuel, shut up.’ This time it was Prince who spoke.
But before I could answer, Jamal spat, ‘You’re a fool, Emmanuel! I mean it, Mr Green is gonna be so pissed. But don’t worry, I’ll just tell him that it was your fault she got caught. Maybe he won’t take it out on the rest of us then.’
I carried on staring at Jamal. I was seconds away from exploding. Then I heard a shout.
‘There she is!’ I turned round to see Terri trotting along the road towards us. She was almost smiling.
I looked at Prince. He gave a big sigh of relief. Maybe he was relieved because Terri was safe, maybe because of what I might have done if she hadn’t turned up, but I think it was because he didn’t want to see an angry Mr Green. Prince had seen enough angry adults.
***
When we first saw my uncle in England he was angry. He came out to the airport to get us. He didn’t hug us like he used to or even smile. Prince clung on to my hand. I clung on to Prince’s too.
We got a train from the airport into town. My uncle didn’t speak to us much. He asked a few questions about our journey but he mostly stared out of the window.
Then I remembered what my mother had told me. ‘My dadda says you were right, Uncle Victor.’ I spoke quietly, looking at the uncle who felt like a stranger.
Uncle Victor took his gaze from the window and fixed it on me. ‘It makes no difference,’ he said. ‘He is there in trouble and I am here in trouble.’ Then he resumed staring out of the window.
When we arrived at my uncle’s house there were several men and women there. They were all as dark as my uncle and all looked as displeased to see us as he had.
One woman shouted, ‘What are they doing here, Victor?’
‘What am I supposed to do with them?’ my uncle shouted back.
‘I don’t care, just get them out of here!’ The woman stormed out of the room and my uncle followed.
We were left with strangers. Some stared at us, others carried on with what they had been doing before we disturbed them. Two men were playing cards whilst smoking long cigarettes, another was picking at some food.
A woman who had been sitting on the lap of one of the card players got up and came over. ‘Don’t you worry, just go and sit yourselves down.’ She pointed us through to another room. We went and sat down.
We stayed in that room all night. We didn’t know where my uncle had gone. Prince cried a lot. I didn’t. I’ve never really been one for crying.
In the morning my uncle took us to the house with the plants. We never saw where he lived again.