in case you thought student literature was lightweight...
"We
had fish-fingers for tea. My mummy cooked them because she said
I had been a good girl at the doctor's. She said I was a very
brave young lady because I didn't even cry when the nurse put
the needle in my arm, even though it really hurt. Today
was brilliant, we went to the zoo and fed the penguins and saw
the lions and we had chips. I have to go to school tomorrow, but
it 's OK because Miss Shepherd said that we could go and see the
ponies in the field. She said that she would finish the story
she was reading to us about the cat who went to sea on a ship.
I love cats. We have a cat, his name is Spencer and he
is black and my mummy says he is very old. Mummy let me stay up
extra late today because I have been so good. She read me a story,
it was about a little girl who got lost in the woods and never
saw her mummy or daddy again. It was OK though because she married
a prince and lived in a castle for ever and ever."
"Daddy isn't coming home today, he has
to go to the office and do a meeting about cars. That's what my
mummy told me, my mummy knows everything. She said that
daddy would be waiting for me when I get home tomorrow. After
my story my mummy took me up to my bedroom. She tucked me in tight
and kissed me on the head; then she said; "Goodnight my baby,
sleep tight and sleep sound. You've got a big day ahead of you
tomorrow."
"And then, because I was so tired I went
to sleep."
The early morning sun shone down through the
window and onto the girl's bed. She half rose and rubbed her eyes
sleepily. Throwing off the covers she got out of bed and went
downstairs. Her mother was in the kitchen making breakfast; wordlessly
the little girl sat down at the table, waiting for her food to
be brought to her. Then with a sigh, she got up and went to the
sofa in the lounge. She picked up a cushion, walked back to the
kitchen table and placed it on the seat. Now she could see over
the table; her mother always forgot to put the cushion out for
her. The little girl didn't mind though; her mother had a lot
of things to do. Not one word broke the silence while the little
girl demurely ate her cereal and her mother nibbled on a piece
of toast while looking through a magazine. The silence shattered
when a frantic feline scream came from the garden, the noise bursting
the atmosphere like a balloon. The little girl turned round sharply
to look out of the window,
"Spencer! Spencer! Stop it! Mummy, Spencer's
fighting that other cat again!"
"He'll be fine dear, now eat up all your
cereal, you don't want to be late for school do you?"
The remains of the previous night's rain water
trickled slowly along the drainpipe. When it reached a hole it
fell down to the ground and made a 'plop' sound that echoed around
the deserted back-streets. The sun was just starting to rise and
the moon was still full in the sky .The rising sun cast a warm
red glow all around. The warm light did little to disperse the
chill December wind that rushed down the streets and whistled
through alleyways. Two people were walking down the street - the
little girl and her mother. A man in dark jeans and a black jacket
followed some twenty metres behind. The army boots he wore were
large and made a rapping sound on the cobbles, which on the still
morning air seemed like the pounding of a hammer.
"Oh my! Look at the time," the mother
said to the little girl, without even glancing at her watch, "You're
going to be late dear, we'd better hurry up!" and with that
she quickened her pace, the tapping her high-heels made on the
ground almost blocking out the sound of the man's army boots.
Almost, but not quite, they were always at the back of her mind.
The dreadful noise of those boots sent a thousand images through
her head, all of them too terrible to think about. But she could
not help thinking about them.
"Mummy was really worried about
me being late for school. She told me that we had to run to school.
I like running. I have never seen mummy run before, not the way
that she did then. She kept looking over her shoulder at a man
behind us. He was running too. I didn't think mummies had races.
I race my friends all the time. Yesterday I beat Jessica in a
race right the way round the playground. I'm faster than all
the girls in my class, and lots of the boys. The man had a
scarf wrapped around his face just like my mummy makes me wear
when it is very cold. When me and mummy had got to the end of
the street she stopped and looked over her shoulder again. The
man was right behind her. I don't think my mummy's a very good
runner. Then two more men came out from behind a building and
one of them grabbed my mummy by the arm. She hit him across the
face and he fell over, then he said the words daddy says when
he hits his thumb with the hammer. Then the other men grabbed
mummy from behind and the one who mummy hit grabbed me. My mummy
was screaming and shouting and pushing at the men. She was telling
them to let me go, that she would do anything they wanted if they
left me alone. I don't know why she said that, I was OK.
The mother and her child were bundled into the
back of a waiting car. None of their three captors had yet spoken.
The silence in the car was so loud you could barely breathe. One
of the men was driving the car, he was keeping his eyes on the
road ahead and driving slowly, calmly even though he was sweating
and his mind was racing. The other two men were in the back, either
side of their two prisoners. The mother sat, cradling the child
in her arms, holding her tight, all the time whispering in her
ear, "Everything's OK baby, everything will be all right."
The man who was driving the car reached across
and turned on the radio. The dial was set to the local station
and there were commercials on at the moment. Second hand car dealerships,
furniture sales and supermarkets all advertising their latest
bargains. The mother had always hated radio commercials, she found
them annoying, but now she was glad to hear them. They ended the
silence and made the scene in the car seem almost normal.
The car turned off the road and down a narrow
country lane. It twisted and turned down the dust-track roads
for a few minutes before coming to a stop outside a large barn.
The mother and her child were pushed out of the car and were marched
into the barn. There was manure in the barn and the mother's nose
turned up at the smell of it. Two small horses were tied up at
the back. It had obviously not been used for several years. The
upper level of the barn was covered in hay and the woman and her
child were pushed up a short ladder towards it. They were tied
to a wooden beam and covered in hay. Then, without saying a word
the three men left the barn and pulled away in their car .The
mother assumed they would return later.
"There were horses in the barn. Two
young, brown ones. I once rode a horse at a fair. Mummy said I
had to hold on tight so I wouldn't fall off. I wanted to go fast,
but the man who owned the horse wouldn't let me, he said the horse
was too old. My cousin Alison has a barn like this one. We went
to visit her in the country last summer. The barn was full of
hay and me and Alison used to play there every day. Daddy said
we would go back next year, I can't wait! Me and mummy are in
the hay at the moment. It is really nice, but it makes your back
itch if you sit in it for a long time. Mummy is crying. I don't
know why she's upset. I've never seen mummy cry before. I don't
like it. I'm scared I want to go home."
Time passes.
The mother and her child sit in each other's
arms in the hay for an hour. Then it is sunrise. The glowing rays
of sun stream through a hole in the barn roof, casting light on
the two figures through the bales of hay. In the distance a bird
is singing. Mother and child sit together, both of them scared,
both of them crying. The mother wonders what will happen to them
- if someone will find them. She does not know, she can't know,
but she can hope. And she will hope, it is all she can do.
More time passes.
The child is asleep now. How the mother wishes
that she too could sleep, she needs rest. One of the horses below
them whinnies in response to the three men returning to the barn.
They still have the scarves over their faces, concealing their
features so nobody will recognise them. They untie the mother
and take her down from the hay. The child is left behind. The
mother screams and shouts for her child to be released. The men
say nothing. She kicks at them and continues to scream, pleading
to their good nature that they let her baby go. One of the men
slaps her across the face and she falls to the ground. Another
man gags her with some cloth. Her muffled screams are barely audible
as she is dragged outside, into the car and away from the barn.
Away from her child.
"Mummy 's gone. When I woke up I couldn't
see her. I don't know where she 's gone. I don't know what to
do. I can't move because my hands are tied to the wood I really
want to go home now, I wish everything was all right again. I
don't like it when mummy goes away and leaves me alone. It's cold
in this barn and the hay is making my back itch, but I can't scratch
it. Why has mummy left me ? Where has she gone ? I want to go
home! I want my mummy!"
