The English Refugee: The Day It Happened Here

by Jonathan Pidduck

  "Time to go now," Mum told us after a while.

  "Just another ten minutes," I said.

  "No. Time to go."

  "Five minutes, then."

  "Jack!"

  "Okay, okay, I'm coming," I grumbled. She was spoiling my fun. Parents do that a lot.

  We came out of the gate.

  "My knees hurt," I told her.

  She laughed, which wasn't very nice.

  Dad followed us back towards the main road. As we got nearer, we saw that there were quite a few people walking along it, back towards where the ladies were with their tables. That was a bit surprising, as until now everyone had been walking the same way as us. I looked at Mum to see what it meant, but she seemed a bit surprised, too.

  "Why's everyone going that way, when they should be going the other way?" I asked. "The bombs are that way, aren't they? Where we're coming from."

  Mum nodded. Yes, they were. She started walking a bit quicker. We did, too, which made my poor knees hurt even more (maybe the swings and slides weren't such a good idea after all).

  "Mum?"

  "We'll ask them, okay?" She sounded a little cross. I hoped she wasn't still blaming me for eating all the biscuit crumbs earlier on.

  #

  All the time we were walking to Canterbury, I thought it would be safe. I thought that if Mum and Dad were taking us there, then it must be the best place to go. They knew about these things. Dave and Daisy had thought so, too. We would get to Canterbury, find Nan, check that she was alright, and that would be the end of our journey. It was when we stopped the lady - about Mum's age with a long winter coat even though it wasn't really winter yet - that I started to worry that Canterbury might not be the best place to go after all.

  "Excuse me," Mum said to the lady. "Can you tell me what's happening? Why's everyone going this way? I thought you'd be heading towards Canterbury?"

  The woman shook her head. "I've just come from there. It's not safe anymore."

  "Why not? Why's it not safe?"

  "They've reached Kent. They reckon they'll be in Canterbury some time today."

  "Today!"

  The woman nodded. She started to walk on. Mum took her by the arm. The lady glared at her, but she didn't say anything. Mum let her go anyway.

  "Please," said Mum. "Just one minute. I've got kids with me."

  "Turn back, then. Canterbury's full of refugees. They've been shelling Ashford and Maidstone. The Russians, I mean. The stories they've told me. The women especially. Don't go there. It's not safe."

  "Where's everyone going?"

  "Ramsgate, Margate, anywhere with a port. Most people are heading for Dover, but I think it'll be too crowded there. Have you come from Thanet? Are they evacuating people there?"

  "Not when we were there, no."

  The lady closed her eyes. She took a deep breath. She opened them again. "It's too late to go to Dover now. I've got to keep going."

  She tried to walk past Mum. Mum tried to take her arm again, but she shook her off. "I can't help you. Just don't go to Canterbury, okay? It's not safe there. Not when you've got kids."

  "I have to."

  "Your choice." She walked on.

  Mum looked at Dad. He looked back, but didn't say anything. "What do we do?" she asked him.

  He didn't say anything.

  "What do we do?" she said again, a lot louder this time. She sounded cross again, like he was not answering her on purpose.

  Still nothing from Dad.

  "I want a divorce!" she screamed at him.

  That scared me, but Ben laughed out loud. She turned on him. "What? What's so funny, young man?"

  "Good luck getting a divorce now!"

  She stared at him. I thought she was going to smack him for a moment, even though she's never smacked either of us before. But then her shoulders relaxed. She laughed. And laughed and laughed and laughed. It was probably only for a minute, but it seemed like longer. I was happy when she stopped. If she ended up like Dad, we would be totally screwed.

  #

  We had walked a further hundred metres up the road when Mum came to a halt. We all stopped, too.

  "We can't do this."

  "Huh?" asked Ben.

  "We can't do this. It's not safe for you guys, especially when your dad's not?not feeling very well. We've got to turn back."

  Ben shook his head. "We can't leave Nan on her own."

  "I don't want to. But it's too dangerous."

  "Mum, we have to." Ben started walking again. Mum followed him.

  "Ben, no. It's too dangerous. We should go back. You heard what that lady said."

  He kept walking. "We have to find Nan."

  She looked unsure what to do. I could see how much she wanted to look for Nan. But it did sound very dangerous going to Canterbury, from what the lady had said to us. And Dad had been against it from the start.

  Mum took Ben by the hand, and made him stop walking. "Ben, are you sure? Are you really, really sure? If you don't want to do this, I won't make you. We can go back to Ramsgate; go home; wait to see what happens."

  "We have to do this," he told her.

  She hugged him for what seemed like ages. "You're so brave. You're so brave. My little man is all grown up."

  He looked embarrassed but he let her hug him anyway. When she'd finished, she looked at me.

  "Are you okay with this, Jack? Just say the word and we'll go home."

  I felt trapped. I didn't want to go to Canterbury. I loved my Nan, but I was scared that the Russians would take me prisoner, or shoot me, or shoot Mum and Dad. But I could see the look that Ben was giving me, and I could see that Mum wanted me to say yes, and when I looked at Dad I could tell that he wasn't going to be any help to me at all. I nodded my head, trying to look brave so I would be her grown-up little man as well. "Let's go and get Nan."

  I held Mum's hand. I didn't care what Ben would say. I needed to hold it.

  "You're sure? You're absolutely sure? Don't say yes unless you really want to."

  I nodded. "I'm sure." I wasn't, though. It was way too dangerous.

  She took another look back the way we had come, and just for a second I thought she was going to change her mind and take us back home again. But Ben started walking again, and Dad started following him, and she hurried after them, towing me behind her.

  "We find Nan, and then we get out as quickly as we can," she told me. "One hour, tops. I'll keep you all safe, I promise."

  I squeezed her hand, and she smiled at me. It made me happy, because I think she thought that I was being brave, too. I wish she hadn't of promised that, though, because she'd never broken a promise before.

  #

  There were more and more people walking past us, heading the way we had come from. All of them had suitcases and bags and carrier bags. Some had stopped by the side of the road to eat and drink, which made me jealous as I was really hungry by now. But we had no food left, and we kept walking.

  My knees hurt so much. I was getting shooting pain in my knee-caps. It was making me walk slowly. But I wanted to get to Canterbury before the Russians, so I kept walking to keep everyone safe.

  There was a big fight in Littlebourne. Everyone was beating up three or four men on the far side of the village. Mum asked someone what was going on. A man told her that they had been trying to take people's stuff off them as they were going through the village, and it seems they had picked on the wrong group. Other people were joining in. Some of the men were shouting and screaming. Two of them weren't moving any more. I couldn't help looking, even though it was scary. None of them tried to hurt us, so we carried on walking. I noticed that no-one was walking the same way as us now; everyone was going in the opposite direction. Even the people Dad had his fight with walked past us, but there were so many people around that I was the only one of my family to notice them. The man saw me looking at him, and I looked away quickly in case he wanted to have another fight, even though he didn't look cross any more. Just worried.


  I was still holding Mum's hand. I can't remember if I've told you this already, but I don't do this much now I'm eight, in case my friends see me. But the nearer we were getting to Canterbury, the more scared I was getting. I couldn't really understand why Ben wasn't scared as well. I guess big school must make you braver.

  "Are you okay?" Mum asked.

  I nodded. I didn't want to speak, in case I sounded frightened, because then she'd know I wasn't being brave after all and I really wanted her to be proud of me.

  "You'd tell me if you weren't?"

  I nodded again.

  She started talking about things. Nothing important, nothing scary; just things. I think she was trying to take my mind off where we were going. But there was only one thing I wanted to know, and that was why this was happening. I had kept asking people, but no-one seemed to want to tell me. I asked again, just in case. This time, she wouldn't be able to tell me to ask Dad, as he was still being very quiet. I thought that maybe if I knew what was going on, everything would be better somehow.

  "What's happening?"

  "How do you mean?"

  "The Russians. Why have they come here?"

  "They're invading us, Angel. They're trying to take over our country."

  "I know that. But why?"

  "It's complicated."

  "Please. I want to know."

  I was starting to think that she didn't know. But then she told me everything.

  #

  "It started with the Chinese."

  "I thought it was the Russians invading us?"

  "It is the Russians. But it started with the Chinese. Do you know what global warming is?"

  "Kind of. It's when the world gets too hot and all the icebergs melt."

  "That's right. Clever boy. Well, all the icebergs melted, and the sea-level went up."

  "They must have been big ice-bergs for the sea to go up."

  "They were. And lots of them."

  "How many?"

  "Do you want to hear this story or not?"

  "Yes. I just wondered how many, that's all."

  "Just be quiet for a moment, will you, and listen? Where was I?"

  "The ice-bergs were melting."

  "Oh, yes. The ice-bergs melted, and the sea-level went up, and all the places without flood defences were under water. And that included half of China. So there were millions, no, make that billions, of people in China with nowhere to live. So they invaded Russia. And they had a big fight, and the Chinese won, and the Russians had to find somewhere else to live."

  "And they chose here."

  "No."

  "No?"

  "No. They chose Finland and Norway and all of those countries. And Poland, I think. They're always invading Poland."

  "So why are they here?"

  "I'm coming to that. When they invaded Norway, we sent planes and ships to help."

  "Help the Russians?"

  "Help the Norwegians. But it didn't make any difference, and the Russians won, because they have more planes and soldiers than we do."

  "But not as many as the Chinese?"

  "No, I guess not. Shall we save the questions to the end, Angel, so Mummy can finish the story? So now they're in Scandinavia - that's Norway and Sweden and those countries, okay? - and China is in Russia. And if we hadn't helped Norway that would have been the end of it. But the Russians didn't like it that we helped Norway, so they've sent all their soldiers over here to get their own back."

  "Can't we go to Norway, then?"

  "Sorry?"

  "If all their soldiers are over here, can't we go to Norway?"

  "No. I didn't mean all of their soldiers. Just some of them. Anyway, no-one thought that they would invade us, because we thought that Germany and France and all the big countries in Europe would tell them off if they did. But it looks like we were wrong."

  "Why won't they tell Russia off? It's naughty, taking over people's countries."

  "Maybe they're frightened that their countries will be taken over too if they complain too loudly. Especially after what's happened here when we stood up for Norway."

  "So we're all alone?"

  "Scotland's on our side. We used to be part of the same country twenty years ago."

  "Can we go there, then?"

  "It's a long way away. And I don't think it will be safe there for very long either."

  "So where is safe?"

  She looked at me. She gave me a smile, but it didn't look like a very happy one.

  "I wish I knew, Jack. I wish I knew."

  #

  We kept on walking. I got hungrier and hungrier, and I started getting thirsty again, even though I had had a cup of tea in Wingham (the cup wasn't as big as the mugs we use at home). I told Mum that I was hungry and thirsty, and she told me that I could have a juice and a sandwich when we got to Nan's, but I don't think either of us believed it.

  We stopped from time to time, but my knees were getting worse and worse. They would have ached anyway - I've never done so much walking in my whole life - but what with my hypermobility, they hurt so much it made me want to cry. I didn't cry, though. I had decided not to cry any more, as Mum had enough to worry about while Dad wasn't himself. I hoped she would notice that I was being brave, and be proud of me, but if she was she didn't actually tell me about it.

  There was a field on both sides of the road, and it was covered in tents as far as I could see. Most of the tents were different, although some looked similar (which means that they look almost the same). Some were quite big (not like circus tents, but big all the same), and others were so small I think you would only have been able to fit one little person inside them.

  There were quite a lot of people sitting around between the tents. I could hear music coming from somewhere, which surprised me, as I thought that everyone would be saving their batteries for their i-pads and their radios, like Dad had told us to do before he went all quiet.

  I could smell cooking, too; a bit like a barbecue. I looked around me, but I couldn't see where it was coming from. I wished we could cook, as I couldn't remember the last time I had eaten something hot. I'm not really into cold food, though even tuna fish sandwiches would have tasted good when you were as hungry as I was, however fishy they were.

  Mum went over to a tent. She tried to knock on the flap at the front, but it was a flap so it didn't really make any noise. "Hello?" she called out. "Is there anyone home?"

  If there was, they must have been shy or asleep, because no-one came out.

  She looked around. The nearest person who was up and awake was only about 20 or 30 metres away. She started walking through the tents towards her. "Hello? Hello?" We followed her. I took Dad's hand as I was worried that he might wander off and get lost.

  "Hello?"

  "Alright?" the lady answered, when we got a bit nearer.

  "Not really," said Mum, and they both laughed (I'm not sure why).

  "Have you just come from Canterbury?" Mum asked.

  "We left last night. We couldn't stay. They were starting to shell us."

  "They were shelling Canterbury?" Mum sounded as if this was the most shocking thing she had ever heard, which I guess it was. "Why?"

  The lady shrugged. "Because they can, I guess."

  "Are our guys there? Our soldiers."

  "They were. I saw them march out yesterday."

  "They're not there now then?"

  "No. I came past the barracks on the way here. They're empty."

  Mum looked around. "I don't know if my Mum's here. She's sixty seven - no, sixty eight now. Quite tall. A bit bossy. She's got a perm."

  The lady laughed. "Good luck finding her if she is. There's got to be a thousand tents here, maybe more. And people are coming here and moving on all the time. I've had two new neighbours here already, and I've only been here half a day."

  Mum looked helpless. Ben took her hand. "Come on, Mum. We'll look for her in Canterbury. She won't be here."

  "Why not?"

&n
bsp; "Can you imagine Nan in a tent? She doesn't even have one."

  "That's true."

  It was strange. It was like Ben was suddenly a grown-up. He was talking to Mum as if he was as grown-up as her. I wished I could do that, but I knew that I would just look silly if I tried. Maybe when I went to big school, I would find it easier, because they seemed to learn all sorts of stuff there.

  All of a sudden, I really missed Dad. He was standing next to me - I was still holding his hand to stop him wandering off - but he wasn't the same. He was staring ahead of him, and he wasn't saying anything at all. He was letting me lead him around, like he was a horse or a donkey or something. I had felt safer when he was there - really there - when there were two proper grown-ups in charge. It was good of Ben to try to be a grown-up while Dad was acting like this, but it wasn't quite the same. I needed my Dad to be with me, more than ever. He wasn't there when he should have been, and I know it wasn't his fault but I started to feel a bit cross with him all the same.

  #

  We walked past the army barracks maybe half an hour later. There was a high fence around it, with barbed wire on the top (I'm not sure whether it was to stop people getting in or out). There was a gate at the front, with a little house on either side for soldiers to stand in. But there was no-one there. The barriers were up, and the army was gone, like the lady had said. I wondered where they were and whether they were safe. I hoped that they were shooting the Russians and that the Russians weren't shooting back. If they beat the Russians in a big tank battle, then maybe we could go home again and everything would be alright.

  There was smoke rising up into the sky ahead of us. It had been there all morning, and I had thought that it was from more bombing, but the lady in the tent-city had told us that they were shelling and I thought that that might be different from bombing (although I wasn't sure how).

  We reached the car-park we used to park in when we drove to Canterbury, and I thought again how much quicker things would have been if we had been able to drive. Until you actually have to do it, you don't really understand how hard it is to walk a long way. It had taken us a day and a half to walk a journey which we could have driven in half an hour, and we had seen things on the way which you don't usually see when you're driving to Canterbury to see your Nan.