by Tony White
And Ruji-B goes, ‘No we sure man. You can stay here the night.’ Foxy-T no say nothing is it and both him and Ruji-Babes take this to mean she agree.
He look at them both init and sigh like him grateful and him half laughing: ‘Well thats a fucking relief then. Shit man me no look forward to kip down in some old doss hole down Shadwell or walk the streets all night and try fe stay out the way of the Feds is it.’
Foxy-T went up and got the spare duvet out the cupboard while Ruji-Babes fuss around and chatted. She make up a bed while them talk init and believe me that bed look well comfy to this Zafar. Nice clean sheet and pillow man and a clean duvet cover. Ruji-Babes was enjoy herself and all cause it feel just like having her little brother round for the night and all the attention what she might have want fe lavish on him somehow got lavish on this Zafar. He was grateful for this and it felt to him a bit like he had arrive at his sister place already only he knowed that when he did it wouldnt be half so comfy as this because him sister got a couple of kids and that now and it would be well noisy and crowded in her little flat out Dagenham.
Only that aint all him a think about. But the funny thing was that now she out the room when him try fe remember what Foxy-T look like he couldnt remember. That girl make some kind of a impression on him but him couldnt think what it was that she look like now that he didnt have her sitting in front of him. But even if she had of been there on the sofa still him might not have been able to get that good a look at her is it because it seem like she was kind of hide herself away from him in a funny sort of way what him couldnt figure out at all. Seem like even when she there in front of that Zafar and him just glance at her she get further away init and the more him try fe look at her was the more she hide herself away in them shadow.
When Ruji-Babes gone upstair Zafar get in bed and tuck himself up init and aint long till him sleep. Believe me it was well comfy compare with them beds up Feltham. Him tired from him walk and the shock a getting out and him no believe him luck being in this flat and getting look after by them two girls. And he was just lay there for a bit and think about them two girl and wondering if they was gay and him just let him mind wander init and imagine what they might be doing up there in there bedroom. So he was just laying there on the sofa under that spare duvet and imagining them two going down on each other pussy or sucking on each other tits and it make him hard just lying there on the sofa. So he was laying there with his hand on him cock for a while and him just imagine that them two is lezzers and maybe one of them come down stairs and take him hand and lead him up them stairs so they could both play with him and let him fuck them both in all kind of way and he just drift off to sleep a happy man thinking about this probaly before he could even wank about it because him so tired and comfy after four years a them shit beds up Feltham.
But upstairs Foxy-T no sleep and when she did it was like she was just hear some man whistle in her dreams and she was walk all round Shadwell and in the Quality Food Store and up by Watney Market and by the rag and bone men and the Sari Centre and down the post office and the DLR station and yet where ever she go this whistling was always out of reach. Then she seen that robber again and him stand under a street lamp and just whistling and looking over at her in that slightly pisstaking way as if to say come and chat or whatever so she goes nearer but he aint really smiling and she see him picking him finger nail with like some little knife init so then she think better of it and turn fe walk away but him grab her wrist and wont let her go. And to Foxy-T in her dream it feel like him dig him nails into her wrist and she wake with a fright and just lay there in bed shaking.
In the morning Foxy-T is more or less forgot all about her bad dream though and she just get dress and make herself a coffee or whatever and then go down stairs to the E-Z Call without even look in fe see if that Zafar awake or not and she just switch on all the computer them and done her usual routine about switching on the server first or whatever then logging in and going in to the system fe check the phones all log in to the right networks and that all the phone cards and top ups is neatly stack inside that lock up counter and that they wasnt gonna run out of anything. Ruji-Babes go out early and all init because like a lot a woman Foxy-T and her no really eat big breakfast is it just have there coffees or whatever and like maybe one piece a toast but she figure that Zafar being a young man and just out a Feltham would probaly wake up starving and need a bit of breakfast inside him before he can go over him sister place up Dagenham. But is early init and none of them shop round here is open up before about ten o clock. Well the One Stop opens at eight o clock in term time fe sell sweets and fags to them school girls from up Mulberry with dinner money burning a hole in them pocket but they aint got much food in there is it so Ruji-Babes end up a walk all the way down the newsagents in Shadwell opposite the DLR there and fetch some cornflakes and a big carton of milk and another loaf since they use up most a that bread what they had last night. Normally her and Foxy-T would only get about a pint of milk because they only usually had it in there coffees or whatever but she figure she probaly better get a big two litre carton for Zafar. When she reach back at the E-Z Call Foxy-T is already got the shutter up and is like fiddling around in the shop only the door still lock cause they aint open yet. Them two dont open E-Z Call up till about ten neither is it. But Ruji-Babes knock on the door and Foxy-T let her in and by the time she get upstairs and knock on the door what leads in to the sitting room and go, ‘Eh Zafar you awake man?’ that Zafar say, ‘Come in man. Its OK I’m up now yeah.’
And he just sit there in a T-shirt with him like shorts on init and Ruji-Babes go, ‘You sleep well?’
Zafar go up the bathroom fe get wash up and that while Ruji-Babes is put the kettle on fe make coffee and sort out a bowl for him cornflakes. Then she think for a second and like walk over by the kitchen door and say, ‘Eh Zafar. You want a clean T-shirt man only you probaly about the same size as me init and I got a load. Shall I sort one out man?’
Zafar just go, ‘Yeah nice.’
When him fresh Zafar put him clothes on and that T-shirt what Ruji-Babes lay out upon the sofa and then he go down stairs fe check the E-Z Call. He was look around at everything init and try fe remember where the old counter used to be when this still Cannon Street Cars and where that old drinks machine was and where the controller sat with him radio and Zafar remember all the calendar of like Mecca or whatever and map and shit on the walls. A lot had changed man you can depend on that. He was looking at all them computer which was all line up with there screen savers on and him look up when a bus went past. There never use to be a bus down here is it and he say to Foxy-T, ‘Eh? What bus is that, man?’
And Foxy-T look up from where she sit and looking at a screen on one a them PC and say, ‘What? Oh is a D3 init.’
And that Zafar must have look a bit puzzle cause then she tell him it goes down Asda on the Isle of Dogs and up Bethnal Green the other way.
And he aksed her if it is a new bus and she says, ‘Yeah couple of years man. But it aint very good is it. You can be standing out that bus stop for like an hour and its quicker fe walk sometimes and thats the truth because them roads aint wide enough for no bus especially when them lorries all park up on New Road. Takes ages man.’
And he look out at the bus stop over the road there and see some white bloke a stand there in him work clothes with a kid all dress up for school stand next to him. Then he look up at all them sign on the wall yeah. One a them say ‘Strickly prohibited to access pornographic sites’. Another one say ‘Polite notice. Please do not shut down the computer after you finished your job. Signed the Management’. Then he check all of them piece of A4 sellotape on the walls fe advertise all them different tariff what you pay fe call different countries. And it remind Zafar about the time when him use to look at all the map they use to have on the wall when it was still Cannon Street Cars init and how him would use to just look at all them different place on the map them or whatever and say them place names to himself and
checking out how all cabs going to a particular distance would maybe like charge one uniform rate and then if you went over into the next area that was coloured in with a different colour marker pen the price went up. So still him couldnt think about some area in London like if one of him spar up Feltham say like him come from Edmonton without him automatically think of the price. The place and the price was all mix up in him head init. Only them price probaly well out a date now init. And is the same type a thing now init. Only when he look up at them telephone tariff and shit him couldnt understand what the reason is that mean a call to Lagos cost more than a call to the USA but him could see it did. But it aint like they is further away or whatever is it.
Zafar was look up at all of them tariff for ages and then out the corner of him eye he seen a D3 come the other way and stop at the bus stop there and that bloke and him kid getting on the bus and walking down the gangway to find thereselves a seat as the bus pull away up towards Whitechapel.
Then Ruji-Babes a shout down the stairs that coffee is ready and breakfast or whatever so him and Foxy-T stop what they was doing init and go upstairs.
‘Its looking really different down there,’ Zafar say when him reach the kitchen but he was thinking how it was kind of the same and still about travelling to them different place even if you was only talking to them different place and not actually driving to them place in the back of some old Cavalier with a air freshener in the shape of a no-smoking sign hanging off the mirror and some red-eye driver what you know has been kipping in him car because it still smell of sleep and sweat. It felt like him in the middle a some massive thing what is too big fe even grasp like a million time bigger than the Cannon Street Cars map of London and maybe more like a tube map or something init only bigger and with like Lagos and Karachi and New York instead of Tottenham Court Road or Finsbury Park and all them normal tube station. He was think about all them things while he munch him way through two bowl a cornflakes and heaping three sugars in him strong cup of Nescafe.
Foxy-T just sat quiet at the table and drank her coffee then had a bit of toast and Nutella when Ruji-Babes fix some. Foxy-T felt a bit like she did last night where she no want him fe look at her. But the smell of him hair gel never fail fe remind her of the thief again and it also remind her a bit of her dream. So that girl just sit there quiet and no say much is it. Ruji-Babes was the one fuss around and aks if anyone want more coffee and that.
It wasnt long til they have fe open up the E-Z Call is it. Ten o’clock soon come. Zafar done his bit to repay there kindness by sweeping up. Him also take a screwdriver and him scrape off some sticker what had make him laugh night before when he first come and knocking on the shutter before him come round the back way. That sticker had keep annoy Foxy-T and Ruji-Babes and all only them never get a chance fe scrape it off is it. That sticker right on the shutter there init and it say,
‘ABRAHAM IS NOT WAS A CHRISTIAN.
MOSES IS NOT WAS A CHRISTIAN.
JESUS IS NOT WAS A CHRISTIAN.
I IS NOT A CHRISTIAN TOO. HA HA HA.’
When he done that Ruji-Babes aks him fe go over the £1 shop and fetch some heavy duty bin bag what he then fill up with all that rubbish what had been cluttering up that back yard for ages. Most of it was stuff from when Ruji-Babes uncle have the place refitted once he chuck the Cannon Street Cars out. There was a load of junk believe me. And Zafar found a bit of one a them old minicab office maps out there and before him broke it up fe stuff it in a rubbish bag he sat and look at it for a while and remembered him grandad. He check in that shed what use to be a air raid shelter cause him think maybe some stuff a go in there only it full a old sewing machine init. So he throw all them bin bag out the front next to the lamp post and when he finish sweep up him go back in and offer Ruji-Babes fe go up the shop for them and get some food in and them girls were going like, ‘No, dont worry man. You is earned your keep already Zafar.’
But he was saying, ‘No I might as well do something useful init.’
So they sent him down the Quality Food Store with a list of stuff what they need and Ruji-Babes count out some money carefully so there wouldnt be too much change and sent him away. He was back in about half an hour with some mango init and some frozen river fish from back home and some big flat breads and veg like tomato and cucumber. And then him pull out that couple a pounds in change from him pocket and tip it on the counter there where Ruji-Babes took it and put it back in her pocket. But he didnt say nothing about when he was gonna go up Dagenham to his sisters place is it.
In the afternoon he went out but Ruji-Babes and Foxy-T both notice that he didnt take him bag with him. He come back in the shop around five and look just as bright and cheery as he done the night before after him eaten that tea they give him. He take off him jacket and hang it on the back of a chair. They could see that him thinking about something or other.
‘Did you call your sister?’ aksed Ruji-Babes.
‘No. I mean yes, I call but no answer this afternoon. So I call my cousin in Birmingham and he say yes Radya have split up with her husband and is staying up Birmingham with me auntie. But they both out when I phone init. My cousin say them gone fe see a solicitor or whatever. I dont know what I’m gonna do is it.’
‘What do you mean do?’ aksed Ruji-Babes.
‘I mean where I man gonna stay,’ says Zafar.
He didnt say nothing else is it. This was the boy in him they realise. And not only that but a boy who is been living somewhere he didnt need to think for himself. Where you knowed that you gonna get three square meal a day and a roof over your head whatever happen and without no need fe lift a finger. It was like that Zafar think that in making that call he had done him bit and now it was up to them what he done. And even though they wasnt even family and Zafar only meet them the evening before by pure accident init but somehow it seem like him think this was there problem and not his where he was gonna sleep that night. And both a them see this in him at that moment.
Foxy-T was sitting at the end of the counter and half listen to the radio and half listen to what Zafar been saying. Without really thinking about it she was looking at Zafar while him talking. He hadnt notice but look up and suddenly they was looking into each others eyes. Zafar and Foxy-T. They was both pretty surprise init and both felt like they jumped out there skins but truth be told they didnt move at all and Foxy-T felt that same look of slightly piss-takey whatever that she recognise in him the night before and what she recognise in the first place from that thief even if it was only her imagination which it might of been. And that look seem to burn right inside her and fill her up till she feel expose and strip open like she done with that thief init. And both a them was try fe turn away but neither of them can is it till Foxy-T made a funny expression like she was think about something else and look quickly out the window at the simple boy from the Nagina Sweet Centre over the road who was like stand there and shake some old box upside down over the gutter fe clean out all them scrap of food or whatever that was inside it. And she watch all them scrap fall down in the gutter then watch that simple kid go back in the sweet centre with him empty box and shut the door behind him.
Ruji-Babes was shake her head and look like she about to say something but she never. She certainly wasnt saying, ‘Oh never mind Zafar. That dont matter is it. You can stay here another night.’ She definitely wasnt saying that. She look over at Foxy-T but she didnt have her contacts in is it they was in there case on the counter there so she didnt see that Foxy-T look really out of it. That Foxy-T just look like normal to Ruji-Babes. Just like her normal dreamy self.
‘What you think T?’ she aksed.
But Foxy-T just say nothing and Zafar too just a sit there staring.
‘You listening T?’ aksed Ruji-Babes.
‘Yeah?’ says Foxy-T.
‘Well what you think then?’
‘What you want me fe say?’ aksed Foxy-T without really thinking.
‘What you think,’ says Ruji-Babes.
‘I dont know,’ says Foxy-T. ‘Whatever man.’
And then none of them says nothing for a bit init. And that Zafar just still sit there staring at Foxy-T like him eyes was the point of that knife what the thief might of had in Foxy-T dream last night.
‘Yeah,’ say Ruji-Babes eventually. ‘Whatever init. I guess if you need to stop here another couple a night till your sister back then thats OK with me and all Zafar.’
Zafar didnt say nothing for a bit but just look out of the window or whatever then he just suddenly look up at Foxy-T and sort of half-smile at her again in that direct piss-takey way him have and she didnt know where fe look so she just look away. And Ruji-Babes dont know what to think. She just sat and watched the way that Zafar was look at Foxy-T but she couldnt really understand what that look mean because it wasnt like him a really smile just that this boy seem kind of intent on whatever it was. And him eyes was shine and all init.
Then he turn to Ruji-Babes and just goes, ‘Listen I dont want to be no trouble to you two is it. Is nice you let me stop here last night man but I dont want to be no trouble.’
But Ruji-Babes goes, ‘No its no trouble Zafar. Its like having my little brother to stay init that boy about the same age as you.’
‘Well if you is both sure,’ says Zafar. ‘Only like I say I dont want to be no trouble believe me. But is nice of you to aks me and that would be brilliant man if your sure.’
‘Course we do init. Make a change to have a bit of company dont it T.’
‘Is that OK with you and all though?’ he say turning to Foxy-T.
‘Yeah whatever. I dont mind,’ Foxy-T say in a half-hearted kind of way what Ruji-Babes never pick up on cause she aint got her contacts in yet like I say.
‘Oh wicked man,’ says Zafar.
Then him say, ‘Listen man I was figure me go and check some of me spar this evening init. Is that OK. I mean I aint go be back late is it.’