by Ruth Thomas
‘Don’t know.’
‘Yes you do. I always tell you take it to the police station. Why you didn’t take it to the police station?’
‘Don’t know.’
‘You keep money don’t belong to you that’s the same as stealing. You shame our family. Nobody going to shame our family stealing.’
‘I didn’t steal it. I found it.’
‘You same as steal it.’
‘Was Julia Winter with you when you found the money?’ Mr Barlowe interrupted.
‘No, I was by myself.’ Nathan did not want to have to account for Julia’s actions as well as his own.
‘But Julia had money as well. You had twenty pounds, and Julia had at least twenty pounds. Where did that money come from?’
‘I dunno . . . I suppose Julia found some as well.’
‘Was the money you found just lying on the pavement, or was it inside something?’
‘It was in a envelope.’
‘I see. So you found twenty pounds in an envelope and Julia found – what? Another envelope?’
‘Yes . . . I dunno.’
‘It seems strange though, doesn’t it? You and Julia each find a large amount of money. Separately. On the same day – or at least in the same week. Are you sure the money wasn’t all in the same envelope? Are you sure Julia wasn’t with you?’
Nathan hesitated, confused. This was a question that seemed to demand the answer ‘yes’. Clearly Mr Barlowe wasn’t going to be happy with the idea that he and Julia had each found separate lots of money.
‘Oh yes, I forgot,’ he blurted, ‘she was.’
‘She was what? With you?’
‘Yes.’
‘And you forgot.’
‘Yes,’ said Nathan, lamely.
‘You lying, Nathan,’ his father shouted angrily. ‘What you lying for? You hiding something? What you hiding?’
‘How could you forget that Julia was with you? You must have talked about the money – shared it between you,’ said Mr Barlowe, reasonably.
Nathan said nothing. If he said anything else he would fall into more traps. Once more, his face was a stubborn mask.
‘Mr Browne,’ said Mr Barlowe, ‘would you like to leave this with me now? I’m expecting Julia Winter’s mother at any moment. Perhaps she can shed more light on the matter. In any case, we’ll get to the bottom of it somehow. Goodbye.’
‘I see you at home, Nathan,’ said his father. He was fingering his belt, but that was not all. There was an expression on his father’s face that Nathan had never seen before, and didn’t know how to read now. Anger yes, but more than anger, a deep hurt as well. Nathan felt profoundly troubled by that look.
‘You can stay in the corridor, Nathan,’ said Mr Barlowe. ‘I’ll send to your classroom for some work for you.’
There was a special desk outside the office, reserved for wrongdoers who were being barred from their classes for one reason or another. Nathan was to have no more chance of colluding with Julia. He wasn’t even allowed to go out to play when the bell went.
Mrs Winter arrived just after playtime, and Nathan watched her being greeted by Mr Barlowe. He watched the door of the office being closed – and inevitably, some minutes later, a passing child being summoned to fetch Julia from her class.
She came, white and shaking, too frightened even to look at Nathan, sitting at his desk outside the office.
Julia’s mother had applied an extra layer of make-up this morning, for going to see the headmaster, but the effect was rather spoiled by the anger which now distorted her face.
‘What’s this Mr Barlowe’s been telling me, then? Come on, Julia, I want to know. About your uncle giving you money. It isn’t Vince, is it?’ Vince was Mrs Winter’s new boyfriend. ‘He hasn’t been giving you money behind my back, has he? Spoiling you.’
Some chance, thought Julia bitterly. Vince had so far taken about as much notice of her as he had of the chair leg.
‘He would hardly have given her so much, Mrs Winter,’ said Mr Barlowe, soothingly. ‘We found twelve pounds at least – and she’d been spending freely all the week.’
‘Where d’you get it from, Julia? Gawd, you’re a worry to me. Can’t you do nothing right? She’s a real worry to me, Mr Barlowe. Never puts a finger out straight to help at home. Always breaking things. And now stealing.’
‘No, no,’ said Mr Barlowe hastily. ‘No one has accused Julia of stealing. It’s just a mystery we need to clear up. Now Julia – you weren’t actually given the money, were you. Tell the truth.’
‘No.’ Julia’s voice was faint and wobbly. Her throat felt stiff, as though the sides were stuck together almost.
‘Where did it come from?’
‘I found it.’
‘Were you by yourself when you found it?’
‘With Nathan Browne We found two twenty pound notes.’
‘Inside something?’
‘No – just on the pavement. They was blowing about.’
‘So you kept one each.’
‘Yes.’
‘Why didn’t you tell us this in the first place, Julia?’
No answer.
‘Speak when you’re spoken to, can’t you?’ said Julia’s mother, sharply. ‘Tell the headmaster.’
‘I just didn’t.’
‘You realize you should have taken the money to the police station, don’t you, Julia. Or brought it into school, and given it to one of the teachers.’
‘Yes, Sir.’
‘And of course, it’ll have to go to the police now. What’s left of it anyway. Unless we can find out who it belongs to. And you’ll have to explain why some of it’s missing.’ Mr Barlowe paused. ‘There’s something else I feel I have to say, Julia, and I’m saying it to you in front of your mother. You and Nathan between you have told me a number of different stories, and even now your story and Nathan’s don’t quite match. I may be wrong, but I have the feeling we haven’t quite got all the truth yet. We’ll all have to do some serious thinking. Back to your class now, and thank you for coming, Mrs Winter.’
‘That’s all right, Mr Barlowe,’ said Julia’s mother, grimly. ‘I’ll get it out of her, don’t you worry.’
‘Good,’ said Mr Barlowe. ‘We’ll leave the police till you’ve had a talk with her.’
Mr Barlowe didn’t really want to involve the police at all; and in any case, he didn’t want to do anything hasty. The children’s story certainly did not have the ring of truth about it. Perhaps it was a family matter after all – money stolen from home – and the parents would find it out. In a way, Mr Barlowe hoped so.
But Julia, who had left when Mr Barlowe told her to, spent the day in mortal terror of the police. Every time the classroom door opened, she jerked nervously, thinking it was the police come to question her. She wanted to talk to Nathan, now back in the class, but he wouldn’t look at her – just sat glaring at his desk. She didn’t know what he’d said or anything, or if he knew Mr Barlowe was going to tell the police.
Home time came, and the police had not arrived, which was some relief. Julia looked for Nathan, but he was gone with the wind. So now there was the next ordeal to be faced. Her mother.
Julia did not know what her mother was going to do to her, but she was sure it was going to be something awful. She couldn’t face going home just yet to find out what that awful thing might be. So she put off the terrible moment – she went to the park.
Nathan was there already. Thinking of that funny look on his father’s face, Nathan also had decided to put off the moment of finding out what was going to happen next. There would be the belt, probably, but perhaps this time something worse as well. Nathan thought first of going to the deserted house and hiding there. But he had no food for his cats, and couldn’t face them empty handed. He went to the park instead.
He mooned around on the swings, brooding and fearful. It wasn’t just punishment he feared, it was losing the money as well. The grown-ups wouldn’t let up, that much was certain. Th
ey would nag it out of him, or beat it out of him, or trick it out of him. And however they did it the end would be the same, because the money would be taken away, and gone would be the dream of his house, all to himself, with nobody in it but him.
There was one way out, and it had been done before, Nathan had heard of kids doing it. But it was pretty drastic, just about as drastic as you could get, and terrifying as well. And what about his mum? She wouldn’t like it, would she, if he did that drastic thing? Nathan liked his mum better than his dad, because she was nearly always gentle with him. When she had time to be. When she wasn’t cooking, or washing, or ironing, or out at her part-time job. . . .
At this point in Nathan’s ruminations, Julia arrived at the park. His first reaction to the sight of the awkward, shambling figure was one of irritation and resentment. Stupid thing – it was all her fault they got caught. His second thought, however, as she recognized and approached him, was that she might, after all, still have her uses.
Julia began her particular brand of weeping – great ugly sobs that shook her whole body, and sounded rather ridiculous coming from such a big girl. ‘Mr Barlowe’s going to tell the police!’ she wailed at Nathan, from halfway across the playground.
‘Shut up,’ said Nathan. ‘You don’t want everybody to know our business.’
Indeed, a few curious heads were already turning in their direction. Julia came close and repeated, in a hoarse whisper, ‘Mr Barlowe’s going to tell the police.’
Nathan was dismayed at the news. This added a whole new dimension to the situation, a dimension full of dark possibilities and unknown terrors.
‘What’s he want to do that for?’
‘He said we got to give the money to the police. And he said . . . ’ she sobbed again, ‘ . . . he said the police’ll ask us about the money we spent. And I’m scared. And I’m scared to go home to my mum, too.’
‘Never mind about your mum – what about the police?’
‘What will they do to us, Nathan?’
‘I dunno. They’ll make us tell, anyway – about all the rest of the money.’
‘How, though? How will they make us tell, Nathan?’
‘They got their ways, haven’t they!’ said Nathan, hinting at unimaginable tortures.
‘Oh I’m scared. I’m scared.’
‘You ain’t the only one.’
‘They was angry when they thought it was only twenty pounds. What’re they going to do when it’s hundreds and hundreds?’
‘Put us away, perhaps.’
‘Put us away? Oh yeah – in one of them boarding schools.’
‘They might put us in prison,’ said Nathan.
‘They don’t put kids in prison, do they?’
‘One of them boarding schools then. Or something worser.’
‘What could be worser than a boarding school?’
‘I dunno, but there could be something.’
‘I don’t know which is baddest,’ said poor Julia, ‘the police or my mum.’
‘There’s my dad too,’ said Nathan, remembering. ‘I never see him look like that before.’
‘What shall we do? What shall we do, Nathan?’
Nathan took a deep breath, and said it. ‘Let’s run away.’
‘What?’
‘You deaf or something? I said, “Let’s run away”.’
‘Where to?’
‘I dunno, do I. Somewhere. We can take the money. Then they can’t make us give it back, and they can’t do bad things to us neither.’
‘You mean really run away, and live somewhere else, by ourselves?’
‘That’s what I’m saying, stupid. How many times you want me to say it?’
‘We couldn’t! We couldn’t do that, Nathan.’
Nathan glared at her. ‘All right then, stay here and see what your mum going to do to you, and the police, and get put away. I don’t care.’
‘Will you go by yourself then?’
A long pause. ‘Nah,’ said Nathan.
Another long pause.
‘Shall I come with you, then?’ Julia could hardly believe it was her voice saying such a thing, but it was. And having uttered the words she felt oddly calm. She was going to run away, she was going to escape from trouble. The prospect was frightening but at that moment it didn’t seem nearly as frightening as the prospect of staying behind.
‘Come if you like,’ said Nathan.
There was silence again, while each studied the ground, and pondered the enormity of what they were about to do.
‘Shall we go then?’ said Nathan.
‘Now?’
‘Might as well.’
‘We’ll go now then, shall we? Shall we get the money?’
‘Yeah – won’t somebody see, though?’
It was a fine afternoon, and the park was full of mums with young children.
‘Don’t matter if they see us getting it,’ said Julia. ‘They won’t know it’s money, and it don’t matter if they know our hiding place ‘cause it won’t be our hiding place no more.’
‘Come on then, let’s get it.’
Julia hesitated. She was wearing only a thin cotton dress. No coat, not even a cardigan. ‘I haven’t got nowhere to put mine,’ she said.
Nathan had his anorak. Rain or shine, he was rarely parted from his anorak. ‘I could put yours in my pocket with mine,’ he offered.
‘No,’ said Julia, emphatically, ‘I want to keep my own.’ She would have to put it in her knickers again. It would be awkward, managing that manoeuvre, but she wasn’t going to trust Nathan with her precious money. ‘We better watch out for each other, though. While we dig the money up, I mean.’
The earth was still loose where Nathan had dug, just ten days before. Wet soil smeared the plastic bag with the money in it. Dirt and all, Nathan stuffed it into the lining of his anorak, through the hole in the pocket Then they went to Julia’s tree. ‘That’s a good hiding place,’ said Nathan, when he saw the hollow trunk she had found.
Julia held the money in her hand while she ran to the public toilets. She met Nathan again outside, and they scuffed over the grass a bit, trying to decide what to do next.
‘We’ll need some clothes,’ said Julia.
‘I don’t need no clothes, I got enough.’
‘Well I need a coat for a start. It’s going to get cold later.’
‘We can buy them.’
‘Oh yeah, so we can. Not tonight, though. Time we get to the shops they going to be shut. We going to go home first then? Before we run away?’
‘I don’t want to go home,’ said Nathan. ‘My dad’s going to strap me.’
‘Well, you got a coat anyway. I’ll have to go home.’
‘Your mum might not let you come out again.’
‘I’ll just run out – she can’t stop me.’
‘All right, I’ll wait for you.’
‘Where will you wait?’
Nathan considered. ‘What about the empty house, where we found the money?’
‘But the robbers – they might kill us,’ Julia objected, in horror.
‘Nah.’ Nathan told her what he had found the other day.
‘You’ll wait for me then,’ said Julia.
‘Yeah.’
‘You won’t go away? You won’t go without me?’
‘Nah. I said.’
Julia hesitated. She didn’t trust Nathan not to change his mind and desert her. But then again, she had to trust him. She had no choice.
‘Go on then,’ said Nathan impatiently.
Julia went.
Outside her house Mrs McCarthy, the lady who lived downstairs, was busy cleaning the front windows in the evening sunlight.
‘Your mummy looking for you, Julia,’ said Mrs McCarthy.
She was a nice lady, and Julia liked her really, but at that moment Julia was too upset to be nice back. ‘Don’t care,’ she said rudely, pushing past Mrs McCarthy and into the house. Halfway up the stairs a thought struck her. ‘Is my mum home?’ she
called back down to Mrs McCarthy.
‘She gone down the road looking for you. She worried where you gone.’
‘She’s not worried,’ said Julia. ‘She don’t care nothing about me.’
‘You shouldn’t talk about your mummy like that,’ Mrs McCarthy called after her, up the stairs. ‘Your mummy look after you very well. She work hard, you know, to make a good home for you.’
But Julia was not listening. She must hurry, hurry while she had the chance. Her heart was pounding with fear and excitement. Now she had decided to go on this adventure, she was terrified that something would happen to prevent her.
Where to begin? The money first. Julia took the little parcel out of her knickers and looked for a safe way to keep it. A small plastic bag lying on the kitchen table gave her an idea. She put the money in the plastic bag, and found a piece of string to thread through the handles. Then she tied the string round her waist, underneath her cotton dress. The bag hung quite flat against her stomach, and showed no bulge through the full gathered skirt. She would have to have one of those notes handy for spending – in her coat pocket perhaps – but that could be organized later.
Next she rummaged on top of the wardrobe in her mother’s bedroom, where the suitcases were kept, and found a small canvas holdall. That would do for her clothes. In her haste she knocked down another of the cases, which crashed into the bedside table toppling a lamp and a radio. It didn’t matter – she would be out of the house before her mother came back to discover the damage.
In her own bedroom, Julia turned drawers out feverishly. What would she need? Clean underwear, of course, socks, a spare pair of shoes . . . two cardigans and her anorak. She thought that would be enough. She dragged at the zip of the holdall and it stuck. Fear was making her even more clumsy than usual. She wrenched at the zip, lurched against the bed-end and bruised her hip painfully.
The sound of her mother’s footsteps pounding up the stairs almost stopped Julia’s heart. Wildly, she tried to thrust the evidence, the canvas bag, under the bed. But it was too late. Her mother stood in the doorway, and her mother was very angry.
‘Where’ve you been then? I been looking all over for you!’
Julia’s mother had come home from work with a plan of attack already formed in her mind. She would not be rough on her daughter, not this time. She would be gentle, she would persuade the truth out of her. But finding the house empty, Mrs Winter was first annoyed, and then anxious. The stupid child wouldn’t have done anything silly, would she? When the time went by, and Julia still didn’t come home, her mother scoured the streets looking for someone who might have seen her.