The Runaways

by Ruth Thomas

  ‘They don’t look like they did in the shop,’ said Nathan.

  ‘That’s because we haven’t had no practice,’ said Julia, crawling out. ‘Let’s try the stove now.’

  At home, Julia hated cooking. Her mother’s complaint to Mr Barlowe about her had been quite justified. She never lifted a finger to help in the kitchen, or everywhere else in the house unless she was made to. But this was different. This was her very own cooking stove, part of her very own adventure. Julia could not wait to try it out.

  The stove was easy enough to light, but in the open air it seemed an interminable time before the sausages and baked beans were hot. They made a good supper though, the most delicious supper in the world, and Nathan said so too.

  Julia washed the plates and cooking utensils in the stream, and thoroughly enjoyed a chore she would have had to be nagged and bullied into doing at home. She would have done these things for Mrs Henrey, of course, but that was different too, that was a privilege. She washed her own face and hands and feet, and made Nathan do the same. The stream was not private enough for bathing properly, but Julia thought she could organize that another day.

  Then she supposed Nathan’s arm should be attended to once more, and Nathan thought that was a good idea, because really the cold compresses were making his arm feel a lot better. So Julia undid the bandage, and did it up again, quite expertly now – she was getting more dextrous all the time.

  ‘You’re a good nurse, Ju,’ said Nathan.

  Julia flushed with pleasure. ‘That’s what I want to be,’ she said, the idea just then occurring to her. ‘When I grow up. That’s what I’d like to be.’

  Nathan was silent for a moment. ‘Actually, Ju, I don’t think you could be that,’ he said. He didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but facts were facts.

  ‘Why not? You said I was a good nurse.’

  ‘You’re a excellent nurse, you’re a fantastic nurse. . . . But you can’t read.’

  ‘What’s that got to do with it?’

  ‘You have to pass exams to be a nurse.’ Nathan knew that because one of his aunts was a midwife, back in London.

  ‘Oh,’ said Julia, crestfallen. She pondered the situation, then spoke again. ‘I can read a little bit.’

  ‘Not enough for the exams though.’

  ‘I could learn. I read a hard word today. All by myself.’

  ‘Yeah but – we aren’t going to school any more, are we.’

  Julia pondered again.

  ‘Couldn’t you learn me, Nathan?’ she said at last. The words came out with great effort, she was intensely embarrassed by what she was asking.

  ‘We haven’t got no books.’

  ‘We could buy some. We could buy some tomorrow. Please, Nathan. Please.’

  She waited for his answer, and Nathan considered carefully. He was cautious about committing himself. It would be really boring trying to teach this dunce. On the other hand, she had supported him today when he needed it. She was a good old Rat-bag really. ‘All right,’ he said.

  ‘You really will?’

  ‘All right, I said. Don’t you understand English? I’m going in my tent to sleep now. See you in the morning.’

  ‘See you,’ said Julia, happily. She undressed and crawled into her own sleeping bag and closed her eyes, although it was still daylight outside. It had been a long and exhausting day, with practically no sleep the night before. She was not sorry to say goodbye to today, but tomorrow, tomorrow was going to begin a whole new chapter of her life. The best one yet.

  12

  Elizabeth

  It was a hideous night for Julia. First, there were sounds, the swishing and rustlings of country things, moving beyond the flimsy walls of the tent. Then there was the hardness and bumpiness of the ground, which got harder and bumpier as the hours dragged on. And the fact, of course, that she couldn’t relax properly because if she did she would just slide, or roll, down the slope towards the stream. For all she knew her weight would drag the tent pegs right out if she did that, pitching her into the cold black water below. So Julia held on, ramming her knees as hard as she could against one lump protruding through the groundsheet, and grasping another lump with an outstretched hand.

  Of course, it was impossible to sleep well like that, and Julia found her night a succession of wild dreams – mostly about toppling over cliffs, or dangling out of third-floor windows – punctuated by wakeful periods, filled with the heavy rubbery smell of the tent, and the increasing damp cold which seemed to seep through everything, even the quilted sleeping bag. Somehow, Julia had thought being in a tent would be much the same as being indoors, but it wasn’t at all. Tomorrow night, she thought regretfully, she would have to sleep in all her clothes.

  The dawn chorus began. One little twitter followed by another, the twitters joining and swelling until the whole field was wracked with the din. Julia had never realized the country could be so noisy. She wriggled miserably out of the tent, sleeping bag and all, on to the dew-soaked grass.

  ‘You awake, Nathan?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘Did you sleep?’

  ‘Nah.’

  ‘Does your arm still hurt?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘You want me to bandage it for you?’

  ‘If you like.’

  Julia peeped into Nathan’s tent and saw him curled in his sleeping bag, holding on as she had, to stop from rolling down the bank. He was wearing his anorak, that much she could see, and probably all the rest of his clothes as well, she presumed. So at least he would be warmer than she had been.

  Julia crawled back and shuffled round in her own tent, awkwardly pulling on her jeans and tee-shirt. She put on the silly cap from Brighton, because it covered her unsightly haircut. She felt happier when no one, including Nathan, could see that. Even the cap, now she had got used to it, was better than the haircut.

  ‘You’ll have to come out,’ she called to Nathan. ‘I can’t do your arm with you in there.’

  ‘It’s cold,’ he complained, emerging into the damp chill of the morning.

  His face was drawn with pain and he looked particularly ill-tempered. He scowled at Julia as she unwrapped the bandage, and winced when she made a clumsy move. ‘Careful, stupid. That hurts.’

  Julia’s spirits, already low, sank still further. If Nathan was going to be grumpy, that was going to make discomfort even more miserable.

  ‘You said I was a good nurse yesterday.’

  ‘Yeah, well – that was yesterday, wasn’t it.’

  Julia made no answer. The wrist though still puffy, looked if anything less swollen this morning. She took a fresh pad of cotton wool, and made for the stream to dampen it; but she forgot the guy ropes of the tent, and as her foot caught in one, she lost her balance and fell painfully on to her hip. There was no great damage, except to her feelings when she heard Nathan’s unkind jeers. But on her way back from the stream, she forgot the guy ropes and tripped over them again.

  ‘Look where you’re going, you fool,’ said Nathan, quite unpleasantly.

  The sudden tears ached in Julia’s throat, and stung her eyes. She swallowed and blinked, and the tears ran down her cheeks nevertheless. She was humiliated to be crying in front of Nathan, but she could not help herself. She bent her head over the task of dressing his arm, knowing the tears could still clearly be seen trickling down her nose, and waited for his jibes. They did not come. There was silence for a few moments and then, ‘Sorry, Julia.’

  Sniff, sob. ‘What did you say?’

  ‘I said sorry. I’m sorry I was a pig to you.’

  ‘It’s all right,’ said Julia, astonished. Nathan apologizing? Wonders would never cease.

  ‘Stop crying then.’

  ‘It’s all right, I have.’ She blurted out a further admission, testing the sincerity of his repentance. ‘There’s nothing for breakfast. I didn’t think to buy nothing for breakfast yesterday. Only bread.’

  ‘It’s all right.’

  �
�Just bread then – and boiled water.’

  ‘Great.’

  ‘We’ll get some tea today as soon as we find a shop, and some milk and all sorts of things.’

  ‘Good. Boiled water’s all right for now though.’

  It was soon after they had finished these meagre refreshments that the next crisis was upon them. ‘Look!’ said Nathan in dismay, pointing up the slope of the meadow towards where the gate leading to the road was. Coming from that point, plodding relentlessly in their direction, was first one four-legged animal, and then another, and another, and another. . . .

  ‘Bulls!’ screamed Julia, horrified. She wanted to run, but her legs were paralysed with fright.

  ‘Cows, cows I think,’ said Nathan. But to a town boy, even cows were frightening. Especially when there were so many of them. Mesmerized, the children watched them coming. Nearer and nearer the army of young cows advanced.

  ‘They’re going to kill us,’ Julia wailed, her eyes wide and staring with fear. ‘Run, Nathan, we going to be killed!’ She found the use of her legs and scrambled shakily to her feet, knees wobbling and heart pounding sickly. At the sight of her movement the young cows halted in their tracks and stood snorting and pawing the ground.

  Nathan jumped to his feet as well and began waving his arms and shouting. The cows in synchronized movement shuffled a few steps back Nathan stamped and ran towards them. ‘Get back, get back!’ His arms flailed the air, and the cows turned tail, stampeding in alarm up the steep slope.

  ‘Look, Ju, they’re scared of us!’ said Nathan, grinning.

  The children giggled together, their fright fading, and Julia took the breakfast things to wash them in the stream. When she scrambled back to the tents she found that the cows had once more advanced on the camp, and were now standing in a circle, wide-eyed with curiosity and snorting now and again.

  ‘Make them go away,’ said Julia, nervously.

  ‘They won’t hurt you,’ said Nathan. ‘They’re only looking. They’re nosy, that’s what.’

  ‘I don’t like them,’ said Julia.

  She crawled into her tent to straighten her sleeping bag, and was startled at the feel of a thick warm nose, pushing itself against her face through the wall of the tent. She screamed, and the pounding hooves on the ground outside told her that her screams had driven the animals away again.

  ‘They aren’t going to leave us alone,’ said Nathan.

  ‘Let’s go,’ said Julia. ‘Let’s go somewhere else. Let’s go now. Come on, Nathan.’

  ‘All right.’

  ‘I don’t like this place anyway; it’s too slopy. Let’s find a flat place to put our tents.’

  ‘All right.’

  It took a surprisingly long time to strike camp, and they had to keep stopping to drive away the cows. The sun came out as they were packing up, flooding the meadow with golden light. The children waved tent poles at the cows, and the fun lifted their spirits. Julia forgot to be afraid of the cows, and Nathan almost forgot the pain in his wrist. At last, the long morning shadows already shortening at their feet, the children wheeled their bicycles back to the road, and set off on their travels.

  Along the country lanes again, and now the going was all steep hills. No sooner had they finished grunting and straining their way upwards, on foot, than the glorious vista of a downward run would lie before them. Going downhill, they sped as though their bicycles had sprouted wings – fast, faster, with the breeze in their faces and the warm sun bathing their heads. ‘Yippee!’ yelled Nathan, and Julia echoed him.

  In a tiny village, so pretty it could hardly be real, they found a tiny shop. There they bought tea bags and milk, cans of Coke and biscuits, crisps, and more tins of food to warm up on their stove. Julia remembered she wanted a book to learn to read out of, but the only books in the shop were some paperback romances that looked as though they had been there, collecting dust, for years. Each book had a picture on the front of a woodenly handsome young man, and a swooning young woman. They were different stories, but they all seemed to have pictures of the same two people on the front. Nathan didn’t think the books looked at all interesting, but Julia was so keen about learning to read she bought all three of them.

  Nathan asked the woman in the shop how far they were from Exmoor, and was disappointed when she said she thought about twenty miles. They didn’t seem to be getting any nearer.

  They sat in a gateway by the side of the road and had a picnic lunch, and Julia fell asleep in the sun because she was so tired after two bad nights. Nathan did not actually sleep, but he felt very relaxed and contented, and he suddenly realized that was because his arm didn’t hurt any more. What a good feeling it was, not to have a pain.

  When Julia finally awoke, it was mid-afternoon, and Nathan thought they should start looking for a place to camp straight away. Their requirements were not going to be easy to meet. Now they wanted flat ground and water, and in this hilly country it might well take them the rest of the day to find somewhere. They didn’t want to be stuck with darkness falling, and nowhere to put the tents.

  They cycled round all the tiny twisty lanes, but everywhere they went it seemed there were streams and no flat fields, flattish fields and no streams. ‘There’s water down there,’ said Nathan, for the third time.

  ‘But the ground’s all slopy,’ Julia objected. ‘We’ll be falling over all night again. . . . I know, Nathan, what about that wood over there?’

  ‘There’s no water.’

  ‘We could carry the water.’

  ‘Where from?’

  ‘From the river we just saw.’

  ‘All that way?’

  ‘It’s not very far.’

  ‘What will we carry it in?’

  Julia considered. The need for a water carrier had somehow been overlooked when they were in the camping shop. ‘There’s the pan for the stove, but it ain’t very big. I know, what about the plastic bag the shop lady put our grocery things in?’

  Julia was certainly full of practical ideas.

  They were now drawing level with the wood, which was not very far off the road. The ground there appeared to be level, at least for a little distance, before the inevitable plunge down into yet another valley. The children found a gate and wheeled their bicycles across a field towards the trees. The grass in the field had been cut for hay, which was lying in ridges to be dried in the sun. It smelled delicious, summery and sweet. Inside the wood the ground was hard and dry, and covered with sharp little twigs. ‘Be careful,’ Julia warned. ‘We don’t want to have punctures in our tyres.’

  They found a suitable clearing, and began to unpack the camping things. Putting up the tents was easier this time, in spite of the hardness of the ground, which made driving the tent pegs in somewhat difficult. They had swept the site clear of twigs, but Julia thought it was still going to be a bit hard for sleeping on, so she went to the field outside and came back with armfuls of half-dried grass, which she stuffed under her groundsheet.

  Afterwards, she fetched some grass for Nathan’s bed as well.

  It was a longish trek to the water, further than it had seemed to be when they were sailing along the road. Julia thought she had better go by herself, since one of them ought to stay behind to guard the camp and the bicycles. Nathan said he would get the stove going, and warm up a tin of stewed steak for their supper. Julia was not enthusiastic about Nathan using the stove, which she regarded as exclusively hers, but she was beginning to feel hungry again, so she let him do it.

  The plastic bag held the water quite well, but it was not easy staggering up the slope without spilling it. Julia was glad to smell the stewed steak which Nathan was cooking – she really was very hungry now. Nathan put the steak on the plates when he saw her coming, and Julia rinsed out the cooking pot and filled it with clean water for tea. True, most of the water did get spilled in the course of this operation, but Julia felt quite satisfied with her efforts on the whole. She enjoyed the supper very much, and so did Nathan.
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  After supper Julia trekked down to the water again, to rinse the plates. It was nice and private by the stream, so she took off all her clothes and had a bath. She was a bit nervous in case anyone should come, but no one did. Next time, she thought, she must remember to bring the soap with her. She filled the plastic bag with water again, to take back with her, and this time she decided to hang it on a tree near the tents, so it wouldn’t spill.

  Then she dug out her three novels. ‘You said,’ she reminded Nathan. ‘You did say.’

  ‘All right, all right.’ It was true, he had promised. ‘Come on, then. Let me see first,’ He held the book close, to read the title. ‘Now you.’

  With some difficulty, and a fair amount of prompting, Julia puzzled out the words – THE EMPTY HEART. ‘What does that mean, Nathan? “The empty heart”?’

  ‘I dunno. Come on, what does it say next?’

  It said,

  Madeleine lay full length on the grass. Summer was in the air, and summer was in Madeleine’s heart because she was in love. This time yesterday, she had been still an unawakened girl. But now she was alive as never before, and the world had taken on new meaning.

  It took a long time for Julia to struggle through this much, and Nathan was not very patient. ‘It’s a rubbish story,’ he complained.

  ‘Perhaps the others are better. I did all right though, didn’t I? I did read it, Some of it.’

  ‘You did great. Let’s leave it for now though. I think I’ll go down and have a wash now, like you did.’

  ‘You’re trying to get out of it.’

  ‘You want me to be clean, don’t you?’

  ‘All right.’ Julia’s eyes went back to the page, reading the same passage determinedly over and over again. Madeleine lay full length on the grass. . . .