Black and White

by Rob Childs

  The lift was out of order, as usual, and the boys trudged up the flights of stairs.

  “Sure glad you don’t live right at the top,” breathed Josh as Matthew fitted his key into the door of the flat.

  “Helps to keep m..me fit,” Matthew grinned.

  Josh chuckled. “Now I know your secret,” he said, following Matthew inside. “Any chance of a drink – or oxygen?”

  They went into the small kitchen where Matthew poured a couple of glasses of water. The bowl was full of unwashed dishes from breakfast.

  “Great view!” Josh exclaimed, gazing out of the window at the twinkling street lights below. “You can see right across the city.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Matthew muttered. “It’s a dump.”

  Josh gave a shrug. “It’s just so different to where I used to live, y’know, out in the country. Takes some getting used to.”

  “M..must do. Do you m..miss it?”

  “Well, guess so, a bit..”

  “Have you got a b..big house?”

  “Nah, just a rented semi,” said Josh. “Y’know, till we find a proper place of our own, like.”

  “You won’t b..be leaving Westgate, will you?” Matthew asked. “I m..mean, you’ve only just got here.”

  “Nah, you won’t get rid of me that easy,” Josh said and then grinned. “And nor will Raj. I want to annoy him loads more yet!”

  They wandered into the lounge and slumped on to the sofa to watch some cartoons on the television. It was only the sound of the door being slammed that made them realise how dark it had grown.

  “Matthew!” came the cry. “Are you in?”

  “Yes, M..mam,” he stammered, jumping to his feet as his mother came into the lounge and threw on the light.

  “Have you been to the shops and...” she began and then stopped when she saw Josh. “Who’s this?”

  “It’s Josh, M..mam – the b..boy I told you ab..bout.”

  She continued to stare at Josh. “You never told me he was...” Her voice tailed away, but she quickly recovered herself and switched her attention to Matthew. “Just look at the state you’re in, boy,” she said crossly. “You’ve got mud all down your legs – and on the sofa. What a mess!”

  Josh tried to speak up for Matthew. “Sorry, Mrs...” he began, before realising that he didn’t even know Matthew’s surname. “It was my idea to...”

  She cut him short. “I don’t want to hear no excuses from you, neither. My boy knows what’s what,” she told him. “And for your information, my name’s Ms Jones – none of this Mrs business, thank you very much.”

  She was not best pleased either when she found out that Matthew had not yet done the shopping.

  “I left the list and the money in the kitchen as usual. You must have seen it,” she raged. “Now get out to them shops before they shut – and take him with you.”

  Josh was very glad to leave and scampered down the flights of stairs.

  “Sorry, Matt – didn’t mean to get you into any trouble,” he said when they reached the bottom and left the building.

  “Not your fault,” Matthew told him with a shrug. “I should’ve known b..better.”

  “Didn’t know you had a Welsh surname like mine.”

  “I don’t. Jones is only m..my m..mam’s name,” he explained. “M..mine’s Clarke, like Dad’s, b..but he left when I was still a b..baby.”

  “Do you ever see him?”

  “No idea where he is. Could be dead for all I know.”

  Josh nodded. At least he sometimes saw his own father, who was living near Uncle Ossie, Da’s younger brother.

  “Anyway,” he said, “best get home, I guess. Ma should be back by now. See you tomorrow.”

  “Sure thing,” replied Matthew, setting off towards the local shops.

  Josh received a rather warmer welcome when he let himself in through the back door into his own kitchen, even though Ma frowned at the mud all over his kit.

  “Looks like I’ve got some more washin’ to do,” she sighed. “And you have, too, young man. Get them dirty things off and then get in that bath. Where’s your school things?”

  He nodded at the bag that he’d tossed on to the floor. “Oh, my!” she exclaimed, tutting. “They’ll be all creased up, somethin’ terrible, now.”

  As he undressed, Josh told her about what had happened at Matthew’s.

  “Well, you can’t blame her,” Ma said, as she made him a hot drink to take upstairs. “Just got home from work to find all that mess, poor woman. Bound to be a bit cross. You don’t know you’re born, young man.”

  Josh grinned. That was Ma’s favourite expression. He disappeared up to the bathroom before Ma could start telling him any tales about what life was like when she was a little girl living in a ‘shack’, as she always called her family’s home on the West Indian island of Barbados.

  Even so, he reflected, as he started to run his bath water, Ma was probably right, if Matthew’s experience was anything to go by. And then he thought of the massive villa that rich Uncle Ossie now lived in. He didn’t even know how many bathrooms that place might have in it.

  “One for every day of the week, maybe,” he mused, as he lay back to soak in the warm water and sipped his drink. “But, then again, who wants to have a bath every day?”

  Team Trials

  “Budge up a bit!” Josh complained. “Do you have to take up so much room?”

  “Can’t help it, can I?” Matthew retorted. “It’s just the way I write.”

  “You’re like a crab, the way you hook your arm round like that.”

  “A lot of left-handed p..people do.”

  “Why?”

  “How should I know? Anyway, you don’t m..mind me b..being left-footed – like your Uncle Ossie.”

  “No, well, that’s different,” Josh told him. “But you’re putting me off, doing all that writing.”

  “I just like writing stories,” Matthew admitted. “I even do them at home sometimes in my b..bedroom.”

  Josh looked at him in disbelief and shook his head.

  Matthew gazed across at Josh’s sheet of paper. “Not done m..much yet., have you? Not even half a p..page.”

  Josh gave a shrug. “I’m stuck.”

  “Ab..bout what’s going to happen next., you m..mean?”

  “No – about who’s going to play in goal tomorrow.”

  “What!”

  Matthew’s exclamation came out louder than intended., causing Mr Blyton to glance up from his desk towards their table.

  “Anything the matter over there?” he asked.

  Matthew turned bright red., making the girls giggle nearby.

  Josh was quick to take the blame. “Sorry., Mr Blyton. Just asking how to spell something/’ he said. “No problem.”

  “Good., so on you get now with the story. You can check your spelling later when you

  redraft it.”

  Josh groaned quietly. Doing a story once was bad enough, he reckoned. Having to go through it all over again to make changes was even worse.

  He much preferred the other task the teacher had given him – choosing a team to play in tomorrow’s trial for the local Divali Soccer Sevens tournament at the weekend. He’d already made his choices, but he still had to decide on the players’ best positions.

  Rajesh was his rival captain, and he had picked a couple of players that Josh would really have liked in his own squad. He fished a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and looked again at the names. He was still not very happy that the teacher had insisted that both teams were mixed, but at least he had chosen Leela – the best girl – before Rajesh did.

  He pushed the paper under Matthew’s nose, interrupting him again.

  “What d’yer think?” he hissed.

  Matthew groaned under his breath. “Ab..bout what?”

  “Told you. Who to put in goal?”

  “Joe. He did OK last time.”

  “Yeah, but...”

  “Shut up!”

>   Matthew shoved the paper away and it dropped on the floor. Just as Josh reached down to pick it up, however, Rajesh came by their table and deliberately trod on his hand.

  “Aagghh!”

  “Who was that?” demanded Mr Blyton.

  As eyes turned towards their table, the teacher sighed and went across the room to investigate. Josh was sitting hunched up, his hand between his thighs in an effort to ease the pain.

  “What have you done to yourself, Joshua?” said Mr Blyton.

  “Just gone and trapped my fingers,” he managed to reply through gritted teeth. “Be all right in a minute.”

  The teacher looked down at Josh’s story. “Well,it’s hardly due to writer’s cramp, is it, Joshua? I suggest you stay in at break and make some more progress with this.”

  When Mr Blyton moved away, Matthew leant towards Josh. “Idiot! You should’ve told him what Raj did,” he hissed.

  “I don’t tell tales,” Josh replied, blowing on his fingers. “I’ll get him back, don’t you worry. Right where it hurts – on the football pitch!”

  That was easier said than done, as Josh knew only too well.

  After the vigorous warm-up session before the start of the trial on the park, Josh gathered his players together for a pep-talk.

  “Right, men,” he began.

  “And girls!” Leela interrupted, winking at her friend, Panna.

  Josh shot them a dirty look. “Yeah, and girls,” he continued. “Right, if you want to play in the Sevens on Saturday, you need to show Enid how well you can play and...”

  Josh carried on talking, but he suddenly became aware that somebody else was standing behind him, listening. Matthew urged him to stop by pretending to cut his own throat, and the other players were trying very hard not to laugh.

  Josh turned round and the next few words died on his lips, “...er...sorry...”

  “Never mind, Joshua, I’ve heard that nickname many times before – and worse,” Mr Blyton said, failing to hide a smile. “Come on now, let’s see some action before everybody gets cold.”

  That suited Josh fine. He was determined to inspire his team more by how he played than by what he might have said. Even so, when the game began, he was quick to encourage his teammates at every opportunity.

  “Good tackle, Brad!...

  ...Well blocked, Panna!...

  ...Magic save, Joe!...

  ...Top shot, Matt!”

  The captain’s cries echoed around the park and the players responded to the praise by opening the scoring.

  “Great goal, Leela!”

  It was Josh’s pass that had found Leela with her back to goal, tightly marked by Anil, but she spun past the defender and created enough space to tuck the ball past the diving Rajesh.

  “One-nil!” Josh whooped. “Now let’s double it.”

  Rajesh hated letting in goals, and Leela’s strike put him in a very bad mood. He roared insults at his defenders for poor marking and moaned at every misplaced pass or wayward shot. He was also much busier himself than he wanted to be, twice having to save shots from Matthew, but he did have the personal satisfaction of turning a fierce drive from Josh wide of the post just before half-time.

  “No way you’re gonna score, Williams,” he muttered as he brushed past Josh on the way towards the teacher.

  “We’ll see,” Josh said with a grin. “Plenty of time left yet.”

  “Well done, everybody,” praised Mr Blyton as the players took long swigs from water bottles to refresh themselves. “There’s been some very good football on show. It’s going to be difficult to know who to pick for the tournament.”

  The children looked around at one another, each hoping that they would make the final squad. They knew the score in this game didn’t really matter. What was more important was their own performance.

  But there were still some personal battles to be won in the second period, none more so than that between the two rival captains. Rajesh took every chance to draw attention to any mistake that Josh made.

  “That the best you can do, Williams?” he gloated after Josh had sliced the ball over the bar. “We’re not playing rugby, y’know.”

  Josh made a face at him, but couldn’t think of a suitable response in time. And things soon became even worse when Joe let in two quick goals and his team found themselves 2–1 behind.

  “We’ve got ’em now!” bellowed Rajesh. “They won’t score again.”

  He was wrong. The equalizer may have been late, but the quality of the strike made up for that. It was well worth the wait.

  Josh won an important tackle in midfield and the ball ran loose to Leela who looked up to see Matthew sprinting clear down the wing. Her pass was perfect. Matthew took the ball in his stride, steadied himself and then hit a screamer of a shot past a flat-footed Rajesh who barely made a move to stop it.

  Mr Blyton beamed in pleasure, amazed at how much more confident Matthew had become since Josh’s arrival. It was almost like having two new boys.

  With the light fading, he decided this was the ideal moment to call a halt and blew a long blast on the whistle.

  “Time to go home,” he announced. “I’ll pin up the squad for the Sevens on the notice-board tomorrow.”

  Josh sidled up to him nervously. “Do you know who’s going to be in it, Mr Blyton?” he asked, concerned that he might somehow miss out on a place because he hadn’t scored.

  “Don’t worry, Joshua,” the teacher reassured him, seeing the boy’s anxious face. He gave him a little wink. “Keep it secret, but your name will be there.”

  Josh breathed a sigh of relief and went to the side of the pitch to collect his tracksuit top.

  “P..pity you didn’t p..ut one p..past Raj,” Matthew said. “That m..might’ve shut him up for a b..bit.”

  “Another time,” Josh replied, wishing he could tell his good news. “At least his lot didn’t beat us, thanks to you. Bet that goal will clinch your place too.”

  “Too?”

  Josh checked. “Well, you know what I mean. You’re bound to be in it.”

  “Hope so.”

  “Course – you’re our left-hand man!” he grinned. “Hey! I’ve just come up with a wicked name for our team.”

  “Oh, yeah – and what’s that?”

  “Enid Blyton’s Secret Seven!”

  Fire and Water

  “Happy Divali, Josh!” said Leela.

  “And the same to you!” Josh grinned.

  “Help yourself,” she said, offering him a tray of tempting sweets. “They’re special Indian sweets. Try one.”

  Josh took one of the colourful confections from the tray, bit it in half then savoured the taste in his mouth.

  “Ooh, they are sweet as well,” he said, pulling a face. “They must be all sugar.”

  “Well, that is one of the ingredients,” she laughed. “Have another.”

  “Ta – I will,” he said, selecting a red one.

  “Matt? You want one?”

  Matthew shook his head. “Too sweet for m..me,” he told her.

  “Please yourself,” she said, turning away. “More for the rest of us.”

  “Thought you two got on OK usually,” Josh said to him. “I mean, you should do. You’re our twin strikers tomorrow.”

  “M..might be. If Enid p..plays us together up front.”

  “Bound to. He wouldn’t have picked you both in the squad otherwise.”

  The whole school was celebrating Divali, the Festival of Light, whatever the faith of the children – or even if they didn’t belong to any religious group at all. This was party time – at least for one afternoon – and there was also to be a big bonfire and fireworks that evening in the park.

  “Don’t stay up too late,” Mr Blyton told his squad of players who had been chosen for the Divali Sevens tournament. “We need you bright and alert on Saturday morning, not half asleep!”

  The teacher might well have had his fingers crossed when he said that. He knew that most of the child
ren would not get an early night. Even if they were in bed, the noise of the fireworks would probably keep them awake.

  “This is amazing,” Josh grinned, gazing at the food and the dozens of divas – the little flickering oil lamps dotted around the classroom. The walls were also covered in colourful rangoli patterns and most of the Hindu children were dressed in bright costumes. “Never seen anything like it before.”

  “Same every year,” Matthew told him. “It’s a b..bit like Christmas.”

  “New to me, anyway. I’m all for it. Better than working.”

  “Yeah, that’s true.”

  “What d’yer reckon to Divali then, Joshua?” said a voice in his ear.

  Josh didn’t need to turn round. Only the teachers and the team captain used his full name.

  “OK, I guess,” he replied, trying to sound cool.

  “OK?” Rajesh sneered. “Is that all you can say?”

  Josh gave a shrug. “Well, I just said it was amazing, if that’ll do.”

  “Better. And what about p..poor little M..Matthew?” Matthew didn’t even bother to respond and moved away instead. “Oh, dear!” Rajesh said with a chuckle. “Your little pal’s left you on your own.”

  “Why did you go and do that?” said Josh. “He can’t help having a stammer.”

  Rajesh shrugged. “Just irritates me, that’s all. Like you do.”

  “Why?”

  “Cos you do, that’s why, Williams. If it wasn’t for losin’ the captaincy, I’d have smacked your head in already.”

  Rajesh gave him a fierce glare and then stalked off.

  “Oh, well,” Josh sighed. “Now, where did that tray of sweets get to?”

  There were lots of tasty treats on offer that evening in the park, too, with hot dogs and toffee apples for sale alongside more exotic delights.

  Josh tried to sample as much of the food as possible, or at least as much as his pocket money or his mother would allow.

  “These sweets are delicious, Ma,” he said, biting into another. “You should try one.”

  “No, thanks – I’m just here to watch the fireworks,” she said and then smiled. “And to keep an eye on you, young man. Don’t want you wanderin’ off in the dark.”