Strawberry Fields

by Marina Lewycka

  “Well, all the more reason to resolve matters speedily. Now—”

  “Okay, tell ’em if they get back to work now we’ll meet all their demands.”

  Tomasz could see that this union man was getting nowhere, and that the supervisor was out to trick them. He jumped onto an upturned crate and cupped his hands around his mouth.

  “This is no matter for negotiation! It is violation of human dignity! And chicken!”

  Yola spun around. “Tomek!”

  One of the annoying things about men, Yola has observed, is that you spend years looking for a good one, then two come along at once. This blond-haired man with calf muscles like prize-winning marrows would be any woman’s dream, and those blond hairs on his legs, what woman wouldn’t like to…But let’s be realistic, he is in England and probably you will not be able to persuade him to come to Poland, and even if you did, what would he do there? Only make trouble. And this Tomasz, although he has certain defects he is getting better, and she is confident that if she could scrub him down with bit of nice-smelling soap and get rid of those socks, which are probably nylon, and replace them with some nice wool or cotton ones, which are more comfortable and don’t make your feet sweat unnecessarily—whoever invented nylon socks should be castrated—and get rid of those sports shoes which do nothing for a man, and replace them with some nice leather shoes—there are many excellent shoes made in Poland and quite wide-fitting—then problem would be all but solved, and a pleasing sexual harmony might develop.

  And she can see that he is a kindhearted man, and he has already expressed some interest in becoming a father to little Mirek. And although she has not yet told him of Mirek’s difficulty, and she wishes her God-prattling niece would shut up and not let the cat out of the bag too soon, she is sure that when he sees him there in the flesh and sees what a darling he is, what a little darling, he won’t just walk away—like the last one did.

  And, besides, now this Tomasz is becoming quite a hero. See how he jumps up and shouts in a big manly voice, “How many years must these persons exist before they learns to be free?”

  “Hold on, hold on,” says marrow-legs, with a panicky sound in his voice, “we must concretize the demands.”

  Really, these men, even the nice ones, do talk some rubbish.

  And now a large silver car arrives, exactly like the Rolls-Royce that marrow-legs has described, and a middle-aged man with silver hair, a very respectable-looking type, could even be a doctor, definitely not a type to have wife in sluttish underwear—mistress maybe—comes over to find out what is going on, and marrow-legs explains that one man had to have his arm amputated and a woman was wrongful dismissal for spending too long in toilets. Rolls-Roycie says, “Hm. Hm,” and rubs his chin, and marrow-legs says she must be reinstate and the man must getting compensation, then that bossy Romanian cow butts in unnecessarily and says they are all taking advantage, especially no-good Polish, who think now they in Europe they can do what they like, and Rolls-Roycie says, “Hm. Hm” again. Then the senior supervisor, an inferior type given to unnecessary bad language and degenerate behavior, who pinches the girls’ behinds and says they must make sex with him if they want to have a job (“No one wants to make sex with you, you poky-penis dog,” said Yola), this supervisor arrives and says that Polish man with long hair is troublemaker—could it be Tomek he is referring to? Everyone looks for Tomasz but he is disappeared, and where is Marta? She is disappeared too, though nobody could say that Marta is troublemaker. And then they have another thing to worry about because suddenly whole yard is full of chickens running and flapping everywhere, except some which have broken legs can only crawl, really these chickens are in very poor condition, and one of them makes poopie-poo on Rolls-Roycie’s shoe, and he says, “Where did these fucking birds come from?” Really it is quite surprising when gentleman of such refinement uses a bad language. But where did these birds come from? It is mystery.

  Andriy and Emanuel turned up for their meeting with Vitaly at the pub and spent an hour and a half sitting there drinking their half pints of beer, but Vitaly didn’t arrive. What should they do? Emanuel wants to head for Richmond, near London—he has found his friend’s address—but Andriy still feels reluctant to leave. That girl—maybe she is here, and Vulk, who knows where she is, is definitely here. And Andriy has heard what can happen to Ukrainian girls in England. So even if there is definitely nothing between them, and even if he has definitely decided that he will go and search for Vagvaga Riskegipd, is it not his responsibility first to find this girl and return her to her parents? Because if he doesn’t do this, who will? Not those other good-for-nothing Ukrainians who think only of looking after themselves and drinking beer; no, he is not that type of man.

  They agree to spend a few more days in Dover, parking their trailer up at the carrot field and traveling in daily by Land Rover. Emanuel says he wants to develop his fishing skills, now that he has established his rights over the red bucket, and the Mozambicans have vanished without a trace—the rumor on the pier is that they have been deported—and though he never repeats his luck of the first time, he manages to provide dinner every day, and even to sell some to Mr. Tattoo, who seems to have completely forgotten about their previous disagreement.

  Andriy spends his days combing the streets and hotels of Dover. One day he finds the shop with the Indian shopkeeper. Now her sari is blue, and she seems to have gotten shorter and plumper since his last visit. Although he has only a little money left from the two weeks’ wages he earned at the strawberry farm, and he really must put petrol in the Land Rover, he buys some more bread and margarine. He considers buying some pilchards too, but he doesn’t want to offend Emanuel, who takes his fishing role very seriously.

  “You are not eating balance diet,” she chides gently.

  “Yes, yes. Also we eating fish.”

  “You must have vitamin. Otherwise you will be getting diseases of poor nutrition. Lemon is good. Here, on your right. Not expensive. After you cook fish you squeeze some drops.”

  He takes a lemon.

  “And you need roughage to establish a good bowel habit. You must eat vegetable.”

  “We eating plenty carrot. Every day carrot.”

  “Carrot is a first-class source of roughage and essential vitamin A. Make sure you wash it good.”

  “Thank you, lady, for your advice.” He tries not to stare too obviously at the appealing brown bulge at the top of her sari. Really, plump women can be rather sexy.

  “You know in this town is too many poor people eating bad diet. Drunken sailors. Out-of-work miners. She”—she points to the picture of the lady in the blue hat above the counter—“is perfect example of how with good diet you will ripen into old age.”

  He learns from the Indian shopkeeper that here too, not far away, there were once coal mines, which closed after the great strike of 1984. Now he understands why this town has a feel of the Donbas about it. Although he was only five years old, he remembers vividly the solemnity with which his parents donated their gold wedding rings to buy food for the British miners. What happened to all that money? The Ukrainian miners could certainly do with it now.

  “I am looking for man named Vulk. Gangster type. Dressed up in black.”

  The shopkeeper shakes her head. “In this town now is too much gangster. But I am pleased to say none of it has ever come into this shop, for if it did I would chase it away.”

  “And one Ukrainian girl. Long dark hair. Very…” Very what? Is she pretty? Is she beautiful? “Very…Ukrainian.”

  “Ah, Ukrainian girls also we have plenty. Every night you see them on street and on beach making sex for money.”

  “Not this girl.”

  The shopkeeper smiles diplomatically, and he leaves the shop in a foul mood.

  Back at the pier he is surprised to find Emanuel surrounded by a small crowd, and at the heart of the crowd is Vitaly. Vitaly grabs Andriy by both hands, and embraces him like a brother, elbowing Emanuel out of the way.


  “My friend. Good you are here. We have excellent business opportunity. Good work. Good money. You will be rich. You will return to Ukraina millionaire.”

  Andriy disentangles himself from Vitaly’s embrace.

  “What is this opportunity?”

  “In factory. Twenty kilometers only. Good work, good money. All these people”—he waves his arm to include the dozen or so of unsuccessful fishermen he has recruited—“can have good employment. You and Emanuel also. Twenty pound an hour for you. Supervisor rate. You have transport. You bring trailer, put all inside, take to factory.”

  He must have read the doubt on Andriy’s face.

  “I give you money for petrol.”

  Still Andriy hesitates.

  “And transport. How much you want?” He pulls a wad of notes out of his pocket. They are all twenties.

  “But I have only Ukrainian license. To take so many people maybe I need special license.”

  “Is no problem. Only if vehicles is with seats for more than eight people you need passenger license. Now all modern transport is without seats.”

  This seems an odd arrangement.

  “The trailer is not here.”

  “No problem. You fetch it. We will wait here.”

  By the time Andriy and Emanuel have returned with the trailer, the crowd has grown. Vitaly climbs into the front of the Land Rover beside Andriy, with Dog at their feet. Emanuel and three other passengers sit in the back, and some fourteen hopefuls squeeze themselves into the trailer. Those that cannot fit onto the bunks sit on the floor hugging their knees. Andriy notices that the Bulgarian lad and his friends are among them. He waits until Vitaly has peeled off five twenty-pound notes from his wad and handed them over before he will even turn the engine on.

  It is money well-earned, for with such a weight on board, the trailer bucks and swerves all over the place and he has a job keeping it on the road. He has to drive mostly in first gear, with 100 percent concentration, to avoid overturning on a bend. They have been driving like this for almost an hour, on roads which are becoming increasingly narrow and difficult, before at last Vitaly directs him down a lane with a sign saying BUTTERCUP MEADOW FARMFRESH POULTRY and a picture of a little blond-haired girl, holding a bunch of buttercups in her hand and clasping a fluffy brown chicken to her chest, with a slogan beneath: PARTNERSHIP IN POULTRY. It all looks very nice.

  But as they approach the entrance, a scene of wild commotion unfolds before them. What’s going on here? The iron gates are open and police in riot gear are holding back a screaming, battling mob which is surging toward them, while a flock of crazed chickens is running around and around the yard squawking and flapping frenziedly.

  “What is this, Vitaly? Where have you brought us?”

  He puts the Land Rover into first and starts to nose his way forward through the gate. Suddenly he hears a high terrifying howl and a wild Chinese man wearing blood-spattered clothes and wielding a knife bursts through the police cordon and hurls himself onto the hood of the Land Rover, chicken feet spewing out of his pockets.

  Who is this man? What does he want? His mad black eyes meet Andriy’s for a moment through the windshield, his mouth jabbering urgently, then two policemen throw themselves on top of him and drag him, struggling, away. By the gate, two more policemen are wrestling with a big blond man wearing shorts, forcing his arms behind him and bundling him into a van. This is definitely not a good situation.

  “Why does this Chinese want to kill us? What is all this police, Vitaly?”

  “Is okay. Police on our side.”

  “But why police is here? What is going on?”

  “All is because of troublemakers. Lazy Chineses refusing work. Police defend you right to work. We will show them good Ukrainian-type work. Good work, good money, eh, friend?”

  Andriy is beginning to feel uncomfortable. To drive the overloaded trailer through this throng with all these police watching, when he is perhaps an outlaw on the run, and definitely has no passenger license, and still has that five-bullet gun hidden in his backpack—is this a good idea? But it’s not just that holding him back, it’s something his father had said that had stuck in his memory, repeating the words of the visionary blind man of Sheffield in his speech all those years ago. He’s trying to recall—it was something about solidarity, the essential fellow-feeling of man—his father had drummed it into him—something about self-respect. Be a man—is this what he meant? That there are some things a man should not do, not for any amount of money?

  He puts the Land Rover into reverse and starts to inch backward.

  “No, no. Go on! Go forward!” Vitaly jumps up in his seat waving his hands and inadvertently steps on Dog’s tail. Dog lets out a yelp, leaps from the Land Rover, and, drawn by a powerful smell of chicken, dives into the melee.

  “Dog! Come back!” Andriy hits the brakes. “Come here! This chicken is not for eating!”

  But Dog, seeing the challenge of the situation, wants to show them his true colors, and weaving in and out of the crowd with a few courteous woofs he soon has the chickens neatly rounded up in a corner of the yard, where they stand looking a bit surprised and clucking obediently.

  Suddenly there is a bloodcurdling shriek and a small fierce figure, petite but voluptuous, breaks out of the crowd and hurtles toward them, arms flailing.

  “Yola!” cries Andriy. “What you doing here?”

  “I want home to Poland! This place is hell! All is cheating and lies!”

  Then she spots Vitaly sitting in the front of the Land Rover and turns on him with her fists, pulling at him through the door, howling, “This is the one! This is root consul flexi dynamo!”

  A policeman tries to drag her off, but she holds fast and fights like a fiend, biting and scratching, struggling against the policeman’s grip and kicking him so hard in his sensitive parts that he is forced to let go. Emanuel grabs her by the arm from the back of the Land Rover and pulls her in. Then Marta runs toward them, and Tomasz, and they are hauled in too, and all the time the Land Rover and trailer are backing up gently and Vitaly is shouting, “No, stop! Stop!” until they come to a place where it is wide enough for them to swing round, and at the last minute Dog comes bounding up too, leaps into the back, and Andriy puts his foot down and they’re away.

  By the time they get back to Dover, Marta, Yola, and Tomasz have told Andriy and Emanuel about everything that happened to them, Vitaly has tried unsuccessfully to get Andriy to give the money back, and most people in the back of the trailer have been sick.

  Marta regrets that she didn’t manage to bring a chicken with her for their supper, but her views about food have changed in the last few days. After dropping off their passengers in Dover, they make their way back to their favorite spot by the carrot field, where she manages to improvise a delicious supper from white bread, margarine, and cold fish, supplemented with carrots and garnished with lemon slices and roadside herbs.

  Yola and Tomasz are helping to peel the carrots, and Yola is telling Tomasz about her disagreements with Geta. Tomasz gazes with fascination into Yola’s eyes, asking her to repeat the sounds she made in the toilet, which she does in her typical vulgar way, and they both fall about laughing like children. And Marta thinks, here we go again.

  She remembers the last time this happened, when Yola met a nice man, a plump greengrocer, and it was all holding hands and giggling and stolen kisses. And then Yola took the man back to her house in Zdroj, and as soon as he met little Mirek, as soon as he took one look at the boy, he was out through the door again like a cornered tomcat. He didn’t even take off his hat. He didn’t even let go of the box of liqueur chocolates in his hand.

  “I piss on your cabbages!” Yola shouted at his retreating back, but the words slid off him like butter off a hot dumpling.

  It took Yola a long time to get over that. And you have to give her credit for this—she didn’t blame Mirek. Not once.

  “Yola,” says Marta, lighting the gas for the stove,
“why don’t you show Tomasz your photos?”

  “I’m sure Tomasz has no desire to see my uninteresting photos.” Yola gives Marta a kick on the shins. Yes, her shins are already quite bruised.

  “I would like very much to see your photos,” says Tomasz.

  So Yola has to get out the three photos she always carries with her. The pretty house in Zdroj, with its garden sloping down to the river and its orchard of plums and cherries. The four Masurian goats, a bit blurred, because they wouldn’t keep still. And Mirek, sitting on a swing in the garden, that sweet smile on his big round face, his tongue sticking out, his cute pointy eyes wrinkled up with laughter.

  “This is your son?”

  “My beloved son, Mirek.”

  “I would like very much to meet him.”

  Early the next morning, Andriy wakes up feeling disoriented. There’s something different in the trailer. He can hear whispering and giggling. What’s happened to Emanuel? In the other single bunk, where Emanuel should be, Tomasz is fast asleep. At the other side of the cabin, the double bed has been pulled down, and in it are Yola and Marta. Andriy shuts his eyes again and pretends to be asleep. A little while later, the whispering stops, and Marta gets up and puts the kettle on. Emanuel, who had obligingly gone off to sleep in the Land Rover, comes to join them for breakfast.

  It is midmorning by the time they get to the ferry terminal in Dover, and they are all in a rush. Contrary to what Vitaly had said, Yola, Tomasz, and Marta have no trouble exchanging their tickets. There are tears and hugs and exchanges of addresses as they say good-bye in front of the harbor.

  “We will come again,” says Tomasz.

  “For sure,” says Yola. “But not for strawberry or chicken. Now we are in Europe marketing, we can earn good money here. I will be teacher. Tomek will be government bureaucrat. Marta…what will you be, Marta?”

  “I will be vegetarian,” says Marta.

  “One day Ukraina will be also in Europe marketing.” She kisses Andriy on each cheek. “And Africa too.” She gives Emanuel two little kisses, and he blots his eyes on the sleeve of his green anorak.