Poppy's Hero

by Rachel Billington

  It was Jude who had helped her make up her mind. ‘I know Angel’s dad’s in prison,’ she’d said, looking embarrassed. ‘I know why you want to be with him. Thing is, Poppy, I just want to make up to you for the way I was when I first heard your dad had gone to prison. Please.’

  Poppy had looked at Jude and seen she’d really meant what she’d said. She’d always been her best friend. Maybe she’d be it again. Properly. Not just for having good times at the seaside. They used to talk about everything.

  ‘OK. You’re on trial.’

  The funny thing had been Angel and Jude’s faces when they met. Both wore the same expression of trying hard to be polite – although Jude had tried harder. Then Angel went straight into slouch gear.

  So Poppy had just launched in. ‘Give us the Great Escape Plan, Angel.’ Jude’s eyes had nearly popped out of her head but Angel was all fired up.

  ‘I’ve talked to my dad. Mum too. Got it planned, haven’t we.’

  So that’s where they were now, with Angel hopping from one foot to the other and explaining just how it would happen, and Jude’s eyes still a bit wild, and Poppy hanging on his every word.

  ‘It’s easy, man. Listen up.’

  Poppy and Jude drew in closer like in American movies. Poppy thought how much Will would have enjoyed this.

  ‘Next time my mum visits,’ continued Angel, ‘with me and Seraphina and Gabriel—’

  ‘Who are they?’ interrupted Jude.

  ‘Sshh. His sister and brother.’

  ‘. . .my dad gets all angry because he sees a con eyeing up my mum—’

  ‘She’s very glamorous, his mum,’ explained Poppy to Jude.

  ‘. . .and throws him a punch. Somewhere it won’t hurt too much, as it will be one of his mates. The moment the fights start, all the screws. . .’

  ‘Police officers,’ explained Poppy.

  ‘. . .will run to stop it. Gabriel will scream, like he does anyway, and there’ll be Armageddon.’

  ‘What’s Armageddon?’ asked Jude.

  ‘End of the world-type scenario,’ answered Angel. ‘So in the jumble of bodies piling in and shouting, I quietly lead your dad out. How’s that?’ he crowed.

  ‘Brilliant!’ whispered Jude conspiratorially. ‘I’ve never been nearer to prison than the top of a bus, but I get the picture.’

  ‘What about your dad?’ asked Poppy. ‘Won’t he get punished?’

  ‘Knockback, maybe. Time in the seg, more like. He’s used to that. Just doesn’t care. He says boredom’s the worst thing inside. This will liven things up.’

  ‘What’s seg?’ asked Jude and Poppy together.

  ‘Segregation unit.’ Angel was obviously relishing being the one in the know. ‘Underground, empty cell. Just a mattress. Nothing to do. No one to see.’

  ‘That sounds very boring,’ commented Poppy.

  Angel shrugged. ‘Gives a man a chance to think.’

  Poppy didn’t think Angel’s dad seemed much of a thinker. But he must be very brave and kind to help out Big Frank, who wasn’t even a friend.

  ‘What about the other man?’ asked Jude. ‘The man he hits for eyeing up your mum. Won’t he get into trouble?’

  ‘Probably.’

  Jude’s eyes glowed. ‘Wow!’ She was reacting like it was a nintendo game, and Poppy couldn’t really blame her.

  ‘We must tell Will,’ Poppy said.

  ‘Will?’ Jude’s face fell.

  ‘He thought up the Great Escape Plan in the first place.’ said Poppy defensively.

  ‘Hey.’ Angel glanced at his oversized chrome-and- many-dials watch. ‘Gotta split. See you.’ Thanks,’ said Poppy, before calling after him, ‘Want to come to Will’s this evening?’

  ‘Na,’ Angel called over his shoulder. ‘Hospital and me don’t mix.’

  Jude took Poppy’s arm. ‘He’s quite something.’

  ‘So he’s not “that boy” any more?’

  Jude swung her ponytail – this time in favour of Angel.

  ‘Will you come to see Will?’

  ‘Suppose so.’ Jude looked far from keen.

  ‘If there’s two of us, our mums might let us go alone.’

  ‘OK. Just don’t ask me to like him.’

  Will didn’t seem much keener on seeing Jude than she’d been on seeing him. Things improved when they explained the new Great Escape Plan.

  The colour came into Will’s face as he went through the details. ‘Doing it from the inside. That’s wicked.’ Then he became more thoughtful. ‘What happens when he gets out? Your dad, I mean. Where does he go?’

  Poppy and Jude looked at each other. They’d been so excited by Angel’s plan that they hadn’t thought what would happen to Big Frank afterwards.

  ‘I don’t know,’ admitted Poppy.

  ‘He can’t go home to your house,’ pointed out Will. ‘The police will look for him there right away.’

  ‘Uhmm.’ Poppy sucked her fingers and frowned. There was a silence.

  ‘What we need is a safe house,’ said Will, ‘somewhere the police wouldn’t connect him to.’

  ‘If we lived in the country,’ said Poppy, ‘it would be easy. The country’s filled with old sheds where anyone could hide for ages. We could bring him food.’

  ‘We don’t live in the country,’ pointed out Will.

  There was another silence.

  Jude said tentatively, ‘We do have a shed at the bottom of our garden. You know, Poppy, behind the trampoline. No one ever goes into it now, since my mum gave up her idea of a prize garden.’

  ‘That’s good.’ Will considered. ‘In fact, genius! Easy to sneak him food and bring him into the house for a wash when your mum’s out.’

  ‘And my dad and my brothers,’ pointed out Jude. But Poppy could see that now she’d been called a ‘genius’, Jude was looking at Will in quite a different way. That’s sorted, then,’ said Poppy. ‘We wait outside and when he appears, get him to Jude’s house as quick as possible. Agreed?’

  ‘Agreed!’ They all high-fived and for once in his life, Will did it right. ‘I only wish I could be with you,’ he said wistfully, as Poppy and Jude prepared to leave.

  ‘Maybe you will.’ Poppy smiled encouragingly. She was glad she didn’t have a bad heart and operations and endless time in hospital. ‘I doubt Angel’s dad can set it up straight away. Just get better quick.’

  ‘Right on!’ agreed Jude, and hurried out of the room with all the relief that people feel when they’ve escaped from a hospital.

  Poppy glanced back briefly. ‘You know, I think Will was so nice straight away about my dad being in prison because he knew just what it’s like to be stuck in a place you don’t want to be.’

  ‘Unlike me,’ said Jude.

  ‘You’re making up for it now.’

  Arm in arm, they dashed out of the hospital.

  Chapter Twenty

  Angel gave daily reports on how the Great Escape Plan was progressing. He and Poppy and Jude gathered in their usual place in the corner of the playground.

  One day he gave them a thumbs-up. ‘My dad’s found a mate willing to take a few punches.’

  ‘Who is he?’ asked Jude curiously.

  ‘Wee Widgett.’

  ‘Won’t a wee little man be knocked over by your dad?’ asked Poppy.

  Angel laughed. ‘He’s called “wee” because he’s a giant. Prison humour. Six foot five, seventeen-and-a- half stone. Gym every day, muscles like iron. My dad could use him as a punch bag and he wouldn’t feel a thing. That’s the idea. Now all they’ve got to do is to get their visitors coming on the same day. And your mum, of course. They won’t tell your dad till the last minute, so he doesn’t get worked up.’

  Easier said than done. A week passed. The only new development came after an excited call from Will in hospital.

  ‘I’ve had an idea. There’s sure to be an immediate rumpus when the prison realises your dad‘s escaped.’

  ‘We can’t do anything about that,’ said Pop
py, ‘except get him to Jude’s shed as quickly as possible.’

  ‘Yes, we can.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Bring him to visit me first. The hospital’s almost next door to the prison. Then, when things have quietened down, move him on to Jude’s safe house.’

  This was an inspired idea, and when Poppy told Jude and Angel, they thought so too.

  So everything was planned, but still they were waiting for the right day.

  Then one evening, Irena started to talk about summer holidays in Poland again and Poppy realised there was only a week to the end of term. They’d taken a picnic tea to the local park. When they’d finished eating, it was late and they walked over and sat on the little children’s swings.

  ‘I’m sorry you still don’t want to see your dad.’ said Irena, swinging gently.

  ‘When are you going in next, Mum?’ asked Poppy, swinging a little higher than her mum. This was a crafty question because she needed to know exactly when her mum was going in for the Great Escape Plan to work.

  ‘Thursday.’ Her mum sighed and stood up. ‘He tells me they’re going to move him out of Grisewood Slops.’

  Poppy kicked her legs and swung as high as she could. She thought that here was another reason for Angel to get on with the plan. It had to be Thursday.

  On Thursday morning, Poppy and Jude and the rest of their class were on a special outing to Chelsea Physic Garden where they learnt about man-eating plants and plants that could cure deadly infections. ‘Kill or cure,’ commented Jude wittily.

  When they got back, Angel was waiting for them in the playground. ‘I’ve been going mental! Where’ve you been?’

  ‘Avoiding man-eating plants,’ said Jude.

  Angel didn’t even smile. ‘I’ve got it all set up. At least, Dad’s got it all set and Mum’s up for it. Then I thought you weren’t going to be on the receiving end.’ Sorry. We couldn’t get out of the trip. No way.’

  ‘That’s so great,’ grumbled Angel.

  ‘I said sorry.’ Poppy felt hot and bothered.

  ‘Shut up, both of you,’ said Jude. ‘We’ve got to keep our energy for later. Luckily my mum and dad are definitely out and Ben and Rico are both practising in the nets at Lords. You know, cricket,’ she added, looking at Angel.

  ‘I know cricket,’ said Angel furiously. ‘You think I’m thick or something?’

  ‘Course not,’ said Poppy soothingly. ‘Without you and your family, we’d never get my dad out.’

  ‘Sorry,’ said Jude. ‘I was the one being stupid.’

  ‘OK.’ Angel allowed himself to be calmed down. ‘I go into the prison with my mum and the kids. You get there the moment school’s over. My dad will kick off as late in the visit as he can. But hurry.’

  Straight after school, Poppy and Jude were running to the bus stop. Luckily, a bus came immediately but, less luckily, it had one of those drivers who seemed to be on a go-slow, crawling along so that lights turned red that had been green, and then the bus waited at each stop for ages.

  ‘We’ll be overtaken by the bus behind,’ moaned Jude.

  ‘We should have left school early,’ agonised Poppy.

  ‘And be in trouble, like Angel?’ said Jude.

  Poppy tried to imagine what was going on inside the visiting room. She pictured it filled with anxious women, cross children and sad, angry men. ‘I don’t expect a fight’s that unusual.’

  ‘What if the screws guess something’s going on?’ worried Jude.

  Poppy stared desperately out of the window. ‘All I know is, I’ll scream if this bus doesn’t go any faster.’ She pushed back her heavy tangle of hair from her hot face. ‘You have got everything ready in the shed, haven’t you?’

  ‘You’ve asked me that ten times already.’ Jude was equally sweaty. ‘I’ve put in one sleeping bag, one torch, one bottle of water, one packet of biscuits – chocolate creams because you said Big Frank liked them – one banana, one apple, one Mars Bar, one chunk of cheese and one book of jokes. I wouldn’t mind staying there myself.’

  ‘That’s terrific,’ said Poppy distractedly. The bus had put on a burst of speed and they were nearly at the prison.

  ‘I just hope Will’s end is OK,’ said Jude.

  ‘It was fine when I talked to him this morning. He’s expecting Dad around four.’ Poppy jumped up. ‘Here we are!’

  Now that the big moment had come, both girls took up position opposite the prison gates, but on the other side of the road. They knew exactly what to do: wait until Big Frank appeared and then escort him to hospital, as if he was an ordinary dad with two girls he’d met from school. They’d even brought a peaked cap to hide his face and red hair.

  They planned to walk slowly, casually, not at all as if they were with an escaping prisoner. Once at the hospital, they’d behave just like visitors and wait until they couldn’t hear police sirens any more. Probably the police would race around noisily looking for Big Frank. There might even be a helicopter circling overhead. Police liked that sort of thing.

  Angel would take a back seat because a boy (particularly one with attitude like Angel) would look more suspicious than two schoolgirls.

  From the hospital, Jude would take Big Frank on alone, in case they’d been noticed earlier, and, even cleverer, she would have a second cap (both caps the property of her brothers) so that the tall man with her couldn’t be identified on CCTV cameras as the same man who’d entered the hospital.

  Jude and Big Frank would then catch a bus straight to her house and go out to the shed.

  ‘I guess we’ve thought of everything,’ said Poppy. But at the back of her mind was the one thing they hadn’t talked about: how would her mum react?

  Jude glanced at her watch. ‘Any time now.’ Her voice was a bit wobbly. ‘Shall we cross the road?’

  ‘Might be good.’

  Poppy shivered, partly with excitement, partly with fear as they prepared to cross. Ahead of them loomed the high walls, the barbed wire, the turrets. Would her dad soon walk out free from all this?

  ‘Look out!’ Jude’s voice was almost a scream.

  A large white van was speeding out of the prison gates. It came straight towards them preparing to turn right.

  Poppy and Jude jumped back on the pavement. They watched it flash by with its grim, darkened windows.

  ‘That was a sweat box,’ whispered Poppy, when they’d both recovered their breath. She could feel her heart pounding. What’s that?’ asked Jude in a whisper.

  ‘It’s the horrible van with cages inside that they use to take prisoners from prison to prison.’ A nasty feeling was starting in the pit of her stomach.

  Jude glanced at her watch again. ‘It’s getting late.’

  ‘Plenty of time,’ said Poppy, although the nasty feeling was spreading all through her now.

  They crossed the road carefully, looking both ways twice. Jude glanced at her watch again.

  Poppy’s mobile rang. It was Will. ‘Any sign of him yet?’

  ‘Not yet,’ said Poppy, and turned off the phone.

  ‘I’m dying of thirst,’ said Jude.

  They both shifted from foot to foot.

  ‘My feet are boiling,’ said Jude.

  ‘The pavement’s like an oven,’ agreed Poppy.

  They both avoided looking at each other. Some uniformed officers appeared and one of them stared in their direction. He said something to his mate, who also turned his head their way.

  ‘I think we’d better move a bit further off,’ whispered Jude.

  ‘But what if Big Frank comes out?’ hissed Poppy.

  Jude didn’t answer, but walked several yards in the direction of the bus stop. Poppy hovered for ‘a moment, then reluctantly followed her. It had now become ‘What if Big Frank comes out.’

  ‘If he comes out now,’ said Jude in a horribly flat voice, ‘those screws will get him.’

  ‘They’ll think he’s a visitor!’ said Poppy fiercely. She didn’t really feel fierce. She felt it
was all over. No Great Escape. ‘The visitors aren’t out yet,’ she added, as calmly as she could.

  ‘That’s true.’

  They stood together, both trying to be hopeful.

  ‘Hi, girls. Waiting for a bus?’

  Poppy and Jude turned at the loud voice. A police car had drawn up beside them and a policeman leant out of the window.

  ‘Er, yes.’

  ‘Better to wait at the bus stop, don’t you think?’

  He sounded friendly enough, but both Poppy and Jude sensed the threat.

  ‘Yes,’ said Poppy and as he spoke, she saw what she had been dreading: the first visitors were coming out of the prison. It was easy enough to spot Angel’s mum and children. Gabriel was in his mum’s arms being chased by Seraphina, who was making him giggle with her silly faces. Then Poppy saw Angel walking dejectedly behind them.

  Their Great Escape Plan had definitely failed.

  Turning back to the policeman, Poppy said defiantly, ‘I’m going to meet my mum.’

  The policeman put his head right out of the window until he could see the prison entrance. ‘So that’s it,’ he said, with a knowing smirk. ‘OK girls, have a nice day.’ The police car drove on.

  Poppy and Jude walked towards the gates. Angel came towards them. He stood with hands in his pockets, head down.

  ‘They shipped your dad out of the prison, didn’t they. Last minute thing. Too late to tell you. Even your mum didn’t know till she was in the visitors’ centre. That’s the way they do things. Your mum went home.’ He kicked the ground a couple of times.

  A lot of people were pouring past them now, mostly women and young children.

  ‘We saw the sweat box,’ said Poppy dismally. ‘It nearly ran us over. I sort of guessed Dad was inside it.’

  ‘Did you?’ Jude looked up, surprised.

  ‘Bad scene,’ said Angel. ‘Story is, he’s gone to that nick, can’t remember what it’s called, on an island.’

  ‘An island!’ exclaimed Jude. ‘That doesn’t sound easy to escape from.’

  ‘Ever the optimist,’ muttered Poppy – but Jude had to be right.