BooksBarbecue
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Chapters (75)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise
  3. About the Author
  4. Title Page
  5. Intoroduction
  6. ONE
  7. TWO
  8. THREE
  9. FOUR
  10. FIVE
  11. SIX
  12. SEVEN
  13. EITHT
  14. NINE
  15. TEN
  16. ELEVEN
  17. TWELVE
  18. THIRTEEN
  19. FOURTEEN
  20. FIFTEEN
  21. SIXTEEN
  22. SEVENTEEN
  23. EIGHTEEN
  24. NINETEEN
  25. TWENTY
  26. TWENTY-ONE
  27. TWENTY-TWO
  28. TWENTY-THREE
  29. TWENTY-FOUR
  30. TWENTY-FIVE
  31. TWENTY-SIX
  32. TWENTY-SEVEN
  33. TWENTY-EIGHT
  34. TWENTY-NINE
  35. THIRTY
  36. THIRTY-ONE
  37. THIRTY-TWO
  38. THIRTY-THREE
  39. THIRTY-FOUR
  40. THIRTY-FIVE
  41. THIRTY-SIX
  42. THIRTY-SEVEN
  43. THIRTY-EIGHT
  44. THIRTY-NINE
  45. FORTY
  46. FORTY-ONE
  47. FORTY-TWO
  48. FORTY-THREE
  49. FORTY-FOUR
  50. FORTY-FIVE
  51. FORTY-SIX
  52. FORTY-SEVEN
  53. FORTY-EIGHT
  54. FORTY-NINE
  55. FIFTY
  56. FIFTY-ONE
  57. FIFTY-TWO
  58. FIFTY-THREE
  59. FIFTY-FOUR
  60. FIFTY-FIVE
  61. FIFTY-SIX
  62. FIFTY-SEVEN
  63. FIFTY-EIGHT
  64. FIFTY-NINE
  65. SIXTY
  66. SIXTY-ONE
  67. SIXTY-TWO
  68. SIXTY-THREE
  69. SIXTY-FOUR
  70. SIXTY-FIVE
  71. SIXTY-SIX
  72. SIXTY-SEVEN
  73. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  74. CLIMATE EMERGENCY
  75. Copyright

Carl takes another deliberate and slow draw on his cigarette. The closer the woman gets to Carl, the more she seems to doubt her confidence.

‘Look, you can’t do that here. Please extinguish it, or leave. Please.’

Carl casually flicks the still burning cigarette towards the woman. It bounces off her legs as she jumps back, a small hole in the shin of her tights. She stamps on the glowing butt.

‘Excuse me…’ but her voice falters.

Carl stalks towards his car. ‘Don’t worry about me, love. It’s them you should be keeping an eye on.’

The woman’s head spins to where Carl points. A group of three kids, one of them black, about to enter the shop. She makes straight for them, ‘Just two at a time, please.’ She makes the black girl wait outside, then stands in the doorway and glares when the girl scuffs her feet on the newspaper racks.

Alan is standing behind the open back door of Carl’s car, his e-cigarette aloft. ‘Told you you should get one of these, bro. You can do it anywhere. Look,’ and he sends another cloud of vapour skywards.

‘Get in, you prick. And turn that stupid thing off. It smells like a slag’s toilet.’

The engine guns, the music blaring again.

‘See you around, Josh.’ Then Carl gestures with his hand, holding it out of the window, pointing downwards, fanning out his fingers and making a circle with his thumb and index finger. The window begins to roll up again as Alan and Vince get in the back. I glimpse someone else in the front passenger seat: long hair, school uniform, looking straight forwards.

Dana.

THIRTY

THIRTY

By the time I get home, there’s an email from Alan with a list of links to websites. I click on a few. They’ve all got the same words in a lot of their headlines: words like ‘invasion’ and ‘epidemic’, and more medical-sounding words like ‘spreading’ and ‘infection’.