BooksBarbecue
Back Nothing to See
Chapters (57)
  1. Cover
  2. Title
  3. Dedication
  4. Dedication2
  5. 1994
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 2006
  24. 18
  25. 19
  26. 20
  27. 21
  28. 22
  29. 23
  30. 24
  31. 25
  32. 26
  33. 27
  34. 28
  35. 29
  36. 30
  37. 31
  38. 32
  39. 33
  40. 34
  41. 35
  42. 36
  43. 37
  44. 2018
  45. 38
  46. 39
  47. 40
  48. 41
  49. 42
  50. 43
  51. 44
  52. 45
  53. 46
  54. 47
  55. 48
  56. 49
  57. Acknowledgements

If they bought a sandwich today it would be like five bucks and that could buy a bag of six pita breads – or more, maybe – and that was six sandwiches, or more, maybe. But they were so hungry. There wasn’t a supermarket near the shop. One day, Dell said, there would be supermarkets everywhere, but not today. Today they needed to work hard to forget they were hungry.

‘We could wash down the changing-room walls,’ Greta said to Dorrit after they’d settled down a bit from their bad start.

Dorrit nodded, she was checking the float in the till. Then she looked up and smiled. ‘That would be great. Thank you.’ And went back to counting the money.

Greta and Peggy went to the kitchen and found a bucket and some sugar soap. They filled the jug so it almost overflowed, and boiled it. It was so full it sputtered and hot water spat all over the bench but eventually it turned off. They poured the boiling water into the bucket over the top of the sugar soap – it bubbled up and looked interesting. Then they filled the jug again with cold water from the tap and poured it over the boiling water. They ducked down beside the bucket and put a hand each in it to check the temperature. It felt fine. Only one of them needed to check, really, but it was nice when you pulled your hand out and it was covered in foam.

The cleaning and the scrubbing helped with the hunger, but they were still hungry. Every time the door opened, they’d look up to see if it was the people from the café, but it never was. They had to wait until lunchtime and then they ate the terrible sandwiches in the sun. It turned out they didn’t even have hummus in them.

‘I thought they had hummus in them.’ Greta was looking in the sandwich. She had pulled the bread apart so she could see inside. It was very obviously just butter and broccoli. There was very little need to ask. She was making a point. There was no point in fighting with yourself, but sometimes they were hungry enough to try. Fear and anger were the things that took people’s attention faster than anything else. Heidi was trying to make them frightened and angry so that they’d fight. They both saw that now. Peggy didn’t even answer. She just ate her sandwich, closed her eyes and put her face up to the light.

‘Should we try and make bread?’ Peggy said.