‘One of them, the one I liked best, Roy, he was badly wounded in the groin. He’d been in a fight with some other grown-ups and one of them had stuck him with a spear. He had a real nasty wound there, couldn’t walk. The others used to carry him to the river and he’d sit there all night fishing, his gun at his side. They’d bring him back in the early morning, before the dawn, when they’d finished hunting, and they’d sit in the yard and drink and play cards, and talk, and laugh. That’s what I remember most, them laughing. God, could they laugh. Laugh till they were crying or sick or both. Roy laughing loudest of all. They’d laugh at anything. Telling jokes, taking the piss out of each other, remembering things they’d done in the past – mostly involving getting drunk – and just laughing.

‘I’d laugh too, though I wasn’t always sure what at; you just couldn’t help joining in. And they’d sing songs as well. Waggers had this battered old acoustic guitar. He could never get it in tune, but it didn’t really matter. They’d have singalongs round the fire. I remember them as good times. You see, these grown-ups treated me better than any of the kids in Slough. And, talking of kids, they kept well away from the farm. They didn’t want anything to do with the men. We were left well alone.

‘Sometimes sick grown-ups came blundering in and Waggers or one of the others would shoot them. Oh, I wish I still had those guns, but they ran out of ammo eventually, or got broke and I couldn’t fix them. Tomasz buried a stash of weapons somewhere and died before he could tell me where they were, and I’ve been looking for them ever since. All I had by the end was my trusty shottie. And now I’ve run out of shells for that. So all I’ve got left is you.’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘I was joking, Ella.’

‘But what are you going to do?’ said Ella, trying not to let her voice get too trembly.

‘I’ve got his far, Ella,’ said Malik. ‘I’ve always come through somehow. As I say, maybe God has a plan for me. He’s not going to let me die.’

‘And what about me?’

‘I’ll look after you, don’t you worry.’

‘Yes, but … well …’ Ella didn’t quite know how to say it. ‘I don’t mean to be rude, but everyone around you seems to die.’

Chapter 26

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