But that only made him laugh again.

18

1983
Meredith

Once we were through the gate, the cop put me down and grasped my sleeve instead, marching me towards a fleet of small, knackered-looking green-and-white coaches, where ragged queues of angry women were being herded, closely guarded by a phalanx of police. I looked wildly around for Samantha and felt a wave of relief as I saw her being dragged through the gates, seemingly unhurt, howling and swearing at her captor.

I was even more relieved when she was pushed into the same queue as me. ‘Fucking pigs. How dare they!’ she yelled.

‘You were trespassing on Ministry of Defence property. I’m sure you’re fully aware that that is an immediately arrestable offence,’ said the policeman nearest us, his arms folded imperiously across his tunic.

Samantha spat in the grass at his feet. He merely raised his eyebrows. ‘Nasty little dyke,’ he commented, almost conversationally, and I had to pull Samantha’s arm to stop her launching herself at him.

‘Where are they taking us?’ I asked, terrified now.

‘Don’t worry, honey, I’ll be there. It’s no big deal. They just take us to the nearest drunk tank and then let most of us go with a warning. Hell of a headache for them, though.’

We were almost at the head of the queue to get on one of the buses. Two bored-looking policemen were booking everyone in and doing perfunctory bag searches at a small card table near the coach door.

The woman ahead of us was clutching a worn shoebox, holding it to her chest as if it contained her worldly possessions.

‘Hand it over, love,’ said the younger of the two cops, who didn’t look much older than me. He had a blancmange-pale face and looked like he was trying to act more bravely than he felt. ‘We don’t have all day.’

The woman with the shoebox, who had long, straggly pink hair and a baggy fabric bear costume, seemed reluctant. Her friend had already started laughing. ‘Go on, Babs, give it to the little boy,’ she said, and Babs made a show of slowly placing the shoebox on the table.

‘Be careful with it!’ she beseeched. ‘It’s very precious.’

The booking officer narrowed his eyes at her. As he took off the lid I was thinking, Oh shit, what about Pete’s rucksack? And his sleeping bag – he’ll kill me! I’d have to go back for them later.

A foul smell pervaded the air and the officers’ disgusted exhalations brought my attention back to the shoebox.

‘Search through that, then, sugar tits,’ Babs said, the smirk in her voice clearly discernible. The box was full of smallish dark-red objects, meaty and metallic. I thought at first they were corpses of small skinned animals, then Samantha, looking over the woman’s shoulder, started to laugh.

‘Oh my god, that’s genius,’ she crowed, almost hysterical.