I want to scream, but I can’t as I’m winded and I think it’s shock that’s preventing any sound from forming. These are children! I can’t believe what they’re doing to me. My hand is stomped on by a designer trainer and, as a reflex, I let go of my bag and am relieved to hear them running away down the street.

I try to get up but I can’t move. My back and my stomach throb with exquisite pain. There’s sticky blood on my face, but I don’t know how it got there. Maybe I hit my head on the pavement when I fell. Forcing myself to my hands and knees, I crawl along on all fours. I start to cry and I don’t want to. I don’t want these horrible, vicious little boys to have made me cry. And, for all that, they’ve got a few measly quid and an out-of-date mobile phone.

A taxi pulls up next to me at the side of the road, and the chugging noise of its diesel engine might as well be the sound of the cavalry arriving. Now my weeping changes from fear to relief.

Next to me, a pair of big boots appears. ‘All right, love?’

I nod, unable to speak.

‘There, there. Up you get.’ Two bulky arms reach out for me, but seem unsure which bit they should get hold of. I reach out my now swollen hand and take his arm. He gently hoists me up. ‘I saw the little buggers run off,’ the taxi driver says. He helps me to pull down my coat and gently brushes away some dirt. ‘Get in the cab, love.’

‘I haven’t got any money.’ My voice is gruff and squeaky and not quite joined up.

‘Don’t worry yourself about that.’ The outside of the cab is painted with a leopard skin design, advertising something but I don’t know what. All I can see are the words It’s a jungle out there! How true is that? How horribly, depressingly, awfully, bloody true is that? He opens the door for me. ‘We need to get you looked at. You’ve got a nasty graze on your head.’

‘They kicked me,’ I say.

‘Evil little bastards,’ my saviour comments as he loads me gingerly into the back seat.

‘Thank you,’ I mumble through my tears. ‘Thank you so much.’

‘Just try to rest for a minute,’ he says. ‘We’ll get you to the hospital as soon as we can.’

He hands me his phone. ‘Have you got someone you can call to come and get you?’

I nod and it makes my head hurt. The taxi driver jumps into the cab and pulls away. I can feel myself wince as we hit the potholes in the road. I take the phone and punch in the only number that my frozen brain can think of.

Chapter seventy-four