Sham was by my side looking out, too. I glanced at him. ‘She’s learning,’ I said.
Sham nodded and smiled crookedly. ‘So long as she doesn’t learn too much,’ he said.
Jane giggled. ‘Smarter than you thought, aren’t I?’ she boasted. She leaned over to pour the hot water into the pot, put the lid back on and covered the whole thing with a little woolly coat. ‘There!’ she exclaimed triumphantly. We all stared at the teapot, at the little wisp of steam oozing from the woolly coat. ‘There!’ said Jane again.
It was all coming real.
Jane handed round biscuits to eat with our tea. She made us sit at the table to eat them with the plates held under our chins in case any crumbs fell onto the carpet.
‘Is this what people in houses do?’ asked Sham.
‘What do you think?’ scoffed Jane. But even though we held the plates right up under our chins, somehow the crumbs got to the floor anyway and we had to hoover. We nearly had a fight over who was to use the hoover. It just sucked things up! Jane had been hoovering away all day so she didn’t have a right to have a go at all really. In the end we crumbled up a couple of biscuits just to have a go.
‘I don’t see why you need plates at all when you’ve got one of these things,’ said Sham, watching the biscuit crumbs vanish up the mouth of the machine. Jane laughed at him, but he had a point as far as I could see. It’s easy to see why people like to stay clean if they have machines like that to play with. Sham and me wanted to crumble up the whole packet but Jane wasn’t having it.
‘I want to save ’em for Mrs Tallus when she comes up to see how we’ve been living,’ she said. She spoke about Mrs Tallus as if she was our aunt or something.
The only wrong thing was Sy. She was whining the whole time. I began to get cross about it. She’d been a good baby before. She used to wail sometimes but she always cheered up. But now she was just being miserable and spoiling everything.
‘She’s not well,’ said Jane. She tried to wipe the snot away again, but the baby didn’t like it and twisted and turned and screamed louder than ever.
‘Let’s have a go,’ said Sham. But now that he’d been away from her she wasn’t so keen. She clung to Jane and cried and cried. Jane had some dried baby food which we mixed up with hot water but she wouldn’t eat it. In the end, we put her in the pushchair and wheeled her round and round. She stopped yelling and closed her eyes.
Jane bent down to watch her. Sham stopped rocking her but she stirred and whined, so he started up again.
‘I’m going out,’ whispered Jane. ‘I’ll see if I can get something for her.’
‘And ring up,’ said Sham.
Jane pulled a face. ‘I can ring up later, can’t I?’ she begged.
Sham said, ‘We’ve been wasting too much time. We should have had it all sewn up by now.’
‘A few hours won’t matter,’ said Jane. ‘I’ve had it. I haven’t had much sleep, it’s doing me in. Eh, Sham?’ She smiled at him.
Sham pulled a face, but he said, ‘Okay,’ and smiled back.
In the end Jane didn’t make it to the phone the whole day. No one said anything. Jane kept going, ‘Oh, that poor woman, she must be worried sick …’ But she was just saying it. She bought some medicine, and after Sy drank it she slept for hours. Me and Sham were dead beat too and we had a quarrel over who was to sleep in the bed. In the end we both did, top to tail. As soon as I lay down I felt so tired I wondered how I’d ever moved. The last thing I saw was Jane sitting by the table next to the window, looking out.
She was still there when I woke up. I’d been asleep for ages so I can’t think she was there the whole time. I opened my eyes and watched her – her hair neatly brushed, her clothes clean just like she liked them. Her lips were moving. Then she picked up a tissue to her eyes and I realised she was crying.
It was embarrassing, but I was curious. She was getting it her way. What had she got to cry about? I slid off the bed and crept nearer to hear what she was saying. I got right up next to her, but I couldn’t hear. Then she looked round and saw me. She jumped when she saw me standing so close.
‘What’s up?’ I said.
She looked at me, all wet-eyed. ‘I’m so scared, Davey, I’ve been so scared …’ she began. Then she looked all choked up and started crying.
I couldn’t believe it. I never thought she was feeling like that. She seemed so sure of herself.
She started blubbing. ‘I’ve been praying, Davey, I’ve been praying all the time for God to make it work, but I don’t know if He’s going to let it happen …’
I was terrified, then. ‘Don’t talk like that, don’t talk like that,’ I said. I glanced over at Sham, because I thought if he heard her talk like that he’d stop believing, too. What did she need God for? Either it was going to work or it wasn’t.
‘You don’t know what it’s been like on my own,’ she blubbed.
‘Don’t go on, Sham’ll hear,’ I hissed. I’d have done anything to stop her going on like that. I stood and watched helplessly for a bit, then I said, ‘I’ll make a cuppa tea, shall I?’
‘Yeah, go on then,’ she said. She didn’t smile. She blew her nose. She was a right mess, all snot and tears.
I went to put the kettle on and do those things I’d seen her do. I wish I could have helped her but at the time it was important that she had it all under control. Maybe it’d have been better if there’d been another girl there for her. When I looked back a moment later she was staring out of the window and holding her face as if something was hurting her. Then Sham began to wake up and she pulled herself together and went to make the bed.
Things got better after that. Sy woke up and she looked a lot better after that long sleep. Then we watched some TV. I’d only seen TV in a TV stand before, but now we had one all to ourselves. We watched for ages, but there wasn’t anything on that was any good except one thing – the news. We were waiting all the time for the news – it was like seeing yourself on TV, almost. The funny thing was, so much had happened we’d stopped thinking about what Tallus had said on the phone that time so it took us completely by surprise when we heard it. I mean about the reward. The newscaster was going on about the kidnapped baby and we were all smirking one moment and then feeling scared the next, when he said, ‘A reward of three million pounds has been offered for any information …’
We didn’t hear any more. We all jumped up, roaring, ‘Wa-hey!’ It was like a goal in the last minute of a big match! I expect we could be heard streets away. Sham yelled, ‘Yeah!’ and punched the air and Jane just held her face and screamed and I just ran at the TV and started kissing it. Three million! We were millionaires! The money was ours already!
After that Sham wanted Jane to go and ring up right away in case they changed their minds, but it was late by that time and she didn’t want to. I was terrified it might all go away too, but Jane was in charge and she got her way. Sham grumbled a bit. But after all, she was the one who’d got us the money. I guess she was worn out and didn’t have it left in her to put herself through the mill again so soon. After that we just sat looking at each other and grinning. I never felt so good as when I thought I was worth a million.
Sham was funny after that. He didn’t know how to behave to Jane at all. Sometimes, if she gave him a drink or did something for him, or even just said something to him, he looked so pleased! But other times I caught him looking at her as if she was going to turn into something dreadful and fly away.
After we’d eaten dinner we gave the baby a bath. Jane had bought some special clothes for giving her back in and we tried them on and she looked so nice, we were proud. It was just like Jane said. We’d looked after her she was like our little baby sister. Now she was nice and clean and pretty like she’d been in the photographs. She was happy and it was all because of us. Jane scared Sham by saying she didn’t want to give her back any more she was so sweet.
‘No, no …’ began Sham, all panicky. Then he saw her face and smiled at h
is own foolishness and Jane was as pleased as Punch at being able to tease Sly Sham.
12
JANE HAD SPENT the previous night in the bed so Sham and I got another go on it that night. It was Heaven! – the best night’s sleep I ever had, even with Sham in there with me. I can understand why people lie in in the mornings when they have beds like that – and I can understand why Mother never let us have them, even though we could have got them from the Tip without spending a penny. When the morning came Sham and I stayed in bed with the baby while Jane went out to get some milk and stuff.
When she came back, she said, ‘I rang up. She’s coming today at twelve o’clock.’
‘What’s the time now?’ asked Sham.
‘Nine.’
We looked at each other. I’ve never woken up so fast.
‘It’s too quick,’ said Sham.
‘We don’t want to wait,’ said Jane.
‘We haven’t thought – we haven’t made plans what to do.’
‘Well, we better make ’em. Listen – it’s no good waiting any longer,’ Jane said. ‘I’ve had enough hanging around. Get it over with.’
Sham looked at me, his face white. It was all dreadful. Suddenly dreadful. He made a funny little noise. I stared out of the window at the lamppost where Mrs Tallus would appear.
‘Nearly there,’ said Jane. ‘This afternoon we’ll all be millionaires.’
It got very bad in that room. We were sick with fear. I never want to feel like that again. Jane was the worst. She was walking round in circles and then she had to go and lie down on the bed because she felt so sick. Sham sat at the table and lay with his head on his arms as if he’d gone to sleep. I tried thinking about that three million but nothing made it any better.
‘I’m gonna be sick,’ Jane groaned. She jumped up and got to the sink just in time. She was really sick. It sounded horrible.
‘I’m going out,’ said Sham suddenly. I jumped up when he said that, because I realised I wanted nothing more in all the world than to get out of there.
Jane was drinking a glass of water. ‘If you go, you’re not coming back,’ she snapped, spilling water down her chin. ‘You can’t keep running in and out.’
‘Okay,’ said Sham. He made for the door and I followed right behind him.
Jane said, ‘Don’t go.’ I stopped. ‘I can’t stay here on me own,’ she pleaded.
I groaned, but I walked back. She was right – it wasn’t fair. ‘You go if you want,’ I told Sham.
‘I’ll stay,’ he said. He walked back and sat back down at the table with his head on his arms, just like before. Jane wrapped her arms around her stomach and started walking up and down again. I stood by the side of the window, peering out at the road. It was busy out there. A group of people walked into the café. A couple of women were studying the fruit on a stall down the road. A man paused to let his dog sniff the pavement. Normal London.
We didn’t have a clock in there, but it seemed to me those three hours went by half a dozen times. Sy woke up and started whining again. Jane tried to make her swallow some more medicine, but she wouldn’t take it and it kept spilling down her front.
‘It’s good for you, bloody hell!’ shouted Jane suddenly. Sy stared at her and began to scream. ‘It’s her only decent top,’ muttered Jane, dabbing at the baby’s front. ‘I can’t go out and get another one, look at it …’
Sy was screaming her head off.
‘What’s wrong with her?’ demanded Sham furiously, lifting his head.
‘She’s ill, I told you. She’s got a temperature,’ said Jane.
Sham stared at her. ‘We can’t give her back like that, ill,’ he said. ‘You told her we’d looked after her properly.’
‘I can’t help it if I had to spend a night out, can I?’ snapped Jane. ‘What do you want me to do – go and cancel it again? Go and get another room? What?’
Sham stared at her a moment and then laid his head back down on his arm. I felt worse than ever. I went to lie on the bed. Jane started walking up and down, talking in a little voice to the baby.
‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to shout,’ she murmured. ‘Soon it’s going to be all over and you’ll be back home with your mummy and your daddy. And Sham and Jane and Davey’ll come and visit you, would you like that, Sylvie? And we’ll bring you sweeties and sing to you …’
Sylvie wailed louder than ever.
‘Your mummy’s coming as fast as she can. Do be nice and sweet so you can see your mummy, darling, and so your mummy knows you’ve been happy and had a good time,’ said Jane. ‘Look, she’s going to come along just there … Look,’ she said, ‘there she is.’
Sham and I jumped up. We ran and hid behind the curtains and looked out.
A tall woman in a long coat was standing under the lamppost on the corner opposite. She had blonde curly hair and she was dressed in a certain way so you knew she was someone. She had that coat and gloves and she stood and looked so you knew it was her. Around her, the people hurried by, dressed in jeans and anoraks and old clothes.
‘We shouldn’t have asked her here,’ said Jane. ‘She’s in the wrong place.’
That’s what a rich woman looked like whose baby was worth seventeen million pounds. We had her baby.
‘Go on then,’ said Sham.
‘You’re coming. We’re all going,’ insisted Jane.
I closed my eyes. ‘I can’t,’ I said. ‘Maybe it’s not her,’ I said suddenly, full of hope. We all stared back down at the woman.
‘It’s her all right,’ said Sham.
‘She’s a nice woman, isn’t she?’ Jane begged. But I couldn’t tell.
All around the street the busy people went past. The fruit shop down the road, with boxes of fruit and vegetables out on the pavement. The café opposite. We could see the shadowy shapes of people sitting in there. Under our window the grocer’s door tinged faintly as someone came out. Cars drove past. A cyclist. A group of women with bags on their arms paused at the fruit shop and a tall man with a turban and a beard walked swiftly past not looking at anyone. Mrs Tallus glanced at her watch and peered like a nervous bird, this way, that way, up and down the street.
‘Come on, then,’ said Jane.
The rich woman stopped moving and stared. Across from her on our side of the road a girl was rattling a pushchair across the uneven pavement. She was a few doors down the road from us. She had a boy about our age with her. She saw the woman looking so intently at her, and looked back and smiled uncertainly. Mrs Tallus stared hard. The girl paused. She must have thought she was being summoned. She turned the pushchair to face her and glanced up the road at the traffic to cross over.
Mrs Tallus screamed. Her pretty face. She pointed and screamed and the whole street changed.
The women dropped their bags and ran at that girl with the pushchair. The man walking by turned and ran at her too. People came running, out of shops, out of doors, jumping off bicycles and out of cars. The doors to the café burst open. Everywhere people were running. It was as if it had never been a street at all and everyone was just pretending.
The girl took a couple of steps back before the women got her. They grabbed her arms. The man got the boy and pushed him into the wall. Other women began to wrench the baby from its pram. It was screaming for its mother, but they opened the straps and carried it away. The men began beating the girl. Mrs Tallus had disappeared behind a wall of people and they carried the baby to her. The girl went down to the floor and they were kicking, hard. Everything was quick, sudden. Everything focused on Mrs Tallus and her wall of big men and that little baby.
We saw glimpses behind those men. She was holding the baby up to her face – the screaming, twisting baby. She stared and saw …
‘It’s not mine!’ she screamed. We could hear her, right across the road, right across the crowds and screaming street. She screamed in a hoarse voice and threw the baby away. I saw her do it; we all did. One of the men half turned and put out a hand to catch it as
if it was a ball, but he fumbled and the baby disappeared amongst the heavy feet dancing around the rich woman.
Sham screamed when he saw that. Jane slapped her hand over his mouth. Down below the men were still beating up the girl; it just went on and on. They’d started on the boy too, now. She kept trying to get across the road to her baby who had disappeared on the pavement but they weren’t letting her.
‘It’s us, it’s us,’ hissed Jane. Everything was falling apart. People running everywhere, in and out of shops and buildings. Mrs Tallus was screaming and yelling and she was so ugly and full of rage. I thought those men would pull the place down. The men were everywhere. They had guns. They found another baby and brought that one to her, but she slapped it out of the way. Everyone was screaming.
Jane pulled away from the window. They were kicking down doors. Sham was staring at her and his face was like Mrs Tallus’s face.
‘You promised!’ he screamed. ‘You promised!’
‘Shut up,’ hissed Jane. She tried to push him away but he grabbed her. I thought he was going to smack her one and I nearly went to stop him, but he was pushing and shoving her to the door.
‘You get down there – you go down, you tell her, you tell her!’ he was yelling. He was dragging her. Jane pulled away, holding the baby in one arm while he pulled the other. Sy was screaming and yelling.
‘I don’t want to, I don’t want to!’ Jane screamed.
‘You go – you go and give her back her baby. That’s what you’re here for. You bloody promised!’ He was so mad, he was almost hitting her. He grabbed hold of her top and flung her so hard it ripped.
‘Go on, go on!’ I screamed. I joined in, I started pulling at her, too. He was right. It was her job!
‘Don’t make me go, Davey, they’ll kill me,’ wailed Jane. But we weren’t missing our chance. We were too strong for her. Sham had one arm and I was behind pushing. She was crying and screaming.