Barefoot and Lost (13 page)

     ‘Last month
on the twenty fifth,
the same night my Gran died,
just before I came here to Saint Stephens, I won and broke the record at the County championships in
Hastings
,
’

     ‘
Sorry about your Gran
, we will have to see what we can do for you to continue, we have never had a high achiever in sport before, seems a shame if you are not able carry on; I’ll have a word with the Reverend to see what can be done.’

     ‘Blimey
Phil
, you never said you were a champion.’
Brian
says as he gives me a playful punch on my arm.

     ‘That’s because nobody asked me, I’m hardly going to go around shouting, I’m a champion am I?’

     ‘No suppose not.’

     The journey is very short, our coach is slowing down, I can see
Rachel
’s coach making a right hand turn into a long drive. Both sides
of the drive
are poles about twenty feet high, with plants climbing up them. ‘Lion, are those hops?’

     ‘Yeah
, they are hops, definitely not strawberries,’ he says with a smile Brian gives him a look as to say, what in hell are you talking about? Through a clump of trees I can see the farm ho
use, it’
s enormous, and it has at least ten of those rotating things on its roof. We are divided into two groups,
Rachel
is not in mine. I want to talk to her but I am afraid of what my room mates will say ,they don’t seem interested in girls, I’m not sure
that I am, but I would still like to talk to her.

     Each group is taken in opposite directions
by a guide; we have headed back, down the drive, to the hops growing on their frames. I am amazed to see two men walking on stilts, the stilts are fifteen feet high, the men are walking as though they are at ground level, they are not wobbling at all; I would love to try doing that. The guide explains that the workers are checking each flower for disease and insects and, that using stilts makes their job much quicker as they don’t have to keep climbing up and down ladders. 

     We are now being taken to the oust houses where the hops are dried after they have been picked. The house is not really a house; it is a two storey building with a fire place on the ground floor. On the first floor there is only a wooden floor. At one end it is open like a fire place. The guide explains that the heat from the fire is directed over the hops that are spread on the floor. The heat draws out the cowl at the end of the room it turns like a weather vane with the wind, so it always faces away from the wind, drawing the heat outside this dries the hops. When the hops are dry they are sent to
Worthington
’s, the beer makers who add the hops to the beer to give it a bitter taste. I have tasted Gran’s stout, it was horrible and bitter, and I think I would like it better if they left out the hops. A boy from
St Gab’s asks, ‘When will
the
y pick the
hops
.’
The
guide answers

     ‘In September, pickers come down from London
and spend six weeks here
, but tha
t won’t last because a machine h
as
been
invented for picking, but the war stopped it being used. I give it three or four years and then there will be no pickers it will all be done by machine.’

     The pigs aren’t very interesting they are just lying in a mud pool flicking their ears. We are shown the dairy where the cows are milked, the cows are in the meadow and won’t be back until after we have gone back to St S’s, I’m a bit disappointed as I have never seen a cow milked.

     We are lucky; we are all going to pick strawberries. We are each given a small basket about ten inches long by about six inches wide and five inches deep. The guide explains, ‘I will pay you tuppence for each basket you fill, when you have filled it bring it to me in the barn over there and, if I think it is full, I will mark it down in my book, you then will be able to collect your money before you get back on the coach. Oh by the way you can eat as many as you want but, be careful, don’t get sick. Okay off you go, good picking. 

     “Wow, we can eat as many as we want and get paid for doing it, that’s fantastic.’
Peter
is as excited as me but Lion and
Brian
both look at us and shake their heads.

     ‘Don’t be fooled it takes ages to fill a basket, even if you manage it, when you go to get them checked you, won’t be able to find the man he is never there, if you are lucky to find him he always reckons your basket is not full enough, this is the third time I have been here and I have never seen anyone get paid yet.’

     ‘Why did he say that then?’

     ‘I dunno I think he thinks it is funny, but anyway, we are only picking for an hour and, by the time you have eaten a few, you will find the basket doesn’t get very full.’ Brian adds, ‘Only eat the ones that squash in your fingers they are the ripe ones, if you eat the unripe ones you w
ill get a bad belly ache, oh yeah
, and look out for the slugs and snails.’

     ‘Hell, I was looking forward to picking, now I’m not so sure.’

     ‘Its not that bad, Brian’s only teasing, come on, the sooner we start the more we can eat’  Lion runs off down the lane with us chasing after him.

     One hour’s picking results in me having a basket just over half full, a tummy that is over full and a back that is breaking. The farmer has supplied a lunch of sandwiches and a glass of milk, and I am struggling to eat it, having eaten so many strawberries, so I have stuffed one sandwich in my pocket, I am sure to be hungry later.

     I get my wish to walk on stilts we can’t all have a go I am selected because I am tall. I have to climb a ladder at the end of a shelf and sit with my legs hanging over the edge, a man on stilts, standing in front of me, places my feet on a block on the stilt, he then straps the stilt to my leg, holding my hands he tells me to stand up. Strung across the barn are wires he instructs me to hold the wire an
d walk across the barn.
At first it is difficult but, after a couple of hesitant steps, I get the hang of it, eventually reaching the other side of the barn. Other kids want to have a go so, reluctantly I have to sit and get the stilts removed  

     After about ten of us have had a go the stilt man gives us a demonstration of how, without holding on, he can stand perfectly still, I can’t even do that standing on the ground, without stilts. He and a lady, on stilts, dance together and then he shows us how he can run on them, it is amazing.

     We have been split into two groups all day so I still have not been able to talk to
Rachel
. Our coach is parked the other side of hers, as we pass I get the chance to speak, ‘See you at the party on Saturday.’

     ‘Yes, I would like that, see you there then.’

     ‘Who’s the girl?’ Toby asks,

     ‘
Rachel
, I met her when I had to go to Tonbridge.’

     ‘She’s nice, you’re a fast worker
Phil
’ says
Brian
, as he gives me a playful thump on my right side.

     ‘Yeah
she’s alright’ I can feel my ears turning red I wish they wouldn’t do that. I also have a wet sensation on my leg in my trousers, as the strawberry jam in my sandwich oozes through the lining.

     After chapel we are given our dutie
s for cleaning, all of ours, will be
in the grounds, gardening and painting the kerbstones. We have to start afte
r breakfast tomorrow morning;
w
e are bound to be supervised so there
will be no point in going slow.
‘
I reckon the quicker we get it d
one the sooner we will finish.
You want to bet Phil
, if we get finished too soon they will find something else for us to do.’

     ‘Lion’s right you know, we will just have to appear to be working hard but, at the same time spinning it out.’

     ‘How are we going to do that
Brian
?’

     ‘I don’t know, but we will think of something.’

     ‘
Phil
, what about your letter someone may find it when they are cleaning the library?’

     ‘Good thinking
Peter
, how the hell am I going to get it now? I won’t be allowed up there tomorrow, if I get caught with it then our plan is ruined.’

      ‘Go tonight when everyone’s in bed, it won’t be too difficult for you to sneak up there
Phil
.’

      ‘Do you think I could Lion?’

      ‘Easy, I used to do it all the time. After that business with Flynn I was frightened to be in bed, I was the only one in our dorm for about five weeks, I was scared that he would come to the dorm to find me so, on the nights he was on duty, I would hide up there, no one ever found out or missed me from my bed’

     ‘What, did you sleep up there?’

     ‘Sort of, I used to take a pillow and a blanket from one of the spare beds and curl up on the floor beside the bookcase.’

     ‘And you were never caught?’

     ‘No
Phil
, never.’

     ‘Then I’ll go tonight, what time is the best to go do you think?’

     ‘After midnight, when you can be sure all the staff are in bed.’

     ‘I’ll come with you
Phil
.’

      ‘That is not a good idea,
Phil
is best going by himself, two, people will make twice as much noise.’

      ‘
Thanks for the offer
Peter
but Lion is right, I’m better on my own.
’

     I have been dozing for ages, the chink of light under the door from the corridor went o
ut it seemed hours ago. I have
no way of me knowing what the time is; the only clocks are in the dining room and the library. I have decided that, when the moon moves from shining in our window I will go. Just when I think it is time to go the cloud covering the moon clears and there it is shining in like before. After three attempts then changing my mind I realize it is because I am scared, finding any excuse for not going.

     Eventually plucking up the courage I slip out of bed, I’m already wearing my black trousers and navy blue long sleeved pullover. Creeping to the door the handle squeaks as I turn it, opening it a couple of inches, peering into the pitch black corridor I can see a shadow of someone standing on the landing. As my eyes become accustomed to the dark I can see it is just a trick of the light from the moon shining through the window. Opening the door wide enough to squeeze th
r
ough it also squeaks making me jump. ‘Good luck
Phil
’ a voice whispers from the dorm I think it is Toby I daren’t answer.

     My bare feet make no noise on the threadbare carpet. The wooden treads on the stairs to the games room are solid, they are cold on my feet but make no noise as I quickly climb them. But the stairs to the library are a different story; every stair squeaks at the touch of my feet, in the silence the squeaks sound more like a screech, like someone drawing a finger nail over a blackboard. I find I can overcome the screeching by climbing the stairs with my legs wide apart, with my feet against the edge of the stairs. It is so dark up here the only window is at the opposite end to the bookcase, the faint glimmer of moonlight illuminating the white face of the clock. It is ten past three, how long have I been out or did I not start until the early hours. I have no idea, I wish I had borrowed Peters bicycle lamp with the blackout shutter on the lens, it would have shown very little light, still it is no good wishing that now. In the dark I stub my toe on the edge of the table and catch myself before I yell out with pain.

     F
ind
ing
the bookcase by bumping into it,
I stub
my ot
her foot also banging my nose. R
each
ing
down to the bottom right hand corner for the encyclopaedias, I find, to my horror they are not there, there is a gap where they had been but they are not there now. Panic hits me, where are they, have I got the right shelf. Running my hand along the shelf I can feel the carpet just below it, it has to be the right shelf. Then my hand touches a book that is lying down, to my relief I can feel the raised pattern on the cover of ‘The Talisman’ inside is my letter still being guarded by the Knight and the Saracen, I should have known they wouldn’t let me down.