Barefoot and Lost (4 page)

     P
eep
ing
in
the next
cupboard to
it, I can see a dressing gown and a pair o
f long trousers hanging from a
rail
. O
n the shelf are books
,
on the floor is a pair of white gym shoes
and
hanging on the back of the door is a towel similar to the one in the other cupboard.

     ‘
Get your thieving hands out of my locker, what do you think you’re doing sneak
ing around, who are you anyway?’
I spin around to see a
tall boy with red hair
,
running towards me
.
I try to close the door but he barges
into
me knocking me over, the towel on the door falls to the floor. I try to get up but he
grabs the towel and
flicks
me
with it,
stinging my arm.

    
‘
Sorry
,
I didn’t mean
,’
he flicks me again
‘t
hat hurts
.’

    
‘
Good
,
that’s what thieves get when the
y steal my things, who are you?’

    
‘
I’m
Phillip
,
I’m new here
,
and I was looking to see what to put in the cupboard
.’

    
‘
Locker, it’s called a locker so
,
what have you stolen
’

    
‘
Nothing
,
I was just looking
.’
Three other boys have joined him
,
standing over me in a threatening manner.
One is about my height with dark hair, another is tall, and skinny, the third one, who is very short and quite fat, asks,

      ‘
What’s he taken Lion
?’

    
‘
I dunno
Tobe
,
let us look at his things
,
and see
.’ T
hey run to my bed and pull out the draw
er
s
,
throwing my pants and socks onto the floor.

    
‘I haven’t taken
anything
.’
My attacker
lifts my dressing gown off the bed,

    
‘What’s this then?’
I
n his hand he has the tobacco tin Gran used as my money box
.
June had put it in the pocket of my dressing gown
;
she said to keep it safe. He
prises off the lid
. ‘
You dirty little thief you have stolen my money
.’

    
‘
No
,
its mine
,
I got it for Christmas
.’

     ‘I tell you it is mine’
I make to grab
his hand
.
Holding his hand high in the air he turns to prevent me grabbing him
. ‘
You are not allowed to have money at
Saint
Stephens
so
,
if you tell they will take it off you anyway
,
so I keep it
.’

    
‘
It is not yours it is mine
;
I will tell
Mrs.
Miller
you have taken it
.’

    
‘
Shut up
,
if you say a word I will sneak to your bed one night when you’re asleep and put the pillow over your face and hold it there till you die
.’

    
‘
I’m not afraid to die I’ll be with my Mum and Gran in heaven then
.’

    
‘
You don’t believe all that rubbish d
o you? O
k
ay
this is what we do
;
I will keep the money for you and hide it in a special place where Mam
will never find it. W
hen you need some I will get it for you
,
that way you still
have it, I’ll be like a bank, okay?’

    
‘
What has he stolen from the rest of us Lion
shall we search him?’

    
‘
I think it is only my money he got
,
he doesn’t seem to have much else
.’

    
‘
What’s your name
,
and what the hell is this
?
R
e
d head
says as he dangles
Ted
by one of his ears
.’

    
‘
Phillip
and that is my
Ted
.’

    
‘
Bloody hell a
Nancy
boy
,
you will fit in here very
well and you won’t need a doll.’

    
‘Okay
Phil
’.
The dark haired boy points to the skinny boy ‘
I’m Jack, he’s Brian and that is Toby
’ The fat boy holds out his hand for me to shake,
‘Y
ou have already met Lionel
,
we call him Lio
n coz
he’s king here
.’

     ‘
That’s right
;
I’m king and must be obeyed
,
ok
ay?
Put your stuff away
,
make it tidy
. W
e have free time until supper at six then we have to go to the chapel for prayers
. W
e have to be in
bed for eight thirty. Right, now we will give you a grand tour.’

     Out of our room we turn
to the right passing doors numbered
,
0810 1114, 1516
. T
wo are label
l
ed bathroom and two are toilets. At the end of the corridor a staircase dog legs to the ground floor and rises in one flight to the floor above.
Lion says
‘These stairs are the only one
s we are allowed to use
.’

    
‘
I came up the front ones
.’

     ‘
You can
,
but only when you are with an adult. Upstairs there is a libr
ary, a games room and a quiet
room
,
where we do our home work. I follow my roommates down the stairs; Lion stops and opens the double doors which o
pen onto a garden, beyond the garden I can
see football goal posts and some boys playing. Lion shuts the door
,
turning left into a large room with tables set for a meal.
‘
This is where we have
all our meal
s you are not allowed to eat any food anywhere but here, not in your room, outside
,
not anywhere and you must never take food from the dining room
.’
The rest of the house is out of bounds
,
it is where the staff lives and there are some rooms
as offices and that’s about it.’

   
‘
How many othe
r children are there here?’

   
‘
About sixty
, sometimes more sometimes less’
Toby says
  

   
‘
Lion there’s fifty seven now
,
I heard
Flynn
say yesterday
.’

   
‘
And
Phil
makes fifty eight
.’

   
‘Bloody hell
Brian
, didn’t know you were good at maths.’

   
‘Shut up
Jack
.’
Brian
says as he gives
Jack
a friendly punch on his arm.

   
‘
Who is
Flynn
is he a teacher
?’

    ‘
No
,
he is a House Father
;
there are four House
Fathers and three House Mothers. T
here is also Mrs. Miller and the Boss
,
Reverend Harrison. The house mothers and fathers don’t live here
;
they live in the town or the village and come in to supervise meals, bath
,
and bedtime
. O
vernight
,
one mother, and one father sleep in
.
Mam and the Reverend live here
.’

    
‘
Where do we go to
school, do we go here?’

    
‘
How old are
you
Phil
?’
Brian
asks,

    
‘Eleven’

    
‘
Then you will go with us
,
we all go to the secondary school in Tonbridge
.’

    
‘
What do you do on the weekends
?’

     ‘
Saturday we have to clean the house or work in the garden, we all have a job to do
. W
e also have to clean our room but we do that together. Every evening at six thirty and every morning at six thirty we have to go to chapel
. O
n Sundays we go later
, after breakfast.
Old man
Harrison
will go on a bit longer than he does in the week then
,
after the service
,
we are allowed to do what we want but we mustn’t leave the grounds
. I
f you have a visitor you are allowed outside
.’

    
‘
I’ll never remember all that
.’

     ‘
You won’t have to
,
all you have to do is what I tell you to do; I’m the king
,
remember
?’

     Toby is quite nice he is helping me put my stuff away properly it has to be done in a special way.
‘
When is your birthday
Phil
?’

    
‘It was l
ast Sunday
,
not
the day before
yesterday the one before,
July twenty second
.
’
 

    
‘
Fantastic
,
mines in
June
,
now I’m not the youngest
.’

    
‘
Why
,
does it make a difference if I’m younger
?’

    
‘
Sure does
,
because the youngest gets the worse jobs when we are cleaning
.’

    
‘
I thought we did it together
.’

     ‘
We do
,
but we have to do what Lion tells us, he always made me clean the toilet
,
now you will have to do it
.’

   
‘
If he tells me to I won’t
.’

     ‘That’s what I did, so he put my head down the toilet and told Jack to pull the chain.’

    
‘Did he?’

    
‘
No
,
I said I’d do it before he pulled it
.’