The Future's Mine (4 page)

‘Oh, how dreadful,’ I replied.

‘We’ve had to put her in confinement. Perhaps a few weeks all by herself will improve her accuracy.’ His chest puffed out again as he rocked back and forth on his heels. Urgh, he was making me feel sick, the snivelling little rodent. I almost regretted helping him.

‘Where is she in confinement?’ I asked.

‘In the meat hanging room,’ he replied automatically. He flung his hand over his mouth, and said, ‘Oh no! I shouldn’t have said that! Forget I told you that! Don’t tell the Mayor I told you that.’

‘Told me what?’ I replied, innocently.

A smile spread across his lips. He tapped his nose and pointed at me. ‘Clever girl. You’ll do well here. Rehearsal and briefing for servers will take place tomorrow at 9 a.m. sharp in readiness for the real feast at 7.30 p.m. Go to Laundry and ask for a serving outfit. Don’t be late tomorrow.’ Like an officious little owl, he pushed his glasses up on to his nose and scurried away. I was in.

Chapter Six

Darkness fell as I hurried home. I heard the snuffling of Wolf, our giant wolfhound, in the blackness near the trees, on his nightly wander. The delicious smell of roasting rabbit wafted down the jetty. I skipped over the gap between the wooden jetty and our houseboat, landing with a thud on the deck.

‘She’s back,’ I heard Edie say from inside.

A few quick footsteps followed and the brightly painted wooden door was flung open, revealing Matthias looking furious. My brother and sister were peering anxiously around his wide shoulders.

‘Where have you been?’ he demanded, pointing a spatula at me. Laughter erupted from me as I took in his tone. He sounded like a nagging fishwife. The floral apron tied around his waist did little to dispel the image.

He directed the spatula at me again. ‘Don’t you dare laugh. You left them here with no food, no idea of how long you were going to be gone. They have been out of their minds with worry. You know our first rule is always stick to the schedule. That way we know nothing has gone wrong. You’re five hours late.’

I looked at Edie and Aiden who at least had the decency to look slightly abashed. Edie’s round eyes looked tremulous. They had obviously squealed to Matthias that I was missing and were now feeling like they had betrayed me.

‘I was at the Mayor’s Complex, you know that.’

‘I thought you’d been discovered and I was about to go to the Mayor’s house to get you out.’

‘Oh, and what were you going to do? Bat him with the spatula and nag him to death?’

‘Oh, you think you’re so witty,’ he replied mockingly.

‘Look, I’m sorry I’m late but after I’d been to the Mayor’s I tried all our nets to see if we’d got anything.’ I held out a string bag filled with cockles. ‘I dropped some off with your grandma earlier. Peace offering?’

His brow remained furrowed in anger but he unfolded his arms and took the bag from me. Cockles were his favourite. ‘You’re still not forgiven,’ he warned me over his shoulder. But I could tell his desire for information was overruling his urge to be angry with me. As he turned his back, I winked at my brother and sister quickly. They smiled, relieved that the arguing had finished and that I was not angry with them.

I flopped down into the rocking chair and pushed backwards on it to start the gentle sway. It creaked awfully but then again everything in our houseboat did. The wooden bow creaked with every tide. The rusty old chain, so covered in barnacles and slime that it was almost invisible, creaked as it strained to anchor us to the jetty. The open upper deck creaked when we went to put our clothes out to dry or pick herbs and medicinal plants from the growing boxes. The upper deck also served as a place to hang meat and fish, and store our outdoor necessities like an axe and a pile of wood for the fire. The squeaking floorboards acted as a natural intruder alarm and we felt safe leaving our few belongings on there.

My shoulders relaxed as I let the cosy atmosphere of our living cabin brighten my mood. Smokey wood surfaces, animal skin throws, dim oil lamps burning animal fats, a giant potbellied wood burner to double-up as both heater and oven. It felt womb-like and comfy. I stretched out, closed my eyes, and dreamt of falling into my bed in the old captain’s cabin.

We were lucky to have the boat. Matthias had acquired it for us after our escape from the orphanage. Housing allocation is controlled by the Metropole. After the Flood, whole villages and towns became submerged under the water; memories, possessions, and people eaten by the waves. Perfectly preserved and trapped in time, they were forever hidden under the depths of the ocean. Bodies, belongings, and homes became the playgrounds of the many strange new fish that lived upon these newly formed coral reefs. It often made me uneasy to think that the fish we caught and ate had been gorging on the flesh of so much human misery.

Out of the people who did survive the Flood, so many became homeless. As part of their new duty as our protectors, the Metropole offered to build state housing for free in return for our unwaged labour in the factories, mills, mines, and armouries. State rations would be provided, as would ‘education’ for children between the ages of five and twelve. A small amount of pocket money would be doled out to each family on a monthly basis to buy ‘luxuries’ such as medicine, wood for the fire, and tools.

The houses were nothing more than draughty wooden shacks. They were lined up in regimental rows, radiating outwards from the Complex which was built on the only strip of dry, high land in the centre of the island. The shacks were relegated to residing on the soupy marshland nearer to the coast. This meant that rising damp was a common problem, as was subsidence. This gave most of the houses a lop-sided, slightly drunken appearance, which actually mimicked the character of the people of Brigadus quite well.

As I was only twelve at the time of our escape, we couldn’t apply for state housing or we would have been returned to the orphanage like runaway dogs. Matthias came up with a plan that we should live on a boat, tethered to the island so we could avoid detection. It was a bolt of genius as it meant that we technically didn’t exist in the bureaucratic registers of the Metropole. They had no record of our address and therefore we were not called up to work as slaves in the factories and mills. It also had the added benefit that if we were discovered by some Parrots, we could quickly undock and sail out into the sea until the coast was clear. We were living illegally but our quality of life was so much higher than everyone else’s who lived in state accommodation.

Matthias won the boat for us in a game of poker at Nora’s Tavern with a sailor who was so sloshed on gin that he couldn’t even remember the rules of the game. I didn’t feel guilty about taking advantage of the sailor. He was obviously a moron who couldn’t hold his drink and our need was greater than his.

Matthias used a cloth to pull two roasted rabbits from out of the fire. He passed one to Edie and Aiden, who fell on it like ravenous foxes, each pulling at a leg. He plated the second rabbit up on a big platter, threw some hunks of stale bread and a couple of foraged roots onto it, and brought it over to me. A cloud of dust mushroomed from the armchair when he flung himself down on it with a sigh. We leant in to the table and began picking apart the rabbit with our hands. We grinned greasy smiles at each other as we piled rabbit into our mouths, not ready to talk until our hunger was gone. This was my favourite part of the day – eating dinner, all together; my little family.

Matthias wiped his fingers on a cloth and sank back into the chair, lifting his hands to cover his eyes. He was obviously bone tired, having covered the night surveillance shift, then seeing to his grandmother in the morning before looking after Edie and Aiden for the rest of the day. It was his day off from working in the armouries. Since we were the most westerly point of the Empire and faced outwards towards the Metropole’s hostile enemies, we had the ‘privilege’ of being host to a huge arms factory. It was deadly, dangerous work and many workers frequently lost limbs or their lives in explosions whilst handling gunpowder to make ammo. I worried about Matthias every day he had to work there.

In comparison, I had it easy with no official work to do, so I took on the burden of fishing, trading, and looking after Matthias’ grandmother when she needed help. I looked over at him and was about to let him drift off into sleep when he suddenly stretched his limbs and opened his eyes, ready to talk about what I’d discovered. He really was relentless and totally committed to our friendship regardless of how exhausted he was. ‘What’s the story, then?’ he asked.

‘Let me introduce you to the Mayor’s newest serving girl,’ I said, giving a sarcastic servile curtsey.

‘Who? You? Are you joking? How the hell did you manage that?’

‘Guess I’m just a convincing liar. What can I say? It’s a talent,’ I finished with a flourish of my hand.

‘You really are a deceitful little piece of work – in a good way,’ he added, shaking his head. ‘Remind me always to stay on your good side. I wouldn’t like to come up against you.’

I wasn’t sure whether to take that as a compliment. ‘Look, I have an outfit and everything,’ I said, pulling the black-and-white maid’s uniform from my bag. I put the white frilly hat at a jaunty angle on my head and pulled my tongue out at Matthias.

He laughed. ‘Maida the maid! This is hilarious! God forbid any Parrot gives you an order, he’ll find himself with whiplash once he hears the abuse you’ll give him!’

That ruffled me a bit. ‘I’m not that bad,’ I protested.

‘Yes, you are.’ Aiden’s voice drifted across the room.

‘Oi!’ I called. ‘Come here, you two, I’ve not seen you all day and the first words you say to me are insults? That’s not very nice,’ I teased them.

They both slunk over, their soft faces and big blue eyes looking apprehensive as though they weren’t sure whether I was joking. Edie picked up the maid’s outfit. Her hand was trembling. She is the most gentle and kind-hearted person you could ever hope to meet but thin-skinned and frightened of everything. I thought about our conversation yesterday morning and I noticed the bruise-like circles under her tired eyes.

‘What’s the matter, Edie?’ I encouraged her. She took a deep breath and quietly launched into it.

‘I don’t think you should do this, Maida. It’s too risky, you’ll get caught and then we’ll get sent back to the orphanage and you’ll get put in prison, or worse …’ She let that last word hang in the air ominously.

I exchanged a look with Matthias. We knew that this would happen. I sighed and beckoned her over to sit on the arm of my chair. Strands of silky hair fell through my fingers as I hugged her close. ‘I know it’s risky but I’m really quite capable, I might even be more capable than you think,’ I said, brushing her blonde wisps across her forehead.

‘But we’re OK!’ she cried in a wobbly voice. ‘We’re doing all right; we’ve eaten tonight and we’ve got your cockles for tomorrow now, there’s no need to do this.’

It was true, we did have enough food to last us for a couple of days, but the plan had become about more than just stealing food. I now felt as though I
had
to do this; I
had
to show the Metropolites and the Mayor that we’d had enough. For everyone who had already suffered, Jim Franklin, Matthias’s parents … perhaps mine too. And for everyone who was suffering still, Matthias, Bevan, Edie, and Aiden … I wasn’t going to stand by to watch it happen.

‘Edie, sometimes you have to do what’s right, even if you want to turn tail and run. It’s a lesson you’re going have to learn, and quickly. Brigadus isn’t safe and you’re no longer a child. Soon you’re going to have to make a choice between siding with the right people or the oppressors. There’s no middle ground – if you live by their rules to have a quiet life then you’re colluding in our oppression and I’ll never forgive you.’

She looked horrified and close to tears.

‘Steady on, Mai,’ Matthias said shocked. ‘She’s only thirteen.’

‘And I was twelve when I realised that I’d have to defend myself because no-one else would. Thirteen is more than old enough to know the truth.’

‘Aiden, Edie, go and bring Wolf in,’ Matthias said kindly. When they left the room, he turned on me. ‘Why are you always like this?’

‘Like what?’ I replied stubbornly, knowing a lecture was looming.

‘Like a bully! Bullying people, uncompromising!’

‘She needs to learn!’ I started, but Matthias cut me off mid-sentence.

‘No,
you
need to learn. You have no idea how worried you made her today when you were late back. People get
scared,
Maida. They only have one chance to live and they can’t be blamed for wanting to make that life safe for their loved ones. It’ll be your downfall if you don’t start treating them as real-life people rather than single-minded robots. Just because you have the guts to do these things doesn’t mean that everyone else does. No amount of you yelling at them is going to change that.’

He took hold of my hand and pulled me to sit next to him. ‘You need to be more understanding of people. People will come round if you take the right approach but you can’t bully them or else you’re just as bad as the Metropolites. They need to discover for themselves the right path to take.’

Tears prickled my eyes.
Idiot. Don’t cry, you big baby.
A flush of embarrassment coloured my cheeks. I knew that Matthias was right but I hated to be exposed and ridiculed like a child. I hadn’t meant to frighten Edie and I didn’t mean to bully her either, I just wanted her to be prepared. This was exactly why I needed Matthias so badly. He always guided me onto the right track and he understood people in a way that I was too immature to know yet. I looked up at him. ‘How did you get to be so wise?’ I asked petulantly.

‘Well, when you’re as mature and intelligent as I am it just comes naturally.’ He shrugged with the familiar hint of a smirk on his face. He got up and poured us both a cup of dandelion leaf tea from the kettle on the stove. ‘So tomorrow, remember, no heroics. Just grab as much food as you can whilst they’re having their first course and send it down the rubbish chute in the kitchens. I’ll be waiting at the bottom to catch it. And come back home to Edie and Aiden in one piece. Deal?’ He held out his hand to mine.

I sighed a resigned little sigh. ‘Deal,’ I said as I took his hand.