Close to the Wind (18 page)

Malik panicked. He tried to stand but his head hit the canvas and he buckled over, tipping forward towards the boy till Oskar caught his shoulder and steadied him. ‘Easy,’ he said. ‘Where you going?’

Malik found it hard to breathe. He pushed at the canvas above his head. ‘How do you get out of here, Oskar? Let me out. I don’t like it.’ His feet were unsteady in the bottom of the boat and he fell against the side, grazing his shoulder on the wooden planks. When he tried to get up, he stumbled again and trod on Sonny’s finger.

The boy screamed like a peacock.

‘Hey!’ cried Marcos. He lunged forward and took hold of his brother’s arm, pulling Sonny out of the way and pushing Malik backwards into the end of the boat. ‘Be careful!’

Malik gripped Booty tightly to his chest. He rose up on one knee and pushed a hand against the canvas. ‘I’ll shout for help if you don’t let me out …’ He saw the box of light appear and he pushed Booty past the canvas edge and let him dangle outside the boat before he dropped him. There was a howl from one of the boys as Malik kicked out with a foot, trying to get a hold on the edge of the rim, and then he was up and out into the air, dragging himself away from the canvas and dropping onto the deck in a pile, hurting his hip and elbow when he landed.

Malik blinked in the bright sun. He saw the shoes
of an elderly woman who had stopped to inspect him. ‘Are you all right, dear?’

Booty was behind her, looking scared and indignant. Malik jumped to his feet. He said ‘Excuse me,’ then reached past her for his cat and walked away.

He heard Oskar jump out of the boat behind him – Malik didn’t need to look back to know who it was. Oskar ran alongside Malik as he made for the stairs. ‘What was that all about? He’s just a kid. All he wanted was to hold the cat.’

Malik kept up his pace. ‘I don’t like them.’

‘You don’t even know them. I can’t see the problem.’ Oskar put a hand on Malik’s shoulder. ‘You let all the other kids play with Booty.’

‘Not any more.’ Malik held Booty tightly to his chest. ‘He’s my cat and they can’t have him.’

Oskar cut across his path, forcing him to stop. ‘If you won’t come back, then let me borrow the cat. I can pay you for it. They’ve got money to burn, those two. You wouldn’t believe it. It’s just the little one – Sonny – he’s crazy about animals. He had to leave behind a dog, two cats and a hutch full of guinea pigs and he’s really missing them, so I sort of promised …’

‘How much did he pay you?’

Oskar paused. ‘I can cut you in. I would’ve, anyway.’

Malik pushed past him, but Oskar gripped the front of his shirt and wouldn’t let him go. He swung him round by the shoulder. He was taller than Malik. Heavier too. He brought his face up close. ‘I could take him. I could just take him and you couldn’t stop me.’

Booty squirmed and tried to jump free of the two of them.

‘Just you try.’ Malik’s lip curled upward in a snarl. ‘You wouldn’t dare.’

Oskar faltered. ‘OK. You’re right, I wouldn’t.’ He let go of Malik’s shirt and Malik walked away from him towards the stairs.

Oskar followed two steps behind him saying, ‘Listen, I’m just trying to understand. Because this doesn’t make any sense. I’d give you half the money. No, wait a minute. That’s not fair.
More
than half.’

Malik walked down the stairs to the dorm, past a group of running girls who wore blue school pinafores.

Oskar stood at the top. ‘We could do a seventy–thirty split,’ he shouted after him.

Malik found himself alone in the dormitory and he went through his rucksack, checking his possessions were all in order – it was the sort of thing Papa would have done. He laid out the screwdriver, the hammer and pliers and the roll of black gaffer tape with its end turned into a tab so you could find where it began. He opened out the blade from the handle of his
penknife
and slid it back again. Then he moved onto his spare clothes, unfolding them, shaking them out and folding them again.

The boys drifted back to their bunks. Oskar returned, full of spite, as he climbed up above Malik. ‘You know they’ll take that cat away from you, don’t you?’

‘I’m not listening.’

Oskar hung his head under the top bunk. ‘They’ll take him away from you as soon as we land. People don’t want to adopt cats. He’ll spoil your chances of getting a family. They’ll put him in a sack and throw him in the water.’

Alex was lying on his bunk. He stood up and said for Oskar to ‘leave him alone’, and Malik had to say, ‘It’s all right, Alex, he doesn’t mean it,’ and Oskar
said, ‘Yes I do. You people need to wise up if you’re going to survive this.’

Miss Price came down to take them to supper. She lined them up by the door with Oskar and Steffan at the front. Malik didn’t want to leave Booty, so he stayed where he was in his bunk.

‘Why aren’t you lining up with the others?’ Miss Price asked.

‘I don’t feel too well,’ Malik lied.

Miss Price put her hand to his forehead. ‘How do you mean?’

‘I think I might be seasick. Really, I couldn’t eat a thing even if I wanted to.’

Miss Price agreed. ‘I shall come back with a bowl, but you must tell me if it gets any worse.’

After supper, Alex brought back a plate of fish ends for Booty. He took a bread roll from his pocket, which Malik ate when no one was watching.

That night, Malik attached Booty’s piece of string to his finger, so he would wake up if anyone tried to take his cat, but in the morning when he woke, Booty was there on the edge of his bed, still asleep.

Oskar appeared to have forgotten their falling out. ‘Are you going to help with the shuffleboard?’
he asked when everyone was up and dressed. ‘It’s the knockout stages this afternoon.’

Malik touched the large stainless steel bowl that Miss Price had given him to be sick in. ‘I’m still not feeling too good,’ he said. ‘But thanks for asking.’

Miss Price looked at him suspiciously. ‘You look better this morning. You really should try something to eat. Won’t you come to the canteen?’

Malik shook his head. ‘I really don’t think I could.’

When the other boys left for breakfast, he untied Booty and let him roam about on the floor, then he borrowed one of Alex’s comics and sat back on his bunk to read it. When he heard someone walk into the dorm and cough, he thought it was Alex, returning with a bowl of porridge that he’d sneaked from the canteen.

Malik looked up and saw Sonny Vex standing at the dormitory entrance, watching him from across the rows of bunk beds. His eyes were puffed and red from crying and he picked at the skin around the nail of his thumb.

Malik stood up and walked to the end of the row of bunk beds so he could see Sonny more clearly. He waited for him to speak, but Sonny just stood there
and looked at him. Booty suddenly appeared from under a bunk, walking out into the space between them, and Malik ran and snatched him up. He raised his voice. ‘Go away. I don’t want you here. Do you hear me?’

Sonny locked his fingers together to make spires. He twisted his hands. ‘Please …’ he begged.

‘No. You can’t play with my cat. I don’t want you to. Go and find something else to do.’

Sonny’s face collapsed and he bowed his head. He wept silently, his chest rising and falling as he took in gulps of air, and Malik could see the tears that rolled from the small boy’s face and landed on his polished shoes.

Well, so what? He was glad Sonny was upset. This boy had always been given everything he wanted but he wouldn’t get to play with Booty. Not if Malik didn’t want him to. Malik enjoyed seeing him cry.

But then he started to feel uneasy. He felt sorry for Sonny – he just couldn’t help himself. ‘Go away,’ he told him quickly, to get it over with. ‘You shouldn’t be down here. It’s private.’

Booty licked Malik’s neck as though he were hurting and in need of comfort. And in a way he
was. He was hurting for Sonny. He felt the hurt get bigger till it was the only thing inside him and then he couldn’t remember why he was angry.

He reminded himself he was angry at Vex and what he did to Papa. But it wasn’t fair to be angry with Sonny – he didn’t even know about the diamond. Sonny had no idea who Papa was. He was just a little kid. Malik felt guilty, and knew he couldn’t simply ignore him.

‘Oskar says you like animals?’ He said it out of nothing. He didn’t want to start a conversation, it just popped out and even though he had a tone in his voice like he didn’t care whether the boy answered him or not, he’d still said it.

Sonny nodded.

‘He says you had a cat at home.’

The boy sniffed loudly. ‘I had two cats.’

‘And did they look like mine? Is that why you like Booty?’

‘No.’ The boy shook his head. ‘They were prettier. Bits of brown and black and white, all mixed in. Your cat’s not pretty.’ Sonny became aware that he might have said something rude and he panicked. ‘But I think he’s a very brave cat to be smuggled onto a ship. Has he got a patch of white under his chin?
I can’t remember.’ He took a small step forward and stared at Booty.

Malik thought Sonny was funny – he was still at an age when he said something without thinking about the effect of his words, and though Malik didn’t do that any more, he could remember how it felt.

‘Come and see.’ Malik led Sonny back to his bunk, but he wouldn’t let him come too close. ‘You stand there.’ He pointed to a spot that was the length of a bunk bed from him, then held the cat up so Sonny could see the patch of white under his chin.

Sonny could barely contain himself. He so wanted to touch Booty that he couldn’t stay still on his feet. ‘I was right,’ he said. ‘He isn’t pretty, but I bet he’s clever, and even if he’s not it doesn’t matter. I still want to swap.’

‘What do you mean you want to swap?’ Malik stepped back. ‘You can’t swap anything. He’s my cat.’

‘I can pay you then.’ Sonny looked at Booty with big wet eyes and he twisted the fingers of his hands together again.

Malik was almost speechless. Almost. But not quite. ‘I don’t want your money! I’ve got money of my own. You’ve got nothing that I want to swap. Do you understand?’

Sonny didn’t seem to mind Malik shouting at him. He looked like he hadn’t heard a thing that Malik had said as he took a step closer and put a shaking hand out to touch the cat. Malik shouted, ‘Don’t you touch him!’ He made his voice quiet and threatening: ‘He’s mine. Do you understand?’

Sonny stopped, unnerved by Malik’s tone. He put his hand down the front of his shorts and stepped from side to side. ‘But …’

‘No, Sonny. Now that’s enough. I really do want you to go away and leave me alone. I expect your dad will buy you a new cat once the ship arrives. I expect he’ll buy you a whole herd of cats.’

But Sonny didn’t leave. He pursed his lips and appeared more determined than ever. He took a step closer, then another, and Malik stepped back till he had his back to the bunk and found he couldn’t retreat any further. The boy was right there, only a few steps away, his eyes fixed on the cat.

‘I’ve got treasure,’ Sonny whispered. ‘I’ve got real treasure, better than anything you’ve ever seen. Better than a cat.’ He took a black leather box from the pocket of his shorts; it was the same size as a ring box. He held it in the palm of his hand and thrust it out toward Malik, and Malik reached out to lift the
lid and see what was inside but Sonny drew his hand back and stepped away. ‘You can’t touch it,’ he said quickly. ‘Not unless I can touch the cat.’

‘What have you got?’ asked Malik quietly. ‘Tell me what’s inside the box.’

Sonny closed his fingers over the lid. He held it tightly to his chest, just as Malik was doing with the cat. ‘It’s special,’ he said. ‘It’s a treasure tooth. Maybe from a shark or something, a shark who found a treasure chest and bit on a jewel so hard it got stuck in its tooth.’

Malik had to remember to breathe. He could hear his own heartbeat. He bent down on one knee so that his eyes were level with the boy and he put Booty down on the floor in front of him, holding him in place by the collar on his neck. He stretched his other hand out to the boy. ‘Let me see.’

Sonny knelt down slowly, just as Malik had done, and he put a hand on Booty’s head as he delivered the box into Malik’s palm. Booty purred loudly as Malik let go of his collar and opened the lid of the box.

There was the diamond, lying on its side in the satin pillow, still attached to Papa’s old yellow tooth, which had been broken from his jaw by Sonny’s father.

Malik picked it up and the jewel sparkled in his fingers. It glistened, even though the light in the dormitory was dim. ‘How did you get this?’ he whispered.

Sonny was kneeling on the floor with both his hands in Booty’s fur. He had pulled the cat close up against his bare thighs. ‘I found it,’ he said. ‘It’s mine. I can swap it if I want to.’

‘You stole it, didn’t you? You stole it from your father.’

‘No I didn’t,’ said Sonny quickly. ‘I found it and it’s mine to swap.’

Malik took a deep breath. ‘And do you want to swap? The treasure tooth for my cat?’

Sonny picked up Booty and cuddled him close to his face. He wiped his nose along his fur and then he nodded.