Lost Riders by Elizabeth Laird

Author:Elizabeth Laird [Laird, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780230738935
Publisher: Pan Macmillan

13

Rashid had been sleeping deeply. Dragged suddenly out of the depths, he felt horrible, heavy and lifeless. The afternoon sun was blinding and very hot. His head ached, and his mouth was as dry and scratchy as the sand itself.

All around him, other boys were sitting up and yawning, reaching for their helmets and whips. A kick of fear hit Rashid as he took in what Salman had said. It was the last race of the day. The big, important one, and he was riding Khamri.

He stumbled to his feet and stood, still groggy, yawning and stretching. Then someone took hold of his raised arm and shook it.

‘I’m looking for my son, Ejaz,’ an anxious voice said in Punjabi. ‘Do you know him? Have you seen him?’

Rashid squinted up at the man, but the sun was in his eyes. He couldn’t see his face clearly.

‘He’s nearly five years old. Must be this big by now.’ The man put his hand out to indicate a small child’s height. ‘Ejaz. That’s his name. Ejaz. One of you boys must know him.’

Rashid shook his head. The man gave up on him and darted off after a clutch of little jockeys who were drifting back towards their masoul.

‘Ejaz!’ Rashid heard him call out desperately. ‘Don’t any of you know him? I’m his father!’

He had been seen. Two uniformed policemen were running towards him. They grabbed his arms roughly.

‘Out of here, you! This is a restricted area. Who let you in?’

The man looked thin and weedy beside them. They hustled him easily towards the entrance of the holding pen. As his eyes followed them, Rashid caught a momentary glimpse of a woman outside. She was wearing Pakistani clothes and hugging herself with anxiety. A policeman approached her and began to gesticulate. She shrank away from him, retreating.

A cough distracted Rashid. Puppo, who always took a long time to wake up, was still sitting on the sand, his helmet tilted over one ear, fiddling with his whip.

‘Come on, Puppo,’ Rashid said impatiently. ‘The race’ll start in a minute.’

Puppo took no notice.

Rashid tapped on his helmet. Puppo jumped, startled, and frowned at him, ripping his helmet off and throwing it peevishly away.

‘Don’t do that, Yasser. You scared me,’ he said crossly.

‘You’ve got to come,’ Rashid said impatiently. ‘Now.’

All over the holding pen, camels were being prepared, their blankets removed, and their jockeys strapped into their harnesses and helmets.

‘Was that Shari? You didn’t let me say hello,’ Iqbal said, frowning at Rashid as he slotted his radio receiver into the pouch on his harness.

Rashid said nothing, afraid he’d offended him.

‘So you found him at last,’ Iqbal went on.

‘Yes.’

‘You’re lucky, having a brother.’

‘Haven’t you got one?’

Iqbal shrugged, as if he didn’t know.

Rashid thought about this. Iqbal had never said anything about his family, and Rashid had never asked him. He couldn’t imagine Iqbal with a family, anyway, with a mother or a father, brothers and sisters. He would be a different kind of person, hardly Iqbal at all. Rashid didn’t like the idea.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.