Ming and Marie Spy for Freedom by Jackie French

Author:Jackie French
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-06-16T00:00:00+00:00

Marie poked at her bowl at the school lunchroom after Church. ‘Look!’ she declared happily. ‘A piece of sausage! We’ve eaten meat three days in a row now. And this is proper meat, the kind you can chew.’

Ming wasn’t sure if last night’s vague taste of pigeon counted as meat. ‘What sort of meat is it made of?’ she asked doubtfully, looking at the strange dark sausage among the stewed potatoes and greens.

‘Who cares? Horse maybe, or dog or squirrel!’

She couldn’t eat those! But hunger had been an ache ever since she arrived here. If she didn’t eat this, there’d be little food until lunchtime tomorrow. Ming dipped her spoon in cautiously.

There had been no message about Tuan so far today, but, as Marie pointed out, that was good. If he hadn’t managed to get away Marie’s contact at the hospital would have found a way to let them know.

The stew was okay, tasting mainly of potato with what she now recognised as the inevitable tang of turnip. She couldn’t tell what the sausage was, but it didn’t taste like beef or pork.

‘Eat fast,’ said Marie. ‘Then I can show you the code. You don’t want to play games, do you?’

Ming shook her head. She was too worried about Tuan to play games, and nor had her body got used to the scanty food. Sometimes she felt slightly faint with hunger.

‘Then you can take my place at the railway station this afternoon.’ Marie gave a strange smile. ‘I have other work today.’

‘I . . . I didn’t bring any knitting needles.’

‘You can use mine. I’ve unwound the wool from an old jumper too.’ Marie scraped the last scraps from her bowl. ‘Come on. Madame told me there’s no dessert today.’

They took their bowls over to the long bench that divided the kitchen from the dining room. The woman in her bee-embroidered apron took them, then glanced at Ming. ‘Your brother is safe,’ she whispered quickly, then turned as if she had said nothing and took the bowls out to the scullery.

Tuan had got away! ‘But how did the woman know to give the message to me rather than you?’ Ming whispered to Marie.

Marie looked slightly exasperated. ‘You and your brother look different from the rest of us. Can you see anyone else with black hair here?’

Ming looked around. Blonde hair, a few reddish heads, some light to dark brown . . . but no, no other student in this school had black hair. Nor, she assumed, eyes shaped like hers and Tuan’s, or their tanned and Asian skin — Australian skin, from playing sport outside at school every day, or clambering around the beaches at home. Would they be here long enough for the tan to fade?

Please, she prayed, let us go home now! And yet . . .

The last time Herstory had shown her the past, Ming had helped change the world. It had been a tiny action, but with enormous consequences. Could something just as small as her

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.