Peril by Joss Stirling

Author:Joss Stirling [Stirling, Joss]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Frost Wolf
Published: 2017-07-12T22:00:00+00:00

Meri studied the other young people in the hostel kitchen while trying not to make it too obvious that was what she was doing. Meals were cooked on an ‘everyone muck in’ basis and she had been given the carrots to peel. A huge mound. Not that she minded. Anything to take her mind off what was really bothering her.

A girl sat down opposite her with a basket of onions. She had a a snub nose and a strong no nonsense build to match her expression. Meri felt an instant liking for her. She looked like she didn’t put up with any crap. ‘Hi. I’m Anna.’

‘Hi Anna. I’m…Em.’

‘Short for?’

‘Emma.’

‘Cool. So are you an Idippy like me?’

‘What’s that?’ Meri watched a perfect curl of carrot skin slip to the board, pleased with the peeler she’d been given. She was making herself take pleasure in small things as the big picture was so grim.

‘You are green, aren’t you? An I.D.P. or internally displaced person. I’m from Lincolnshire originally. We had to move out when the sea moved in. There’re special grants for us to relocate.’

‘Oh yes, I did know that. No, I’m not an I.D.P. Just here to…you know…?’

Anna nodded, supplying her own answer. ‘See a bit of London before eco-service.’

‘Yes, exactly.’

‘Where are they sending you?’

‘I’m not sure. Didn’t get the paperwork in time.’ She started chopping her first batch of carrots for the casserole.

‘Bad luck. That probably means they’ll put you on sewer duty or something gross.’ Anna leaned forward, pointing at Meri with the vegetable knife. ‘Between you and me, the eco-service admin is all over the place. My sister works in the Climate Change ministry and is always moaning about it.’

‘Any chance they’ll just plain forget me?’

‘You wish, but they might lose you once they’ve got you.’ Anna grinned. ‘In a bog probably.’

‘That doesn’t sound too bad. I wouldn’t mind getting lost.’

Anna diced an onion with impressive speed. ‘Depends on who you take along for company in my view. My eco-team sucks out loud. The leader is a total arse. If he comes up with another, “we’re all in this together” slogan, I’m going to deck him.’

‘Where are you working?’

‘Essex marshes—or what’s left of them. Trying to save Canvey Island. We won’t win. As I keep telling Dexter: hasn’t he heard of King Canute?’

They chatted some more while finishing their task, Meri learning the names of the other girls in the hostel kitchen and the boy carting out the recycling. All were proud Idippies.

‘So it’s like a club?’ asked Meri, handing round some peeled carrots that had escaped the pot.

‘Yeah, a totally exclusive one,’ agreed a girl called Zara. She had long black hair and an ink tattoo of a Celtic symbol on her bicep. Her taste ran to layers of lacy clothes accesorized with navy blue lace-up boots. ’Hippies? So last century. Idippies is where it is at. Now everyone wants to be part of our subculture. All you have to do is have your home wiped out by nature.

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