River Rapids by Kathy Lee

Author:Kathy Lee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scripture Union England and Wales
Published: 2011-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12:

Slavery

We moved back into the flat that weekend. It felt very quiet, just Mum and me.

“You will come back and see us, won’t you?” June said when we left.

I was sure we would keep in touch with them. They’d become good friends of ours, all three of them. And of course I would still see Dylan on the bus every day, but I didn’t think I would be able to talk to him much. Joss would only start spreading rumours if I did.

At least I needn’t be afraid of the gang now. They only had the address of Dylan’s house. If I did tell Mum about what had happened… even if we went to the police… they wouldn’t be able to find me.

Or maybe they would. They knew I lived in Mallenford. How many Chinese-looking girls were there in Mallenford? All they had to do would be to follow me home after school.

Perhaps I would never be free of this fear… those dreams…

* * *

One morning at the bus stop, Dylan came up to me.

“You know that Chinese girl that you rescued? We think we know where she is now,” he said.

“Oh, really?”

“She’s living with a foster family in Lowfield. June belongs to this support group for foster carers, and she knows the people who are looking after her. I mean, I don’t know for certain, but it sounds like the same girl. She looks Chinese, and she never speaks.”

“That could be her.” I couldn’t help feeling curious. “What will happen to her?”

“I don’t know. Because she won’t talk, or can’t, nobody knows who she is or where she’s from. She’s with the foster family while the social workers try to decide what to do with her.”

“Does she understand any English?”

“It seems she does, a bit. And living with a family, she’s probably learning more all the time. Her foster mum told June that she may be dumb, but she’s not stupid!”

“I wonder if I’d be allowed to go and see her,” I said.

“Don’t see why not,” said Dylan. “I’ll ask June to call her foster mum.”

I was thinking that the girl, if she remembered being rescued from the river, might trust me a little bit – perhaps enough to talk to me? Then I could warn her about the gang, and let her know they were still on the lookout for her.

Dylan said, “She’s scared to talk, that’s what I think. Did you see that TV programme the other day, about illegal immigrants?”

“No.”

“I only watched it because of what Vince said about people taking work away from him. But it was interesting. Did you know that there are gangs who smuggle people into the UK? People from poorer countries want to come here because they think they’ll be able to earn a good living. But when they get here they find they’re not much better than slaves.”

“How come? Slavery’s against the law.”

“But if you’re here illegally, it’s like you’re outside the law,” Dylan said. “You can end up doing a terrible, badly-paid job.

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