Angel Boy by Bernard Ashley

Author:Bernard Ashley
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781907666162
Publisher: MBI
Published: 2008-03-21T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Leonard curled himself up into a ball at the back of the church, behind a curtain where it looked as if they kept the sort of stuff that wasn’t wanted every day: broken chairs, a bent and tarnished altar rail, and a dusty picture of the crucified Jesus.

He didn’t know what time it was. Groups had come in, and groups had gone. Some had lingered a bit longer than others, but no one had stayed long enough to wander around.

It was getting dark now, and after a long spell with no one coming in, Leonard reckoned that the visitors must have gone for the day. But he wasn’t coming out. He had found a good place here, and although he imagined he could hear voices hissing, We kill you! Get that, Angel Boy! he realised that it was the sound of the wind in the battlements; and the distant shouting in his ears wasn’t the street kids, but the boat-builders and footballers down below on the beach.

Night falls fast in Ghana, and it was dark within minutes. Now what? He could stay here until morning and try and get help from some fresh visitors who hadn’t seen him begging. He could hang about in the hope that tomorrow was the kind young woman’s day to be the guide again. Or he could try to get out of this place in the middle of the night.

But what about the street kids? Would they have given up on him? Would they be moving on to some other evil plan to get money? Or were they the sort to cling to something, to see it through to the end if it gave them a small chance to earn big money like ten dollar bills?

Ten dollar bills! Suddenly Leonard realised that he still had one.

He’d left the collecting plate on a stone seat in the fort entrance-way, but he still had the money. It would get him a taxi home if he managed to get out of here! He felt it crinkle in his top pocket. As for the cedies in his shorts, they wouldn’t even get him a bag of plantain chips – which made him realise how hungry he was. His stomach rolled emptily and he was startled by its loudness. He was thirsty, too, but like a mouse he was going to have to lie low until later.

The fort was dark. There were offices here, and a museum, but not a chink of light was to be seen. If there was a caretaker, he or she probably lived down in the town. Leonard had the feeling that he was all alone..

He had to be patient, though. As the heat of the day went out of the timbers, the woodwork started to creak; and every creak sounded like a stealthy footstep…The street kids? Could one of them have wormed into the fort and right now be prowling the place looking for ‘Angel Boy’? Leonard’s eyes were as big as a civet

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