The Infinite by Patience Agbabi

Author:Patience Agbabi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Canongate Books

Big Ben, GMT, Ama and I are in the Common Room before dinner, talking about the hat. Big Ben and I are on the sofa, Ama’s crouched in a chocolate-brown beanbag and GMT’s lying on a rug. Ama thinks Kwesi dropped it deliberately. As a clue.

‘He didn’t have time to graffiti his tag, so he left that instead.’

‘Not logical,’ says Big Ben. ‘He didn’t know we’d see it.’

‘Big Ben’s right. It doesn’t make sense.’ My tummy feels like I have a clenched fist in it. I’ve been thinking all day about SOS L, ever since I saw the writing in the hat. ‘Maybe he sent a message to someone.’

Ama gives me the bull’s-eye. She has a way of staring, that girl, like a teacher about to exclude you.

‘Elle. Sorry I shouted this morning,’ she says.

Oops. A nice one. I’ve almost forgiven her but I like that she said sorry. She wiggles about in the beanbag till she’s sitting more upright. Maybe she wants to be my friend again.

‘Do you know something? Speak, Elle. I won’t be cross. Promise!’

Speak? I want to speak but the words are buzzing round my head like bees. If I tell her about SOS L, she might get cross again. Or people could trace my illegal solo leap via my phone after I got the text and I might get arrested and never get back to 2020, and Grandma won’t have anyone to prepare her pepper soup. But if I don’t tell her, someone could die and it would be all my fault. The buzzing stops but the words are still moving. I know once they stop moving I’ll have to say what I see in my head. The words stop moving.

‘I got an SOS.’

Someone takes a deep breath. I don’t know who. But the room’s gone quiet, like everyone else did the same thing. If they don’t breathe out, they’ll die. I know they’re all staring at me. I know it, even though I’m looking at the floor.

‘On your phone?’ says Ama.

‘Yes.’

‘What did it say? Is it still on your phone?’

‘SOS L,’ I say to the floor. ‘I deleted it.’

‘You did WHAT?!’ Ama starts pacing. I’m sad I told her now. She’s going to start shouting at me. GMT walks over to the settee and sits down beside me.

‘Chill out,’ she says, looking up at the ceiling. ‘We don’t need to see it. Elle doesn’t lie.’

‘No. She’s just good at concealing the truth,’ Ama says quietly.

I shuffle away from GMT on the sofa. The smell of petunia oil is too strong. Big Ben holds out his hand for me to take but I shake my head. Ama takes a deep breath, like she’s about to push out of the blocks for the 100 metres.

‘Can you remember the phone number?’ Her voice is odd, like she’s reading the sentence out loud and she just learnt to read, each word an effort. At least she’s not shouting.

‘No. It wasn’t on my list. It was someone I didn’t know.

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