The concert last night went really well. I didn’t play any wrong notes and we got lots of applause. It feels better getting applause from a real audience, and not just one that’s just a bunch of parents.
The British Museum is way too big to see everything so I chose some Greek marble things called Elgin that were good because they had horses, the Egyptian rooms and the Rosetta Stone. I loved studying about Egypt in Social Studies. Someday I have to go there. The Rosetta stone was just a hunk of black rock with white marks scratched all over it in three sections. Something so simple and yet it opened up the languages of thousands of years ago. Such importance from something so small.
Like a map for languages.
My brain started to get that overwhelmed feeling it gets when I think of important things so I went out with Nina for lunch.
“Let’s go to a Wimpy’s”, she suggested.
“Hamburgers aren’t really very English.”
“But we don’t have Wimpy’s at home and we leave tomorrow. Come on.”
I went along with her because I can never say no to anyone. It’s so much easier to just go along. The burger was horrible, all greasy and tasteless. But Nina says now we can say we’ve been to Wimpy’s. Big deal.
I wanted to walk back to the hotel on my own. I’m pretty good about finding my way by now. I guess I was just kind of wandering and didn’t really notice that there was this old guy following me. At least I think he was old because I could hear him wheezing and snuffling. I was too embarrassed to turn around and have a proper look, but once I’d noticed he was there I also noticed he was walking along the same streets I was. When I turned the corner, he turned the corner. When I started walking quicker, he started walking quicker.
My heart started to beat faster. Was he following me? No, that’s ridiculous I told myself. Why would anyone want to follow me? I stopped in front of a big shop window pretending to look at the display, and he stopped too. I could sort of see him out of the corner of my eye, and he didn’t look so old after all. But he smelled awful, like booze and sweat. And his clothes looked lumpy.
Ok now I was getting nervous. What if he really was following me? What if he was going to rob me? He wouldn’t get very much because I’ve spent practically all my money, but that might make him mad and then what would he do? He might beat me up. Or rape me. Or whack me over the head and drag me into a car and drive me to the river and dump me into it when it gets dark and no one would see him do it and then bits of my body would wash up days and weeks later. I swallowed hard and decided to walk straight back to the hotel instead of wandering. I started to walk really fast, or as fast as I could in my platforms, and at first I thought I was okay but then I heard fast footsteps behind me and that wheezing sound again. My mouth got dry and I could feel my heart pounding so hard it was practically coming through my blouse.
‘Be calm’, I told myself. What would ‘Fakira the brave’ do in a situation like this? She’d probably turn and fight him, but I don’t have a weapon and he is bigger than me. Evasive action then. That’s it, take evasive action. So I rushed into a shop where I could see a lady behind the counter. I went right to the back of the store and looked at the magazines. I was relieved to see he hadn’t followed me inside. But wait a minute, there he was! He was standing outside with his back to the window. Standing and waiting for me to leave.
The British Museum is way too big to see everything so I chose some Greek marble things called Elgin that were good because they had horses, the Egyptian rooms and the Rosetta Stone. I loved studying about Egypt in Social Studies. Someday I have to go there. The Rosetta stone was just a hunk of black rock with white marks scratched all over it in three sections. Something so simple and yet it opened up the languages of thousands of years ago. Such importance from something so small.
Like a map for languages.My brain started to get that overwhelmed feeling it gets when I think of important things so I went out with Nina for lunch.
“Let’s go to a Wimpy’s”, she suggested.
“Hamburgers aren’t really very English.”
“But we don’t have Wimpy’s at home and we leave tomorrow. Come on.”
I went along with her because I can never say no to anyone. It’s so much easier to just go along. The burger was horrible, all greasy and tasteless. But Nina says now we can say we’ve been to Wimpy’s. Big deal.
I wanted to walk back to the hotel on my own. I’m pretty good about finding my way by now. I guess I was just kind of wandering and didn’t really notice that there was this old guy following me. At least I think he was old because I could hear him wheezing and snuffling. I was too embarrassed to turn around and have a proper look, but once I’d noticed he was there I also noticed he was walking along the same streets I was. When I turned the corner, he turned the corner. When I started walking quicker, he started walking quicker.
My heart started to beat faster. Was he following me? No, that’s ridiculous I told myself. Why would anyone want to follow me? I stopped in front of a big shop window pretending to look at the display, and he stopped too. I could sort of see him out of the corner of my eye, and he didn’t look so old after all. But he smelled awful, like booze and sweat. And his clothes looked lumpy.
Ok now I was getting nervous. What if he really was following me? What if he was going to rob me? He wouldn’t get very much because I’ve spent practically all my money, but that might make him mad and then what would he do? He might beat me up. Or rape me. Or whack me over the head and drag me into a car and drive me to the river and dump me into it when it gets dark and no one would see him do it and then bits of my body would wash up days and weeks later. I swallowed hard and decided to walk straight back to the hotel instead of wandering. I started to walk really fast, or as fast as I could in my platforms, and at first I thought I was okay but then I heard fast footsteps behind me and that wheezing sound again. My mouth got dry and I could feel my heart pounding so hard it was practically coming through my blouse.
‘Be calm’, I told myself. What would ‘Fakira the brave’ do in a situation like this? She’d probably turn and fight him, but I don’t have a weapon and he is bigger than me. Evasive action then. That’s it, take evasive action. So I rushed into a shop where I could see a lady behind the counter. I went right to the back of the store and looked at the magazines. I was relieved to see he hadn’t followed me inside. But wait a minute, there he was! He was standing outside with his back to the window. Standing and waiting for me to leave.
My throat was sore. Actually it’s been sore for most of the week, I think because of the pollution. My clothes get really dirty here, too, the cuffs on my white blouse are black at the end of every day. But now my throat is so sore I can hardly swallow. I asked the lady if she could recommend some lozenges, sort of hoping she’d show me about twenty packets and I could take lots of time choosing so that the guy might get bored and he would leave. But she only handed me one type called ‘Fisherman’s Friends’ that she said was really good for sore throats.
She said it in a weird way but maybe that was just her accent. I had to get her to say stuff three times because I didn’t understand. I think she was from Scotland because when I next asked for Scotch tape so I could wrap my presents, she said “Scotch is a drink. You mean Scottish.” So I asked for Scottish tape, and she said there was no such thing. I found some over in a corner with the birthday cards, and when she saw it she said “Oh, you meant “Sellotape. Yes, we have that”.
I looked out the window and couldn’t see the man so paid for my tape and lozenges and left the store quickly. The street looked completely empty and I breathed a deep breath of relief while popping one of the Fisherman’s Friends in my mouth. It tasted like some kind of poison or something. I spat it out and threw the rest of the package in the garbage. No way are those things supposed to taste like that!
Then I heard wheezing and I looked up. There he was, looking right at me and walking closer! He had green eyes and straggly black hair. I froze. Totally froze. Seeing him looking at me, I just couldn’t make my legs go. All I did was just stand there like an idiot watching him come closer and closer. My mind was racing, and telling me things like “He probably just wants to know the time or something. He’s probably just some smelly guy. Not really harmful at all. Don’t do anything that will make you look stupid or badly behaved.” I think I even smiled so that he wouldn’t think I was impolite.
When he was a few steps away he reached out a hand and said, “You’re a lovely lass, aren’t you? But so young to be out on your own. You might be lost, eh? Why don’t you come to my house? I have sweeties. Lasses like sweeties.” Then he made a quick lunge and grabbed my elbow and something snapped awake inside me. He is not harmless and I was right about him after all! I wrenched away and just ran. I don’t even know if I screamed or made any kind of noise. Probably not. I didn’t look back, I just ran, ran, ran. Sometimes I tripped on my shoes and ran on my ankles which hurt like crazy but I was not going to stop. I didn’t watch which way the traffic was going and no way was I going to wait for the lights to change so I just ran across streets as soon as it looked like there was a gap. All the time I kept imagining I could hear him wheezing behind me, catching up, ready to lunge at me again. I ran faster. A taxi squealed its brakes and the driver yelled at me.
Finally I could see the hotel. Just up ahead. One more street to cross. So many people and cars! I looked quickly both ways and ran across, just as a motorbike was coming. I noticed it out of the corner of my eye too late and couldn’t stop in time. I could even see the driver’s face and his eyes getting wider, but I couldn’t stop. It was almost like watching myself in slow motion. The pedal hit my ankle and I fell. Hard. Right on the street. I lay there with my eyes closed, feeling a sharp pain coming from my ankle. The motorbike driver stopped and ran over, cursing me, then asking if I was all right. All sorts of other people came over to look at me lying there in the middle of the street. My face got hot and my chest felt tight. I was getting that horrible fluttery feeling. How embarrassing to have all these people staring at me! I stood up and brushed myself off as I took a step. Yow, my ankle! And my left shoe had separated from the soul and heel. I almost fell down again it hurt so much. Someone said to call for an ambulance. Oh I couldn’t have an ambulance! What would I do? What would Mr. Holmsmith say? What would all the other students think? And my Mom! She’d be mortified.
“I’m okay,” I said, trying to sound calm although I could hear my voice was shaky. “Really. I’m sorry. I hope I didn’t hurt your motorbike. But I’m fine really. Just a bit of a bruise. My class is waiting for me. I must get back to them. I’m really sorry.”
I noticed that the awful man with the wheeze wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Thank goodness for that! I brushed past everyone, holding my breath and walked up to and into the hotel. My ankle was killing me and I kind of hobbled in on one broken shoe but I simply had to get back to my room before I could take it off. I could feel that I wanted to cry but didn’t want to do it in the lobby. I felt a wave of relief that I was safe from the man, and another wave of pain in my ankle, and a whole ocean of embarrassment. I couldn’t hold it back much longer. If Avril or any of the others are in the room, I thought, I’ll grab my towel and pretend I have to take a bath. Then I could run the water so no one could hear me cry. Maybe I’ll do that anyway.
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