The Girl by the Thames (7 page)

Park. Now.

Lena obeyed and headed straight to the park. With every step she could feel all the money bulging in her pockets like she was a walking bank. The notes crunched and the coins clunked and dug into her skin. Suddenly Lena felt very conspicuous. Did everyone she passed know how much money she had on her? This thought made her walk a bit faster. She really wanted to take the main roads where it was safer, but she had to keep to the back streets just in case the shop keepers came looking for her.

At the park everyone was sitting on a roundabout apart from Liz and Si, who were on a bench with their faces clamped together in a relentless kiss. They stopped when they heard everyone shout Lena’s name. Gem jumped up first and marched towards her. It wasn’t to congratulate her, judging by the sneer on his face and his knotted eyebrows.

“What took you so long?” he said, blocking her path.

“I had a problem.”

“A problem? Don’t tell me that’s all you got,” Gem looked at the bottle Lena held tightly to her chest. “We got plenty of booze, we need cash.”

“Get out of my way,” Lena said. She didn’t wait for an answer and pushed past him. Duff and the others got up off the roundabout, looking equally cross when they saw the whiskey bottle in Lena’s hand.

“Where’s the box?” said Vicks.

“Back in the shop,” Lena replied. Now it was her turn to be cross: “Why didn’t you tell me it was chained down?”

Everyone looked at each other, then they turned to look at Gem.

“Gem, you scoped that place out,” said Duff. “Why didn’t you see it had a chain?”

“There weren’t no chain on it; she’s lying.”

“I’m not lying,” said Lena.

Just then, Seb and Mack came running up. Their faces were puffy and Seb had a few scratches on his face.

“You okay?” asked Lena.

“Yeah,” said Mack, “but you took a long time, girl.”

“Yeah, you got to be in and out quick with something like this,” Seb added.

“This don’t look good, Lena,” said Gem. “You took too long and you didn’t get the box.”

“What?” said Mack and Seb together.

“It was chained down,” said Lena.

“It was not chained down,” said Gem. “No box, you didn’t pass the initiation, so no joining this gang.”

“Oi!” said Duff. He towered in front of Gem, glaring down at him. “It’s up to me if she joins, got it.” Gem shrank back and didn’t say anything else. “Okay, Lena,” Duff said, turning to her, “So you didn’t get the box. The whiskey’s good but we’re sorted for booze.”

“I got something else,” said Lena. She handed the bottle to Mack and then pushed her hands deep into her pockets. “Hold out your hands,” she said to Duff. A second later she dropped great big fistfuls of cash into them. There was so much money that it spilled over his hands and fell onto the grass. Vicks was quick to snatch it up. The smile that broke over Duff’s face was big enough to light up the whole park.

“Oh, that is cool,” said Duff.

“That is very cool,” said Vicks.

“Wait, there’s more,” Lena carried on pulling notes and coins from every pocket she had. This time she handed them to Vicks, as Duff couldn’t hold any more.

“Girl, you are so in this gang,” said Duff.

“Where’d you get it from?” asked Gem.

“The till,” Lena tried to say matter-of-factly, but a grin hung on every word she said. “They left the key when they went to sort out Seb and Mack.”

Everyone slapped Lena on the back and shouted whoops of joy, everyone except Gem. He stood there looking confused, this quickly turned to anger.

“Hold on, she was supposed to get the charity box,” he said. “That was the plan, she’s failed.”

“Are you tripping?” said Duff. “That charity box just had a load of change in it, no more than twenty quid. There’s hundreds here. Now come on give this girl a drink.”

Mack opened the whiskey bottle and handed it to Lena like she’d just won the grand prix. She lifted it to her lips and drank until her throat burned. Then she handed it to Duff who took several gulps.

“Damn, Lena, this is good stuff,” said Duff.

“Is it? I just grabbed the most expensive one.”

Everyone laughed. Lena looked around at all her new gang mates. She was in. She was one of the Niners. Around here that was the closest you got to being a celebrity. It was a sky-scraping moment for Lena. Now she would be looked at differently. People would give her respect and if they didn’t, the Niners would come visiting. She was like royalty now. Drink would be plentiful. No more bumming it off people or hassling students. She’d be able to get into any pubs or nightclubs in the neighbourhood. Fake IDs and queuing wouldn’t be needed. The gang had connections and those connections meant doors would open for her. It would be VIP areas all the way. She couldn’t wait to tell Tanya. Then she realised, Tanya wouldn’t be here for this new life of hers, this was for gang members only. Suddenly Lena really missed Tanya.

“Duff?” Lena said. The bottle was being passed around and everyone had relaxed. Most people were gathered around Vicks. She sat on the roundabout counting out the money, arranging it in neat little piles so it could be shared out. Duff took a hit of whiskey then handed the bottle to someone else.

“What’s up?”  

“You know my friend Tanya?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Do you think she could join the Niners?”

“Don’t see why not, if she’s as good as you.”

“Oh yeah, she is and she’s smart too.”

“Okay then, if she passes the initiation.”

“Of course.”

Gem sat on the swings away from everyone else, but he was close enough to hear their conversation. He pushed himself off the swing and moved in closer. “We shouldn’t have any more girls in the gang,” he said.

“Oh, why not?” Duff asked.

“Cause it’ll make us weak. We need more blokes.”

“Why?” said Lena.

“To fight other gangs. If we’re full of chicks we’ll get our asses kicked. And then what? We’ll lose respect on the street and we’ll be nobodies.” Gem raised his voice at the end of his little speech. He wanted everyone to hear this. The cheerful banter around the gang stopped right on cue. “We need to be strong. Another girl’s not going to be any good to us in a fight. Vicks went to open her mouth in protest, but Lena got in first.

“I could beat you in a fight,” Lena said.

Gem laughed, it wasn’t natural, but forced. A few of the boys smiled and shouted encouragement. Lena couldn’t tell whether it was for her or Gem, or whether they relished the thought of a girl/boy fight. They were probably thinking of all the hits they would get on Youtube if they filmed it.

Gem suddenly became serious. “You don’t want to fight me, girl. It wouldn’t be fair.”

“That’s all right, I’ll go easy on you.” Lena said.

Vicks and Liz cheered.

“Be serious,” Gem said. “I can’t have a reputation as a guy that fights girls.”

“Chicken,” said Vicks.

“You serious about this, Lena?” asked Duff.

“Yeah, if I win, Tanya can join. If Gem wins, no more girls in the gang. And this stays within the gang, no-one else will hear about it.”

“Sounds cool to me,” said Duff.

“Hold on, what if I end up killing her,” said Gem.

“You won’t,” said Mack.

“We’ll step in if it gets out of hand,” said Seb.

Duff rubbed his chin and looked at Lena and then quickly turned his gaze on Gem. “Okay, let’s do this.” Everyone screamed with delight and pulled out their phones ready to record the fight.

“No filming,” said Gem. “This stays within the gang, remember.”

“Fair enough,” said Duff. “Put ‘em away.” There were a few groans of disappointment as everyone pocketed their phones. “You two ready?”

Lena nodded and felt a delicious hit of adrenalin in her blood, as the rest of the gang crowded around her and Gem.

“Hold on, hold on,” Duff held his hand up, a signal for everyone to be quiet. “Give ‘em some space, people.” They all moved back forming a natural circle around the two of them.

“I ain’t cool with this,” said Gem.

“Well, Lena seems to be all right with it,” Duff replied. “Go on, don’t wuss out on me.”

“It’s going to be a quick fight,” Gem said, squaring up to Lena.

“Well, you got nothing to worry about, then,” Liz shouted out.

Lena sized up Gem. He was about the same height, but carried a lot more weight. But he was far too confident and she could use that to her advantage. Lena quickly formed a strategy. The process was instinctive for her. She didn’t need to think about it. Her fists were already raised and she stood on the balls of her feet, ready to move. Gem would want to end this quickly. He’d already given away his tactics. He would come in fast and hard. He stood in front of her, a mirror image, hands up, clenched tightly. His small eyes seemed to be fixed on a point somewhere around her chin. That would be his target.

“Ready?” Duff said.

“Ready,” said Lena and Gem.

“Let’s get ready to rumble,” Si shouted out.

“Go on, Lena,” the two girls added.

“Fight!” Duff shouted.

Gem came in fast, just as Lena had expected. She took a step back as Gem swung a punch at her chin. Lena jerked her head back so it looked like the punch had maximum impact. In reality it had just glanced off her. She even let out a whimper to add to the deception.

Gem followed it up with a left hand to the same place. Again, Lena moved back letting it slide off her face. She threw her head back, giving the impression he’d landed a belter. By now his confidence would be soaring and he’d think the fight was his. He’d want to land a killer blow to finish her. Sure enough, he pulled his right hand back to put full force behind it. The punch was released. Just before it hit Lena, she dipped her head so the blow landed on her skull just above her hairline. It was the hardest part of the head, where the bone was thickest. Like hitting a rock. Gem’s bare knuckles cracked against it, almost breaking. He cried in pain as every nerve in his hand lit up. He instinctively grabbed his injured fist with his other hand, leaving his stomach unprotected. Lena brought her leg up and planted it into his gut.

A gush of air came out of Gem’s mouth. He was winded and clutched his midriff while still holding his bruised hand. This left his face unguarded. He looked up just as Lena head butted him square on the nose. Water filled his eyes and blood fell out of his nose. He couldn’t see properly and staggered back, drifting over to the left. Lena took her time, following him at a walking pace. Gem tried to clear the blood and snot away from his face with his cuffs, leaving his middle section unprotected. Lena moved in close and drove her foot deep into his already sore stomach. The force of the second kick knocked him over backwards.

Lena seized her chance to end the fight. She fell on top of him and pelted him with rapid blows to the face. Swear words machine-gunned out of her mouth. A frenzy took over her. Now she had him down, there was no need for strategy and she could revert to a blind, violent rage.

Seconds later a pair of huge arms wrapped around Lena’s waist and she was lifted up in the air. She continued to swear and pounded uselessly on the arms that held her.

“Get the fuck off me,” she screamed.

“Take it easy, tiger, you won.” It was Seb who held her tightly. “Cool it, okay.”

Lena felt anything but cool. The rage had taken hold of her and she wanted to fight anything that got in her way. She swore and flung insults at Gem who was lying on the ground trying to stop blood from spilling out of his nose. She looked around and saw the faces of the other gang members. Some were laughing but others looked at Lena with a new respect. They could all deal out their fair share of violence, but never with so much fury.

Duff now turned to face her:

“Okay, that’s enough. Calm the fuck down, Lena. You did it, okay. You kicked Gem’s ass. Now you can have your little friend in the gang, all right. But only if you chill.”

Tanya, she had forgotten all about getting Tanya into the gang. It had been the whole point of the fight. Her body relaxed slightly and Seb loosened his grip. “If I let go, you gonna be cool?” Seb asked.

“I’ll be cool,” Lena said breathlessly.

Duff handed her the bottle of whisky and Lena took a large slug. The hot liquor made her gasp even more and she felt a warm glow in her stomach. She smiled and took another mouthful. Vicks and Liz crowded round her, slapping their hands on her back.

“Hell, Lena, can you teach us how to fight like that?” Vicks said.

“You better teach Gem as well while you’re at it,” said Si. His comment was met with laughter. They all turned to look at Gem, but he had gone.

Chapter 8

A torturous morse code of electronic bleeps tapped away at Tanya’s sleepy head. Whatever idiot had invented the alarm clock, she now wished him dead.

A clumsy arm poked out from the duvet and fished around for the off button. It took a few hammer blows before the irritating pinging ceased, although she could still feel it dancing around inside her skull.

She turned and corkscrewed the duvet around her, letting sleep take her once more. That creamy, snoozy feeling was hard to resist, until another alarm went off. This time it was her head. Her conscience would not let her to go back to sleep. Then Tanya remembered.

She had a plan. But it would only work if she got out of bed early. It had popped into her head last night. A simple but genius strategy that left her feeling quite pleased with herself. She didn’t want to get too smug, but hopefully it would result in her getting through the barricade and past the police until she was right next to the whale. But the whole thing would be a complete waste of time if she didn’t get up. She looked over at the clock. It was just after five am.

An early start was essential if Part 1 of her plan was going to work; people’s alertness was at its lowest early in the morning. It was the best time to catch them off guard. They were either asleep or wanted to be asleep, especially those miserable council workers and police who had the early morning shift guarding the whale. There would be less of them too. Just a skeleton crew probably, there to stop early-morning nutjobs from trying to get close to the whale. Did that mean she was a nutjob? Probably. But Tanya felt she was justified in wanting to get close to the humpback. After all, she’d seen it first, which gave her more reason than most to be near it.

Tanya threw her legs out of bed and got dressed. Enthusiasm for her plan gave her a little boost. She wasn’t hungry yet and went straight to Part 2.

She walked down the corridor to her dad’s room. She would have tiptoed but that wasn’t necessary. The alcoholic cloud hanging in his room told her he’d be out of it at least until Jeremy Kyle started.

Her dad had no wardrobe, just different piles of clothes, each with varying needs of detergent. Tanya kicked her way through the jumbled heap on the floor until something flashed in the dingy light. It was his old hi-vis jacket. He hadn’t worn it since he’d been released from work due to ill health. Of course, the only thing he suffered from was laziness. One day he’d decided he was bored of sweeping roads and made up some bullshit story about stress. Tanya wondered how anyone could believe a road sweeper suffered from stress, but they bought it. After that the disability money kept rolling in month after month. He had kept the hi-vis jacket, but for what reason Tanya couldn’t figure out. Probably too tight to give it back. And he had no intention of wearing it or ever working again.

Tanya lifted it out with her thumb and forefinger and gave it a cautious sniff. The stale sweat had fermented after all these years and was strong enough to attract a female gorilla. It smelt like milk had soaked into an old sack and gone off. Tanya recoiled at the smell and threw the jacket out into the hallway.

Her mission wasn’t finished yet.

She crouched next to her dad’s bed and reached under his pillow. His face was right by hers and she got a broadside of his foul breath. Was that what she smelt like when she drank? She made a mental note to start chewing gum.

Tanya flattened her hand and slid it beneath the pillow. The wallet came out easily. The thing was as thin as a wafer because it was usually empty. She prayed it would have something in it this morning. Tanya opened it and pulled out a tenner. Perfect. The old fool would never notice it missing. She had done this a thousand times and had never got caught, probably thanks to all the alcohol that paralysed the memory cells in his brain. He could never remember how much money he had left over from his drinking sessions the night before.

She stuffed the note in her back pocket, carefully returned the wallet beneath the pillow and left the room. On the way she picked up the stinky hi-vis jacket and took it into the bathroom. She hung it by her little finger using the loop sewn into the neck and drowned it with spray deodorant. It smelt a little better. Tanya put on the jacket and completed the look with a beanie hat on her head. She left the flat and headed towards the river.

Outside, the morning sky wore a pasty complexion, it nearly made her turn around and go back to bed again. How did people do this every day? She could see why being a benefit fraudster was so attractive. She thought about seeing the whale again to shake her out of her mood. It worked and before long she was awake with determination.

As she got close to the river, she turned off down a narrow side street. Everything was closed up apart from a café. A muted glow came through its steamed-up windows illuminating the grimy pavement out front. Tanya took a deep breath to suppress the butterflies that had taken up residence in her stomach. This was the easy part, after this the nerves were only going to get worse.

She pushed open the battered door. Inside, fat old men in slippers and bored workman in check shirts supped tea from chipped mugs. Many of them had plates of sausages, bacon and eggs in front of them, and managed to eat while scanning the pages of red-top newspapers. The sight of Tanya immediately stopped them mid-mouthful. It wasn’t the sort of place young girls frequented, especially not this early in the morning.

Ignoring some their slimy remarks, Tanya walked up to the counter. A jowly-faced man with a tea towel slung over one shoulder raised his thick black eyebrows in a question.

“Ten teas, please,” Tanya said, “to take away.”

There was no response or any iota of customer service. He lined up one polystyrene cup after another, filling each one with stewed tea. Like a machine he then splashed milk into each cup and clipped a lid on the top. Would ten teas be enough? Maybe she should ask for more. She quickly worked out she didn’t have enough for any more than ten, it’d have to do. Tanya handed him the money. “Do you have anything to put them in?” she asked.

Again, no response. He reached under the counter and pulled out a small cardboard box and tossed it on the counter, then turned his back and tended to a panful of eggs that were frying, or more like drowning, in puddle of cloudy cooking oil.

“Thanks,” said Tanya. She put the teas in the box and dropped in some sachets of sugar and stirrers. Then she left the café.

Part 3 of her plan was complete. Part 4 was where she’d really have to hold her nerve.

Tanya managed to open the door without spilling any tea and walked quickly but carefully towards the river. As she reached the last corner she paused to do a quick recce of the situation. All the crowds had gone, apart from a few weirdos wandering around with nothing to do. The TV vans with big satellite dishes on the top were still there, but their doors were tightly shut. A cluster of council workers stood chatting and not doing anything. One policeman stood at the entrance of the barricade while another patrolled the perimeter with his hands behind his back. Tanya counted six people in total which wasn’t many. There would be more people down on the river bank, but they didn’t matter; it was just these ones she had to get past.

She had more tea than she needed, but that was okay. Better to have them and not need them, than need them and not have them.

Tanya held the box up at chest height, making a big show of it, like she was carrying the crown jewels, and walked as confidently as she could towards the council workers. They would be first.

“Teas up, boys,” she said loudly so everyone around could hear.

The men turned round and looked at Tanya like kids on Christmas morning.

“Oh you little star,” one of them said.

“God bless you,” said another.

Tanya handed out teas to all of them one by one. None of them asked who she was. Free tea was free tea.

Tanya sneaked a peak at the policemen who were now looking over at the plumes of hot steam rising from each man’s cup. Their eyes gave them away. Tea envy had set in. Tanya gave it a few more seconds, letting them suffer a bit longer, then she walked over to the gap in the metal fencing with her precious cargo. Both policemen were now standing there, each one swallowed at the same time.

“That tea looks nice,” said one of them.

“Oh, I’m afraid it’s only for council staff,” said Tanya. “These are for the rest of them looking after the whale.”

“Oh,” said the other policeman.

“But I’m sure I’ve got a few spare.” Tanya said. “Here, have a tea, compliments of Woolwich Council.” She handed them both a cup.

“That’s the best news I’ve had all morning,” said one of the policeman accepting the cup.

“Nice one, love,” said the other.

“No problem,” said Tanya. “Anyway, better deliver these, otherwise they’ll get cold and I’ll get it in the neck.”

“Don’t let us stop you,” said one of the officers, blowing on his tea.

Tanya walked straight through the gap in the barricades without being asked for any I.D. or a pass. No point in hanging around talking. Tanya allowed herself a little smile. She had outsmarted the police and the council workers with a few cups of tea. Not a bad morning’s work.

“Just a minute,” said a voice behind her. Tanya stopped and slowly turned. One of the policeman marched towards her still holding his cup. This was it, she thought. Maybe they weren’t so easily fooled after all.

“Got any sugar?” he asked.

Tanya relaxed. “Oh, yes.” She handed him a fistful of sugars and a stirrer. He looked pleased and returned to his colleague. Tanya kept walking until she got to the low wall beside the edge of the river. She wanted to look at the situation before she headed down to the shoreline.

And then she saw it.

The sight of the whale made her gasp. It was huge and beautiful. A massive slab of black flesh, large as a battleship. It dominated the whole mudflat, like a giant UFO had crashed landed. 

It was difficult for her eyes to fit it all in. This looked exactly the same as the whales she’d seen in her book, yet slightly deflated. Two flat fins drooped out from its sides, bigger than a person. Its mighty Y-shaped tail now looked saggy and useless.

She had to get closer.

A large metal ramp had been constructed out of scaffolding to get people and supplies down to the whale. Tanya noticed a few council workers walking back up it with shovels, their clothes were caked in river mud. More workers were on the foreshore dousing the whale with buckets of water and digging away the mud around it. She didn’t have enough tea for them all. It didn’t matter now that she had got past the police, so she dumped them in the nearest bin. Then she wished she kept one for herself because her throat was so dry.

Tanya walked onto the metal ramp and quickly made it down to the bottom. At this level the whale looked even bigger. She began stepping across the sticky mud and felt it pull at the soles of her shoes like it was magnetised. It was hard work and each step required a little tug of her leg to free her foot.

As she came closer, the whale it seemed to grow unnaturally larger. How could something so big be alive? It just wouldn’t compute in her mind. Humans were the biggest living thing around here, and that was how it was supposed to be. This whale wasn’t right – Tanya knew this was a ridiculous thing to think. But this beast was just too vast to be in London, a city where there wasn’t even enough space for the people.

Its size frightened her and she hadn’t expected this. Would it rear up at any moment and flatten her if she got too close? Curiosity pulled her closer but fear held her back. The two emotions were equally matched and caused a stalemate. Tanya just stood there motionless, neither moving forward or back.

The sight of it was hypnotic and her gaze locked on to it, taking in all its majestic features. She remembered the flat lumpy head from when she saw it the first time. The bumps looked brownish and were scattered over the top of his skull like oversized braille. She wondered if they were painful. Its mouth was a long horizontal slit running parallel with the top of its head. It was big enough to swallow a small car. Below this were strange deep ridges, almost like scars. They ran in gently waving lines underneath its chin. But it was the eye that fixated Tanya. It made her shiver. She was reminded that this animal was alive and there was a brain in there. It had feelings. Was it afraid? Did it know what was happening? Could it see out of the water? The eye was large and black like a dark crystal ball. It stared back at her unblinking. It was the saddest thing she’d ever seen. This mighty magnificent beast lying here like road kill.

Tanya felt weird inside, like when she’d smoked too much gear and her head got all hectic. Her brain couldn’t deal with the sudden rush. It was all too much for her. Chemicals were being released in her mind that Tanya wasn’t equipped to deal with, so they just swam around in her head, threatening to drown her.

She wasn’t prepared for these swirling emotions. Last time she’d felt like this was when she was a little girl, crying at a wildlife documentary on TV. Lions had just brought down a baby wildebeest. It dragged itself along, one leg hanging off. The lions took it in turns to maul it, picking at it until eventually it died of its wounds. Tanya remembered the injustice of it all. If people were there to film it then why weren’t they helping it? She remembered her father laughing at her, telling her that was how life was: survival of the fittest – eat or be eaten. Soon after she’d learnt to bury her feelings. Living on the estates meant you couldn’t afford the luxury of sensitivity. It made you soft and vulnerable.