Tell Me, Darling Page 6

  By the time the kids had stumbled out of the dorms, one or two laughing and giggling but most just looking annoyed and half-asleep, Joe was pacing up and down the grass with his clipboard, wearing glasses again, tension in every step. Sadie found Alvin, who had appeared in a voluminous brown checked dressing gown and slippers, and the two searched the dorms for any kids who had been left behind. They found a scared Swiss boy who had slept through the alarm and woken up to find the dorm deserted, and two girls who had decided to go back to sleep rather than line up, and got them outside to join their groups. Joe was on his phone again, his back to everyone. Sadie felt horrible, thinking that if she was him she would have no idea at all what to do.

  When everyone had been accounted for and all was silent, Joe turned to the assembled kids and spoke.

  “Again.” His voice was clear and loud. It was dark so Sadie couldn’t see his expression very well, but she could tell that he was even more stressed and angry than he had been before, and that his controlled, even voice was only the result of massive self-restraint. “Another false alarm. Another pile of glass in the passage. Another distress signal sent to the Fire Department. Did I not make it clear last time that this is a CRIME?” He couldn’t help it – his voice rose to a shout.

  The children were silent. Joe composed himself again. “We need to know who is responsible for this. The Fire Chief has been very gracious and will not take the case further this time, provided we find the person responsible and deal with him or her ourselves.”

  Keep calm, Joe, thought Sadie, willing him from across the lawn to keep his cool. He took a deep breath.

  “Whoever is responsible for this will own up. Now. Until then, we sit here.” He folded his arms. There was a low murmur from the kids. “No one is going back to bed until the person responsible owns up.”

  The kids on the grass looked at each other, all wondering what would happen next. Joe said nothing. He just stood facing them with his arms folded, his clipboard against his chest. A minute passed. Then two. Joe barely moved.

  “Maybe we should make sure everyone understands,” he said, looking around at the staff. “Gabriel – will you say that in Spanish for us? Emma – you speak Italian and French, right?”

  Gabriel stood up and rattled off a few sentences, and so did Emma.

  “Russian anyone?” asked Joe. One of the older Russian girls stood up.

  “I want to go back to sleep,” she said, and turned to the group, repeating the threat in Russian in a deadpan voice.

  “Thank you,” said Joe, as she sat down. Then he surprised everyone by saying it in German himself, clearly and loudly. Sadie couldn’t help being reminded of high school History lessons and Hitler’s speeches.

  “I think that covers everyone,” said Joe. “Now we wait.”

  Sadie sighed and sat down on the concrete step outside the dorm. It was a warm night, but still – all she wanted was to go back to bed. Gabriel came to sit next to her, very close. She didn’t move away, but she was in no mood to be romantic. Raj and Emma sat down on the other side of her, leaning against each other with their eyes closed.

  Ten minutes passed, and then fifteen. No one said a word. Someone asked to go to the bathroom and was told to wait. Oh dear, thought Sadie. Something needed to happen soon, or this was going to get ugly. She wondered how long Joe would last, but one look at his determined form standing unmoved in front of the kids told her the answer – as long as it took. This was an important stand-off. The kids needed to know that this crossed the line and it could not happen again.

  Sadie noticed some of the girls looking distressed and knew that this could not go on much longer before they had to let kids start going to the bathrooms. She also knew that if one was allowed to go, everyone would want to, and the moment would be lost. Someone needed to own up, soon.

  A minute later Joe crossed over to one side of the lawn. “These three groups – you may go to the bathroom if you need to. When everyone is back, the next groups may go.”

  He wasn’t going to back down. A few children got up and were back in a few minutes, and the next groups were allowed to go. One look from Joe silenced any ripples of giggling, chatting or complaining that the movement began. After half an hour all the groups had been covered and still Joe stood with his clipboard, mostly motionless, his face set. Some of the kids lay down on the grass or leant on each other. No one dared to speak.

  Sadie closed her eyes, thinking how nice it would be to put her head against Gabriel’s shoulder and go to sleep. She was about to do it when someone stood up. When she saw who it was, she shook her head in disbelief. Alexei?

  Alexei stood, his arms folded, his chin up. “No,” said Gabriel, in a whisper. “Not him. I don’t believe that!”

  “He would never do that,” whispered Sadie. “He must be taking the fall for someone!”

  Joe faced Alexei. “You set off the alarm?”

  Alexei nodded. “It was me,” he said. His voice was expressionless.

  Joe was silent. He took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and put them on again. “All right,” he said. “Come to my office, now. The rest of you, go back to bed.”

  There were sighs of relief and pockets of murmuring as the kids got up from the grass and trooped back inside. Sadie saw Alexei following Joe towards the office, his head hanging low. Sadie wanted to run up to Joe and beg him not to believe that Alexei could have done it. She felt absolutely certain that he was innocent. He didn’t deserve to be sent home in disgrace, and she wanted to stop whatever was about to happen.

  “Nursie!” she heard, as she watched them walk into the office, wondering if she should follow and interfere. It was Leon, running up to her. “Will you come? Something’s wrong with Richard.”

  Sadie turned, for the time being distracted. Richard was sitting on the concrete step outside the doors, his head between his knees. His insulin pump was dangling from his hand, which was shaking slightly. Sadie knelt beside him and felt his pulse. He was cold and clammy. “Richard! Are you low?”

  He managed to nod.

  Sadie pulled the cord with her keys over her head and looked up. She handed them to Jonesy, who was closest. “In the sick room, the cupboard, small black zip up case. Bring it, fast as you can.” Jonesy dashed off. “Anyone got some sugar on them? A sweet or something? A coke?” A few of the staff ran off to their rooms.

  Sadie looked at the screen on the insulin pump, but it was showing an error message. She checked Richard’s side for where the tiny cannula entered his body and saw at once that it had come loose. Jonesy arrived first with the case, and Sadie opened it and took out some of the glucose sweets inside, just as Raj ran up holding a coke. She fed Richard a sweet and got him to drink some of the coke, then got Leon and Johan to help him up. He could hardly walk.

  “We’ll just get him to the sick bay, so I can keep an eye on him. Don’t worry, guys,” she said to the crowd of concerned faces surrounding them.

  “He looks drunk,” said Raj.

  “He’s not drunk,” said Sadie. “He’ll be okay. His blood glucose just dropped really low. Maybe he didn’t hear his pump warning him in the noise of the fire alarm, and then pulled it out by accident when he got confused. He’ll be fine.”

  Sadie looked at her watch as she followed the guys down the passage towards Room 13. It was just after two, and she knew she was unlikely to get any more sleep tonight. Richard managed to get onto the bed, and Sadie opened her cupboard and got what she needed to check his blood sugar.

  “Wow, Richard, it’s not even 2,” she said, after she had pricked his finger and got a reading. “Do you have any other food in your room?”

  Leon was sent off to fetch a breakfast bar from Richard’s emergency stash, and soon he had eaten, had got his pump connected again and was feeling a little better. Sadie insisted he stay in Room 13 for the rest of the night so she could check that his blood glucose was going up, and he didn’t object – just lay down on the bunk under the duvet and was
asleep in minutes. The other guys went back to their rooms. Sadie fetched her phone from her room, set alarms to go off every fifteen minutes and sat down gratefully in the chair opposite the bed. She leant her head back, thoughts of Alexei and his confession returning. She wished she could speak to Joe about it.

  The alarm on her phone went off and Sadie realised she had dozed off. She got up and checked Richard’s pump screen, and then pricked his finger as well just to make sure. He didn’t even stir. Satisfied that the food was doing its thing and his BG was on the way back up, she sat back down again, thinking she’d check him twice more and then try to get some sleep herself. Thank you, Lord, she found herself saying in her mind, as she leant back again and let her tiredness wash over her. Thank you that we could help him in time. Just as she closed her eyes, she heard a soft knock at the door. She got up to open it. It was Joe.

  “Hi,” he whispered. “Sorry to disturb you.” She’d never seen him up close in his glasses before. It made him look so different – softer, more vulnerable, she thought.

  “It’s okay,” she said, quietly. “Richard is fast asleep. He didn’t even feel me prick his finger just now.”

  “Oh,” said Joe, looking over to where Richard lay sprawled on the bed. “Will he be all right? Should we call a doctor?”

  “He’ll be fine. No need to call a doctor. It’s probably happened to him before. My theory is that he didn’t hear his pump alarm with all the noise of the fire siren.”

  Joe shook his head. “What a mess,” he said.

  “Alexei – Joe, I’m sure he didn’t do it,” said Sadie. “I think he just confessed so they could all go back to bed.”

  “I know.” Joe rubbed his forehead again. “I asked him which alarm he had broken, and he said the wrong one. I didn’t believe him anyway. I’m pretty sure I know who it was.”

  “Fernando?”

  “Yes. I don’t trust him at all. He’s behind it, even if he didn’t do it himself. But I have no proof.”

  “Maybe we need to get a bit Famous Five tomorrow,” said Sadie. “Surely we can catch him somehow.”

  Joe was surprised. “You have the Famous Five in South Africa?”

  “Of course,” she said.

  “Interesting,” he said. “Sorry, I’m sure you want to get some sleep – I wanted to check on Richard and also – can I have some painkillers?”

  “Oh – sure,” she said, going to the cupboard. “For you? What’s wrong?”

  “Migraine,” he said. “I feel as if that siren is going off in my head.”

  “Sorry, Joe, that’s rough,” said Sadie, handing him some capsules in a blister pack. “Two now and two in another four hours if you need them. We can do the paperwork tomorrow, right?”

  “Yes, please,” he said. “Thank you. I appreciate it.”

  She smiled, shutting up the cupboard again. “It’s my job,” she said, with a shrug.

  “I know. But I think you go beyond that. Thank you.”

  Sadie felt embarrassed. “No problem. I hope you feel better soon.”

  Joe left, shutting the door quietly behind him. Sadie sat back down in the chair, checking the time and yawning. What a night – a fire alarm, a diabetic emergency, and an almost pleasant conversation with Joe. What a night.

  Chapter 13

  Sadie woke the next morning to the distinct feeling that she had overslept. She turned over, fumbled for her glasses and sat up. She could see her phone on the desk across the room beside a note, standing up against a plate of fruit and a yoghurt. She got down from her bunk to read it.

  Took the liberty of turning off your alarm. Breakfast in bed today, Nursie!

  Caitlin xxx

  Wow, she thought, sitting down on the chair and rubbing her eyes. She read the note again, touched by the kindness of her friend and so grateful for the extra sleep. She looked at her phone – it was after eight. She had checked Richard for the last time at four, and confident that his pump was working fine, had locked up the cupboard and gone to bed. She pulled on a sweatshirt and went next door to find him already gone, the bed made and another note waiting for her, scribbled on the back of an incident report form.

  Thanks Sadie. All back to normal – as normal as it gets. Appreciate it.

  Rich

  She smiled to herself as she went back to her room to get ready for the day. Her first duty was in the office at nine thirty, so after she was dressed, she sat on the chair by the window with her breakfast and her phone. There were messages and photos from her Mom that she hadn’t seen yet, and she smiled as she read them and looked at the pictures of home – of Mom and Dad, and a few from a family braai the weekend before. As usual Mom had sent her a Bible verse, and before she could scroll past, she had read it, even though she didn’t particularly want to.

  On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. Psalm 63:6

  Oh Mom, she thought. Maybe she was still in the shadow of God’s wings, but she definitely hadn’t been thinking of him in the watches of the night. She hadn’t been singing to God – even when songs came to her in her dreams, she had tried to drown them out with something else. She couldn’t remember the last time she had read her Bible. She was becoming pretty good at squashing unwelcome thoughts, like the guilty ones she had felt when she had flirted with guys in clubs in London, danced with them in ways her mom wouldn’t have believed, and taken experimental puffs of whatever was going around. It wasn’t a problem, she told herself, as she ate a banana and scrolled past the photos. She was on her journey of self-discovery, she was happy for now in this temporary world of work, fun and interesting people, especially her very handsome and attentive Spanish friend, and she didn’t need church and Bible verses. Besides – Alexei was in trouble for something he hadn’t done, and she needed to get out there and do something about it.

  When she got to the admin office, the door was ajar. She paused outside and heard voices – Joe and one of the kids. Before she could think about eavesdropping on purpose, she had heard some of their conversation.

  “Francesco,” said Joe. His voice was gentle. “You’re a nice kid. I don’t think you want him to get away with this.”

  “That Russian boy, he say he do it!” said Francesco, sounding wound up and distressed.

  “You know he did not.”

  There was silence.

  “I need to know what happened, or I will have to send Alexei home. Are you worried about what Fernando will do to you?”

  “Yes,” said Francesco, quietly. “I can’t say things about him. Nobody can!”

  “What about someone he doesn’t know from home?” said Joe. “What about the Swiss guy who is your friend? Does he know anything?”

  “Nobody will say, Joe,” said Francesco. “I’m sorry. Alexei is stupid to say he do it.”

  There was silence again. Sadie felt so bad for listening to the conversation, but she couldn’t bring herself to walk away.

  “He see you call me out of class,” said Francesco. “If you say now you know it is him – he will know is me!”

  “I won’t,” said Joe. Sadie was surprised at the patience and calm in his voice. “Don’t worry.”

  “You say don’t-a worry!” said Francesco. “I worry!”

  Sadie decided it was time to interrupt. At her knock, Joe and Francesco stood up. She saw that Alvin was in the office too, sitting behind the desk at the computer.

  “Hi guys,” said Sadie, as breezily as she could.

  “Hi Sadie,” said Francesco, mournfully.

  “You can go back to class now,” said Joe, patting him on the back. Francesco made his way across the grass to the classrooms.

  Joe sighed. “He won’t say what he knows. I don’t think anyone will. If Alexei won’t take it back, I’ll have to send him home.”

  “We don’t want to do that,” said Alvin. “He’s such a good kid. Future Prime Minister of Russia material.”

 
“Doesn’t Russia have a President?” asked Sadie.

  “It has both,” said Joe.

  “Don’t do anything yet,” said Sadie. “I think I might have a plan.”

  “Like the Famous Five?” asked Joe.

  “Did you just make a little joke?” asked Alvin, feigning shock. “Joe?”

  Joe held his hands up in defence. “Sadie’s joke,” he said. “Is it a secret plan, Sadie?”

  “Not really. But give me until this evening and I’ll see if my hunch is right.”

  “Ooh la la,” said Alvin. “The plot thickens! Can’t wait.”

  “I might need your help,” said Sadie. “And Emma’s. It’s a long shot, but it just might work.”

  Alvin rubbed his hands together with excitement. Joe just looked concerned.

  A few hours later Sadie was in the dining hall, her plan set out in her head. She had a feeling it was going to pay off – she just had to keep her cool and not betray anything. She took her bowl of dessert over to the table where Fernando sat with his group of hangers-on, as usual laughing and talking loudly. She joined them as she had a few times before.

  “Hi guys,” she said. “Did you enjoy the ice cream?”

  “Rubbish,” said Fernando, pushing his bowl away from him with the arm that was not around Natalya. “In Italy we would never eat this …” As usual he just had to try out his English swearwords.

  “I hear nothing beats Italian gelato,” said Sadie. “You guys are leaving next week – can I take some photos of you before I forget?”

  The kids were happy to pose for Sadie, who took out her phone and took a few pictures.

  “Aw, those are so nice!” she said, turning her phone around and looking at the pictures.

  “Take one for me!” said Natalya, digging in her pocket for her phone. Brilliant, thought Sadie. This was just what she had planned. She took some pictures for Natalya, and soon she had a pile of phones in front of her. It was almost too easy to swap her phone for Fernando’s when she handed them back. To her relief he didn’t pick it up right away, he was too busy looking at the pictures on Natalya’s phone, his arm still around her. She looked around and saw Alvin waiting, and gave him a quick nod.