Dead Tomorrow

strung out on Aurolac. The telltale squat plastic bottle with its broken white seal and the yellow and red label bearing the words LAC Bronze Argintiu lay on the floor in front of them. The rank smell of this place hit him, as it did each time, and with particular force now in contrast to the fresh, windy, rainy air outside. The mustiness, the fetid body smells, dirty clothes and the soiled-nappy stench of the baby.
    ‘Food!’ he announced breezily. ‘I got some money and I bought amazing food!’
    Only Valeria reacted. Her big, sad eyes rolled towards him, like two marbles that had run out of momentum. ‘Who gave you money?’
    ‘It was a charity. They give money to street people like us!’
    She shrugged her shoulders, uninterested. ‘People who give you money always want something back.’
    He shook his head vigorously. ‘No, not this person. She was beautiful, you know? Beautiful inside!’ Then he walkedover to her and opened up the bag for her to inspect the contents. ‘Look, I bought you stuff for the baby!’
    Valeria dug her hand in and pulled out a tin of condensed milk. ‘I’m worried about Simona,’ she said, turning it around and reading the label. ‘She hasn’t moved all day. She just cries.’
    Romeo walked over and squatted down beside Simona, putting an arm around her. ‘I bought you chocolate,’ he said. ‘Your favourite. Dark chocolate!’
    She was silent for some moments and then she sniffed. ‘Why?’
    ‘Why?’
    She said nothing.
    He pulled out a bar and put it under her nose. ‘Why? Because I want you to have something nice, that’s why.’
    ‘I want to die. That would be nice.’
    ‘You said yesterday you wanted to go to England. Wouldn’t that be nicer?’
    ‘That’s a dream,’ she said, staring bleakly ahead.
    ‘Dreams don’t come true, not for people like us.’
    ‘I met someone today. She can take us to England. Would you like to meet her?’
    ‘Why? Why would she take us to England?’
    ‘Charity!’ he replied brightly. ‘She has a charity to help street people. I told her about us. She can get us jobs in England!’
    ‘Yeah, sure, as erotic dancers?’
    ‘Any kind of jobs we want. Bars. Cleaning rooms in hotels. Anything.’
    ‘Is she like the man I met at the station?’
    ‘No, she is a nice lady. She is kind.’
    Simona said nothing. More tears trickled down her cheeks.
    ‘We can’tstay like this. Is that what you want, to stay like this for all our lives?’
    ‘I don’t want to be hurt any more.’
    ‘Can’t you trust me, Simona? Can’t you?’
    ‘What is trust?’
    ‘We’ve seen England on television. In the papers. It’s a good country. We could have an apartment in England! We could have a new life there!’
    She started crying. ‘I don’t want a new life any more. I want to die. Finish. It would be easier.’
    ‘She’s coming by tomorrow. Will you at least meet her, talk to her?’
    ‘Why would anybody want to help us, Romeo?’ she asked. ‘We’re nothing.’
    ‘Because there are some good people in the world.’
    ‘Is that what you believe?’ she asked bleakly.
    ‘Yes.’
    He unwrapped the chocolate bar and broke off a section, holding it in front of her. ‘Look. She gave me money for food, for treats. She’s a good person.’
    ‘I thought the man at the railway station was a good person.’
    ‘Can you imagine being in England? In London? We could live in an apartment in London. Making good money! Away from all this shit! Maybe we’ll see rock stars there. I’ve heard that a lot of them live in London!’
    ‘The whole world is shit,’ she replied.
    ‘Please, Simona, at least come and meet her tomorrow.’
    She raised a hand and took the chocolate.
    ‘Do you really want to spend another winter down here?’ he asked.
    ‘At least we are warm here.’
    ‘You don’t want to go to London because it is warmhere? Right? How great is that? Maybe it’s warm in London too.’
    ‘Go fuck yourself!’
    He grinned. She was perking up. ‘Valeria wants to come too.’
    ‘With the baby?’
    ‘Sure, why not?’
    ‘She’s coming tomorrow, this woman?’
    ‘Yes.’
    Simona bit one square off the chocolate strip. It tasted good. So good she ate the whole bar.

38
    Roy Grace stood onthe touchline of the football pitch, beneath the glare of the floodlights, and jammed his gloveless hands deep into his raincoat pockets, shivering in the biting wind high up here in Whitehawk. At least the rain had stopped and there was a