‘Very well, thank you, Rick,’ replied Louis, shoving Jenny
out of his bed as fast as she tried to climb in it.
‘Jenny, let your brother drink his tea in peace,’ said Rick,
laughing as he handed Louis a cup of tea. ‘What do you kids want for
breakfast?’
The chaos of three children and four adults crammed into one
small flat helped to relax Louis as he sipped his tea and waited patiently for
his turn to use the bathroom. It took quite a while to get everyone showered
and fed, but eventually the time came when Louis could procrastinate no more.
‘Right then, Louis,’ said Rick, handing Louis a pocket-size
London A to Z atlas, ‘you are currently here.’ Rick pointed to the location of
his home before continuing. ‘I’m not going to mark the map in case you lose
this book. Sorry to be over-cautious, but we find it’s the best way to survive.
Can you see that OK? Can you remember? Good man!’ Louis stared at the page in
the A to Z, memorising the exact location of the Lonsdales’ Walworth home before
nodding at Rick to continue.
Flipping the pages, Rick pointed to another area of London.
‘Kensington,’ he said. ‘Home to the rich, the famous and the powerful. Lord
William is all three. He could be called a lot of other things too; I won’t
list them now, but suffice to say none of them are good. Your tree-lined road is
this one here.’ Once again Louis stared, focused and memorised.
‘OK,’ he said, thinking he’d never felt so scared in all his
life.
‘Getting from here to Kensington is going to be a problem.
The Unsponsored are only allowed to use public transport at designated times.
This isn’t one of those times; the next one is two days away, but I’m guessing
you don’t want to wait that long. We could drive you part of the way, but the
roads in the more affluent areas of the city are closed to all but holders of
Gold Sponsor cards. Also, I think it would be safer to leave Sarah’s car in the
garage and out of sight.’ Louis nodded in agreement. ‘So,’ Rick continued,
‘that leaves two options. Walking or cycling. We do have a bicycle and all the
kit which you’re very welcome to use, but not a lot of people cycle, so it
could make you a little conspicuous.’
‘How long would it take to walk?’ asked Louis, wanting to
remain as inconspicuous as possible.
‘A couple of hours I should think. Probably for the best,
though.’ Referring to the A to Z once more, Rick said, ‘You don’t want to be
stopping to consult this too much, so I’m going to work out as simple a route
as possible for you.’ Rick talked Louis through the best route from the
Unsponsored flats to Westminster Bridge, and once again Louis looked and
memorised.
‘Once you get to Elephant and Castle, Westminster will be
signposted. When you’re on the bridge you’ll be able to blend in with the other
tourists, so consulting the A to Z won’t present a problem then. Now, have you
got a hat? The more you can blend in the better, which means covering up that
bright white hair of yours.’ Louis pulled his huge sunhat from his rucksack,
dismayed when Rick burst out laughing. ‘Louis, you can’t walk through London in
that thing. Here,’ he said, handing over a navy-blue baseball cap, which Louis
put on his head.
‘Excellent,’ said Rick approvingly. ‘Luckily it’s a bright
day so your dark glasses won’t make you stand out. Right, I think that’s pretty
much it. I’ll walk some of the way with you if you like, but my place really is
here with my family.’
‘Of course,’ said Louis, wishing he could take Rick up on his
kind offer but realising that Rick would rather he didn’t. ‘I’ll be fine, Rick.
Thank you. Thanks for all your advice too, and the book and stuff...’
Louis fell silent; and Rick, sensing the young man’s fear,
hugged him briefly.
‘Stay safe, Louis. Be careful.’
‘I will,’ said Louis, ‘I’ll be back before you know it. Come here,
Jen, give me a hug.’
‘Where are you going, Louis?’ asked Jenny distractedly, more
interested in her game with Matt and Charlotte than in listening to her
brother. Trying not to feel hurt, Louis told himself it was for the best as he
kissed his little sister on the head. It would have been far more difficult to
leave had Jenny been clinging to him and crying.
‘I’m off to see a friend, darling,’ he said. ‘Bye then,
kids.’
‘Mmm,’ said the children without looking up from their game.
‘I’ll see you out,’ said Sarah, leading Louis to the door.
‘Bye, Rick, Lisa,’ called Louis.
‘Bye, Louis, you got everything? Map?’
‘In my pocket.’
‘Phone number?’
‘In my head.’
‘Good, good. Well, good luck!’
Walking with Louis to the lift, Sarah punched in the code
that Rick had taught them the previous night and rode down to ground level with
him.
‘Do you have to go?’ Sarah asked, making one final attempt to
keep her precious Louis safe by her side.
‘Yes, Sarah, you know I do,’ replied Louis, hugging her
tightly. ‘Please don’t cry or you’ll start me off!’
‘Go now, darling,’ said Sarah, returning his hug fiercely.
‘The sooner you go, the sooner you can come back to me.’
Letting him go, Sarah turned abruptly on her heel and walked
back into the building, leaving Louis alone to fend for himself for the first
time in his life. By the time her tears had subsided enough for her to re-enter
her brother’s home and face the children, Sarah had been gone so long that Jenny
was starting to fret that she wasn’t going to return.
Louis
walked. He walked away from the warm, friendly homes of the Unsponsored,
realising that he’d never think of them as ugly again. Sticking to the route
that Rick had talked him through so recently, Louis soon found himself on the
busy New Kent Road; passing shops, markets and food stalls as diverse as the
Unsponsored people who ran them. Reaching the Elephant and Castle roundabout
without incident, Louis found directions to Westminster Bridge just as Rick had
promised. Luckily the signposts were large enough for Louis’s weak eyes to
focus upon, so he didn’t have to draw attention to himself by standing
squinting for too long.
Beyond the roundabout the surroundings changed rapidly,
became much more attractive, the shops and passers-by obviously Sponsored, and
Louis realised that he’d left the Unsponsored neighbourhoods behind him for the
time being. A past master at not being noticed, Louis found he had no problem
slipping past the people around him, all far too preoccupied with their
Sponsor-endorsed lives to pay any attention to a pale figure in dark glasses and
baseball cap. There was one heart-stopping moment when he heard a shout of ‘Oi,
Unsponsored scum!’ and the sound of running feet, followed by relief when he
realised the shout had been aimed at the runners, not him. Crossing over
Westminster Bridge to the north side of the Thames, Louis allowed himself a
second to gaze at the famous sights of Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and
the London Eye before trudging on his way. Again Rick had been correct; Westminster
Bridge was thronging with visitors, so Louis didn’t stand out at all as he
looked at his A to Z and got his bearings. Lake District boy Louis always felt
comfortable beside water, so it was reluctantly that he left the river behind
him to make his way through the wealthy streets towards Kensington. The further
he went the more affluent his surroundings became, until finally he found the
road he was looking for. As he walked deep into Sponsor territory, Louis’s
nerves returned with a vengeance, and by the time he reached the now-familiar
tree-lined road he was starting to feel some empathy for a terrified rabbit
caught in a vehicle’s headlights.
‘Oh God, I want to go home,’ said Louis to himself, before
summoning up every ounce of his will-power and walking along the road to the St
Benedict residence. Louis had no idea what he was going to do once he got
there, realising all of a sudden how woefully unprepared he was. Just as well,
then, that no plan was needed. As Louis reached the house, he saw that a means
of entry was right there in front of him; and without giving himself time to
think, he took it.
