the phone call, Freddie lay looking at the nicotine-stained ceiling. Replaying Neil’s words over in her head. You’ve just got to seize the story. If she called her mum she’d only have to fend off her soft pleading to give up this ‘London madness’ and return to Pendrick, the commuter market town she’d left behind. Her mum didn’t understand she wanted to do more than try for a job at Pendrick’s local council. She wanted to make a difference. Bear witness. Maybe one day be a war correspondent. She sighed. It was half past four and already getting dark. The night was winning the fight.
20:05
Friday 30 October
No tattoos or unnatural piercings are to be visible. Freddie rolled the sleeves of her black shirt up, stopping just below the feet of her Jane and the Dragon tattoo. Partners are free to wear any black collared shirt and pants they choose, with many proud employees purchasing those bearing Espress-oh’s logo from the company store. She tucked the ends of her H&M shirt into her trousers. All partners are supplied with Espress-oh’s world-famous apron and hat to wear with pride. Freddie tightened the yellow apron strings round her waist. As if dealing with douches who wanted extra caramel syrup wasn’t enough, they made you dress like a freaking banana.
‘Turn that frown upside down!’ Dan, the manager of Espress-oh’s St Pancras branch, appeared in the hallway they called the staffroom. His fake-tanned skin an alarming orange next to his yellow Espress-oh’s uniform. He resembled a Picasso fruit bowl.
Freddie punched down the overstuffed bin bags that were shoved under the tiny kitchen surface. Ten Signs You Hate Your Boss (mental note: look for amusing gifs to accompany pitch). She lifted the bag she knew contained the expired best-before-date produce. ‘Bin’s full, Dan,’ she said. ‘I’ll just pop this one in the wheelie outside.’
‘Quick, quick, customers to bring joy to,’ Dan said without looking up from his stocktake clipboard.
All Espress-oh’s food waste is to be incinerated. Clutching the bag, Freddie left through the staff-only station exit and stood in the underground area that housed the bins and a healthy population of rats. She let her eyes adapt to the dim light and whistled. There was slight movement from the far corner. ‘Kath, that you?’ she called.
An elderly woman in the remains of a tattered skirt and layered jumpers, her hair matted and grey down her shoulders, edged into the light. She smiled a yellowing grin at Freddie. ‘Nice evening for it.’
‘Bit colder than when we met in July, hey? Do you remember?’ Kathy was getting increasingly confused, and Freddie had read with senility cases it was important to reiterate reality.
‘Course I do,’ said Kathy. ‘Me and Pat asked for one of your cigarettes.’
‘That’s right,’ said Freddie. ‘I was on my break. And what did you tell me about the old days?’ She glanced over her shoulder to check no one was following her out.
‘Oh! All the fun we used to have! The girls and I. This was our patch,’ Kathy smiled.
‘That’s right’ said Freddie. Until the regeneration tidied up the safe spots where you and the other ex-sex workers slept rough, and turned them into crowdfunded hipster coffee shops. She couldn’t write about Kath and the others and risk alerting the private security guards to their whereabouts, but she could recycle food that was destined for the bin. ‘Here you go.’ She held the bag out. There was a nasty cut on Kathy’s hand. ‘What’s that?’
‘Just some drunk kids. They took my sleeping bag.’ Kathy rooted through the packets. ‘Any of those funny cheese and grape ones today? They’re my favourites.’
‘Did you get the sleeping bag back?’ Freddie tried to get her to concentrate.
‘Nah,’ she hooked out a sandwich and put it in her pocket.
It was bitterly cold out: what was Kathy sleeping under? ‘Did you report it to the police?’
Kathy laughed. ‘They don’t care ’bout likes of me, dearie. No bother, though. I’m just A-okay.’ She squeezed Freddie’s arm, and Freddie felt how thin her fingers were. ‘I’ll make sure the other girls get their share.’ She bundled the bag up.
Kathy shuffled back toward the fire escape door Freddie propped open on her way into work. Freddie resolved to find a sleeping bag on Amazon and bring it in for her. She’d roped in her sympathetic work colleague, Milena, and they took it in turns to make these illicit drops. ‘Me or Milena will see you tomorrow,’ Freddie said. ‘If Dan’s out the way, I’ll try and get you some hot drinks, yeah?’
The old lady held up her hand to signal goodbye.
‘Here, Kathy, hang on,’ she jogged over to press the last of her fags into the old lady’s hand.
‘Pat’ll be pleased,’ she said.
‘Yes,’ nodded Freddie, though she knew Pat had been found dead of exposure at the end of September. The authorities weren’t interested: the NHS and homeless charities she’d spoken to were too stretched to come here and hunt out one elderly, senile woman. Kathy had far outlived the average age a homeless person was expected to reach. She was a tough old bird. ‘Try and keep warm, yeah?’ Freddie turned and headed back toward work. A Terrible Waste: how food destined for the bin could save lives.
Out on the floor she nodded at Milena, whose pony-tailed long dark hair and high Bulgarian cheekbones incredulously worked with Espress-oh’s uniform. Would she agree to an interview? An Immigrant Truth: two jobs, business school, and sharing a room with three others – how London betrayed its silent workforce.
‘Freddie?’ Dan had fixed her in his sights. He hadn’t seen anything had he?
She watched as he dug his hand into the dusty beans that formed an interactive display along the till.
‘Never forget, these are magic beans.’
Nope. He just wanted to share some more inane motivational drivel. Behind him, as the customers inspected the soggy sandwiches, Milena smacked the palm of her hand repeatedly against her forehead.
20:19 Nine hours and forty-one minutes to go. How Childhood Fairy Tales Set Generation Y Up To Fail.
04:43
Saturday 31 October
Eight Times People Actually Died of Boredom. A WhatsApp chat alert flashed on Freddie’s phone, which was under the till out of the sight of customers.
A white speech bubble from Milena, who was outside taking a fag break, read: ‘Dan is’, and then there was a series of smiling poo emojis.
Freddie typed back: ‘Espress-woes.’
‘Are you in charge?’
Shoving her phone into her pocket, she looked up to find
