said. The sound cut off for a minute, but then her voice returned in a whisper. ‘Listen, I’m scared, Yonas. If the tax men come again, they won’t let me off so lightly. They kept telling me you know where he is, come on, admit it, you know where he is. They had guns and they kept putting their hands on them.’
Yonas could hear her voice wavering, and he winced. He knew what could happen to deserters’ families… but orphaned families? Children whose parents had fought for liberation, who were national heroes? Whose brothers were maimed fighting in the border war? All that might as well have been for nothing now. To the authorities he was a traitor and a deserter and, thanks to him, Melat was tarred with the same brush.
‘What else did they say?’ he asked. He felt like punching the window and shattering it. ‘Did they threaten you with prison?’
‘They had guns for a reason.’
‘What did you tell them?’
‘Like I told you – I knew nothing. I made them come and see Sheshy, told them I was caring for a martyr.’
Yonas sighed. It could so easily have been him in a wheelchair. ‘How is he?’
‘Miserable. Only thing that makes him smile is playing chess with this friend of his who lost an arm. They play every week.’
Even after all these years it was still hard to imagine Sheshy twinless, having to make friends on his own who would accept him in a wheelchair. Instinctively, Yonas still thought of Sheshy and Tekle as a duo, a pair of cute but irritating toddlers, always together, always scheming and giggling, who pushed over his wooden block towers and tried to copy everything he did, but whom he’d have done anything to defend, even though they would always love each other more than him. ‘Can I speak to him?’ he asked.
‘He’s asleep.’
‘Oh. Well, when he wakes up, tell him… he is brave. Braver than his big brother.’
‘Right.’ Melat’s voice sounded tart, cynical, as if she were thinking: Yes, well, it’s true.
‘Now I am working, we can save up for his prosthetics, Yonas added.’
‘Okay.’
There was a long pause. ‘And how is Grandmother?’
‘Worse.’ Melat puffed out a long breath. ‘She’s gone downhill. I mean, she can barely remember who came to visit five minutes ago and she’s got so cranky and frail…’
Grandmother had been fine before Yonas left, asking him to find her glasses and forgetting what she’d just been about to do, and complaining of the odd ache and pain, that was all. She used to be a strong woman, with a steely voice, hard to deal with sometimes, but she would do anything for the family, and adored Melat. Many older women would have disowned a pregnant unmarried granddaughter, but Grandmother had lied gallantly to the whole community, making out that Melat had a fiancé who was killed in battle. And it was Grandmother who had stepped in to help when Melat went through that crazy phase, leaving her tiny baby screeching in one room, and hitting herself on the forehead in another, swearing, saying that she couldn’t look at her any more, that all she saw was him, that her life was ruined, that she wanted to throw the baby out of the window. Yonas had panicked, and tried to shout some sense into his sister, but Grandmother had kept cool, just told Melat calmly to rest, to sleep, and to let her tend to Lemlem for a while, even in the night-time. Gradually the darkness in Melat’s eyes had faded, and she even started to take delight in Lemlem’s smiles, her kamikaze crawling.
‘I wish I could help you more,’ Yonas said. ‘At least some money will come soon. Right now I’m staying with some guys and we are doing things like cleaning mostly, and the money we are earning does not get me far – you would not believe what things cost here! But I will find a better job and place to live soon, and then I can send more…’ He tried to assert this confidently, but heard his voice falter and changed the subject. ‘And what about Lemlem?’
Melat laughed finally, and it was like music. ‘Well, she’s the ray of light. Her schooling is terrible, you know, education here has dive-bombed and most of her classmates can barely read, but at least thanks to Father I know enough to teach her at home. We’re lucky to have his books. She is reading English now, all by herself, she can sit for hours…’
‘Amazing! I wish I could see her.’
‘She misses you. Oh Yonas, I can’t bear the thought of my baby getting conscripted…’
‘Melat, don’t even think about that yet – it’s more than a decade until Lemlem turns seventeen. Things will change.’
‘Mmm. I hope so. Now, tell me about Gebre,’ Melat said. ‘How is he?’
‘Oh, he made it to the UK with me… he’s doing all right, I think.’
‘You think?’
‘He isn’t with me just now – he will be joining soon.’
‘How come? From where?’
He could hear the accusation in Melat’s voice as well as surprise. He couldn’t remember his childhood before Gebre was in it, and Melat probably couldn’t either. ‘He… found different work outside London. He wanted to stay and do that for a bit longer. Look, I’m about to run out of credit, but can I just say hello to Lemlem?’ There was a pause, but he heard Melat call her name, then a fast, drumming sound.
‘Uncle Yonas!’ cried a tiny voice. ‘I can read English now so Mama says I can come and stay with you and go to school in London!’
After hanging up, Yonas stood still for a moment, imagining them all at home, how they’d be chewing over the conversation later. Would he ever get to see them again? How would he forgive himself if the tax men came and beat Melat, or sent her to prison, all because of him?
The graffiti around the phone box walls read:
Emma n Ben 4ever
Live 4 the moment
Get Out this is my urinal
He pulled out Bin Man Joe’s number and typed into the keypad. The ring trilled over and over, like a robotic bird. Just like Auntie, he was never going to answer – perhaps it was a fake number – but then:
‘Hello?’
‘Oh, hello!’ Yonas replied. ‘This is… You took me to the station.’
‘Oh, you! Well, I never…’
‘I just want to say thank you. I thought you would like to know that I found a place to live and a job.’
‘Right! Well, that’s fantastic – good on you.’
‘Also I am calling because… I need to ask you for help one more time. Not for me, but for my friend. He might find you in the same place. I want him to know that he can come to join me.’
Silence.
‘I don’t have a phone yet, but there is a shopkeeper near where I’m living, he knows how to find me, so if you can pass the address to my friend – his name is Gebre – he can find me that way. I
