Leaning over, Mr. Vadher stroked the back of his wife’s hand.
Chewing her bottom lip, she then took a deep breath. “That was when we knew we needed to get off our estate. If they were prepared to do that to a six-month-old…”
The second mouthful stuck in George’s throat. “A six-month-old?”
Sobbing, Mrs. Vadher nodded.
“Wow! Things went to hell fast, eh?”
Blowing her nose, Mrs. Vadher nodded again. “They did. We made slow progress across London, hiding out when we needed a rest.” A heavy frown dominated her brow. “We really slowed Ravi down.”
When Ravi looked at his dad, Mr. Vadher dropped his head and kept it bowed. It was an acceptance of his loss of role in the family.
“That’s why we’re grateful for being here. We’re safe here. We also have faith. That faith has delivered us a guardian angel.” Smiling through her grief, she leant over and held George’s hand. “Thank you, George. You’ve come to us when we’ve needed you most.”
Staring at his dinner plate, George sat with his face on fire. Although she still held his hand, it was the blood that he looked at. The boy and the father in the big house had probably thought he was their guardian angel too.
Pulling her hand away, Mrs. Vadher put an arm over Ravi’s shoulders. “We used to worry about this boy so much.”
“Mum,” Ravi said from the corner of his mouth.
“Not when he was a little dit. He was fine then. Really sweet. He was into everything and loved to build. Lego, toilet rolls, blocks, he’d build something from anything.” Pulling him close to her, she then winked at George. “He was our little engineer.”
The table seemed to be the most interesting place for Ravi as he cleared his throat and scratched his head.
“It was when he got older that we worried for him. He would go out on the estate, and we wouldn’t see him for hours. We didn’t know what he was doing, and all of his friends were druggies or muggers.”
The wrinkles on her face vanished when she smiled. “But he turned it around. He got a job and got his head down. The boys on the estate were still there, but Ravi was getting socially mobile. He was getting paid and getting out. That was the dream on the estates. To get out one day.” Staring into the darkness surrounding them, she shook her head, her eyes glazed. “It’s strange that someone like Dean would choose to live here when he has the opportunity to live anywhere in London.”
“It’s safe,” George said. “Both emotionally and practically. You put a fence around this place, and you have a fort. Also, when things are as chaotic as they are, I suppose it’s nice to have something you know. He’s lived here for so long…”
After nodding her agreement, Mrs. Vadher said, “It was one of the boys we didn’t like that saved us. Judgment is a wicked thing, George. Judgment polarized this society. Judgment turned someone like Dean into a lunatic. Judgment from the upper classes that his life was a waste, a drain on the state. I bet they’re regretting ever making him feel like that now. I’m ashamed to say we judged Ravi’s friends. But we’ve learned now that we were wrong. We thought they were no good for our boy, but our boy was on the right path while still being friends with them.”
“You must have done something right then.”
Looking at one another, Ravi’s parents smiled and his mum said, “We’ve been blessed with our little engineer.”
Reverting to the little boy that he clearly used to be, Ravi whined, “Stop it, Mum.”
“We plan to get out of here though. We want to head to the seaside. Bournemouth. It’s where a lot of our family are, and we want to be with them. We just need the opportunity to leave. We need to wait for London to calm down.”
Scoffing, Ravi shook his head. “That ain’t happening anytime soon.”
“You’ll find a way. You’re our shining light.”
“I need to be more than that, Mum. I need to be a battle axe. I need to be a landslide. I need to learn how to fight with force, not intelligence. We live in a basic world now where the winners are those with the fiercest will and strongest might. I need to man the fuck up if we’re to survive.”
Heavy breaths raised and dropped the boy’s tense frame. Resting clenched fists on the table, he ground his jaw. It was the first time George had seen him like this. It was hard not to laugh.
“Now come on, Ravi,” his mum said as she leant over and rubbed his shoulder. “We’ve spoken about this. Anger doesn’t serve you. It won’t help you rebuild a positive future.”
Throwing his reply back, Ravi’s voice cracked like a whip. “It’ll help me fight my way out of here though, Mum. It will help us survive. The nice guy doesn’t win in this life anymore.”
Another long spell of silence was broken by Ravi’s mum. “Tell me about your life before all of this, George.” When she winked at him, her eyes glowed. “You’re a good-looking man. Where’s your wife? Your family?”
Raising his hand, Ravi looked across the table at George. “You don’t have to answer that.”
The slight frame of Mrs. Vadher sagged at the berating. It sent a pang through George’s heart. “No, it’s okay. I don’t have a family. I only have a sister.”
“And where is she, dear?”
No matter how many times he said it, the words never came easily. “She’s married to Dean.”
After putting her glass down on the table, Mrs. Vadher’s face fell slack. “Oh.”
“Crap, isn’t it? That’s the only reason I’m staying here. Dean has her, he knows where she is and she’s pregnant. She’s close to full term.”
The intensity of having them all staring made George sweat, and his throat tightened. “Once I get reunited with her, I’m gone. This life ain’t for me.”
“It ain’t for any of us, son,” Ravi’s dad said. “It’s the best we can make of a dire situation. I feel sorry for you guys. At least we get to stay at home. From what Ravi’s told us, it’s brutal out there.”
The flickering light shimmered over George’s bloody hands.
Leaning forwards, Ravi’s mum tipped a wine bottle up. “Here.”
Placing his hand over his cup, George shook his head. “No thank you. I don’t drink.”
“You ought to start,” Ravi said. “It makes things easier.”
There was a waver in George’s voice when he replied. “I’ve not drunk for years.”
Tilting her head to one side, Mrs. Vadher frowned. “Why not?”
“Stop asking him questions, Mum.”
Taking a moment, George took several deep breaths. “Things didn’t turn out too well the last time I drank.” The silence surrounded them, and George stared at the table. His ribs ached. “I had a family once. I had a wife and a boy. Zach was the perfect child. So bright and fierce.”
When he looked up, all three of them were watching at him, hung on every word. “He died.”
Ravi’s mum gasped.
“I had a few beers after I’d put him to bed one night. I was watching the football that I’d recorded from earlier that day. He was a good kid. At two, he slept through the night. We were lucky that we had such a good sleeper.”
The silence encouraged him to fill it. “I’d put a pizza in the oven and fell asleep.” The flickering light softened, and his eyes burned as tears rose to the surface. “Sorry, you don’t need to be hearing this.”
It was Ravi who spoke this time. “Carry on, George. We want to know.”
“I didn’t wake up until the fire service were kicking the front door down.” A growl tore his voice. “It was too fucking late by then. He was gone.” Slipping his hand up his top, he felt the swirls of burned skin on his ribcage. “The flames set my top on fire. I can still smell the mix of my own burning flesh and sweatshirt. I hate to think about the pain Zach would have gone through. I’ve been told that a lot of people die in their sleep because of smoke inhalation.” Pulling a deep breath into his tightening lungs, George sighed. “I hope he never woke up.”