My hands were trembling slightly, and my back was covered in sweat. I needed to stop and breathe. I sat down cross-legged between two cars, so I couldn’t be seen, and took two minutes to close my eyes and slow my breathing. The punch replayed itself over and over in my mind; I couldn’t believe how well it had worked. My hand hurt, a lot, but so did my elbow and knee. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I had to move on, and get out of the guarded enclave. I kept breathing, and after a minute or two, I felt a semblance of calm returning. I opened my eyes and took out my phone.
The roundabout was large, with a parade of shops around the outside, a pub, and a petrol station. Looking round I could see there were families in the middle of the roundabout, on the grass under the trees; parents and kids, playing and having fun. They all seemed to know one another. As I watched, I heard a car approaching and a black BMW drove up from the road on the far side of the roundabout. Four adults got out, three men and a woman. One of the men sauntered over to one of the family groups and dropped the car keys onto the grass. I could see that there was some good natured banter going on, before several adults stood up, walked to the car and drove off. The new arrivals dropped to the grass and lay back. I wondered briefly where they had come from; it almost looked like a change of guards. I was tempted to go over and find out, but it looked as if everyone there knew everyone else. Although they looked relaxed, I didn’t know how they would react to an unfamiliar face in the middle of their territory. I couldn’t believe that they would become violent in front of the children, but I did think they might take me away for a chat and that might get very unpleasant. I disliked confrontation, and after the scuffle with the youths, I decided I would be better off avoiding them. I was curious where they were getting their food though. There weren’t any large supermarkets locally as far as I was aware.
I had phone signal and data, so I opened google maps and turned on the satellite overlay. It looked like there was an alley at the end of the carpark, that ran behind the shops up to the road I needed. I looked further and realised I was stuck. All the exits onto the Uxbridge road were the ones I had seen yesterday, blocked off. To get through I would have to go through at speed, and surprise them. And that just wasn’t going to work, as I would need to slow down to make the sharp left turn onto the main road.
I rubbed my face with the bottom of my t-shirt, wiping away the sweat. Okay, maybe there was another way. I pushed my bike through the crowed alley and peddled along the road until I wasn’t far from the junction. I couldn’t see the barricade, but google maps indicated that I was close. I searched for a good spot to hide the bike, and eventually stashed it under a parked van, hoping no one was watching. I walked quietly up the road and slipped into the front garden of a house, a couple of hundred meters from the watching guards. I could easily see them but was sheltered from sight by an overgrown garden.
There were four people, it looked like two men and two women; husband and wife teams maybe. Whilst I was watching, one of the doors to a nearby house opened and a child came out and walked up to the barricade. It was a girl, pre-teen, carrying a plastic box. She handed it to one of the women, her mother perhaps, as they had the same dark hair and thin faces. The mother took out a couple of sandwiches, or perhaps they were wraps; I couldn’t see but it was something edible anyhow. They all tucked in to the food whilst the girl chatted a bit, then walked back to the house with the empty container.
I felt reassured. These people were family people, and were well fed. I could try plan B. I went back for the bike, and wheeled it quietly into the nearest side street behind me. I waited until the watchers had settled down again after their afternoon snack, then got on the bike, and not even attempting to hide, rode slowly straight up to the barricade.
They were sitting facing outwards towards the barricade, but one of the women saw me and stood up. She was tall and athletic looking, wearing jeans and a navy down jacket. The others were in similar clothes and as she stood, they turned and rose also. I waited until I was almost upon them and then got off the bike. ‘Hi’ I said, smiling at them all and then directing my gaze at the woman who had stood first.
‘Hi,’ she replied, ‘who are you?
‘My name is Zoe and I’m trying to get home’ I said straightforwardly, ‘I need to get onto the Uxbridge road, I’m heading towards Watford. Can I pass?’ I looked round at them all, meeting their eyes and smiling. Then I looked down and fiddled with my bike, giving them time to decide, wondering what would happen if they decided not to let me through.
I felt them look at each other and one of the men asked, ‘Where did you just come from?’
‘Kenton,’ I said, ‘I accidentally zoomed past a couple of you guys, not realising this area was off limits, I’m very sorry’, I looked around again and tried another smile. I felt fresh sweat break out over my face and my palms were damp with nerves. I looked back at the tall woman. ‘Is it very dangerous out there?’ I asked, trying to start a dialogue.
The other woman with the dark hair and thin face chipped in before she could say anything, ‘Yes it is,’ she said, ‘you shouldn’t be out here by yourself.’
‘I’ll get home as quickly as I can,’ I said, ‘can I go through?’ I indicated the gap between the cars with my hand. After looking round at the others, the tall woman nodded.
‘Of course,’ she said, ‘try and keep safe’
‘Thanks’, I replied as I pushed my bike through the gap and out to the small roundabout ahead. I turned the bike side on and waved back at the group. Then I got on and cycled away, sighing in relief. It had only worked because I appeared non-threatening. People responded positively to smiles and I hadn’t given them any reason to stop me.
I rode on, my legs were starting to ache now, and I was tired, but this was the last stretch. I worked up some speed on a downhill slope and zoomed past the barricade roads. The hill up to Carpenders Park was empty which was lucky, as I had to dismount and push the bike up most of the way. I was tempted to ditch it but kept going, until finally I found myself back at the traffic lights and the junction to home.
I reached my house close to exhaustion, wheeling my bike up to my driveway I stared down at it; what to do… my brain wasn’t working anymore, and in the end, I removed my waterproofs and the food containers and pushed it under a big van parked in the side road hoping for the best. Once inside I took a long delicious shower and tidied up my grazes. I was tired of the tension and conflict, of being scared and worrying. I wasn’t good at meeting people at the best of times, now every interaction was a positive minefield. I was going to stay put for a while; I relaxed back into my armchair, there was no reason to go out, mum and Vik were fine, and I had everything I needed. I was happy, here at home.
Chapter 5: Harvest
At the start of June, I put my faith in the weather, and planted out the seedlings into the garden. Leaning over into the middle of the bed, I stabbed at the soil with my trowel and scooped out a hole. The sweetcorn seedling was about a foot high and already had several sets of leaves. They flopped out at the sides, with the newest leaf forming a spike at the top. I tapped it out of its pot and placed it in the hole, crumbling the soil back in around it and pressing it in firmly. I plunged my trowel in again, about a foot away, making a new hole, and placed a second plant so the leaves were at right angles to the first. It was a space saving trick that seemed only logical.