‘Great.’ I responded, ‘How is he doing?’
‘It’s too early to say, but he’ll get the best care there’ replied David.
I could feel my shoulders relaxing as some of the tension I had been carrying for the last twenty-four hours drained away.
Chapter 12: Benefits
I walked over to the house marked on the map. I wasn’t expecting very much; I had assumed that the town would be full of refugees like me, and resources would be short, but when I reached the street and checked the address again I looked up at a gorgeous new home. A yellow brick, three-bed, semi-detached property. It was one of the smaller houses on the road, but it fit me perfectly.
I unlocked the door with the key I had been given, and stepped into luxury. The door opened straight into a bright open plan living room with stairs against the far wall. The light oak floor was shiny and clean, and the house smelt fresh with the distinctive odour of furniture polish. There were fresh flowers on the mantelpiece and a huge TV on the wall.
In the kitchen, there were groceries on the table; tea, coffee, sugar, bread, eggs and a small sponge cake, and when I opened the fridge, there was milk and butter. I was in heaven. Upstairs the double bed in the master bedroom was made and the bathroom was pristine. It was perfect. They had even attempted to neaten the garden; the lawn had been trimmed back and although it looked yellow and patchy, I knew it would green up soon.
I opened the back door using the key lying on the kitchen counter. As I stepped out, I could see, only a couple of meters beyond the wooden back fence, there was a chain-link fence that stretched out across the back of the gardens. I was intrigued; the map showed that this was the edge of the town with only fields beyond. What was the extra fence for?
I pulled a patio chair into the sun and sat, stunned by my amazing new home. It was so lovely; did all the new arrivals get such well-kept houses? And who had done all the cleaning and decorating? They had done a remarkably good job. The weak sunshine warmed my face, as I looked around. The garden was north facing but had potential, the area next to the house was a shady patio but the fence at the far end would get full sun most of the day. As I sat making vague plans for flowerbeds, I heard the faint sound of footsteps, which slowly grew louder. They seemed to be coming from behind the fence. I stood up, walked over to the bottom of the garden, and peered through a tiny hole in the wood. Between my garden and the chain-link fence was a narrow alley of trampled down grass and walking along this alley were two soldiers in full uniform, carrying guns. Large guns, rifles perhaps, or automatic weapons. I didn’t know what they were, only that they made the soldiers look formidable. I returned to my seat reassured; there would be no knockers here.
After a while, I began to feel the cold and returned indoors. I made a cup of coffee with real milk and slowly ate a piece of the cake as I read my way through the welcome pack David had given me. The largest document was a glossy brochure from the government explaining the ‘jobs for all’ pledge. It was a nice idea, but I wondered what would have happened if there hadn’t been a teaching job going at the school. Would I have had to move to a different camp? Or would I have been given a completely different job? Some of the papers related to the house; there were no bills to pay as everything was provided by the council. It made sense; if I had to pay bills, they would just have to pay me a larger salary to cover my expenses. As it was, I could easily get by on the ten grand salary that went with the job.
I really wanted to go online to check in with the guys on the forum. I took a last gulp of coffee and moved to the living room, I hadn’t seen a computer on my quick tour, but there must be one. I searched the house, going back through the rooms checking all the cupboards and drawers, but there was nothing, not even a laptop or tablet. That was odd. How would I do my planning for work? I sat back at the kitchen table and looked through the notes I had been given; maybe the school would issue one. The pack did indeed contain a list; the school would issue stationery, calculators, and planners, but it didn’t mention a laptop anywhere. I shrugged in annoyance and pulled out my phone. I clicked on the internet but only got a blank page; there was no signal. It looked like the outer world would have to wait for an update.
The doorbell rang. I froze for a second and then relaxed… I was in the camp and safe from knockers. I walked out of the kitchen and through the large windows in the lounge could see a smiling woman, waving at me. I opened the door.
‘Hi,’ I said rather warily.
‘Welcome to Manor Crescent!’ she replied ‘We’ve all been so excited to have a new arrival’
She thrust out the dish she was holding, and I automatically caught it.
‘Uh, thanks,’ I said, ‘would you like to come in?’
I stepped back, into the house and looked down at the dish; it looked like a pie of some sort.
‘It’s apple pie’ she said, seeing my look, ‘made from the apples from our tree.’
I loved apple pie. ‘Thank you,’ I said, ‘I’m Zoe.’
‘Oh, yes, I forgot to introduce myself, ‘I’m Irina.’ she replied. She had black curly hair and guileless eyes and looked about eighteen, but I guess she must have been older.
I ushered her in and we sat down in the living room. I was still in my waterproofs and fleece, and felt a little self-conscious when I compared myself to her casual elegance; a soft cream jumper and figure hugging jeans.
‘Would you like some tea or coffee?’ I asked, trying my manners back on to see if they still fit.
‘Oh, no thank you, I won’t stay,’ she said, ‘I just wanted to say hi, and welcome you to the neighbourhood. It’s always exciting when someone new arrives.’
‘That’s very kind of you,’ I said, ‘have there been many new arrivals?’
‘Oh yes’ she replied, ‘well, we only arrived a couple of months ago,’ she smiled reminiscently ‘My husband and I. We were so grateful to reach somewhere normal again. I felt just like you probably do, excited and a little overwhelmed,’ I nodded, ‘but don’t worry, everyone is very friendly’ she said, leaning forward and looking earnest.
‘Thank you, that’s good to know,’ I paused and there was a little awkward moment whilst I dug around for something to say. ‘The house is really lovely,’ I finally said, ‘did yours look this good when you arrived?’
Irina looked around and I saw her eyebrows lift just a little. ‘The kids did a really good job on this place,’ she said, ‘ours wasn’t quite in such good shape, but I suppose they didn’t have as many workers back then.’
So many questions… ‘The kids?’ I asked.
‘Yes… the kids sometimes do chores… for extra credit.’ She paused looking suddenly uncertain, ‘Anyway I ought to get going, I just wanted to stop in and say hi.’ She stood and I followed, ‘Please feel free to knock if you need anything, we’re just next door.’ She pointed to the left and beamed at me.
I smiled back and walked her out. I closed the door behind her and watched from my window as she walked away. I was pleased that the neighbours seemed friendly, but didn’t really want people popping over all the time. I wasn’t exactly great at small talk and unless she was a keen gardener, I didn’t think we would have much in common.
I took the apple pie into the kitchen and sat down again with the welcome pack. I read through some short leaflets on refuse and recycling schedules, library opening hours and services, and the shops and how to pay for goods. This last leaflet was very interesting. It seemed they had discarded normal currency and were using a special settlement camp currency called the Chiltern pound. There was no physical currency; instead, I had been issued an account, which I could access on special terminals in the library, and a card to pay for things in the shops.