Hunting for Silence

07. Feeding the Homeless and the Blackmailers

As a child, I loved playing hide and seek. We had our own special family rules, and they were quite simple: I would put a frog in my aunt's boot. Her screech was the signal for the game to begin. I would hide, and she would seek (screaming with rage and waving a carpet beater). The thought made me smile. Ah, what fun times we had as a family...

Now, however, things were different.

'Mr Linton? Yoo-hoo, Mr Linton, where are you?'

Holding my breath, I cowered behind the lifeboat and prayed she wouldn't think to look there.

Just let her walk by. Just let her walk by, please...

The tarpaulin over the lifeboat lifted just a bit and a curious pair of eyes peeked out.

'Are ye a stowaway, too?' whispered a voice that hadn't encountered puberty yet.

'No,' I whispered. 'I'm a passenger! Please, can I come hide in there with you?'

The eye blinked. 'Err....why?'

'Yoo-hoo, Mr Linton? Come out, come out, wherever you are. You're such a tease. I love that about you.'

'Long story!' I hissed. 'Can't explain now. Please, just please! Let me hide in there?'

The young stowaway considered.

'Two shillings,' he finally decided. A hand emerged from the tarpaulin and opened.

'You expect me to pay you?'

'Hey, Mister, ye're the one who's wanting to share me hiding place.'

'Your hiding place? You are the stowaway here! I could just call the captain and—'

'—draw attention to yerself,' the boy finished. He sounded as if he was enjoying himself. 'And I'm sure we don't want that, now, would we? Two shillings and sixpence.'

'What? You conniving, greedy little—'

'Two shillings and eightpence.'

'All right, all right! But only because you remind me of someone I know.' Quickly, I dug around for a few coins in my pocket and pressed them into the greedy little hand. It withdrew with admirable speed, and I followed, crawling under the tarpaulin. Inside, I encountered a shadowy little form with a dirty face and gap-toothed grin.

'So...' enquired the boy. 'If ye ain't no stowaway, why are ye hiding? Smuggling? Murder? Piracy?'

He sounded hopeful.

'God, no! Nothing like that.'

'Oh. Um...but maybe you know some smugglers or pirates? I'd love to be a pirate one day! If you could tell me where to join—'

'Be quiet, will you?' I hissed. 'She'll hear us!'

'She? We're hiding from a girl?'

Just in time, I lunged forward and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, or the little brat would have stuck his head out from under the tarpaulin and given us away.

'Let me go!' he protested. 'I can't hide from a girl! That's cowardly. Girls are harmless.'

'You, young man,' I told him, 'have a lot to learn. Now keep your mouth shut!'

'Or what?'

'Or you won't get the other shilling I've got in my pocket.'

That did the trick. Grumbling, he fell into reluctant silence. So did I, and we waited while Miss Emilia Harse passed by outside, calling my name. When she was gone, I waited another few minutes, just to be sure, then slid out from under my hiding place and handed the boy his shilling.