AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Again, Vivienne glanced around before speaking.
‘OK, don’t spread this around, but you know ’ow she and Becca knew the Drowned Prophet?’
‘Yes, I’ve heard that,’ said Robin.
‘Well, it was stuff about Daiyu, apparently. Just utter shit.’
‘What did she tell him?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Vivienne, ‘but it was so bad, this guy nearly left the church.’
‘How d’you know all this?’ asked Robin, careful to sound admiring of Vivienne’s superior knowledge.
‘I got talking to one of the other girls who got relocated. She told me Emily and this guy were, like, sneaking off together and refusing spirit bonding with anyone else. It was pure materialism. The girl thinks Emily was actually trying to make him go DV with her.’
‘That’s terrible,’ said Robin.
‘I know,’ said Vivienne. ‘Apparently, they had to drag her onto the minibus. She was shouting “I love you” at the guy.’ Vivienne’s expression was disgusted. ‘Can you imagine? But thank God he just walked away.’
‘Yeah,’ said Robin. ‘Thank God.’
Vivienne turned away to serve a mother whose small child had dragged her over to look at the plush turtles. When they’d departed, the little boy clutching his new turtle, Vivienne turned back to Robin.
‘You know Papa J’s been in LA?’ Her voice softened as she said ‘Papa J’; clearly, Robin’s companion was now as thoroughly smitten with the church’s founder as most of the women at Chapman Farm, and indeed some of the men. ‘Well, he’s coming back next week.’
‘Really?’ said Robin.
‘Yeah. He always comes back for the Manifestation of the Drowned Prophet… Have you spirit bonded with him?’
‘No,’ said Robin. ‘Have you?’
‘No,’ sighed Vivienne, her longing quite evident.
Taio came back several times over the next couple of hours to check how much money was in the strongbox underneath the table. On one of these occasions, he arrived chewing, and brushed flakes of what looked like pastry from around his mouth. He neither suggested that the other two eat anything, nor brought them any food.
Hours passed, and Robin started to feel light-headed by what she knew, from the position of the sun, must be mid-afternoon. Inured though she was to hunger and tiredness at the farm, it was a new challenge to stand on one spot for so long, having to smile, make cheerful conversation and proselytise for the church while the sun beat down on you, and without even the usual meal of sloppy noodles and overcooked vegetables to sustain her.
‘Robin!’
‘Yes?’
She turned automatically towards the person who’d spoken her name, and one second of icy horror later, realised what she’d done. A little boy who was holding a plush, red-breasted bird in one hand, and introducing it to the turtle his father had just bought him. Vivienne was looking at Robin strangely.
‘It’s my nickname,’ Robin told Vivienne, forcing a laugh, as the father and son walked away. ‘It’s what my sis—I mean, one of my flesh objects calls me, sometimes.’
‘Oh,’ said Vivienne. ‘Why’s she call you Robin?’
‘She had a book about Robin Hood,’ Robin invented wildly. ‘It was her favourite, before I was born. She wanted my parents to call me Rob—’
She broke off. Taio was running down the street towards them, red-faced and sweaty: heads turned as he galumphed past shoppers in his white tracksuit, his face both angry and panicked.
‘Problem,’ he panted, on arriving at the stall. ‘Emily’s gone.’
‘What?’ gasped Vivienne.
‘Fucking Jiang,’ said Taio. ‘Give me the strongbox and pack up the merchandise. We’ve got to find her.’
66
