Dear readers,
It has been months since I last posted a chapter of ‘The Inklings’ because I was writing the rest of the story and then publishing the ebook. I won’t be posting any more chapters here but you get the ebook from Booktopia or Amazon.
Love from Anna
P.S. Here is the cover (by Polyp).
To read the story from the start go to: https://the-inkling.com/catch-up-with-the-inklings/
On Sunday morning John woke Fanta up earlier than she would have liked.
“Emily is making breakfast” said John.
“Why so early?” asked Fanta.
“She wants to take us all to a playground this morning then out to lunch” said John. “I know you said you wanted to have an adventure today and maybe this is not what you were thinking of, but it might be fun. Emily seems to really be enjoying having us here”
Fanta felt grumpy about Emily planning her Sunday but she realised that the kind of adventure Emily was taking them on was probably at least as good as what she’d have been able to organize – it wasn’t likely that she and John could do something really exciting, like spying on people, when they had to bring her sisters along.
When Fanta and John walked into the lounge room Emily’s kids came to greet them.
“Good morning Summer and Spencer” said Fanta.
“How did you remember their names so quickly?” whispered John.
“I said them over and over in my head twenty times” said Fanta. “Do you remember how old they are?”
“They are smaller than your sisters so I guess they are 3 and 5” said John.
“Close” said Fanta. “Spencer is 4 and Summer is 6”
Greg told everyone to sit down at the dining table while he and Emily brought out the breakfast. Fanta could tell from the way Spencer and Summer reacted to what their parents put on their table that Emily and Greg had gone to more trouble than they usually did at breakfast time- Spencer was bouncing in his chair with excitement as he looked at the plate of pancakes and Summer kept trying to grab a cinnamon roll.
“Wait!” said Greg. “Let the guests serve themselves first”
“Please don’t take all the cinnamon rolls” asked Summer.
“Don’t worry, there are plenty. I have more in the kitchen” said Greg.
“Who’d like scrambled eggs, toast, tea or coffee?” asked Emily.
Fanta noticed John’s eyes light up when Emily mentioned toast.
————————–
After breakfast everyone set out to walk to the local park.
“We can stay here a few hours and then have lunch. There’s an excellent café next to the park” said Emily.
Fanta wondered how any park would keep them busy for more than an hour but was glad she didn’t say anything because when the park came into view she realised that it wasn’t an average local playground – it as enormous and full of adventures. There were three giant slides that you had to climb towers to get to, flying foxes large enough for adults to play on, giant swings and even a lake with pedal boats for hire.
Fanta noticed that Emily and Greg had been watching their guest’s faces and were smiling at their reactions. When Ruby and Nancy ran off in the direction of the flying foxes Fanta had to control the urge to race them there. Instead she looked at John to see what he wanted to play on first.
Emily dropped John, Fanta and her sisters home late on Sunday afternoon. When they got inside Nancy declared “That was the best day ever!”
“Yes it was” said Fanta. Her muscles ached, her hair was messy and her clothes were grubby, but it had been worth it.
To read the story from the start go to: https://the-inkling.com/catch-up-with-the-inklings/
As Mamadou walked through the house he was shocked by the mess that the burglars had left and wondered whether they’d been more interested in causing pain than stealing. Not much was broken but hardly anything had been left in its place. Most things had been dumped onto the floor, even the contents of the cutlery drawer. The intrusion made Mamadou feel anxious and he realised he was scared that they hadn’t found what they were looking for and would come back.
Mamadou hurried out the back door and over to his shed. When he opened the door and found everything as he’d left it he let out a sigh and realised he’d been holding his breath. Mamadou would have loved to stay hiding in his shed but he knew he’d have to return to the house to help clean up. As he walked back inside he noticed Rose coming out of her greenhouse.
“Everything ok there?” asked Mamadou.
“Yes, I don’t know why I was so worried, but I guess I just love my plants” said Rose. “Did they mess up your shed?”
“No” replied Mamadou.
When they got inside Rose and Mamadou discovered that India was busy tidying up.
“I know this might sound insensitive, but I really want the street meeting to go ahead tonight. So let’s get your place all tidy and then return to my place to finish preparing” said India.
Mamadou smiled. He was glad that India could be so unemotional about the mess because it made him feel calmer and safer. He was also looking forward to the meeting that night. They were going to vote on a plan for the street and elect a committee to make it happen. Although Mamadou wouldn’t admit it, he was really hoping he would be selected for the committee.
“Will you help me tidy upstairs?” asked Binta.
“Ok” said Mamadou and he followed Binta upstairs. As they reached the first floor landing Mamadou looked upstairs towards Amanda’s room.
“Where was Amanda when the burglars came?” asked Mamadou. ”I thought she never left her room or the house”
“Rose said Amanda went to visit a friend today. Everyone says Amanda never leaves her room or the house, but it is an exaggeration because she does sometimes come out of her room and a couple of times a year she goes out” said Binta.
“How did the burglars know that today was one of the rare days Amanda wouldn’t be home?” asked Mamadou.
“That’s a very good question” said Binta. “I did see someone hanging around this morning, though. I think he was watching the upstairs windows with binoculars”
“Did you tell the Police that?” asked Mamadou.
“Of course” said Binta. “But maybe I should have said something to Rose this morning. Maybe she wouldn’t have gone to India’s if she knew someone was watching the house”
“Don’t worry – India would never have let her stay home anyway” said Mamadou.
Mamadou folded up Ousman’s clothes and put them away while Rose put her things away. Mamadou noticed that Binta’s computer was on the floor and that the screen was cracked. As Mamadou watched Binta squat down and gently run her finger over the crack he felt like crying. He hated to see Binta suffering.
The house was still not quite tidy when it was time to go back to India’s for the street meeting, but it was good enough for everyone to feel that they could take the rest of the evening off.
Mamadou followed Binta out the front door and noticed that a storm was approaching. He tried not to think about clouds and instead concentrated on imagining how nice it would be to hear rain falling on the roof.
India had ordered pizza for dinner, and it was delivered just as the guests were arriving. Mamadou didn’t like pizza but was too excited about the meeting for it to bother him as much as it usually would. Instead he took two slices and as he stood eating them he watched the faces of the other people who’d come for the meeting. It was almost the same group of people who’d come on Thursday and they all seemed to be looking forward to voting.
“Come and sit with Penny and I” said Gina and she guided Mamadou by the elbow over to towards Penny.
Mamadou dutifully sat down next to Penny and Gina sat down on his other side.
“What do you think of tiny houses” asked Gina.
“The ones that are super quick to build” said Penny.
“It isn’t that we don’t like your designs but we don’t want to be imposing on India for too much longer and were thinking that maybe a tiny house would be a good interim solution – while you build the rest of the house and garden” said Gina.
“Ah, I see” said Mamadou. “Yes, I think that would work”.
Mamadou pictured his latest design with a sweet little caravan in the middle and realised it would actually improve the design.
“We like this one” said Gina and she showed Mamadou a brochure of a house on a trailer that had its own rainwater tank and solar power system.
“If we order it we can be out of India’s by May” said Penny. “Should we do that?”
“Yes, do that” said Mamadou.
“Great! Don’t stop working on your design though. We want you to start building as soon as possible” said Gina.
Mamadou looked at India and wondered whether she had any idea how much Gina and Penny wanted to get out of her house. He hoped she didn’t know because he suspected that India meant well and would be hurt if she knew that most people found her difficult to be around.
When the pizza was all gone India wheeled the whiteboard into the meeting room. Everyone sat down quietly and watched as India listed the alternative plans on the white board. Then she asked the people who’d come up with the ideas to each briefly explain their plan.
Victoria and Graham’s idea was first on the list. Graham sounded nervous as he explained that one solution was to sell their land and let the developers build flats and that Penny and Gina could buy a flat.
Mamadou couldn’t help smiling when Victoria added “We actually don’t want to vote for our idea anymore though. Should we remove it from the list?”
“No” said India. “Someone else might want to vote for it”
Next it was Mamadou’s turn to explain his idea. He realised he felt nervous and had to clear his throat a couple of times. He had to fight the instinct to rub India’s list off the whiteboard and start doing drawings as he explained his idea for closing the street to cars and creating parking spaces underneath a new house for Victoria and Graham. He even added a couple of new details that he’d thought of since Thursday.
Mamadou tried to be a good audience member for the last three people who explained ideas. He looked at them and nodded every now and then, but really he wasn’t listening at all because he was too busy worrying that he hadn’t explained his idea well enough.
“How would you like to vote?” asked India. “By a show of hands, or by a secret ballot?”
“Show of hands” suggested Victoria and a few other people responded in agreement.
“Anyone disagree?” asked India, but nobody said anything.
“Ok, let’s get started then” said India. “Please raise your hand if you want to vote for the first idea.
Mamadou was relieved when nobody raised a hand.
“No votes for plan number 1” declared India.“Please raise your hand to vote for the second idea”
Mamadou quickly put his hand up then looked around and saw most people join him.
“25 votes for plan number 2” declared India.
Mamadou put his hand down and tried to stop smiling but couldn’t.
India guided the meeting through voting for the remaining three ideas but everyone already knew that Mamadou’s plan had won.
After India declared Mamadou’s idea to be the winner it was time to elect a committee to make it happen.
“I nominate India” said Graham.
“I gratefully accept the nomination” replied India.
“I nominate Mamadou” said Syafika.
Mamadou was surprised that Syafika would nominate him because she had the feeling that he resented him being around.
“Do you accept?” asked India.
“Yes” said Mamadou.
It was harder to find three other people willing to be nominated but in the end Victoria, Gina and India’s next door neighbour Donald were nominated and because there weren’t more nomination that spots on the committee there was no need to vote. Mamadou could see the value in Gina and Victoria being on the committee but suspected that Donald had only accepted nomination so he could spend more time with India.
As everyone got up to leave Syafika gave Mamadou a high five and said “How did this happen? Good things like this never happen!”
“Nothing much has happened yet” said Festus.
“Yeah, but at least people want it to. I’m not used to that” said Syafika.
When Mamadou got outside he noticed that it had been raining and realised he’d forgotten to listen out for it. After saying good night he went to his shed and got out his designs for Penny and Gina’s place.
As Mamadou looked at his drawing he hoped he hadn’t become too ambitious. The new ‘house’ didn’t looke like a house at all. On the back left corner of the block Mamadou had created what looked like a Spanish patio garden. Mamadou had drawn high walls on the left and back of the block that looked like building facades. They had windows, alcoves, planter boxes and balconies on the first floor and on the ground floor there were verandahs with arched supports. Vines grew up the walls and there were potted gardens on the balconies. On the right of the block was a small forest that merged with the trees around Rose’s frog pond. In the middle the man-made garden transitioned to wilderness via a small structure that looked like it was half waterfall, half ruined temple.
Mamadou sharpened a pencil and had just started drawing Penny and Gina’s tiny home near the front of the block when someone knocked on the door of the shed.
Ousman pushed the door open and came in carrying a tray with a cup of tea and a slice of watermelon on it.
Ousman put the tray down on the table and started looking at Mamadou’s drawing. Mamadou took a sip of his tea and waited for the questions to start.
“That’s a nice garden. What is is for?” asked Ousman.
“That’s Gina and Penny’s new house” said Mamadou.
Ousman looked at the drawing again and frowned.
“But where is the house?” asked Ousman. “Is that the thing you’ve just started drawing in the middle?”
“No, that’s a new addition – they’ve asked for a tiny home to live in while the real house is built” said Mamadou. “Can you see the house yet?”
Ousman looked at the drawing again and Mamadou could tell he was thinking hard. Then Ousman smiled.
“Is the house inside these walls? A long narrow house?” asked Ousman.
“Yes, that’s part of it” said Mamadou. “There’s also a section here of building that will look invisible because it will be made of reflective double glass that is angled so it reflects other parts of the garden and walls” said Mamadou and he pointed to what looked like the middle of the back wall.
“And finally this mound is the roof of another section of the building” said Mamadou and he pointed at the waterfall.
“It will look like someone has parked a small caravan in an abandoned garden!” said Ousman.
“Yes! The little caravan home will accidentally become the centre of the design” said Mamadou.
“Can you add one more thing?” asked Ousman.
“What?” asked Mamadou.
“What about a little gate keeper’s cottage at the front corner of the block? Someone could live there too. Maybe someone who didn’t have a place to live” said Ousman.
Mamadou usually disliked it when people suggested changes to whatever he was working on, but he liked Ousman’s idea and he knew Penny and Gina would like it too. Mamadou drew the cottage while Ousman watched.
To read the story from the start go to: https://the-inkling.com/catch-up-with-the-inklings/
When John knocked on Emily’s door he thought he heard an echo.
“I can hear thunder!” shouted Nancy.
“Look – lightning!” shouted Ruby.
“I can smell the rain coming” said Nancy.
When Emily opened her front door John noticed a familiar smell. As he stepped inside the cool, dark house he heard more thunder and felt a gust of warm air follow him in.
John noticed a change in Ruby, Nancy and Fanta as they came inside. Their faces became serious and they moved carefully and silently.
As Emily greeted Fanta and her sisters John looked around nervously. The floor was tiled in what looked like polished marble but wasn’t. There were paintings on the walls with heavy-looking golden frames and the furniture all looked solid and heavy too. John remembered Emily telling him how she’d had it all custom made from Camphor Laurel because it grows like a weed. John realised that the suitcase had been left behind at the front door but decided he’d go and get it later.
As John followed Emily into the sitting room he tried to work out what the familiar smell was and before he knew what was happening he was standing facing his mother. She put out her arms and gave John a cuddle. John’s mum seemed to have become smaller and more fragile.
As John watched Emily introduce Fanta and her sisters to his mother he noticed that Fanta looked terrified. When they sat down and started talking John noticed that his mother kept asking Fanta questions and he remembered how judgmental his mother was. Fanta seemed to have been giving the right answers though, because John could tell that his mother liked Fanta.
After John’s mother had had a good look at Ruby and Nancy she suggested they go and play with Emily’s kids. John watched the four of them trot off to play in another room and wished he could go with them. John leant back in his chair and tried to relax as he waited for an opportunity to ask where his father was.
“John, you should go and help your father in the kitchen” said John’s mother. As John got up he wondered whether she had been reading his mind.
John stood awkwardly in the kitchen doorway for a few minutes and watched his father making pasta before summoning enough courage to interrupt.
“Hold this” said John’s father, and he draped a sheet of damp pasta over John’s forearms.
As John watched his father he wondered when he’d learnt to make pasta, but he was too shy to ask.
“I wonder what’s keeping Tim. He usually helps me make the pasta” said John’s Dad.
John wondered whether his father might be losing his memory.
“Tim’s minding my restaurant tonight so he can’t come for dinner” said John.
“Yes, he was going to do that but I insisted I send one of my managers over so he could join us” said John’s father.
John felt his whole body become hot with panic. He felt like taking Fanta by the hand and running away before Tim could arrive, but a voice inside him told him that there was no point running because Tim would have to meet Fanta one day. So John stayed where he was and turned his panic into anger.
“Why didn’t you consult me?” John asked his father.
“It was meant to be a surprise – a surprise family dinner, just like your mother and I being here was a surprise” said John’s father.
John realised that Emily must have planned what she thought would be a pleasant surprise and felt guilty for having behaved so passively. He decided to make an effort to enjoy himself, but was still terrified that Fanta would decide that Tim was better than he was.
When John heard a burst of laughter from the sitting room he knew that Tim had arrived. He started walking out of the kitchen but his father stopped him and took the pasta sheets off his arms first.
Emily and Tim were laughing at something. John managed to see Fanta’s expression before she realised he was in the room and was relieved that she didn’t seem to be admiring Tim.
“Tim, this is Fanta” said Emily.
Fanta stood up awkwardly and shook Tim’s hand. John wanted to sit down beside Fanta but Tim beat him to it so John sat down next to his mother and watched Tim try to coax Fanta into a conversation.
To read the story from the start go to: https://the-inkling.com/catch-up-with-the-inklings/
On Saturday morning Fanta was stirring her cup of tea when she noticed that her hand was shaking. She realised that she was feeling anxious about meeting John’s sister Emily that evening. Fanta had the impression that John’s family had high standards and was worried that they wouldn’t like her, or at least they wouldn’t like that she came from such a broken family. Fanta’s worry showed on her face as a frown and when John and D’arby noticed they thought Fanta must be cranky with something they’d done so they offered to clean the house while she did whatever she liked.
Fanta went out to the backyard to escape the noise of the vacuum cleaner. She sat in the shade and realised she missed her parents. Fanta wondered where her mother was and realised that she hadn’t seen her for almost nine years. Before she realised what she was doing she was remembering the day her Mum left.
Fanta didn’t realize anything was wrong at first. The house looked pretty normal. Nancy and Ruby were both in their playpen in the lounge room and the radio was on. Fanta could smell her mother’s perfume and thought she must be around somewhere, but she wasn’t anywhere in the house. While looking for her mother Fanta realized that there were lots of things missing from the house. It wasn’t until Fanta went to her mother’s room and found that most of her clothes were gone that she realized she had left them. Next Fanta went to the kitchen because that was where the phone was and Fanta thought she better call someone to ask for help. That was when she found the letter on the kitchen bench.
“Dear Fanta,
I have gone travelling with Ben and I don’t know when I will be back. Your aunt is coming tomorrow to take you and your sisters to live with her. You have to go with her because I have sold the house.
I know you will take good care of your sisters. I will see you when I get back.
Love,
Mum.”
Fanta still remembered what she’d felt like that day,and it made her start crying. She remembered how her aunt had told her that her mum would be back in 6 months so Fanta had counted down the days, but her mum never came back. Fanta had gone through periods of hating her mum and hating her mum’s boyfriend Ben (she’d even made voodoo dolls of Ben) but what she still really wanted was for her mum to come back. Fanta knew her aunt was in contact with her mum but her aunt would never tell her anything about her or where she was, except that she was ok.
Fanta wiped her eyes and mentally rehearsed answers to the question that she expected Emily would ask that evening – the same question everyone asked when they found out that Fanta looked after her sisters: “What happened to your parents?”
On Saturday afternoon Fanta packed a suitcase to take to Emily’s place and tried to get her sisters to choose what they wanted to pack but they were too excited.
The sun was still hot when they set out for Emily’s place. Nancy insisted on pulling the suitcase along as they walked to the train station. After a train trip they caught a bus that took them to the end of Emily’s street. By the time they arrived the sun had dropped behind the houses, and the warm colour of the sunlight made the houses in the street look even more impressive. Ruby and Nancy were amazed by the tall street trees and beautiful gardens. One garden had a large sprinkler going that overshot the garden and wet the footpath. Fanta’s sisters screamed as they ran back and forth the section of footpath, and didn’t stop until their hair was dripping wet, despite Fanta pleading with them to stay respectable.
To read the story from the start go to: https://the-inkling.com/catch-up-with-the-inklings/
On Saturday morning Binta woke up at sunrise and as she listened to the birds singing she realised she hadn’t felt as happy in years. She quietly got out of bed and looked out the window. Binta watched the sky slowly brighten as the sun rose and she noticed the patterns that the leaves of the backyard trees made as they moved in the breeze. She wondered why she hadn’t noticed these details before and why everything looked more colourful than it had the day before.
Binta waited until she heard movement in the house before she went downstairs to have breakfast. Mamadou was in the kitchen and seemed surprised to see Binta there so early.
“Are you going to work?” asked Mamadou.
“No, not on Saturday” said Binta.
“Good, because I want to talk to you about something” said Mamadou.
“Ok” said Binta and she made herself a cup of tea then sat down at the kitchen table.
Binta listened carefully as Mamadou told her about the friends he’d left behind and how he wanted to help them. As Binta listened she realised that Mamadou thought she’d been involved in his rescue and when she had to admit that she didn’t know how to organize such a thing because it had all been done by Fanta and her uncle and aunt she felt ashamed.
“I will talk to Fanta and see if she has advice” said Binta.
Mamadou stared at Binta for ten seconds and Binta wished she knew what he was thinking, but his face was expressionless.
“I also need to send them money” said Mamadou. “So I need your help to start my garden business”
Again Binta didn’t know what to do. She told Mamadou about how his visa conditions would prevent him doing that but he didn’t want to listen and became angry.
“I don’t care about why I can’t do it, I’m asking for your help. Will you help?” said Mamadou.
“Ok” said Binta. She knew she should try to say more but she was too scared – she hated it when Mamadou was angry.
Binta took the rest of her cup of tea and went upstairs. Ousman was still asleep so she quietly turned her computer on and checked her new work email account, but there were no new emails. Binta thought back on her first day of work and thought it had gone pretty well. She went to the website where there were pictures of all the staff and tried to memorise everyone’s name. Then she stared at the photo of Bert for a while and smiled.
Later that morning Binta made another cup of tea and sat on the front steps to drink it. She could hear India’s voice in the distance and wondered how Penny and Gina were coping at her place. Binta noticed movement in the corner of her eye and looked down the street to see what it was, but couldn’t see anyone. She’d almost convinced herself it must have been a bird flying past when she noticed a flash of light being reflected off something. Binta squinted at a row of parked cars and noticed a pair of binoculars peeping over the top of a car bonnet. Binta looked over her shoulder to work out what the binoculars were pointing at. They were angled up and seemed to be aimed at the upstairs windows – maybe at Amanda’s bedroom, or Rose and Festus’s bedroom. When Binta looked back at the binoculars they were gone but she could see a man walking off down the street. He looked athletic, was wearing dark running clothes and had shiny black hair.
Binta stood up and was about to go inside and tell Rose what she’d seen when India came over and asked for her help preparing for the street meeting that evening.
To read the story from the start go to: https://the-inkling.com/catch-up-with-the-inklings/
As John folded clean washing he realised that he was looking forward to taking Fanta and her sisters to Emily’s place the next day. He knew that Emily would like Fanta and imagined she would also like Nancy and Ruby. John wondered whether Nancy and Ruby would enjoy playing with Emily’s kids and realised that he couldn’t remember how old Emily’s kids were or even what their names were. John realised he hadn’t been a very good uncle to Emily’s kids and made a mental note to try harder. Then John wondered whether he should also be making more of an effort to look after Ruby and Nancy and decided that he would -starting straight away. He went to the phone and called Fanta at work.
“Would you like me to pick up your sisters from school so you can stay longer at work and walk home with Syafika?” said John.
“Yes, I would like that” answered Fanta. “Thanks!”
When Ruby and Nancy saw John waiting for them at the school gate they started laughing and whispering to each other.
“Can we get an icecream on the way home?” asked Ruby.
“Ok” said John, remembering that he needed to go to the shops on the way home anyway.
As John and Fanta’s sisters left the shops John noticed a lady getting off a bus carrying a baby and a folded up stroller. She tried to unfold the stroller with one hand while holding the baby in the other but couldn’t manage it so John offered to help.
When her baby was safely in the stroller the lady thanked John and said “Your girls are lovely”
John felt embarrassed and wondered whether he should explain that they weren’t his kids.
“I bet they make you really happy. My baby boy makes me happier than I’ve ever been. And you know what I realised when he was born?” said the lady.
“What?” asked John.
“When I felt the love I have for my boy I realised how much my Mum loves me” said the lady.
John wanted to reply but he couldn’t think of anything to say so he just smiled, but on the walk home all he could think of was about how much his Mum must have loved him when he was a baby and that maybe she still did.
When they got home John suggested that Ruby and Nancy watch TV while he started making dinner. He hardly noticed when Ruby came into the kitchen to get a couple of pairs of scissors and when John came out of the kitchen an hour later he discovered that there were tiny pieces of paper all over the rest of the house.
“We made it snow” explained Nancy.
“Does Fanta let you do things like this?” asked John.
“No way” said Ruby.
John had just finished vacuuming up all the paper when he saw Fanta and Syafika approaching the house. John smiled as he watched Fanta walk up the steps.
John, Fanta and Syafika had just sat down with cold drinks when D’arby arrived home.
“Can you tell us your news yet?” asked John as he poured D’arby a glass of water.
So D’arby sat down and told everyone about RenewBank and how Anthony had been trying to blackmail them.
As they listened John noticed that Fanta and Syafika looked at each other and raised their eyebrows.
“But what happens now?” asked John. “Now that RenewBank isn’t secret anymore”
“All day we had people from other groups coming to the office to discuss how they could help us” said D’arby. “It was amazing actually. There’s this feeling that what we want to do is the missing part of a whole new system – people were even starting to suggest that we might be almost at that magical tipping point that everyone is always hoping for.”
“But what about all the people who don’t like your plans” asked John.
“Yeah, we don’t know what they will do but we expect they won’t roll over. But with all the support we have we feel we might have a chance of surviving whatever is thrown at us” said D’arby. “And if they do stuff that gets our plan into the public eye we’ll probably get even more supporters, who will eventually become customers – we could look at it as free advertising”
After D’arby finished speaking there was silence as everyone digested the news. Eventually John suggested it was dinner time and he got up and went to bring the food to the table.
When everyone had been served John looked around the table to see how everyone liked their first bite. Nancy and Ruby were eating fast, which meant they liked the food. Fanta and D’arby both complimented John as they tasted their food but Syafika wasn’t eating.
“What’s wrong” John asked Syafika. “Don’t you like the food?”
“It’s not that” said Syafika. “It’s Anthony”
“What about Anthony” asked D’arby.
“What does this mean for him? And what does this mean for my investigation into Anthony?” asked Syafika.”Because I have new evidence that he is up to something else as well, something even closer to home”
“What?” asked D’arby.
“I think he is spying on someone in my family” said Syafika and she told everyone about Anthony knowing she’d run home barefoot and how he’d been interested in hearing about Rose giving money to the lady who lived in the park.
“It could be nothing” said John. “What if it was a coincidence that he saw you running barefoot? Or if he was watching you walk home because he is stalking you?”
“I think there might be something going on – or at least enough chance of it to warrant further investigation” said Fanta. “I want to help. Who else wants to help?”
“I will” said D’arby.
“Where D’arby goes, I follow” said John.
To read the story from the start go to: https://the-inkling.com/catch-up-with-the-inklings/
D’arby felt liberated as he set out for work because it was the first time he could walk straight to the real office. He left later than usual too, but that was because he was still feeling weak from all the vomiting yesterday. Syafika may have only vomited four times before she got better, but D’arby had vomited seven times.
When D’arby walked into the office he saw that Rudnika was in the meeting room and it was full of other people.
Valentine walked over to D’arby looking excited.
“It’s started” said Valentine. “Those people are hear to learn about our plans”
“But how did they get here so fast – I thought we weren’t saying anything until today” said D’arby. He felt he’d missed out on a lot by being out of the office yesterday.
“Yeah, we didn’t say what we were up to until now – they are hearing the first of it right now. But yesterday we contacted all the groups that we knew would be sympathetic and asked them to send people here this morning to hear about our plans” said Valentine.
“Who did you know would be sympathetic?” asked D’arby
“All the groups that care about people or nature – there’s lots of those” said Valentine.
“What else is there to care about?” asked D’arby
“Money” said Valentine. “We didn’t invite anyone who cares about money – which is kind of funny because money is half of our plan!”
D’arby smiled and peeped into the meeting room to survey the expressions on the faces of all the people in there.
To read the story from the start go to: https://the-inkling.com/catch-up-with-the-inklings/
Binta woke up early on Friday morning feeling anxious. At first she thought it was because she was still excited from the meeting the night before but then she remembered that she was expecting an email reply from Bert.
Binta got out of bed and quietly walked over to Ousman’s bed. As Binta watched Ousman sleeping she was reminded of how he’d been as a baby. She smiled and then walked softly to her desk to check for new emails.
Binta saw an email from Bert that had been sent yesterday afternoon and wished she’d checked her emails last night. Binta held her breath and opened the email.
“That’s fantastic! When can you start? Can you come in tomorrow? Tell me when you will arrive and I will be ready” wrote Bert and then he gave her the address of his business.
Binta gasped and looked at the time. She was terrified of seeing Bert again but also excited to have a new job. After calculating how long it would take to get to work Binta replied to Bert that she’d arrive at 9:30am. Binta tip-toed over to the wardrobe and spent a long time quietly agonising over what to wear before putting on her favourite outfit.
Binta was brushing her hair when Ousman woke up.
“You look nice. Where are you going today?” asked Ousman.
“I have a new job!” said Binta.
“Did you forget to tell me?” asked Ousman.
“No, I just found out this morning” said Binta.
“What’s the job?” asked Ousman.
“I don’t know much about it yet but I think I’m going to be helping make a movie” said Binta.
“Cool!” said Ousman. “Are you going to be in the movie?”
Binta laughed and said “No, not me. I’m just helping organize everything”
“You will be good at that” said Ousman.
When Binta and Ousman went downstairs to have breakfast they discovered Mamadou sitting at the kitchen table. He was drinking tea and working on a drawing of some kind of large courtyard with a pond in the middle.
Mamadou smiled when he saw Binta, which made Binta feel happy.
“Do you have time to talk this morning?” asked Mamadou.
“I am going to work – I got a new job” said Binta. “What about tomorrow?”
“Ok, tomorrow” said Mamadou, but Binta thought he looked very disappointed.
After breakfast Binta walked Ousman to the bus stop then she went to the station to get a train. It started raining just before Binta got to the station but she was too excited about her new job to care about getting wet. As she watched other people run towards cover Binta just smiled and took her time.
At 9:29am Binta arrived at Bert’s office. It was in an old, but well maintained warehouse in a trendy suburb. A young man answered the door and took Binta to Bert. As they walked they passed people sitting at computers with headphones on who were so engrossed in what they were doing that they didn’t notice them passing by.
Bert was in the kitchen making a pot of tea. Binta smiled when she saw the tea and was relieved that she still recognized Bert.
The Inkling 