Fighting Back Read Online Free PDF

someone shouted from the crowd. But no one really believed that. Except maybe me. Holding on to a little hope.
    ‘Are they really that bad, Ali?’
    Stupid question. The broken glass, Ali’s bandaged head. Of course they were really that bad.
    Ali put an arm around my shoulders. ‘They try to make us afraid. But we are not afraid, are we, Kerry?’
    I couldn’t answer him, my teeth had begun to chatter again. Ali looked all around the crowd and pulled me closer.
    ‘At last I have someone who isn’t afraid of the Laffertys. Who is willing to stand up to them.’
    And a voice from the crowd answered him. ‘Atlast you’ve got a blinkin’ idiot, Ali.’
    Ali beamed down at me. ‘Don’t listen to them, Kerry. You’ll be all right.’ I might have believed that if he hadn’t added, ‘But tonight … make sure you are all locked up tight, eh?’

Chapter Ten
    For the next few days all was quiet, so quiet I could almost forget all about the Laffertys. I met another of our neighbours, Mr McCurley, who lived in the flat opposite. He came out of his door very quietly and gave me a very tiny smile. He was a big giant of a man who wore a cardigan and always carried a shopping bag. Mum said he looked weird and I was to keep well clear of him. Ming, however, assured me he was one of the nicest men on the estate. He did the shopping for all the old pensioners who couldn’t get out and if he didn’t talk to us it was only because he was shy.
    I saw Ma Lafferty once and almost fainted. She was coming out of Ming’s house, probably up for payment, and she hardly glanced my way. Perhaps they’d forgotten, decided it was better to leave things be.
    ‘Don’t you believe it!’ Ming said, when I said asmuch to him. ‘The Laffertys don’t forget anything. The dad’s in jail, for assault. He battered a man who had just come out of prison after three years. He waited all that time for him, and then he got him back. That’s the kind of people the Laffertys are.’
    ‘You know, I sometimes think it’s not like real life on this estate. It’s like living in a Western film.’
    ‘Just don’t hold your breath for Clint Eastwood to come and save you.’
    Ming and I would meet on our balconies. I think he wanted away from his mother’s soaps, and I wanted away from my mother’s tears. She was crying a lot. I could hear her at night when I was in bed. Then during the day she would act as if she was coping so well, and was so happy. I wanted to help her, but everything I said, or did, just seemed to make her angry, or make her cry even more. She hated Dad. That much was clear. She hated the neighbours. She didn’t even like me talking to Ming on the balcony.
    ‘He’s so common! I want you to keep away from people like him,’ she’d say, so loud I was sure Ming must be able to hear her. I knew my mum had never been a snob. But they didn’t know that. They didn’t know how much she was hurting inside, and thatshe didn’t mean what she said.
    ‘She’s not like that really, Ming,’ I told him. He had heard her, and so had his mother. Sandra had been ready to burst into our flat and throw my mum over the balcony. ‘She’s really nice. She just can’t get over Dad leaving us. Having to sell our house, and not having enough money to buy another. Having to move here – that was the last straw.’
    Ming couldn’t understand that. His mother had always been alone. He couldn’t even remember a father. What was the big deal? he said.
    Ming and I were becoming friendlier than I’d ever expected. He would wait for me at the lift every morning, and we would walk together to the bus stop. Usually quarrelling all the way.
    And on the way home from school I would usually meet him at Ali’s.
    ‘How is my little Kerry?’ Ali would say as soon as I pushed into the shop.
    ‘I’m fine,’ I’d answer. It was hard not to notice the helpers Ali had, brushing up, packing shelves. Helping him get his shop back to normal.
    ‘These