Read Online Bobby's Girl by Catrin Collier - Free Book Online

toilet and make-up bags and purse and handed them to her friend to hold.
    â€˜And the rest.’
    Kate piled her hairbrush, a rolled-up sweater, spare set of underclothes, jeans, socks and a towel into her outstretched arms. Penny wondered what emergency Kate had been preparing for.
    â€˜What’s in the paper bags?’
    â€˜Pasties and sausage rolls,’ Kate answered.
    He didn’t ask her to open them, presumably because they were grease-stained and emblazoned with the logo of the Swansea Uplands baker’s shop.
    â€˜The file?’
    â€˜Personal papers.’
    A roaring filled the square. A mounted officer cantered along the clear strip of ‘no-man’s-land’ that divided the protesters from the police. He headed for half a dozen students lying flat on the ground.
    Realising trouble was about to erupt, the constable didn’t ask Kate to open the file. ‘You two look quiet enough girls,’ he allowed grudgingly. ‘I’d hate to have to arrest you.’
    â€˜You don’t have reason to. We haven’t done anything,’ Kate protested.
    â€˜Yet,’ he qualified. ‘Why are you here?’
    â€˜We’re trying to get into the embassy,’ Pennyanswered feeling the entire conversation shouldn’t be left to Kate.
    The officer stared at them in exasperation. ‘Isn’t there enough trouble for you out here without you two taking it inside?’
    â€˜We need work permits and visas. To work in America. Our college has chartered a plane for a student exchange. We’ve bought our tickets.’ Penny pulled her passport and the forms she’d completed from her duffel bag.
    He flicked through them. ‘Given what’s going on here, why didn’t you post them?’
    â€˜We were afraid our passports would get lost in the mail. We’re supposed to leave in four weeks. We tried phoning the embassy but were put on hold or sent around in circles. They kept telling us we couldn’t get a work permit without a visa or a visa without a work permit. It cost us a fortune in calls. So we decided to come here in person,’ she explained.
    â€˜Where you girls from?’
    â€˜Swansea,’ Kate answered. ‘And we’re hoping to get back there tonight.’
    â€˜Follow me.’ He escorted them around the protesters to the embassy door.
    Two hours later they were back in the square, their work permits and visas tucked into their bags.
    â€˜That was almost too easy,’ Penny commented.
    â€˜The constable who took us to the door is watching us,’ Kate warned.
    â€˜I know.’ She made a ‘thumbs up’ to let him know they’d been successful, followed by a friendly wave, but he didn’t wave back. ‘Pity he’s watching, I’d like to havejoined the protesters; it would have been something to tell my grandchildren.’
    â€˜You ever thought what your and Rich’s kids will be like?’
    â€˜Why do I know you’re about to say something horrid about Rich?’
    â€˜I wasn’t.’
    Feeling slightly guilty about leaving Rich for four months, she changed the subject. ‘Let’s find somewhere to eat before we head out.’
    â€˜We have pasties and sausage rolls,’ Kate reminded her.
    â€˜Bought yesterday. They’ll be stale. Stand you egg and chips in a café,’ she offered.
    â€˜I can’t afford egg and chips and I refuse to sponge off you.’
    â€˜It wouldn’t be sponging. It would be a thank you for hitch-hiking with me. You know my parents hate me doing it.’
    â€˜They hate you doing it with or without anyone. Almost as much as my mother hates the thought of me getting into a stranger’s car.’
    High-pitched shrieks, screams and a roar accompanied by the thunder of horses’ hooves filled the square. Without warning, the mounted police charged the protesters. A tide of students swirled, changing direction