Read Online No Place of Safety by Robert Barnard - Free Book Online

the three-quarters bed in her room. Her father was Razaq Haldalwa and he owned five corner shops in the Kirkstall and Headingly districts of Leeds, staffed by relatives of varying degrees of closeness. In general it did not seem that Midge was afraid of her father, or was anything other than affectionate and respectful. His, however, was a success story that had gone sour, especially since the supermarkets were by law allowed to open on Sundays. It was her father’s financial predicament that was behind Midge’s present plight. Three months before she had been a schoolgirl without a care in the world – beyond, that is, passing exams, finding a university coursethat might lead to actually finding a job, and all the other areas of anxiety that Katy and Alan were similarly aware of.
    The question was, how to break the news to Ben, and this was the subject of many looks and whispers as Alan and Katy went about their early-morning chores.
    â€˜Ben, we had a new one come last night,’ Alan finally said, as, all three in the kitchen, they made the breakfast toast and tea. Alan tried to keep his tone light, as Ben usually did when talking to the young people at the refuge, but all the same Ben looked up from his buttering of toast.
    â€˜I thought we were full. Did somebody take off?’
    â€˜No . . . It was a bit of an emergency.’ Under Ben’s bland gaze he stammered a little. ‘It’s . . . it’s this Indian girl.’
    â€˜Pakistani,’ said Katy quietly.
    â€˜Yes. Pakistani . . . She’s being forced by her father to marry a man she hates. She came here to sort of hide . . .’
    He stumbled to a stop. Ben’s look became thoughtful.
    â€˜There’s refuges for people in that sort of situation. I’m pretty sure there’s one in Bradford. I wonder how I could get a telephone number for them. Obviously they won’t be in the book. They have to be there for women, but keep themselves quiet, which must be a bit of a problem.’
    Alan and Katy breathed a tentative sigh of relief.
    â€˜But you won’t turn her out?’
    Ben shook his head without hesitation.
    â€˜No, of course not. But we must face the fact that this is not the best place for her. It’s the same with her as with addicts. Better for the girl herself and better for us if we can find somewhere where there are people with experience of this particular problem, people with the tools to help her.’
    Alan looked surreptitiously at Katy, and they both nodded.
    Later on, Mehjabean came down. Katy had arranged it like that so that they had a chance to soften Ben up first. Only she didn’t put it like that to Midge, and she didn’t even put it like that to herself, for she had an enormous respect for Ben, even as she was a mite sceptical about his treatment of the obvious skivers and bludgers. Midge came into the kitchen, smiled at Ben, then she and Katy set to to make more toast and marmalade and strong coffee, which she saidwas her drink. Then they all sat around the battered old table.
    â€˜So your family is trying to pressure you into a marriage you don’t want, is that right?’ Ben opened gently.
    Midge’s eyes glinted. When she looked like that she didn’t seem like a Midge at all, but very much a Mehjabean.
    â€˜Not pressure – force . My father is in debt to this . . . this man, this horrible man, and this is his way of getting him to cancel it.’ She shook her head, her mouth set firm. ‘I would never have believed it of him, never.’
    â€˜It doesn’t sound like the usual Asian marriage,’ commented Ben. ‘Seems like it’s the wrong way round.’
    Mehjabean nodded.
    â€˜It is. But he wants me . And this is his way of getting me – of buying me. He doesn’t mind if I’m reluctant – that gives it more spice for him. It’s not my father’s