Read Online No Turning Back by Beverley Naidoo - Free Book Online

entrance to Danny’s Den. He hoped Mr. Danny wouldn’t mind. Feeling suddenly so tired that he could hardly think straight, he sank down outside the shop door. Clasping his arms around him, as if that could get rid of the horrible cold, sweaty damp, Sipho rolled over onto the pavement. It was hard and hurt his head. He no longer had his wooly cap. Had it been pulled off him or come off as he hit the water? He didn’t know. Nothing mattered now except sleep.
    “Hey, Dad! This kid’s clothes look quite damp! He’s shivering in his sleep!”
    “Well, he can’t sleep here. We have to open the shop in half an hour.”
    “He’s only a kid, Dad! It’s disgraceful any kid has to live like this!”
    The sound of voices made Sipho jerk up. He didn’t want any more kicks in the ribs.
    “Oh, so it’s you!” said the man’s voice.
    Sipho wiped his sleeve across his eyes and looked up at the mustached face of Mr. Danny.
    “Sorry…sorry, sir. I’m just going,” stammered Sipho, pushing himself up.
    “Don’t you know you get sick like that, sleeping in wet clothes!” said Mr. Danny.
    “Hold on, Dad! He probably couldn’t help it! How did you get so wet?” said the tall girl next to him.
    She had long hair the color of ripe mealies, and her deep-blue eyes looked straight into Sipho’s. He didn’t know what to say. Would these people believe him?
    “Was it a prank, hey? You and your friends messing around?” Mr. Danny ventured.
    “No, sir! We weren’t messing, sir! We weren’t doing anything bad, sir! These men came while we were sleeping…” Before he had even time to think, Sipho blurted out the events of the night.
    The grabbing, the kicking, the screaming, the shouting, the journey in the gumba-gumba… being flung into the lake, not being able to swim…walking back frozen, soaked and with cut feet…
    As he told the story, Sipho didn’t look at Mr. Danny and his daughter. In front of his eyes he saw all the awful things happening over again. He wrapped his arms tightly around himself, and when he finished speaking there was silence. Then he cast a quick glance at the girl’s face. It was clouded, and her blue eyes were no longer so clear.
    “I think you had better come inside,” said Mr. Danny quietly. “We can find you something dry to put on.”
    At the back of the shop was a little office with a couple of chairs next to a cluttered desk. Mr. Danny’s daughter pulled out a small electric fire from under the desk and turned it on.
    “You can sit here,” she said. “Dad’s getting you some clothes. By the way, what’s your name?”
    “Sipho,” he replied just as Mr. Danny came into the room.
    “Here, try these, Sipho,” he said, holding out a green sweatshirt and a pair of black jeans. He pointed to a couple of smocks hanging behind the door. “You can wear one of those on top. When you’ve warmed up, you can come and giveme a hand in the shop if you feel up to it.”
    Mr. Danny turned to his daughter. “Come on, Jude. We’d better hurry up if we’re to open on time. Maria should have been here by now. She was late last Saturday too. I’ll have to dock her pay if this goes on. These people always have some excuse!”
    “Maria is not ‘these people,’ Dad! She’s herself!”
    “I don’t care who she is. I just want her to be on time!”
    Sipho was left alone in the office. His fingers quivered and fumbled as he undid the buttons of his jacket. He sighed. It had looked so smart when he had put it on the day before. And how strange this was! Only on very special occasions had Ma ever been able to give him new clothes. Mostly he wore clothes passed on from one person to the next. Once stripped, he rubbed himself briskly all over with the flat palms of his hands, feeling also the rays of warmth coming from the red electric bar. He didn’t want to cover up the new sweatshirt and jeans, but Mr. Danny had asked him to put on the smock. It was long for him, reaching almost to his