Back In The Day

• Timothy Bakhit, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2018

1702, London
The hijackers enter the small cramped house in the middle of the slums. They enter the first room they find. In this room, is a baby boy sleeping in his cot. They hear footsteps coming from the room opposite. The hijackers quickly take the baby, zip him in a rucksack and load up their hunting rifles. A tall, skinny man with ripped clothes comes up holding a bread knife in his shaking hand. The hijackers shoot him in the chest. He falls to the wooden ground with a loud ‘thud.’ A young woman falls at the man’s feet and cries. The woman’s long, dirty hair falls on the man’s face. “Let’s get outta here,” said one of the hijackers to the other. With that, the hijackers left with the baby crying in the bag.
1715, London
“Hurry up lads, and get the turkey in the bag!” The little boy had escaped from the hijackers when he was ten and found some friends. They were now smuggling some leftover Christmas dinner. The boy saw a Beefeater walk up the road. He noticed the smashed window that the boys had got into the house through. He was striding across the lane to the house. The three other boys took a drumstick each and fled, leaving the boy with the old, ripped bag with the turkey in it.
The Beefeater entered the house and found the boy holding the rucksack. “Oi, you! He indicated the boy. “Get over here!” The boy did as he was told and was dragged into the carriage of the Beefeater. When they arrived at the prison, the boy was taken to the courtroom. It was a room the size of a cathedral! At the front, sat the judge, in his long, black robes. The boy sat down in the chair in front of him. “What is your name?” called the judge. The boy tried to remember what people called him. “Neville,” Neville replied. “Did you steal a turkey from a house?” slurred the judge. “Yes,” muttered Neville. You are hereby sentenced to life in prison!” The judge hit his hammer on the table.
Neville was taken to prison and dragged into a cell. In this cell was a fat boy with the name ‘Adolf’ printed on his shirt. Adolf was sitting in a corner, drawing something. Neville leaned in to see what the boy was drawing, but he shifted the paper and said, “What do yeh fink yeh doin’?” According to his accent, this boy must be a cockney. “Sorry” apologised Neville. What did this boy have that Neville couldn’t see?
When Adolf fell asleep, Neville crept over to see the drawing. It was an escape plan. Following the plan, Neville walked to the front of the cell and quietly took the keys from the sleeping guard’s belt. He then unlocked the door and crept out. Outside the cell was a woman with long, dirty hair.
It was Neville’s mother.
He ran into her arms.