Chapter 34: For the kids

Tuesday 9-Oct 2007

As the train pulled away from the station, Shahia said, "Chris, I'm worried about our friends. Do you think they'll be okay?"

Chris was jolted into action by that. He needed to make some phone calls, and then they needed to disappear. He looked around. There was no one near; fortunately the midmorning train was very empty.

He turned his phone on. As soon as it had signal, he called his mum. She answered immediately.

"Chris, are Shahia and the kids okay?"

So, she'd heard. "Yeah, they're here with me. The cops came to take them away, but we got them instead."

"Thank God." He could hear the relief in her voice. He knew he was about to puncture that. "Where are you?"

"Umm, Mum, we're running away."

There was silence over the phone. He continued, suddenly clogged up with tears, and he knew that his mum would hear it. "I'm sorry, Mum, I'm really sorry. It wasn't meant to be like this. I love you all deeply, you know that."

He could almost hear her pull herself together. "I know that. Do you have to run?"

"I don't know. What I know is that if we run, we can come back. If we don't run..."

"Yes, you're right. I'm just so afraid for you all."

"We're afraid too. But we've got money and stuff, Shahia has what she needs for Maria. We won't be on the streets. In a second, Mum, I'm going to hang up. When I do, that'll be it until I know it's safe to talk to you again."

"Oh Chris. I love you so much, I'm going to miss you." There was a pause. "Stay safe. Look after those kids."

"We will, that's what this is about. I love you too, Mum. Bye."

"Wait! Can I talk to Shahia?"

"Okay."

He passed the phone to her; she was crying from what he'd said. "Hi, Helen."

She listened to the phone for maybe a minute, not saying anything. "Thank you. We will. I love you too. Bye."

When she gave the phone back, Chris asked her what his mum had said.

She looked at him through her tears. "She told me how much she loved us all, that she'd miss us badly, that we needed to stick together and to help each other. And she told me that she's already forgiven us for you running away with us."

Chris nodded. "Okay, one more call."

He called Mr Cartwright's mobile, who also answered immediately.

"Chris, are you all okay?"

'Sir, thank you, we're fine — we have all Shahia's siblings. They were trying to take them away. As you can hear, we're on a train, we're going to disappear. Sir, several students helped us, and some broke the law doing so. Can you please do your best to help them? Anything that got broken, my mum will pay for out of my money. I'm so sorry sir, for landing this mess on you."

"Chris, I will look after those students. Can I do anything else to help?"

"No thank you, sir."

"Chris, can I talk to both of you?"

Chris pulled Shahia over so they had their ears together over the phone.

"We are both listening."

"Hi, Mr Cartwright," said Shahia.

"Shahia, Chris, may God's blessings go with you. We will fight for you to come back safely. Please make sure that there is a way for you to be contacted, and that whoever knows it lets me know who they are. You can be sure that I will not betray you. Now please, both of you, take a deep breath, and think about how to look after those lovely kids. Please, it's better to let yourself be caught rather than risk harm coming to them."

Chris and Shahia looked at each other across the phone. Shahia answered. "Thank you for reminding us. My kids will always be our highest priority."

"Then, good luck to both of you. Goodbye."

Chris turned his phone off, ignoring all the messages, and popped the sim card out. "Please give me all your sim cards and phone batteries."

Shahia looked at him in surprise. "Why?"

"Apparently they can find us by pinging our phones even if we don't use them. Some of them don't even turn off properly. So we'll just be sure."

They handed them over, and Chris popped them in his kit. While he was doing that, he considered what to do next. Should he discuss their many problems with Shahia? He had to. But in front of Hassan and Alyssa? He just didn't know. Well, it should be Shahia's choice. He'd feel her out.

"How much money have you got in there?"

"About $300. You?"

"About the same." He grimaced.

"We better go to the bank then."

Chris shook his head. "I don't think that we can."

"What?" Shahia looked at him, horrified.

Chris sighed. "My planning was based around the idea that it would be the missing persons squad who were looking for us, or maybe the immigration department. They don't have many resources, they're always overworked. And I thought that we'd have a few hours to get clear. But I'm rather afraid after what happened, particularly with that police car, that the regular police are going to be looking for us. We attacked a police vehicle."

They all looked at him with wide eyes. "Oh," Shahia said. "Where are we going?"

They talked about this for the rest of the trip into the city. There had always been his uncle's farm as a possibility. They liked it, they were welcome there, but it was too obvious. Chris didn't want to get his uncle into trouble, and they didn't want to be caught. And it was a considerable challenge getting there using public transport. Chris felt that they needed to go somewhere quick and hide out for a few days.

The other option was to head north from Melbourne, up to the orchard areas. The orchards relied heavily on immigrant labour, and Chris figured that there would be immigrant friendly places out there. And this was a simple single train trip from the city.

Hassan and Alyssa were hanging out to go to his uncle's farm — there was a safeness about the option in their minds. But Shahia was far from convinced. She wavered, which Chris understood, but gradually their discussion focused on the risk of travelling. In fact, by the time they got to Spencer Street station, the big intercity station in the centre of Melbourne, they half expected to be picked up by the police as they got off the train.