Page 48 - English Reader - 8

Behind her, the girl felt her Grandfather fighting off another coughing fit. “Not now, Grandfather,”
she prayed, “Not now.”

The old man pressed his hand over his mouth in an attempt to choke off the rasping sound. But
in vain. The young man heard him. He spun around and focused the beam on the old man’s face.
Blinded by the sudden light, the old man shielded his face with his arms, coughing pitifully all the
while. Shrinking away from the intruder, the girl stared unbelievingly at him.
“Tutu,” she whispered, “Tutu.” Hot angry tears sprang into her eyes and before she knew what she
was doing she was out of the hiding place and had hurled herself at the young man, hammering at
his chest with her small fists.

“Leave my Grandfather! Leave him alone,” she sobbed.

With a swift movement of his arm, the young man caught the struggling girl, clamped a tight hand
over her mouth. Then he kicked at the furniture, overturned the cot, and smashed the lamp.

Drawn by the noise and turmoil two men appeared in the doorway. “What is happening?” one of
them roared. “Have you got them?”
The girl held her breath, going limp in the young man’s arms. With his back to the door, Tutu shouted
over his shoulder, “Nobody here! Get upstairs, quick, they might be upstairs, the cowards,” and he
kicked the steel trunk with full force towards the door.

The two men jumped back as the trunk hurled towards them, turned and rushed up the stairs.

The moment they were gone, the young man released the pressure around the girl’s shoulder and
whispered, “Listen to me with care, princess. You must get out of here as fast as you can. Climb
through the window and get into the service lane through the rear door. Fast, girl, get going. My
mother is waiting for you. Our back door is open.”

“Tutu, oh, Tutu,” cried the girl, “Tutu, but...you...you! What will happen to Grandfather?”

“I will take care of him, go now, girl, run!” the young man urged her and lifted her over the window-
sill. “Run for your life.”

With a soft thud, the girl landed safely on the ground and was over at the back door in a second. She
opened the door and stepped into the service lane. Behind her, she could hear the mob rampage
through the rooms. She stopped in her tracks. Grandfather. What would happen to Grandfather?
She could not leave him, could she? But Tutu’s words hammered inside her head. “Run, girl, run for
your life.”

The girl ran on; she tripped over rubbish and discarded kitchen waste. But on she ran till she reached
the narrow beam of light that fell into the lane through a doorway. With trembling hands she opened
the door and sobbing with exhaustion, she fell into the arms of a waiting woman. The woman drew
the trembling girl close and whispered into the girl’s ears, “Thank God, you are alive. We were so
worried about you and your Grandfather. Is he coming with Tutu?”

“I don’t know,” whispered the girl, “I don’t know.” And she began to cry.
The woman rocked her gently in her arms and said, “It is all right, it is all right. It is all over now. Let
us wait for them here.”

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