Bitter Chocolate

Bitter Chocolate Read Free Page B

Book: Bitter Chocolate Read Free
Author: Sally Grindley
Tags: Hewer Text UK Ltd http://www.hewertext.com
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first time, his father promised that he would one day soon. Pascal wished he meant it, but he always seemed to have more important things to do when he came home. Sometimes Pascal felt that he would never be important in his father’s life and that he disappointed him because he was too quiet.
    Before he went to bed that night, he asked his father how long he was staying.
    ‘Just as long as it takes,’ Mr Camara replied.
    ‘As long as what takes?’
    ‘I have a few things to do and then I must go back – unless you’re planning to provide for us instead of me.’
    Nevertheless, Pascal went to bed that night happy in the knowledge that both of his parents were there to protect him if anything bad happened. And he made up his mind that he would ask his father what he thought about the rebels and the fighting, whether or not his mother wanted it discussed. He lay listening to the sounds of the night – cicadas, tree frogs, monkeys, cattle, the low voices of his parents talking – and wondered if he would hear gunfire that night. Would it wake his father and, if so, what would his father do?

Chapter 5
    The plantation bell. Not ringing, but clanging, harsh and discordant. Six o’clock in the morning. Still dark. Muffled groans, mumbled complaints. The bell, continuous, demanding. Ghostly shapes clawing their way out through the deep cushions of sleep and struggling to their feet.
    Pascal rolled on to his back. How much sleep had he had? It felt as if he had only just closed his eyes, only just listened to Kojo’s mutterings.
    A cigarette would be good right now , he thought.
    He made an ‘o’ with his mouth and practised exhaling. It had been over a year since he had last smoked, but he hadn’t quite lost the addiction he had developed as a soldier. The first time a cigarette had been thrust at him, already lit, he had nearly choked on it. He had tried to refuse the second one, only to be warned that if he didn’t obey orders he would be thrashed. He didn’t know at what point his body had made the transition from loathing every minute of every drag to craving the next one. It wasn’t a craving now, not any more, just a nagging mechanical memory of the habit.
    The scuffling increased around him. The voices crescendoed, distorted at first through crusty mouths, then shrill and incessant. They managed to sound full of excitement at the unfolding of a new day, even though there was nothing to be excited about, except perhaps the knowledge that they were going to be fed in a few minutes’ time.
    ‘You gonna stay there all day?’ Kojo was standing above him in the gloom.
    ‘What’s it to you if I do?’ asked Pascal.
    ‘Nothing.’ Kojo shrugged. ‘You’ll get into trouble if you don’t hurry up, that’s all.’
    ‘ You’ll get into trouble if you don’t hurry up ,’ Pascal mimicked. ‘I’m so scared I think I might wet my pants.’
    ‘Sometimes you’re not much of a friend,’ said Kojo.
    ‘You’re not going to take me with you if you escape,’ Pascal jibed. ‘That’s not very friendly.’
    He could see Kojo hovering, unsure of what to do next. They usually headed off for breakfast together, but Kojo didn’t know whether to go now with the others and leave Pascal behind, or to wait for Pascal and risk being late himself.
    ‘You two coming, then?’ Tiene, one of the other boys, asked.
    ‘I’ll catch you up,’ Pascal sighed.
    He was so bored with the endless routine of it all. He was so desperate for some space just to be. What could they do to him, anyway? He’d had plenty of beatings before. It would be worth a beating to spend just five minutes alone, five minutes lying there in the darkness and quiet, freed from the constant maelstrom of activity that living with so many other boys inflicted upon him. Free to pursue his own thoughts wherever they took him, as long as it wasn’t to the carefully delineated no-go areas of his mind.
    How long would it be before his absence was noticed and

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