Little Bee Read Free Page A

pretty and she was
not a good talker either, but there is one more thing that can save you from
being sent home early. This girl’s thing was , she had her story all written down and made official. There
were rubber stamps at the end of her story that said in red ink this is TRUE. I
remember she told me her story once and it went something like, the-men-came-and-they -
    burned- my-village -
tied- my-girls -
raped- my-girls -
took- my-girls -
whipped- my-husband -
cut- my-breast -
I-ran-away -
through- the-bush -
found- a-ship -
crossed-the-sea
    and-then-they-put-me-in-here . Or some such story like that. I got
confused with all the stories in that detention center. All the girls’ stories
started out, the-men-came-and-they. And all of the
stories finished, and-then-they-put-me-in-here. All
the stories were sad, but you and I have made our agreement concerning sad
words. With this girl—girl three in the queue—her story had made her so sad
that she did not know the name of the place where she was at and she did not
want to know. The girl was not even curious.
    So
the girl with the telephone receiver, she asked her again. What? she said. Yu no talk neither? How
come yu not know the name dis place we at?
    Then
the third girl in the queue, she just pointed her eyes up at the ceiling, and so the girl with the telephone receiver pointed her
own eyes up at the ceiling for a second time. I was thinking, Okay, now the
detention officer has looked at the ceiling one time and girl three has looked
at the ceiling one time and girl one has looked at the ceiling two times, so maybe there are some answers up on that
ceiling after all. Maybe there is something very cheerful up there. Maybe there
are stories written on the ceiling that go something like the-men-came-and-they -
    brought- us-colorful-dresses-fetched-wood-for-the-fire -
told- some-crazy-jokes -
drank- beer-with-us -
chased- us-till-we-giggled -
stopped- the-mosquitoes-from-biting -
told- us-the-trick-for-catching-the-British-one-pound-coin -
turned- the-moon-into-cheese -
    Oh,
and then they put me in here.
    I
looked at the ceiling, but it was only white paint and fluorescent light tubes
up there.
    The
girl on the telephone, she finally looked at me. So I said to her, The name of
this place is the Black Hill Immigration Removal Centre. The girl stared
at me. Yu kiddin wid me, she said. What kine of a name is dat? So I
pointed at the little metal plate that was screwed on the wall above the
telephone. The girl looked at it and then she looked back to me and she said,
Sorry darlin, I can not ridd it. So I read it out to
her, and I pointed to the words one at a time. BLACK HILL IMMIGRATION REMOVAL
CENTRE, HIGH EASTER, CHELMSFORD, ESSEX. Thank you precious, the first girl
said, and she lifted up the telephone receiver.
    She
said into the receiver: All right now listen mister, the place I is right now
is called Black Hill Immigration Removal. Then she
said, No, please, wait. Then she looked sad and she
put the telephone receiver back down on the telephone. I said, What is wrong? The first girl sighed and she said, Taxi man
say he no pick up from dis place. Then he say, You people are scum. You know dis
word?
    I
said no, because I did not know for sure, so I took my Collins
Gem Pocket English Dictionary out of my see-through bag and I looked up
the word. I said to the first girl, You are a film of impurities or vegetation that can form on the
surface of a liquid. She looked at me and I looked at her and we giggled
because we did not understand what to do with the information. This was always
my trouble when I was learning to speak your language. Every word can defend
itself. Just when you go to grab it, it can split into two separate meanings so
the understanding closes on empty air. I admire you people. You are like
sorcerers and you have made your language as safe as your money.
    So
me and the first girl in the telephone queue, we were giggling at each other,
and I was holding my