Authors: Jessie Williams

Sammi and Dusty (8 page)

BOOK: Sammi and Dusty

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Suddenly, a loud voice boomed over all the others, silencing the crowd. ‘Let’s stop all this now,’ it called. ‘I think we’ve heard quite enough!’

Chapter Twelve

Sammi craned his neck to see who it was. The crowd parted slightly, and he saw the group of council workers, and Mr Collins elbowing his way to the front. He held his breath.
Now
what was going to happen? Everyone muttered and murmured as Mr Collins made his way forward. Sammi felt really nervous. What had he meant,
we’ve heard quite enough
? Was he just fed up of hearing about the farm and wanted to get on with closing it? Or was it something else?

With a bit of huffing and puffing, Mr Collins stepped up onto the bench. He took a handkerchief out of his pocket and mopped his forehead before beginning to speak.

‘As I’m sure you all know, City Farm has been funded by the council for many years,’ he said. ‘And I’m very proud that we’ve supported such an wonderful project. It’s been very touching to hear all these lovely stories.’ He paused. ‘But as you know, this land is a valuable asset.’

There was a rumble of protest as everyone guessed what he was about to say. Mr Collins raised his hand for quiet. ‘Every now and again, we have to ask ourselves this very important question: are we still making the best use of the council’s money and assets?’

Sammi looked round in frustration. Mr Collins’ English was so difficult to follow. Why didn’t he just get on with it, he wondered, and tell everyone exactly what he was going to do?

‘Shame!’ cried someone again.

‘Wait, wait,’ said Mr Collins. ‘Please bear with me. Today, I’ve seen something I never expected to see. I’ve seen that the whole community values City Farm, and it offers hope and support to our young people.’

‘Keep it open, then!’ called someone else.

Mr Collins smiled. ‘What I’ve discovered today is that we couldn’t be spending our money better,’ he said. ‘And so the council will continue to fund City Farm for the foreseeable future!’

‘HURRAHHH!’ shouted Jack, at Sammi’s side, and the whole crowd joined in!

Sammi didn’t understand everything that Mr Collins had said. ‘Is open?’ he shouted to Jack. ‘Is OK?’

‘Yes!’ Jack yelled back. Asha began to jump up and down like a yo-yo. Rory’s smile was so huge that Sammi thought it might split his face in half! Kerry did a jig in her leopard-print wellies, and everyone in the crowd laughed and cheered at the top of their voices.

Sammi hugged everyone in turn – Rory and Kerry, then Jack and Asha. Then he rushed to find Giti and his mum, and hugged them too. Everyone was so happy!

‘Sammi! Come with us!’ called Asha, reaching for his hand through the crowd. ‘We’re going to show all our favourite parts of the farm to Mr Collins!’

Sammi’s mum grinned and waved him off to join the little group of people who were clustered around Mr Collins.

‘First, I think I should see inside the famous old barn,’ said Mr Collins. ‘Good lord! This is such a splendid old building. I rather suspect that it will be of historic interest to our heritage department... Let’s go in, shall we?’

Everyone piled through the big old wooden door. Kerry took him into her office to show him the stack of files, recording all the children who had been helped by the Harvest Hope project. Then Asha dug out all the colourful pictures that had been sent in by schools.

They headed outside again with Mr Collins full of enthusiasm. ‘I’ve just had a thought,’ he said. ‘A colleague’s daughter has just had a big operation. It’ll take her a long time to fully recover, but I can imagine that the Harvest Hope project would do her the world of good. Would you consider her, do you think?’

‘Of course we would,’ said Kerry. ‘Rehabilitation work is one of the things we do best. Just send me her details and we can start the process. Now, which part of the farm would you like to visit first? The garden, perhaps?’

‘Sounds wonderful,’ agreed Mr Collins.

Out in the front yard, the council workers were still standing around, wondering what to do. Derrick Jarvis was standing with them, his face furious. The worker holding the
CLOSED
sign stepped forward.

‘What should we do with this, Mr Collins?’ he asked.

‘Well, we won’t be needing it here,’ said Mr Collins. ‘Give it to Mr Jarvis. I’m sure he’ll find a use for it somewhere else.’

The worker handed the sign over. Sammi watched as Mr Jarvis turned on his heel and marched off towards his car. But then, instead of putting the sign in his boot, he held it out in front of him for a second. He shook his head in disgust, and broke the sign over his knee. It split neatly into two pieces!

* * *

Grinning to himself, Sammi skipped after the others as they wandered down through the flower beds in the garden. Mr Collins was very impressed with all the vegetables, and particularly loved the pond with all the ducks and geese waddling around it. The swans sat safely on the other side of the water, looking very beautiful and elegant.

‘Reminds me of my childhood!’ he exclaimed happily. ‘I dare say you get plenty of tadpoles in the spring, don’t you?’

‘Aye,’ Rory told him. ‘There’s frogs and toads – the clumps of frogspawn and the strings of toadspawn. I always love pointing out the difference to littl’uns.’

Sammi gave Asha a nudge. ‘What’s frog and toad?’ he asked.

Asha immediately went down on all fours and did an impression, croaking and hopping along beside the pond. Everyone burst out laughing.

‘Asha, what on earth are you doing?’ asked Kerry.

‘I’m explaining to Sammi,’ said Asha. ‘He wasn’t sure what we were talking about!’

‘Is OK,’ giggled Sammi. ‘I understand now.’ There was no mistaking what Asha was imitating!

They walked way round past the chicken coops, with their cosy nest boxes. Jack suggested that Mr Collins have a look for an egg, and sure enough, he found a lovely fresh brown one with speckles at one end.

‘We’d better take that up to the barn,’ said Kerry. ‘Or perhaps you’d like to take it with you?’

‘I’d love to take it,’ said Mr Collins. ‘I’ll show it to my daughter. She’ll be thrilled to think her old dad collected it himself. In fact, I think I’ll bring her here for a visit!’

‘She’d be more than welcome,’ smiled Kerry, as they walked back up to the yard.

Just as they arrived, Bea emerged from the cafe holding a big tray of cakes. Sammi’s mum and their neighbour went up to give her some help, and began to hand them out on paper plates to anyone who wanted one.

‘Oh, Bea! How fantastic! I thought we’d eaten all the cakes yesterday!’ exclaimed Kerry.

‘No, there was one tray left,’ said Bea. ‘And I’ve chopped them all in half so that more people can have a taste!’

Sammi’s mum came back, pointing to the tray and then to the people who were gathering around hopefully.

‘You want to hand out more cakes?’ Bea asked her.

‘More cakes,’ repeated Sammi’s mum, copying the words carefully. Then she laughed, and winked at Sammi. ‘I learn quick!’ she said.

Sammi laughed, and watched her waltz off with two more plates in her hands.

Giti ran up to Sammi and took his hand. ‘Show me your friend,’ she said to him in English. ‘Your donkey friend.’

Just then, Sammi heard a distant sound from the behind the barn.

‘Eeee-yore! Eeee-yore!’ called Dusty.

How could he forget? ‘Of course! I haven’t told him the good news yet!’ said Sammi. He pulled Giti towards the paddocks, and they broke into a run. ‘Come on, Giti. Let’s go and tell him right now!’

Epilogue

Sammi led Dusty into his stall and tied him up, then undid his saddle. He lifted it off and carried it up to the storeroom, whistling a tune.

‘You sound cheerful!’ commented Rory. He was up a ladder, repairing one of the old windows. Since City Farm had been given a new lease of life, Rory hadn’t stopped sprucing it up – he’d painted fences and built new hutches and even started work on a whole new stall.

‘I am always cheerful these days!’ laughed Sammi.

He laid the saddle carefully on its rack, then returned to Dusty’s stall and gave him a good brush down. ‘You work hard today, Dusty.’ he commented. ‘I bet you looking forward to a good roll in the grass.’

Dusty had given about fifteen donkey rides to younger children over the morning and lunch time, trotting up and down the main yard. Sammi had led him the whole time, and Dusty hadn’t started braying once! He fed him a nice juicy carrot as a reward, then untied him and led him back out to the paddock. Dusty’s ears were pricked as he walked through the gate, and Stanley whinnied a greeting.

‘Now you go and enjoy yourself!’ said Sammi. He slipped off Dusty’s head collar and gave his neck a final pat.

Dusty butted Sammi’s arm affectionately, then trotted off, braying noisily. Stanley stood still for a moment, then turned around and cantered wildly to the far end of the paddock with his tail held high. Dusty charged after him, and the two of them kicked their heels, just for the fun of it!

Sammi grinned, then jogged back to the barn. He’d better hurry up or he’d be late. He collected his kit bag and his football. It was Saturday afternoon, and all the boys would be waiting for him down the park.

He was just about to dash off to catch the bus when he remembered who was visiting City Farm today. He went to the cafe and popped his head around the door.

‘Hi, Mum! Hi, Giti!’ he called.

‘Hello! Go play football! You late!’ laughed his mum. She was sitting with Bea, Giti and their neighbour, eating cake. ‘What you still do here?’

‘You want chocolate cake? It’s very nice. Yummy,’ said Giti, who had it smeared all around her mouth.

‘It’s OK, Giti,’ Sammi told her. ‘I don’t want to eat cake before football – I like more to have it afterwards.’

‘I’ll save you some,’ promised Giti.

‘Don’t believe a word,’ said Bea. ‘She’ll eat it all herself!’

As the big old door closed behind him, Sammi remembered how he’d felt when he first saw the farm and the rickety barn. So much had changed since then. The Harvest Hope project had shown him that his new life wasn’t so bad, after all. He had a whole new home, and City Farm was definitely part of it! Sammi gave them a final wave.

‘Good luck! Come home safe!’ called his mum, slipping back into Pashtun.

‘Say it in English!’ replied Sammi, over his shoulder.

‘No problem,’ said his mum. ‘See you later, alligator!’

Sammi laughed. ‘In a while, crocodile!’

Character Profile