Nowhere Girl by Ruth Dugdall Page A

must have been embroidering the neck and hem secretly when she was asleep, and it would have taken many hours. The threads were intricately beaded and made from bright silks, it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. The gift made her want to weep.
    Jodie was watching. “Where you think you going to wear that dress, Amina? To the local nightclub?” She laughed, but on seeing Amina’s stricken face she stopped and frowned. “I’m sorry. It is very beautiful.”
    Amina put her face down so Jodie couldn’t see her tears, and unpacked the rest of her possessions. There was also her cotton nightdress, a comb that had once been her grandmother’s and had a piece of coral in the centre, a precious stone bought with the first harvest from the vineyard. Then she saw a pink soft blanket that was folded small at the bottom of the bag. She lifted it and raised it to her face, breathing deep.
    “Your baby blanket?” asked Jodie.
    “My sister’s.” Amina felt a pain around her ribs, her heart swelling with longing for her family. She breathed steadily until the pain eased.
You’ll see them again
, she promised herself.
When you are educated and rich. You will go home and show them what you have achieved and Omi will be proud
.
    Something hit her head, made her flinch. Jodie had tossed her own comb at Amina. “No daydreaming,” she said, and it sounded like a warning. “We have to do what we can with what we have, not disappear into dreaming. Okay?”
    Amina agreed, though she didn’t know why dreaming was bad. She just knew that Jodie was wise, she knew things, and she resolved to do exactly as she said, then she wouldn’t go far wrong.
    “What do you think of Auntie?” Amina asked.
    Jodie touched her teeth with her tongue, something, Amina had come to realise, she did when she was thinking. “She made us a good meal, and this room has been recently swept. So, it seems that she will treat us well. I think she wants us to like her, and that’s good for us. We should try and please her because women often have the power in situations like this.”
    “Like what?” Amina asked, sure she was missing something. “In what situation could a woman have power, Jodie?”
    “This situation, us, being here in the house. Auntie will have to say that we are her children, to everyone else we must look like a family. It is the woman who must spin the tale, if it is to be believed. But this is dangerous for both her and Jak, it could attract talk. We won’t be allowed to leave, not to walk freely about. People may be watching.”
    This was not a surprise for Amina, who was not supposed to go anywhere without a male chaperon, but Jodie sounded annoyed. It must be different in her village. Jodie lifted Pizzie’s baby blanket and put it around her own shoulders, which Amina didn’t like but she didn’t stop her.
    “Let’s hush now, Amina. I’m half-dead from travelling and I need to sleep.”
    Amina wanted to ask more, she had so many questions, but she knew that Omi would tell her that if your friend is honey, don’t eat it all at once. And so she lay down and closed her eyes, hoping that tomorrow would bring some answers.
    Despite her exhaustion from the journey, Amina found it hard to sleep. Instead she thought of home, and wished she was there. Jodie snored like the friendly boar kept as a pet at the tavern in Tizi Ouzou. All the children would pet the boar, laughing as it enjoyed its daily drink of beer, straight from a bottle like a baby. That must be different now. “Algeria is not an Islamic state,” Samir had told her once. “Muslim, yes, but not Islamic. Not yet. But one day soon it will be so. Allah wills it.”
    It was just before the vineyard was set on fire, and though no-one was ever blamed, Samir said it was an act of god. Would the same thing happen to the tavern, and would they still keep the boar as a pet if the bar was shut? Amina shook her head, trying to free these bad thoughts that could not