Secret Gardens Read Online Free Page A

allotments last Sunday, the day after Nadimah ran away. He made up a story about why he was looking for a young girl. No one said they’d seen her.
    There is an exit at the bottom of the allotments. Nadimah could have gone out through there. I hope Roland thinks so. I hope he is gone for good. But I can’t be sure.
    A big old fox crosses the allotment. It sees me and stops. The fox looks at me for a moment, then moves on. I hear a door open behind me. Nadimah is up.
    “Are you OK, Nadimah?” I ask.
    “Is there anything to eat?”
    We eat some crisps and drink fizzy pop. Then we read her book. We do not talk about the future. At seven, I go to work.
    When I come back, Nadimah has made a stew.
    “Where did you get all these vegetables?” I ask.
    “I dug them. Stefan gave me some. And he lent me ... I don’t know what it’s called.”
    She points to a long stone.
    “A knife sharpener. What did you need a sharp knife for?”
    “Taste,” she orders.
    The stew is very good. There’s meat in it. Chicken, I think. It is chewy but nice.
    “This tastes fantastic. Where did you get the meat? Did Stefan give you that, too?” I ask her.
    “No,” says Nadimah, “I caught it.”
    “You caught a chicken ?”
    “I don’t think it is called chicken.” Nadimah says. She goes out and comes back with a bloody skin. A grey squirrel. “There are lots here.”
    I carry on eating. It’s the first meat I’ve had in days.
    “Did Roland come back?” I ask.
    She shakes her head. “I like it here,” Nadimah says.
    “Me too.”
    “It reminds me of home, when we had a farm.”
    “What happened to the farm?”
    “Crops failed. We had no more food,” Nadimah tells me. “Why did you leave your country?”
    “Politics,” I tell her.
    “Maybe we can stay here forever,” Nadimah says. “We grow things. We catch things. We earn money for milk and bread and stuff to keep us clean. It could be a good life.”
    “A good life,” I agree.
    I try not to think about Roland and the English winter.

Chapter 16 - Big Decisions
    Summer is here. Apples swell on the trees but are still too small and sharp to eat. The old ones are all gone. I work most days. No one comes to look for me, or Nadimah. We spread nets over the fruit bushes to stop birds from eating the berries. On the light evenings, we read. Mrs Babcock gives me old books from her daughter’s room.
    “Penny doesn’t need them,” Mrs Babcock says. “She has no children. She’s a member of the county council.”
    “But she can’t stop bad smells,” I point out.
    “That’s true,” Mrs Babcock replies. “Aren’t these stories a bit young for you?”
    “They’re for someone else.”
    “A younger sister?” Mrs Babcock
    “Sort of.”
    “Are you OK, Aazim? If I can help you in any way, I will.”
    “Thank you, but I’m all right.”

    At the weekend, Stefan invites us in to his allotment. Nadimah sits in a corner of his shed, shy and quiet. Stefan talks to me.
    “It’s one thing for you to stay here. You have no choice. But this girl is young. She needs to go to school. She needs looking after.”
    “If we tell someone, they may give her back to the Ubanis,” I say.
    “I don’t think so,” Stefan looks at us both. “The Ubanis lied about her being family, didn’t they? They used her as a servant? That’s against the law.”
    “I won’t let them send me home,” Nadimah says. “I don’t want to go back to Africa.”
    “I don’t think they’d send you home,” Stefan says. “I think they’d put you into care. They might find you foster parents.”
    Nadimah frowns. These words mean even less to her than they do to me. “I don’t want,” she says.
    “What do you want?” Stefan asks.
    She thinks for a moment. “It is better not to want,” she says.
    “But you want to stay with Aazim?” Stefan asks.
    Before she can answer, someone bangs on his allotment gate. Nadimah jumps.
    “Wait here,” Stefan says. He goes outside, to the gate. I