Page 44 - My Home on the Earth

‘Him and a lot of other folk run a scheme for the homeless. He walks through the town and offers assistance to homeless people on the streets before they get into difficulties. He ran an engineering place once until it caught fire. Now its derelict, but I heard on the quiet, there’s an empty wooden shed or hut on the site and I suspect it’s for when the demolition lads move in. It’s new and I bet it’ll be a fair size. They’ll need somewhere for their lunch and dinner breaks. If you’re desperate you could stay in there for a night,’ he suggested.
‘How dare you! I’m not desperate or homeless. I’m new to the town and I’m interested, that’s all.’
‘Don’t get uppity with me, lady. Why else would you come in here?’ said the man. ‘Anyway, the place is falling down. I used to work for him, but he don’t recognise me these days. When we lost our jobs, he made sure we got a good payout and some more. Yeah, he’s a good bloke.’
‘Why doesn’t he sell the land?’ sneered Marissa.
‘No idea! Waiting for the right price, I expect. Anyway, you’ll be fine in there if you have the right stuff to keep warm, but watch out for the police; they make frequent checks.’
‘As I said, I’m just interested, thank you,’ she snapped, hurrying out of the café.
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Waiting anxiously on the platform at Victoria station, Marissa watched the train pull in. Would John be on the train? Would the police be on the train? Was he safe? When the carriage doors opened she scanned the platform
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