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You Don't Know Me

I sit next to her and I can feel the heat coming from her body. Then she puts a hand on my leg and suddenly a waterfall opens in my mind. The thoughts come crashing out just like that. Her face close to mine. Her eyes locking me into her. The scent of her skin. My head begins to spin from the memory of her, of us. Of how we were before it all became messed up. It has been so long since she touched me at all that I have almost forgotten that we were a living thing once. A fire-breathing thing. I look at her and she smiles that smile of hers. A smile from before.

For a second it makes me forget that anything was wrong. Then something niggles me and I snap back into reality feeling like when you fall asleep and then you are awake.

‘Those things waterproof?’ I say, indicating the burkha.

‘What? Erm no.’ Then she realizes what I’m getting at and adds, ‘Oh I got a lift. Anyway shut up about that and listen for a second. I think I’ve worked it out.’

I stare blankly at her for a second until her look reminds me. We have more serious stuff to worry about than this.

‘Sure,’ I say. ‘Yeah well I think I worked it out too,’ I add and pull up a chair next to her.

‘Oh yeah?’ she says, ‘Fire away genius,’ she says still smiling. ‘And while you’re at it pour me a bowl of that delicious-looking soup you got going on there.’

This was one of those moments where the old Ki seemed to materialize. It was almost as if she was back to how she used to be. If I could only hold on to her and keep her here I knew everything would be okay.

‘Well,’ I say as I pour her soup into a mug, ‘the way I figured it yeah, is there ain’t no way Guilty going to be taking down no twenty-man crew, all of them carrying. Nothing we can do going to fix them numbers you get me?’

‘Go on.’

‘But –’

‘Yeah?’ she says, curious.

‘Can a mouse eat a snake?’

She looks at me like I have lost my mind. ‘Are you feeling alright?’ she says with a kind of half-smile.

‘Look Ki, what if the snake had no head?’

‘Err – what?’

‘What if the snake had no head?’ I say and realize that I am sounding a bit crazy even if I know what I mean.

‘Then sure,’ she says slowly but you can see from her face she thinks she’s talking to a retarded person.

‘Then that’s what has to be done. We need to find a way to take the snake’s head off.’

‘What are you talking about?’

So then I explain it to her. All about how I was asking myself how can a mouse beat a snake, and how he couldn’t unless maybe the snake had no head. And then even as I am saying it, it sounds stupid so I stop midway.

It takes a minute but then she smiles to herself and says, ‘You are a genius after all.’

‘No need for sarcasm,’ I say.

‘No. I’m serious. That is just what I have been thinking.’

And that’s when she says them words that change our lives. Once a thing like this is said, it can’t be unsaid. It gets a life of its own. Like planting a seed. All you can do is step back and watch it grow.

‘We have to take out Face. Once he’s gone it’s game over. And we can get some normal back in our lives. Stop all this hiding. Living like we are fugitives.’

‘That’s it! That’s what I was getting at!’ I say amazed that for once I’m not completely stupid. Then it hits me what she just said. ‘ “We”? I never said nothing about we,’ I say suddenly not liking what I think she means.

‘Who then? Guilty? You think he can do this?’ she says looking right at me.

‘Yes I do. We can set Face up somehow and let Guilty take him out. One on one. Element of surprise.’

‘Guilty?’ she says with her eyes all wide. ‘From what I hear about Guilty, he can’t even take the bins out. No babe. We can’t risk leaving this to him.’

‘I don’t know what you’ve heard Ki or who you been speaking to, but Guilty ain’t a person to fuck with. Mans is brutal.’

‘It’s not about that. I don’t care if he’s brutal. I care about if he’s smart enough to make a move on Face. And even from what you told me, he is not,’ she says and I know she is right.

‘Who then?’ I say. ‘Who’s going to do it?’

‘Us. We have to do this,’ she says and leaves the room.

Long adjournment: 16:05

IN THE CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT T2017229

Before: HIS HONOUR JUDGE SALMON QC

Closing Speeches:

Trial: Day 36

Thursday 13^thJuly 2017

APPEARANCES

For the Prosecution: Mr C. Salfred QC

For the Defendant: In person

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