someone, he’d smile and shake his coin box. ‘Australian Cancer Research.’
About every third person found some coins to stick in the box.
‘I thought we were raising money to build the Ark,’ Lauren said, when nobody was nearby.
‘We are,’ Paul said. ‘But there’s a lot of prejudice against the Survivors. If we say it’s for the Ark, we don’t make a cent and get a load of abuse to boot.’
Lauren’s mouth dropped open, ‘But that’s lying …’
Paul shook his head confidently. ‘You can lie to devils, Lauren, they don’t really count.’
They ended up in a park a kilometre from where the van had dropped them off. Paul stood by a gate and told James and Lauren to head for the other entrance.
James shook his box at a passing family. ‘Australian Cancer Research,’ he grinned.
The man handed a bunch of dollar coins to his toddler son, who reached up and put them in the box.
‘Thank you,’ James said enthusiastically.
Lauren shuddered and looked back over her shoulder to make sure Paul was out of earshot. ‘This is so nasty,’ she whispered. ‘It’s the lowest thing ever by about a million per cent.’
‘Australian Cancer Research,’ James said to a passing pensioner, who ignored him. He turned and looked at Lauren. ‘I know, sis. Just grit your teeth and remember that it’s for the mission.’
‘And this cult is totally sexist: girls get all the domestic stuff. If you think four hours filling up boxes is bad, you should see what I’ve got. I spent this morning polishing floors. Tomorrow I’ve got four hours in the laundry.’
James shrugged. ‘What can I say, Lauren? We knew this mission was going to be tough. At least we know the evenings are a bit mellower and there’s school Monday to Friday.’
‘I know,’ Lauren said, shaking her head slowly. ‘I’m just having a little rant to get it out of my system.’ She rattled her tin at a passer-by, ‘Australian Cancer Research,’ and got a few cents for her trouble.
James grinned, trying to cheer Lauren up. ‘When I’ve got a few more dollars, I’m gonna crack this baby open and buy an ice-cream. You want one?’
20. HORROR
Following an afternoon walking around fundraising and an enjoyable evening playing soccer with the lads, James was exhausted. When the late service ended at quarter past nine he walked up the escalators to the second floor and found a couple of pillows and some frayed sheets to cover his mattress. Twenty-six boys lived in the room, their ages evenly spread between eight and eighteen.
As the tired lads stripped off and crashed on to their mattresses, two of the oldest – Sam and Ed – switched on a large but decrepit TV and put on a DVD. James was expecting worthy Christian entertainment and was pleasantly surprised when the title music of The Exorcist came on. He’d seen the movie during a horror marathon at the CHERUB summer hostel and realised why it was being shown as soon as he remembered the plot: what better way to influence the minds of young Survivors than by sending them off to sleep on a movie about a girl possessed by the devil?
James’ mattress was next to Paul’s, almost touching. Twenty minutes into the movie a younger boy crept into the space between them and Paul slid an arm around his back.
‘This is my brother, Rick,’ Paul explained in a whisper.
James gave the youngster a smile. Within a few minutes Rick’s eyes were sagging and he’d started drifting off to sleep. Paul gently flicked his ear to wake him up.
‘Keep your eyes open,’ Paul said firmly. ‘Do you want to get the test?’
James didn’t ask, but he could tell from the look on Rick’s face that the test was something worth being woken up to avoid.
By the end of the movie, even the older boys were struggling to stay awake. When the closing titles began scrolling, Sam and Ed flicked on the lights. They were the biggest dudes in the room and they looked full of themselves as they glanced around at the kids lying on the mattresses. Staying awake had been too much for a couple of the younger boys.
‘I think we’ll take Martin,’ Sam said.
The pair closed on a scrawny nine-year-old a few mattresses along from James. He was curled up on his pillow, wearing nothing but red underpants.
‘Test time,’ the lads shouted as they shook him awake.
Martin woke with a start and scrambled up his bed, away from grabbing hands. ‘Noooooo, please.’
‘Why did you fall