The Shadow of Great Britain

60: Chapter 21: The Clever Adam’s Robin 60: Chapter 21: The Clever Adam’s Robin Arthur and the others walked down the deep and narrow alley outside St Giles Church, where the passage was too narrow for two people to walk side by side.

Even a grown man had to keep his shoulders tucked in to ensure his coat didn’t touch the damp, moss-covered walls.

They had to walk in single file, with Officer Tony at the front and Arthur bringing up the rear, while Dickens, Tom, and young Adam were protected between them.

As they walked, Adam suddenly stopped, mesmerized in front of a shack constructed of wood and iron wires.

Tom, without turning back, tugged at Adam’s arm until he felt resistance and finally looked back at the stationary Adam, asking in puzzlement, “Child, what’s wrong?”

Adam blinked and, pointing to the house stitched together by wires and boards—its original look no longer discernible—said, “I want to go back and see my friend.”

Arthur glanced at the doorplate hanging askew on a single nail, covered in red rust.

It read 27 Church Lane, the place where Adam had lived for nine years.

Arthur turned to Dickens and asked, “Charles, you’re not busy today, are you?”

Dickens smiled and said, “I’ve been staying around here for the past month, this is my job; it doesn’t matter whether I’m busy or not.”

“Good.”

Arthur turned around and accidentally smeared mud on the shoulder of his coat.

He raised his hand and knocked on the door gently, asking, “Anybody home?”

But after a long while, there was no response.

At that moment, Adam stepped forward, “Mr.

Hastings, there is no need to knock to enter here; we have four families living in this place, and this door is shared by everyone.”

With that, he went to the door and, with both hands on the bottom edge of the door panel, he actually lifted it over his head, creating a gap a few feet high.

Little Adam’s face turned red with the effort, clearly straining with all his might.

“Please hurry inside, I can’t hold this much longer.”

Seeing this, Dickens quickly stepped forward to take over, but as soon as he exerted force, he heard a thump, and the whole door came off.

“This…” Dickens held the door, bewildered: “Did I…

did I break it?”

Adam shook his head, “No, it’s been broken; we only use it to block the wind.”

Dickens breathed a sigh of relief, “Well, that’s good.”

He set the door panel aside, and only then could everyone see the inside of the shack.

The first thing that caught their eye was a semi-open walkway, not too long, called semi-open because only a simple wooden layer was placed on top of the walkway as shelter from the rain.

On both sides of the passage, there were stoves piled up with bricks and debris commonly seen in the broken houses of St Giles.

On the stoves, there was a round, bottom-blackened iron pot, filled with rainwater from last night, and the surface of the water had a few indistinguishable species of black insect corpses floating on it.

Some ash-whitened charcoal that had not yet fully burned out remained in the stove, and on the edge of the stove was a table leg, whose origin was unknown.

Upon seeing the iron pot, Adam first stared blankly, then muttered, “This must be Kyle’s doing; he must have forgotten to take back the pot and the leftover fuel after making tea.

If his dad finds out, he’s going to get a thrashing.”

Hearing this, Arthur picked up the iron pot and tossed the water outside, saying, “Then let’s take it back for Kyle.

Is Kyle the friend you’re looking to find today?”

While shaking his head, Adam led them up the stairway, “No, don’t take it for him, I like watching him get beaten.”

Arthur was taken aback, “Why?”

Adam said, “I have a feud with Kyle.

He’s two years older than me, so he often uses his height and strength to pick fights with me.”

Tom also became interested, very keen to understand this son of his: “Why do you fight?”

Facing his father’s question, Adam was not coy about his grievances with his enemy.

He began, “We have too many scores to settle, sometimes over a penny in the cracks, sometimes because I stole the newspapers he planned to sell on the street, and sometimes because he and his lackeys look down on me.”

“Look down on you?” Tony laughed heartily, “Adam, take it easy.

There will always be people in this world who look down on you.

I patrol every day, and every day people look down on me.”

Adam said earnestly, “Kyle doesn’t have the guts to look down on cops, he only dares to look down on me.

He says he can earn six pennies a day working in the factory, while someone like me can only earn five.”

But he doesn’t think about the fact that he doesn’t earn six pennies because he works better than me, but because he has an aunt who’s a forewoman in the factory.”

He isn’t just unaware of his standing; he also mistakes his rudeness for masculinity.”

When I used to work with him at the textile factory, he would always use a stick to lift Robin’s skirt during his free time and tease her by saying, ‘Hey, let’s have a good look at how white your thighs are.’

Robin cried because of him, and I couldn’t stand it, so I grabbed Kyle by the back of his head from behind and threw him to the ground, then climbed on top of him and beat him up.”

Kyle’s nose bled from my punches, he covered his face wailing as if he were a defeated mangy dog.

I was about to win, but his group of lackeys, hoping to earn an extra penny from Kyle’s aunt, charged at me like madmen and pummeled me with their fists, kicking my stomach, trying to separate us.

But I wouldn’t let go; I had to teach him a lesson.”

Not until his aunt came over with a stick, shouting ‘you little bastard’ and beating my back severely with the stick did I really hurt so much that I had to let go, and from then on, they banned me from working at the factory…

Adam fell silent as he reached this point.

Seeing him like this, Arthur suddenly recalled the information he got from chatting with Adam earlier.

He asked, “So, is this why your family drove you out onto the streets, where you can’t come home to sleep unless you’ve begged for five pennies?”

LIttle Adam’s eyes brimmed with tears, and he nodded.

Arthur smiled, ruffled his hair, and then patted Tom on the shoulder, “I must say, Tom, you’ve got yourself a fine boy here.”

Tom smiled and nodded in agreement, “I think so too.”

He squatted down, wiped the tears from his son’s eyes with a finger, and then hoisted him onto his neck.

Dickens also smiled, encouraging, “Kid, this is nothing.

They chased you out of the house not because you weren’t good enough, but because they’re jealous of you, jealous of what you have that they can’t buy with their daily five pennies—your character and conscience!”

Adam laughed and wiped the corner of his eye, saying, “Dad, you should put me down now.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I still have to dig out my treasures from the ground.

Although I don’t need them anymore, I want to give them all to Robin.

Robin also lives here, and she needs these things more than I do now.”

Tony whistled teasingly, “Ah!

Adam, I didn’t see that you’re quite the ladies’ man.

Robin, I remember that name, she’s the girl you saved from that little bastard Kyle, right?

You’re such a sly one.”

A blush crept onto Little Adam’s face; he neither confirmed nor denied but simply raised his hand and pointed to the ceiling, “She lives on the second floor, the third room from the stairwell.”