Breaking Britain (Completed)

Chapter 24

24
Saturday 5th January 2030
21:20

            Najih Jaffer looked down at his daughter, Rasha. She looked confused more than frightened.

            'Everything will be fine', he said, as he bent down and kissed her forehead. Even as the words left his mouth, he knew how little substance they contained.

             'Abee, I'm scared', she said to her father.

             She had just turned six and as much as Najih was ready to deny it, he was just as scared.

             'There's nothing to be scared about. It's just some kids being stupid'.

             He could see the doubt in her eyes. Rasha looked past her father to her mother Waliyah, who was standing in the doorway. 'Ummah, will you stay with me?'

             Waliyah, was worried that if she moved away from the door frame, her legs wouldn't hold her. She was desperately trying to keep it together for Rasha and Hussein, her fifteen year old son.

             Najih looked back at her and nodded. He had this way of giving strength to her by looking in her direction. She stepped into the room and headed for the shelf to the right of Najih's bed.

             'What if I read you a story?'

             Najih smiled. 'Yes, please Ummah'

             As she stepped away from the doorway, Hussain stepped into view.

             'Abee, can I have a word?', he said to his father, desperately hiding the urgency in his voice.

             His father nodded to him, turned back to his daughter. 'Goodnight little one', he said and lifted himself up from his kneeling position. He touched his wife's arm as she stepped in to replace him at his daughter's side.

             He stepped out of the bedroom, closing the door behind him. Before he could ask the question, Hussain spoke.

            'They're back'

            'Are you sure?'

            'Very', he spoke with certainty, 'it's the same ones, they're across the road drinking beer and who knows what else.

            'You rang the police'

            'Yes Abee. That was twenty minutes ago'.

            'Where are they, then...you said it was urgent?'

            'Yes Abee'

            'Well, I'm going out to speak to them'

            'You can't. There's no telling what they'll do'

            'Well, I'm not going to stay here and let them terrorize my family'

            Two days ago, five of them came shouting abuse. Ringing the door bell and running away, they got bored after thirty minutes of it. The next day, there were more than ten, that time they threw stones, banana peels and a couple urinated on their door. This night, more had turned up, many older, some were in their twenties or possibly early thirties. This time they came with sticks and bricks. After hurling abuse for ten minutes, the stones were thrown, this was followed by them taking hold of the external bins around the neighborhood, with the neighbors having put them on the street for the next day collection and emptying them into their garden. That was when Mr Jaffer had decided he had had enough and asked his son to call the police. It was while Hussain was on the phone, that the brick came through their kitchen window. The noise of the window shattering must have not only caused the Jaffer family some fright, it must have also caused the perpetrators some fear, as they all dispersed rapidly.