arge bananas, and almost no hair. He looked strong. The
other man was taller but, not so wide.3 He had long hair tied
back behind his head. He looked strong too.
The shorter man stayed near the boat; the tall one walked
across to the houses. Mary and Andy moved back behind
the door, but the man didn’t come in. They heard the noise
of a door opening. He was going into the house next door.
Mary and Andy looked through the door again.
After a few moments they heard the short man call
across to the house.
‘Jake,’ he said. ‘Jake, is everything OK?’
‘Fine, Os,’ Jake called back.
They were speaking English but not like Mary and
Andy’s English. It sounded strange: the pronunciation was
different. Jake went back and then he and Os went down
into the boat.
‘Let’s go,’ said Andy, starting to go out of the door and
onto the street.
But Mary put out a hand and pulled him back.
‘No. Wait,’ she said. ‘They’re coming out again.’