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‘Tasha,’ she says

‘Baba, can you give me a hand?’

For a mo ‘Of course’

I walk to the wall at the back of the house and wait across the road The gates have CCTV ca 24 hours a day, but the walls only have cameras that swivel on a 180 arc So if you time your journey to or from the wall carefully you will never appear in it I wait, half hidden by a cherry tree Five minutes later a rope comes over the wall and I run to it

I have less than 45 seconds before the camera will return to that spot I run across the road and cli this since I was six years old I jurass and pull the ladder up behind me I carry it with me and run to the ancient Yew tree Less than ten seconds left I reach into the roots of the tree and pluck the rope out of the ets stuck

Shit

Five seconds left

I get on le it, it co the ladder and rope to et behind the tree I push ainst the back of the tree My heart is hahmy hands and face

I made it

I speak softly to the little treats froive to them ‘Go on Off with you,’ I tell the duties

I stand up and wait for the camera to do its complete sweep before I run back to the house I throw the rope ladder back into its black bag and dust h I have ht , I walk coolly into the kitchen

It is e at the kitchen table wearing the thick housecoat she wears to bed and a dressing gown over it Her short, coarse iron-gray hair is uncombed, and her face is pale without her lipstick There is a pot of tea and two cups and saucers laid out on the table I walk up to the table and, dropping the bag on the floor, sit in front of her Silently, she fills the cups with tea

‘Isn’t the appoint today?’ she asks in Russian Baba is the only one who speaks to me in Russian

‘Yes’

‘At what time?’

I look down at the stea from my tea ‘Half past eleven’