Uchay Writes

This is a memory of my dad and I’s trip to Tesco. Enjoy!

April 2011

We had run out of snacks and the cupboard only consisted of cereal and sugar. The ceramic bowl no longer was full to the brim with fruit, all that was left was a clementine, it was going off, I could tell because there was a white colour that had started to appear on the side. I missed the times when my family: my mum, dad, brother and I would drive down to Tesco once a month for a food shop. Ever since mum sold the car, she just ordered it online, but about once a week we’d top up on fresh fruit and snacks, this time my dad and I rose to the task. I missed the car, but I did enjoy the 15-minute walk to Big Tesco.

It was pretty chilly that autumn afternoon, so I put on my coat and bend my dad’s warm hand and commenced on our journey. We walked down the road, passing the numerous blocks of flats on our right, I could smell people’s cooking: curry? Chicken? Fish? Maybe it was a mix of all three. Walking past the flats was comforting, we didn’t know each other but everyone was together, years later after moving I’d come to understand that was what we the true feeling of a community.

We had reached the end of the road and turned left, my favourite part of the journey was just a road crossing away, the walk through Bob’s Park. But there was an anomaly. There was a body on the ground with three people standing around the body. Dad tried to steer me away, but I saw it clearly. The man had a black handle protruding from his stomach, I was 11 but I wasn’t stupid, he had been stabbed.

Until this day I don’t know if he was okay or even alive, but I remember hearing the echoes of a woman crying the next morning.

We continued our journey.