Roxana is Iranian and in YEAR 7.
She sits in the English class, the last lesson of the day. The teacher is reading the magical Ancient Mariner.
“There was a ship...”
Most of the class are hooked.
Roxana isn’t. She’s Elsewhere. She’s been Elsewhere most of her life.
She catches a few lines, a few images, but ponders on the terrors of her journey home. She dreads it, especially now the clocks have gone back – and it’s Halloween.
The darkness is rich in malevolence.
Roxana is a survivor of savage wars. Her father was killed when she was a baby. Mother and daughter sought asylum in England. Mother is a PhD and a translator and a cleaner of rich folk’s mansions. They came to London and lived in a Bed and Breakfast in Paddington, a hostel in Queensway, and are now in a block near the skeleton of Grenfell Tower.
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