Acid Rain by R.D Rhodes (ebook reader txt) 📕

“Good.” Harry said.

“We don’t have any money.”

“Should be fine. Just follow me.”

We walked along a path between the houses, and through the massive car park, past the hundreds of cars and the hundreds of people jamming in and out of Tesco’s doors. Harry went right on past the door and followed the wall around to the left.

“Where you going?”

“Round the back.”

He walked round to a long driveway which led up to a large grey-shuttered loading entrance at the back of the building. At the side of the driveway, eight blue and red metal bins were lined up in front of the fence. Harry went to the first one and flipped up the lid and went to rummaging about inside.

“Cardboard.” he said.

He dropped the lid and went to the next bin along. I joined at his side and helped him to sift through it as he held the lid up with one hand. The odor of rot and I don’t know what else engulfed my nostrils. There was an assortment of all sorts of stuff -black bin bags, clear wrapping, broken bottles, food wastage, and general crap. “Aha! Here we go.” Harry cheered. He pulled out a small plastic Tesco bag and placed it softly on the ground and his hands went back into the bin.

I peered through the knot at the top of the bag- it was full of sandwiches! All in the original plastic packaging too! I untied the knot. Every one of them was unopened. The packets weren’t even damaged. There was literally nothing wrong with them. Eight packs with a mix of fillings- egg, tuna, cheese and ham, mustard and beef. I looked at the brightly colored labels- November 1st.  They were just one day past the sell-by date.

Harry laid down another bag beside me. Bananas. They had a few black spots, but apart from that they seemed fine. And three whole punnets of raspberries as well. We were gonna eat like kings. How can raspberries and bananas have a sell-by date? I thought.

I went to the next bin. It stunk of fish. My hair kept dangling over my eyes, so I tied it back and pulled my hood back up and leaned further in. Old cracked bottles and- a full case of beer. I threw it out on the road- a twelve-pack, unopened, only two of the cans were slightly dented.

I dove back in and got a full loaf of brown bread, and a carton of orange juice.

“That should do. Did you get anything?” Harry smiled, three bags at his feet.

“Full crate of beers. Some bread and orange juice. You want a beer?”

“Nah, I don’t drink. I’ll take some of that orange juice though.”

I handed him the juice and threw the beers and bread back in the bin.

“This should last us a few days.” Harry smiled proudly. He carried a bag and I carried two. I couldn’t believe it had been so easy. A full bag of sandwiches, a full bag of fruit, a bunch of other goodies, and all for free.

We headed back up the driveway, around the building. I felt his pride at our somewhat ingenuity. But my God, what a waste. Half of those bins were full of edible food, bunged to landfill for a dent on a tin or a sell-by date. It was crazy. People would kill for this food. People were starving. The people that grew those bananas were probably starving.

Harry offered me first pick. I took the tuna as we turned through the car park, glancing back at the fools who were walking in to pay for their food. I bit into the sandwich and swashed it around my mouth. It was so juicy. No food tastes as good as the first meal in two days. Except maybe the first meal in three.

“How did you find out about that?” I asked.

“Oh, you learn these things. There’s waste everywhere in this country. It’s not that hard to find.”

I slowly devoured my sandwich knowing I had another three to go and a dessert of fruit as well. We joined back onto the busy motorway and traipsed along munching away. I felt glad for the night's cover as we reached the shops and went quickly into the train and bus stations. The buses only went to London. But there was a train to Glasgow at half three the next afternoon.

We walked along the street considering what to do.

“Want to find a park to sit and eat?” I said.

“Yeah. Good idea.”

It was a small town and we soon found a cycle track that we thought would probably run alongside a park somewhere. We followed it through a council estate and then past some big three-and four-bedroom houses in a more rural part of town, till we came to a decent-sized park. The dark shapes of bushes circled a pond in its middle, and beyond the pond I could make out some kind of a picnic shelter with a long high roof. I heard laugher and noticed distant figures moving about the shelter. It sounded like kids. Apart from them the park was empty, and felt safe, and very few cars passed by. We walked in and took a seat on the swings.

It was great to rest my legs. Harry swung back and forth while I cracked open a can of Pepsi. Beyond the see-saw and chute at the cluster of gorse bushes and trees to the right, there seemed to be some movement, but I told myself I was being paranoid and looked away out over the pond. It was still and tranquil under the low moonlight and a few ducks bobbed about the surface near the reeds growing high from its middle. Shapes moved along the water’s edge, and got bigger and bigger as they approached.