October• 2018 | 125READER’S DIGEST
Holding Close
Twomonthsafterthefire,about100
people from the community gath-
ered to commemorate the dead and
tomarkaslightbutnotinsignificant
waypoint in their own recovery: two
months weathered.
Among the crowd was David
Badillo, carrying his young daugh-
ter. He sought out his friend Carlos
Ruiz – Jessica’s uncle – and the two
mensqueezedeachother’snecksin
greeting.At7pmthegroupsetoff
togetheronaplannedmarch.
They were silent as they walked
through what is by any measure a
loud and traffic-choked part of Lon-
don. The city, in answer, fell quiet.
Conversations stopped. Strides were
checked and buses halted mid-road.
Around the country, shaken councils
and landlords directed new scrutiny
at the fire-safety measures in their
own buildings. Cladding, square kilo-
metres of the stuff, kept being peeled
from other high-rises. In North Kens-
ington, plans were underway to cover
the ruined Grenfell with a tarp until it
could be demolished entirely.
When they arrived back at Grenfell,
Badillo and his daughter got separated
from the group. The firefighter stood
aside to let marchers flow by, as
though wondering where his place
was among them. In the end he
walked on, past the tower and towards
his fire station, holding his daughter
close to his chest as he went.They stumbled down past the
tenth,pasttheseventh.Theywere
stumblingoverbodies,helater
realised.
“Icouldfeelmyselffading...I’m
thinking,I’mnotlosingmyfamily,
fornobodyornothing...Fromthe
fifthfloor,Icouldseeabitoflight
down there ...
“HowIdescribeit,it’salmostlike
abatteryonaphoneandyou’vegot
two per cent left... That’s what I felt
like.AndwhenIsawthatlight,it
gavemelikeanextraonepercent
of life.”
Those last seconds, those last floors
down, were only hazily recalled by
Talabi. The firefighters ran his family
out the entrance under riot shields.
They sat by a tree and stared up at
what they’d escaped.
Talabi was already thinking about
theneighbourshe’dlastseeninthe
apartment, weighing as he would
forsometimewhatmorehecould
or couldn’t have done, that miser-
able accounting that so many who
survivedGrenfellwouldgothrough.
Talabi recalled an elderly neigh-
bour with water approaching him by
thetreeandtellinghim,“You’relucky.
YoushouldbethankingyourGod.”
Themanwasinterrupted,then,by
awailofanimalgrieffromcloseby.
Anotherfamily,Talabilaterworked
out,learningtheworst.“Andthe
man goes to me: ‘This is why I say
you’re lucky’.”
FROMGQ (DECEMBER 2017), © 2017 BY CONDÉ NAST, CONDENAST.COM