‘What’s going to happen to you when we get caught?’ I asked.
‘Same thing as you, I suppose.’
‘At least if they put us in some boys’ detention centre we’ll be together.’
‘Maybe not. Maybe they’ll separate you,’ she said.
‘I’ll probably end up sharing a room with a gurrier called Stab-a-Rasher,’ I said.
‘I’ll probably be better off in a girls’ detention centre than at home, cos my brothers will kill me.’
‘What about your mam and dad?’
‘My brothers are scarier.’
‘I heard they were scared of you,’ I said.
‘Oh, they are,’ she said.
‘Oh. My sister’s scary too,’ I said.
‘Yeah?’ she said.
‘Once she banged the door so hard it came off its hinges.’
Charlie smiled. ‘Sean kicked a hole through one of ours. My mam dragged him upstairs by his ear.’
‘My mam drags Rich down the stairs by the ear all the time,’ I said, and we both laughed at the image. Then we became quiet and we both sat staring at the day breaking in front of our eyes.
‘We can’t give up,’ she said after a while.
‘It would be better for us if we did,’ I said.
‘We need to lay low for at least another week,’ she said.
‘How do we even know that Johnny J’s mam is going to use the ticket?’
‘We don’t, but if we give ourselves up before Mrs Tulsi has a chance to use that ticket, they will take it off her,’ Charlie said.
I nodded. She was right.
‘We’re in big trouble no matter what, so let’s not give up on her yet,’ Charlie went on.
‘OK, I won’t. I promise.’
‘And, Jeremy, I think you’re brilliant,’ she said, and I blushed so deeply I thought my head would explode. Stupid face.
‘I used to think you were mean, but I was wrong about you,’ she said.
In that moment I realised I liked Charlie Eastman. OH NO!
‘I was wrong about you too,’ I said, and now I was purple! Stupid, stupid face.fn1
‘So we’ll stick together?’ she said.
‘Yeah,’ I promised. ‘We’ll stay close to the farm – no more beach trips,’ I said, and she smiled and agreed it was best to stay with Jimbo on his farm, surrounded by nothing but fields, fences and animals.
‘Besides, I don’t feel like drowning again any time soon.’
‘You didn’t drown,’ I said.
‘Thanks to you. Anyway, Jimbo has a list of jobs as long as his arm,’ she said. She handed me back the newspaper. ‘Let’s not say it to the others.’
I nodded. Walker would lose it and Johnny J felt bad enough already. I felt terrible about our argument. I kept saying sorry to him in my head. I’d folded the article back up and put it back in my pocket.
‘Our secret,’ I said, and she nodded. ‘Where are you going?’ I asked.
‘Back to bed,’ she said, and waved me goodbye, and she walked into the caravan and quietly closed the door.
43
The Truth
I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I got up and shook the last of the sand out of my T-shirt and I walked as far as the farmhouse and I grinned the whole way there.fn1
Jimbo was up and in his kitchen boiling his kettle. I hadn’t eaten the previous night so I was ravenous. I walked in the door and he immediately asked who was there.
‘It’s me Jer—’ Uh-oh, I’m supposed to be called Dave. ‘Rave. I mean Dave.’
‘Ah, Dave, and where are the other chipmunks?’
‘Oh, Dave wasn’t a chipmunk,’ I said, and then I realised he knew we’d been lying about our names. ‘You know the chipmunks?’
‘I have grandchildren,’ he said.
‘Oh.’
‘Are you alone?’ he asked.
‘Everyone else is in bed.’
‘Good. Now, I’m going to make tea and you’ll put on some bacon and we’ll have a little chat about what happens next,’ he said.
My heart sank. He knows. ‘How did you know?’
‘My Betty saw you all in the paper last night.’
‘We’re not real robbers,’ I said. ‘You needn’t be scared.’
He laughed. ‘I’m scared of a lot of things, boy, but you and your friends don’t make the list.’
The pan was sizzling. ‘Go on, drop the bacon in the pan,’ he said. ‘As soon as it turns pink, flip it. Then when the other side pinks up, turn it again and do that until the fat’s nice and charred.’
‘What’s charred?’
‘It’s not burnt – that’s what charred is.’
‘That’s helpful.’
‘Crispy not snappy,’ he said, rubbing his fingers together. It still didn’t make much sense, but I said, ‘OK,’ anyway.
‘And put on some toast while you’re at it.’
‘But I’m watching the bacon.’
‘I can make tea, watch bacon and make toast all at the same time, and I’m a blind old man,’ he said.
‘How do you watch bacon?’ I asked.
‘With my fingers,’ he said.
‘Gross,’ I mumbled, and I ran across the kitchen to pop four slices of bread in the biggest toaster I’d ever seen. Then I ran back and sighed with relief – the bacon was fine, still pink.
‘Is it charring?’ he asked.
‘I think so,’ I said, turning it with a fork. He lifted the pot of tea and counted seven steps to the table. I could see him counting with his mouth. He set it down. Then he took a deep sniff of the air.
‘Nearly there,’ he said. He felt one of the cups, and once he knew exactly where it was placed on the table, he poured the tea into it. He somehow filled it just the right amount. Then he did the same to the second.
‘Do you like milk?’ he said, feeling for the jug of milk on the table.
‘I can do it,’ I said, but he’d poured milk into the two teas before I had time to move. The toast popped up and the bacon seemed ready.
‘Let’s go,’ he said.
I plated up the bacon and the bread. He took a deep sniff of it when I put it on the table.
‘Bacon sandwiches have to be my favourite thing in the world,’ he said.
We made up our own sandwiches. Jimbo put way too much butter on his, but when he smelled me putting ketchup on mine, he called me a philistine.
‘What does that mean?’
‘It means there is an art to making a bacon sandwich, and ketchup is not a part of that art.’
‘It is in Dublin.’
‘Philistines,’ he said.
I took a bite out of my sandwich. It tasted so good I wished the moment would last forever. If it did it would mean that Jimbo wouldn’t say what I knew he was going to say, but the moment passed. He cleared his throat. Here it comes …
‘What am I going to say?’ he said.
‘You’re going to say that you have to call the guards,’ I said, and I made up my mind to escape. I’d finish the sandwich, then I’d run to the caravan. I’d wake up the others and we’d run away and hide. It would be difficult but we could do it. I knew we could.
‘No. I’m not calling the guards.’
‘Really?’
‘You are.’
‘Can’t,’ I said.
‘You’re going to get caught, boy.’
‘I know.’
‘So?’
‘We just have to wait another week or so.’
‘How’s that?’
‘Johnny J’s mam is really sick.’
‘Which one is Johnny J?’
‘Alvin,’ I said.
‘How sick?’
‘The chemo isn’t working. They say she’s dying.’
‘Oh,’ he said, and suddenly he seemed so sad. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘It’s OK, we’re going to save her,’ I said.
‘By stealing money?’
‘We bought her a plane ticket to America. We ha
ve to wait until the travel agent posts it to her, and she needs a visa too, but when she gets there, Walker – that’s Simon/Smarty-pants to you – he says they can save her.’
Jimbo put down his sandwich and he sighed deeply.
‘So that’s what this is all about?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Oh, Dave.’
‘It’s Jeremy. My name is Jeremy.’
‘Oh, Jeremy, I’m very sorry for your friend’s troubles.’
‘Thanks, but it’s going to be OK if we can just stay here for a while longer.’
‘I wish that was true. I wish I could help you save your friend’s mother. I wish that she’d jump on a plane to America and they would save her and she’d return good as new, but that’s not possible, boy.’
‘Why?’ I asked, and I felt my eyes start to burn and my chest start to hurt.
‘Because if she is as sick as you say, she’s going nowhere, and even if she could travel, it’s too late.’
‘How do you know?’
Then he rubbed what looked like a small tear from his eye. ‘The chemo stopped working for my Denise too.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Thank you.’
‘But your wife didn’t have us. She didn’t have America – no offence.’
‘None taken, and you’re right she didn’t have you, but she had me and she had Betty and we would have gone to the moon and back to save her if it could have helped. Do you believe that, Jeremy?’
‘I do,’ I said. Jimbo was a really nice man. I know he wouldn’t lie to me.
‘But there is nothing that anyone can do, not here, not in America, once the chemo stops working.’
‘You’re saying that Johnny J’s mam is going to die?’ I said, and my eyes were suddenly full, my face hot and my ears sore.
‘I am, boy,’ he said. ‘And I’m very, very sorry for that.’
‘Oh,’ I said, and then I was crying, and when he put his arms out, I walked straight into them. I didn’t even notice his long alien fingers. I just sobbed into his nice clean shirt. When I was cried out, Jimbo explained that it was very important that Johnny J spent no more time away from his mother.
‘She needs him with her now,’ he said, and it made sense.
‘OK.’
‘Tell you what – seeing as you missed all the matches, why don’t you, me, Betty, the boys, Brittany and my grandkids go to Peter’s pub for the match this evening.’
‘Brittany’s real name is Charlie. And what about the guards?’
‘You leave that to me. I’ll talk to them and explain things, but we can have one more day together, can’t we?’ he said.
‘That would be brilliant,’ I said. Ireland would be playing Romania later that evening, and if we won, Ireland would qualify for the quarter-finals for the first time ever. It was something positive.
‘Let’s keep this to ourselves, Jeremy. We’ll give Johnny J one more day in the sun.’
‘Good idea,’ I said.
‘Good man,’ he said. ‘Now, those horses aren’t going to ride themselves.’
‘What horses?’ I said.
‘Ah sure the cows and hens are only a sideline. It’s the horses I make my money on,’ he said, and he winked. I hadn’t pictured a blind person winking before. ‘Get the others, forget the jobs, let’s feed them bacon sandwiches and then you’re going riding.’
I’d never been riding before. ‘OK,’ I said.
I ran to the caravan as fast as my legs could carry me. I stopped short of the actual door. It would be hard to face Johnny J for three reasons.
The fight the night before.
The truth I was keeping from him.
I realised I might LIKE Charlie Eastman.
Then I remembered what Jimbo had said. Johnny J deserved one last brilliant day, so I burst through the door and I shook him awake and smiled.
‘No matter what, best friends ever,’ I said, and he grinned and nodded.
‘Best friends ever,’ he said. TYSK69
44
The Fall
Walker and Sumo got dressed quickly.
‘Just another minute, Charlie,’ Sumo called to her as he zipped his fly.
‘Take your time,’ she said from inside the small room. I explained we were all spending the day riding Jimbo’s horses.
Johnny J was really excited. ‘I love horses. I mean, I’ve never actually been on a horse, but I really love them,’ he said. Then he furrowed his brow. ‘But what about all the jobs?’
‘Jimbo wants us to ride horses.’
‘Jimbo’s the best,’ Johnny J said, and he jumped up and down in the caravan, shouting out to the others, ‘We’re going horse riding!’
Walker shook his inhaler. ‘Oh, brilliant! Horses! My favourite!’ He was being sarcastic.
‘Are they really your favourite?’ Sumo said.
‘I’ll give you one guess.’
‘No,’ Sumo said, as Walker opened his antihistamine pills and took one. ‘I’m too big for horses.’
‘Why do you say that?’ Charlie asked.
‘I’m too big for everything,’ he said, and everyone laughed.
After Jimbo and I worked together to feed Charlie and the boys bacon toasties, Jimbo made a call and a man called Brennan arrived up at the house in a tractor and trailer. Jimbo got himself up onto the tractor with ease and told the rest of us to hop on board. Johnny J helped Charlie up and she let him, even though she didn’t really need his help. Sumo helped Walker up. I was last in. I was happy to be there with my smiling friends. I didn’t dare think about the days that would follow.
Brennan turned to face us. ‘Do you like music, kids?’
‘Yeah,’ Charlie said.
‘Good.’ He turned on his radio and suddenly we were being blasted with AC/DC’s ‘That’s the Way I Wanna Rock ’n’ Roll’. Sumo headbanged. Walker held his glasses to his sore nose and joined in every now and again until he complained of neck ache.
Jimbo’s farm was huge. He may have owned half of Wexford. It just went on and on for what seemed like forever. Then we caught the first glance of the stables, and Betty Bloomers was waiting for us, surrounded by horses. She wasn’t in a skirt or bloomers; instead she was wearing a riding hat, jodhpurs and a jacket. She looked cool.
‘There you are, kids,’ she said. She pointed to the ponies in the enclosure behind her. ‘Let’s get these beauties tacked up and you riding.’
When Betty took a good look at Walker, she turned to a tall, thin man with a moustache. ‘Barry, we’re going to need a box for this one.’ Then she took a look at Sumo. ‘And a bigger ride for this one.’
‘No problem, Betty, a box and Freda coming up.’
‘Freda? Do you think he’ll be all right on Freda?’ she said, and Barry looked Sumo up and down and thought about it.
‘Ah he’ll be fine, won’t you, lad?’
‘I dunno,’ Sumo said.
It turns out that the lonely blind farmer who needed kids to feed his animals and fix his fence wasn’t so lonely at all. He had six men working for him and three teenagers who mucked out the stables and a woman named Jessie who ran the office. She popped over just as Barry arrived with Freda.
‘So you are the temporary staff Jimbo roped in?’
‘Yeah,’ I said.
‘Well, you gave Barry here a break from milking cows and feeding hens,’ Jessie said.
‘Much obliged,’ Barry said.
‘And no one likes fixing that old fence,’ Jessie said.
I could see why. I still had blisters.
‘So if you kids are ever looking for a job on a farm, you come see me,’ she said. Then she took Jimbo by the arm.
‘Really?’ Sumo said.
‘Yeah, really. Enjoy, kids,’ he said, and they both walked toward the office beyond the arena.
‘Ah brilliant. I’m deffo coming back,’ Sumo said, and we were all shocked. I’d never thought of Sumo on a farm. Then again I hadn’t really thought of Sumo doing an
ything other than just being Sumo.
I was given a pony called Juniper. She was chestnut brown and she liked to stamp her feet. It made me nervous, but Betty rubbed her back and she settled.
‘She’s a pet, our Juniper,’ she said. ‘Now hop on.’
It was no trouble at all getting on Juniper.
Once I was on, Betty patted my back. ‘Well done, Dave,’ she said, and she winked at me. She knew I wasn’t Dave. She knew everything. That’s why she was being so nice.
I looked over at Johnny J. He was on a pony called Bruno. He was petting him and smiling and Barry was showing him how to hang his leg down so he could fix the stirrup so that it was in line with his ankle. He was happy. Give him one more day, I heard Jimbo say in my head. One more day. My stirrup was already in line with my ankle.
Walker was still trying to hop on his pony called Frank. He was sweating and wheezing already. ‘Yeah, I don’t know if this is a good idea,’ he said, but he kept trying anyway.
‘Sit up nice and straight before you put your feet in the stirrups,’ Betty said to me, and I straightened up.
‘Like this?’
‘Exactly like that.’
I shoved my feet in the stirrups and Juniper lifted her front leg and neighed. Betty rubbed her on her side. ‘There’s a good girl.’
I rubbed her neck. ‘Good, Juniper, good,’ I said, and Betty grinned and nodded her approval. Juniper dropped her front leg and shook her head. Betty handed me the reins.
‘Hold them gently and squeeze with your legs.’
I squeezed really tight.
‘Now don’t kick too hard, or you might end up the other side of that fence.’ Betty pointed to a fence far away in the distance. I stopped squeezing so hard.
Sumo appeared from the stables on Freda. Barry was holding the reins and leading him. Freda was huge. Sumo was still wearing his Wookie mask – we’d all grown used to it and Betty and Barry didn’t mention it. He was so excited, and a Wookie on a horse looked so cool.
‘I’m on her, lads. I’m on her and she’s grand. Look at her!’
Charlie was on a pony called Racer. She was rubbing Racer’s ears and whispering sweet things to her. You could already tell Racer and Charlie liked one another. At least that’s how it appeared to me.
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