by Paul Kelly
Chapter Twenty
Willie sat on the midden wall with Wattie as Cathie Coutts, from Carlton Street sallied past, eating chips from a newspaper soaked in vinegar. Wattie smiled and wiped his nose.
“Hello there Cathie, how are ye?” He smiled broadly and raised his eyebrows as she looked at him over her repast and her eyes were blank as if she was looking at Wattie for the first time. “Remember me, Cathie, do ye? Remember that smashin’ dance we were at?” Wattie drooled and his ‘shooders’ went up and down swiftly, but Cathie Coutts ignored him as she looked straight at Willie who was by this time dangling his legs freely and looking anywhere except in the direction of the lady in question.
“Hello Willie,” she called out, “You alright?”
Willie’s mouth tightened.
“Yes, I’m fine,” he answered and looked towards the sky. Cathie licked her fingers, one by one and screwed up her newspaper, throwing it into the midden bin, behind the two boys, but it missed its mark and bounced across the pavement. Wattie jumped down from where he was sitting to pick it up.
“Are you and thingamy there, goin’ for a walk?” she asked impertinently and Wattie became immediately indignant. He tightened his grip on the newspaper and looked to Willie for support.
“No,” said Willie, “We’re no’ goin’ for a walk. What makes you think we are?”
Cathie Coutts wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and sniffed.
“Well, ye can hardly sit there all day, lookin’ like two great puddins, can ye?”
Willie looked at her shiftily.
“Are you goin’ for a walk, then?” he asked and Wattie’s mouth fell open, thinking that he might not be included in the invite.
“Might be ... Could be, if you are but no’ him ...”
Willie slid down from the midden and dusted the seat of his pants as Wattie glared from him to Cathie and then back again, in disbelief.
“You’re no’ goin’ tae ...”
Willie cut his friend short and moved towards the Coutts female. She grinned and Wattie made to join them.
“Naw No’ you, Fatso No you .Just him.” she said and pointed to Willie.
“See you later, Wattie,” he said as he took Cathie Coutts by the arm. Wattie looked blank and his mouth hung open.
“Ta-Ta, Willie,” he mumbled quietly and his face fell.
***
Willie walked around the side of the midden cans with Cathie and she slid her hand into his, as she looked at him knowingly. Wattie was lost in sight somewhere behind the middens, afraid to look at what might be going on.
“This is nice Willie, isn’t it?” she asked and answered her own question, as she stood apart from him after a few moments with her legs open, leaning against the wall. “You’re a nice lookin’ fella, Willie Blair. Do ye think I’m nice?”
Willie did not answer, but kept looking at her as she stood there swaying like a cobra in front of him.
“I’m a woman now Willie,” she said in an attempt at a seductive whisper in his ear, “Look, I’m wearin’ a bra ... Have ye ever been wi’ a lassie, Willie? Ah mean, a lassie wearin’ a bra?”
Willie continued to look at her in silence as she mumbled on.
“You can look at me if you like, but ye mustn’t touch.” She wet her lips with her tongue as she started to undo her blouse and her face took on a look of wantonness as she crossed her arms and pulled her blouse over her head. She unclipped her bra strap and pulled the thing from her breasts, tucking it into the pocket of her skirt and her small breasts flopped about as she wriggled and sighed.
“Do you like what you see, Willie,” she gasped and threw her head back. “You can touch me now if you like. I don’t want chips or anythin’. You can do what ye want. Come on Willie Touch me, please. “
She moved nearer to him and made to put her hand into his trouser pocket, but Willie called out, to her utter surprise.
“Oh! Mrs. Coutts I didn’t see ye there. Cathie will be with ye in just a wee minute. She’s just puttin’ her strings on again.”
He walked away from her and back to Wattie as Cathie gasped in fear and tried to cover herself quickly, looking around in vain for a mother who wasn’t there.
“You bastard, Willie Blair .You dirty fucking bastard that’s what you are. I wouldn’t let you touch me now, even if you paid me, so there ... an’ ye know where you can stick yer ruddy chips,” she shouted and stuck her tongue out at Willie as Wattie looked on with the greatest admiration if in some confusion, for his friend. His eyes were wide with appreciation as they strolled off together.
“Can I get you some chips, Wattie?” Willie asked as they passed the ‘woman’ who had lost her Mammy, somewhere in the midden cans.
Chapter Twenty-One
The police were called out in an emergency, as no-one could gain entrance to Craigie’s house and the neighbours had noticed a silence that was very unusual, since the boy’s step-father could hardly be described as a ‘quiet man’. He was drunk more often than not. The police forced the back door entrance and began to look around, but there was no-one on the ground floor and as they climbed the stairs to the bedrooms, they called out if anyone was at home, although with all the banging downstairs, it seemed an illogical if necessary thing to do. However, silence was the only response they got.
“Is there anyone there?” they called as they went into the front bedroom, but again there was no answer. The senior policeman looked at his associate with suspicion in his eye as he put his hand to the handle on the back bedroom door, turning it and opening it quietly except for the creaking sound where the hinges needed some oil. He put his head round the door and he could see the figure of a woman lying across the bed. She appeared to be naked apart from a suspender belt and silk stockings and she lay face downwards with one arm falling to the floor.
“Are you alright, Miss?” he enquired not expecting to get an answer nor did he.
The younger officer looked to the older one for guidance and the latter nodded as they approached the bed, where the senior man turned the woman over on her back and the sight that met him made him feel sick. He turned his head away quickly and ushered his young companion from the room.
“Phone the Station and get an ambulance here quick,” he said.
“Will I tell them she’s dead, Alec?”
“What? What was that you said?”
“If they ask me if she’s dead, what should I say?”
The older policeman mopped his brow with his handkerchief.
“Tell them, He is dead, George. It’s a man in there and he’s had his throat slit from ear to ear.
The police were stunned at the sight they found and there hadn’t been so much excitement for years amongst the neighbours and a murder hunt was started, albeit short lived when three days after the incident, young Craig Daniells’ body was dragged from the river.
***
Willie was broken when he heard the news Broken with guilt as he felt he should have been able to prevent this awful incident if only he had insisted that Craigie stay with him at his house for a longer time. Everywhere he went, he could see the face of Craig Daniells, but the thing that baffled him most was the fact that his friend was always smiling ... The face that he saw in his mind was radiant and his face shone. Craig hadn’t had much happiness in his short life, but somehow Willie felt despite his intense sadness and loss, that Craig was happier now than he had ever been. He wouldn’t need to find anyone to understand him, or someone to listen to him in his dreadful unhappiness at home. He wouldn’t care about his stuttering now either Willie felt that at last, Craig Daniells had found ‘Someone’ ... who would understand everything he ever said or thought and he was sure that his friend was enjoying the peace and joy that should have been his, years ago. But the niggling sense of loss and of sadness wouldn’t leave him a
s he began to realise that he would never see his friend again.
***
Rita Watts was having a field day of gossip of course, when she was told of the latest news. She had suddenly changed her attitude to the step-father of the poor wee angel, Craigie and he was now a dirty old sod who should have been castrated at birth. She was also sure that the late Mr. Watts would have agreed with her in everything she thought, had he been spared, of course God rest his soul. Someone on the street had guided her back to her own front door when it was discovered that the boy’s body had been recovered from the Clyde and she fainted on the spot ... Wattie, dutifully pulled her clothes down over her knee length knickers as she lay, somewhat dishevelled and with her skirt up around her midriff. He, himself, was always conscious about showing his private parts to anyone and he was sure his Mammy would have appreciated his action.
***
It took some little time for the Gorbals to accept the horrific and unexplained murder, even if they were considered the toughest district in the whole of Scotland. You see, murder in their minds was something to do with gang warfare or crimes of passion not about a young lad having to cut his step-father’s throat. It made large headlines in the newspapers and although the sordid details were omitted, for the most part, the people of the Gorbals always counted two and two to make four ... it never made five.
***
Two days after the funerals, Blake approached Willie shyly with a large floral wreath in his arms.
“Will ye take this tae Craigie’s grave, when ye go there, please?” he asked as he shuffled from one foot to the other.
“I think he would appreciate it more if you took it there yourself. I’m going there this afternoon if you’d like to come with me?”
Willie patted Blackie on the shoulder and they walked down the road together in silence and in peace and there wasn’t the slightest hint or echo of ‘the Billy Song ‘
***
Willie returned to school after the funeral and was met by Trottie as he walked through the large entrance to the playground. She smiled at him.
“Hello there, Squire,” she called out in her usual breezy manner and Willie thought she had a silly smile on her face.
“Hello Miss.”
“Sorry to hear about your friend, Willie. I hope you are feeling alright ... Are you?”
Willie did not want to hear any more. His eyes were brimming with tears but he managed to say Thank you, as he swept past the gym mistress and she pulled on his arm and brought him closer to where she stood. As she looked into his eyes and he into hers .her silly smile had gone.
“Come with me,” she said and guided Willie with easy agility into the gymnasium where she left him alone and retired, closing the door behind her. He could hear the key turn in the lock as he leaned heavily on the vaulting horse. The gymnasium looked empty and bare.
“Craigie Craigie What have ye done,” he called out into the air ...and his voice reverberated in the echo that came back to him across the large, spacious room and a thick warm tear fell heavily from his eye. “I’m hurtin’ for ye ...Ye know that, don’t ye?” he went on as he cried all over the horse and searched in his pocket for his hankie but he couldn’t find it. He pulled his shirt out of his trousers and wiped his tear stained face, remembering that he had given his hankie to Craigie.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Mary could see Tom Carey clearly from where she stood looking out of her front room window. He was coming to see her regularly now and she liked his company, but she knew that their friendship would have to change, if it was to continue and it was this fact that troubled her. Tom stood for a few moments on Mary’s front door step, as he adjusted the parcel under his arm and Rita Watt’s net curtain moved ever so slightly. Tom could feel her eyes on the back of his neck and he turned around sharply only to see the curtain fall back into place again. Tenement buildings had that sort of invasion into everyone’s privacy, he thought as he waited for Mary to answer the door.
“Hello Tom Nice to see you again,” she called out for anyone to hear, if they had a mind to do so.
“Hello Mary. I hope you’re keeping well?”
Tom handed Mary the parcel he was carrying as soon as she had closed the door behind them and she smiled warmly, but her eyes were troubled.
“Tom, you’ll have to stop this, you know. You can’t go on doing these things for us when we have no way of repaying you and besides, all this is rationed.”
She looked at the meat joint he had brought her and it must have weighed more than six pounds .Enough for her family for two weeks, she thought, but he returned her concern with a look of deep affection.
“Your company is all I want Mary,” he said “You must know how I feel about you.”
Mary invited him to sit down and went into the kitchen to make some tea but he followed her.
“Tom ... that is something we will have to talk about,” she said without looking at him. He sighed and she could see that he was like a little boy lost as she caught a glimpse of him shifting uneasily where he was standing. “Tom, I know you like me and I would be daft to think otherwise ... and we are both adults, not children. I know, or I think I know something of what you are feeling.”
Tom waited, hoping that what she was going to say would give him a new lease of life a whole new future. His business was thriving and getting better each day, but he was lonely and there was no-one in his life except Mary Blair, whose friendship he valued more than words could say.
“Tom, I’m sorry if perhaps you thought that we might be able to get together. I mean, I don’t want to suppose or anticipate anything, you understand but Tom Oh! Tom. It’s so easy to deal with the bad things in life. You just make an end to them and try to get on your feet again, but the good things are a different kettle of fish, aren’t they?”
He leaned forward as she poured the tea.
“Are you saying I mean well, could I be one of the good things in your life, Mary?” he asked with pleading eyes.
“You are good, Tom You are I can’t think of any other way to say that. I value your friendship and I really don’t want to lose it, but it can’t be anything more than friendship. . You understand ... Don’t you Tom?”
He listened, sadly but he understood. He had never known Mary’s husband, Willie Blair, but he liked her. No, he loved her and he adored her children. He respected the whole Blair family but he couldn’t find the words to tell Mary what was in his heart; words that had been in his heart for a very long time, even before that day when he had seen her crying in his shop doorway. He had seen her many times before that when she came into the shop, but that day ... the day he had seen her in his doorway, breaking her heart, had sealed something in his mind ... and it was a seal that could never be undone for Tom Carey. She was right, of course. They weren’t children, but it was precisely because of that, that he felt as he did. Mary gathered some shirts together and took out her ironing table.
“You don’t mind if I get on with these, do you Tom?”
He smiled and set the table up for her, with its rickety, cross legs.
“You could do with a new one of those,” he remarked casually and she grinned.
“Couldn’t I just,” she replied, glancing around the room, “and a hundred other things besides .... I like our friendship, Tom, but you must see how the neighbours will talk if you are seen coming here so often.”
Tom looked out of Mary’s kitchen window but Rita Watts was not there. He would have to go into the ‘front room’ to see her moving curtains
“I don’t care about the neighbours, Mary. I just like coming to see you occasionally and I don’t think you’ll throw me out, will you?”
“I’ll never do that Tom, but please don’t feel you have to bring something with you every time you visit us. It’s nice and I like it ... but it isn’t necessary.”
Och! It’s only a wee joint of meat, Mary. It wouldn’t go amiss from my cold storage, I can assure you.”
Mary held her iron to her cheek, to test the heat.
“That last one you brought lasted more than a week did you know that?”
She thought again about the situation as she continued ironing.
“Tom I could repay you. I could do your ironing couldn’t I ...and your washing ... if you like. Why I could even cook you a meal occasionally.”
Tom stared at her with delight in his eyes. “You could just marry me, Mary Blair,” he thought, but the words wouldn’t come to his lips.
“That isn’t necessary Mary, but you know I love to come to visit you and the family. There’s only one thing.”
“Yes Tom? What is that? I can cook quite well you know. The children say I can and they always eat everything.”
He walked slowly through to the front room and pulled back the curtains. Rita Watts moved away from hers and let them fall lightly into place.
“What about the neighbours, Mary?” he asked and Mary grinned.
“Oh! I couldn’t cook for all of them, Tom Carey,” she said and went on with her ironing.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Alexander Munroe,”
“Here, Sir.”
Mr. Finnecan stood rigidly to attention with his heels together and his toes pointed outwards.
“How did you ever come to get a silly name like ‘Ackie’ from Alexander?”
Ackie looked frightened as he answered.
“I’ve always been called Ackie, Sir. My uncle’s name is Ackie too.”