by Tony Birch
Sonny wiped the blood from his nose onto his shirtsleeve. ‘It was him,’ Sonny lied. ‘Look what he done to me.’
‘Fucken bullshit.’ Brixey looked angry. ‘Spike wouldn’t hit anyone. Not without good reason. You treat him different than any other kid in the shop and you can fuck off out of here, Sonny. You pull your head in or there’s no job here for you. And you apologise to him before you leave the shop. Or don’t come back.’
Sonny was lucky that Brixey had come into the back room, Ren thought. If he hadn’t, Spike would have near killed him. He waited until Sonny had cleaned his nose under the tap in the yard before breaking the news to him.
‘I need to tell you something.’
‘That Spike’s not a retard? It’s okay, Ren, Brixey already let me know.’
‘I just saw the police at the compound. Tons of them.’
Sonny dried his face with a dirty face washer and looked at his nose in the mirror. ‘Don’t look like it’s broken. It was a lucky punch.’
It was no lucky punch and both boys knew it.
‘Did you hear what I just said?’ Ren was losing his patience. ‘The coppers are all over the compound. Someone’s got in there and wrecked one of the machines. You know something about that?’
‘I know nothing.’ He wiped his nose again. ‘I got to shoot through. Rory wants me to take home a Best Bets for him. Talk to you later.’
But Sonny wouldn’t talk about it. At the newsstand that afternoon he buried his head in a comic book and ignored Ren’s questions about the break-in. After work, Brixey locked the shop door and sat Sonny on a stool behind the counter. Ren waited in the street, watching them through the window, expecting that Brixey was going to rip into him. He didn’t seem to be yelling at Sonny at all. Brixey rested an arm on Sonny’s shoulder as he spoke. When he finished, Sonny nodded his head and they shook hands.
Spike had gone off to the fish and chip shop. He came back with a parcel of steaming potato cakes, and was sharing them with Ren when Sonny walked out of the shop and unlatched the side gate to retrieve his bike.
‘Hey, Sonny,’ Spike called out to him. ‘I got a dozen potato cakes here. I reckon you might be hungry. They have vinegar on them.’
He offered the steaming parcel to Sonny, who hesitated before dipping his hand into the parcel, pulling out a potato cake and taking a bite. ‘Potato cakes are the best feed ever. Thanks, Spike.’
Spike bit into his own half-eaten potato cake. ‘I got no hard feelings for you, Sonny,’ Spike said.
‘Me either,’ Sonny said. ‘It was my fault, Spike. Shouldn’t have used that word about you. I’m really sorry.’
Sonny rubbed a finger across the tip of his swollen nose. ‘That was a good punch you threw, Spike.’
‘Don’t matter. I don’t feel good about it, hitting you.’
A police car slowly passed by on the opposite side of the road, did a U-turn and pulled into the gutter next to the boys. Ren could see Detective Foy sitting in the front passenger seat. He wound down the window, spat into the gutter, reached over his seat and opened the back door. He wore a blunt nose and had bull terrier eyes.
‘Brewer,’ he called to Sonny.
Sonny took another bite out of his potato cake and ignored Foy.
‘Brewer!’ he barked. ‘Get in the back.’
Sonny wasn’t scared of the police like most kids were, even this one. He looked straight at Foy and refused to move. The detective jumped out of the car and fingered Sonny in the chest. ‘We’re having a word in the car here, or me and my driver are taking you back to the station for a cooking. Do what you’re told, or you can burn. Your decision.’
Sonny took the last bite of his potato cake, buried his hands in his pockets and hopped in the back seat.
Foy nodded at Ren. ‘You too, girlie. Keep your boyfriend company.’
Ren hesitated. He thought about doing a runner but Foy was onto him. Foy smiled, as if there was something he admired in the boy. ‘Don’t be a silly cunt. I’m giving you two seconds.’
Sonny slid across the seat and made room for Ren, who left the door open, just in case he was brave enough to change his mind. Spike waited until Foy was back in the car himself before offering Sonny and Ren another potato cake each. ‘I’m full up. I can’t eat them all.’
Foy looked up at Spike like he wanted to snap his neck. ‘Fuck off, you nutter, before I have your head caved in for a second time.’
‘I’m going to get my boss,’ Spike said. ‘Brixey won’t be happy bout this.’
‘Get who the fuck you like. But piss off before I turn this show into a trio.’
Foy ordered the driver to turn the inside light on. He showed the boys a fist. It was scarred and deformed by calcified knuckles, the broken bones of past assaults. The copper in the driver’s seat rested his hands on the steering wheel and looked straight ahead, along the narrow road that led away from the suburb. Foy relaxed his hand and looked closely at Sonny’s swollen nose.
‘Where’d you get the war wound?’
‘Had a fight with the kid just here with the potato cakes.’
‘That fucken mental case?’ Foy laughed out loud. ‘Sonny, isn’t it? I heard you had a bit of go in you, but you must be weak as piss to let him stand over you.’
Sonny glared at him and said nothing.
‘Enough playing around. Let’s get on with business. Where were you last night, Sonny?’ Foy demanded, his light-hearted expression instantly shifting.
Sonny pointed to Ren without hesitation. ‘I was at my mate’s place.’
‘Of course.’ Foy smiled. He was certain Sonny was lying to him.
‘Yep. He was at my place. Watching TV,’ Ren said.
Foy laughed softly and didn’t seem too disappointed in the game the boys were playing with him. He rested a hand on Sonny’s knee. ‘You know, I’ve been watching you for a while now, Sonny.’ He ran the hand along Sonny’s thigh. ‘Admiring you from a distance.’
Sonny shifted in his seat. Foy’s hand followed him. ‘Some of you arseholes move up the ranks nice and slow. Start with thieving from the milk bar, maybe a couple of larcenies along the way, then the Boys Home. But you, Sonny, you might have come from nowhere straight into the deep end, the damage you did last night. No one else would have picked you. But I did. First time I saw you.’ He suddenly snatched at the crutch of Sonny’s pants. ‘Time’s come for us to get to know each other better.’
Foy squeezed Sonny’s balls together. He fell forward in agony, unable to breathe. ‘Let me tell you, cunt, you’re in big trouble. And I don’t mean time away at them holiday farms the Salvos run where you get your dick sucked by some poor kid inside for no reason except his family don’t want him. They’ll do anything for love, them kids. But you, Sonny, you’re off to some other place. And you won’t be on the receiving end.’
Foy released his hand from Sonny’s crutch and turned to the driver. ‘Should we take him back to the station? Or break him in here?’
The driver didn’t as much as blink.
‘The mischief you got up to last night, Sonny, has won you all my attention. What we have to work out now is what I’m going to do with you. So, let’s get a start. Did you break in to that yard on your own? Or was fucken Cinderella here with you?’
‘Like I said,’ Sonny answered, his voice breaking apart, ‘I was with him, watching TV.’
Foy took his hand off Sonny’s thigh and moved it across to Ren’s knee. ‘You know who I am, don’t you? You’ve lived around this way all your life. Would have heard all about me.’ He grinned. ‘And I know you. Your mother, Loretta, she’s from one of the old families, the Renwick mob. They go way back. Tough as nails, all of them. You like them?’
Ren was shocked that Foy knew him at all.
‘Don’t look so surprised. I know every inch of these streets and everyone that wal
ks them. You seem to be a clever kid. Smart enough to know I hate fucken liars. I hate kids just as much, but I’d be wasting all my energy putting time into breaking you. You might as well be an altar boy. But this one, Sonny, we have a future together and I need to start on top. Give him a good fucking.’
He patted Ren softly on the calf. ‘Now, you’re about to tell me the truth. What did young Sonny get up to last night?’
Ren was so scared of Foy he was about to piss himself. ‘He was with me, watching TV,’ he answered, his bottom lip quivering.
‘You stick fat, you two.’ Foy smiled. ‘I’ll give you that. And loyalty is rare around here. The local crims give each other up every other day.’ He clicked his fingers together. ‘Pass me the bag,’ he ordered the other policeman.
The driver reached down between the front seats and pulled out a brown paper bag. He handed it to Foy, who went on talking while he dipped a hand inside. ‘Tell me, where the fuck did you learn to drive a bulldozer, Brewer? You practise stealing cars? You should have taken proper lessons. Putting that machine through the fence, into a ditch. They’re still down there, lifting it out with a crane.’
‘I can’t drive,’ Sonny offered. ‘I ride my bike. Or walk. Don’t I, Ren?’
Before Ren could open his mouth Foy punched him in the stomach. Ren moaned and fell against the back of the seat. He felt the warm piss run down the inside of his thigh.
‘Please don’t talk, son. Not a word, if it’s more bullshit.’
Foy pulled a black-and-white striped beanie out of the bag and stuck a finger through one of two slits that had been cut into it. ‘You left this behind, Sonny.’
‘It can’t be mine.’
‘Of course it’s fucken yours. Put it on your scone and let me see how it looks on you.’
‘It’s not mine. I barrack for Carlton. Same as my dad.’
Foy leaned across the seat and took a swipe at Sonny. He threw his head back and Foy’s fist grazed his chin. ‘Fuck it. I’m jack of this. Let’s see how you go down at the station.’
Brixey walked out of the shop, trailed by Spike. He stuck his head in the back door. ‘You two okay?’
Both boys were too afraid to answer. Brixey looked Foy in the eye like he wanted to spit in it. ‘What are you doing with my workers here?’
‘None of your business. They’re coming with us for questioning.’
‘They are my business. They work for me and I need their help in the shop. Now. Come on, Sonny, you haven’t finished the nightly count. You too, Ren, I need you to clean up.’
Before either boy could move Foy jumped out of the car and chested Brixey. ‘I told you, mind your own business. These two are wanted.’
‘Wanted?’ Brixey laughed. ‘Come off it. They’re just kids. If you want them at the station for questioning, you’ll need to give me time to close up the shop. I’ll vouch for them and be sure they get there. I’ll bring them along myself. With my lawyer.’
Foy gritted his teeth. Brixey refused to back off.
‘I said I’ll bring them in, if there’s a need. What are they supposed to have done? These two are minors and I’ll be speaking with a lawyer on their behalf. I’m entitled to know what your interest in them is.’
Foy dragged Ren out of the car, followed by Sonny. ‘We’ll be having a catch-up, Brewer.’ He pushed Sonny with an open hand, got back in the car and ordered the driver to leave.
Although it was a cold night Ren took his jumper off and tied it around his waist, embarrassed by the piss stain on his jeans. Brixey blocked the shop door. He wasn’t letting the boys inside until he got a couple of answers. ‘What have you two been up to?’ he demanded.
‘Nothing,’ Sonny said.
‘Bullshit. That prick is right about one thing. You’re lying. Look me in the eye. And don’t lie to me or I’ll give you near as good a kicking as he’d have done. You been thieving from people, Sonny?’
‘No.’
‘You sure?’
‘Honest, Brixey. I don’t steal.’
Brixey turned to Ren. ‘Is he telling the truth?’
‘Yep.’
‘Good. Then I don’t want to know any more than that. Whatever it is, you’ve got yourselves on the wrong side of the wrong man. Foy hands out beltings for sport and has his claws in every business along this street. You better hope he finds something more lucrative to occupy his time.’
‘What about your lawyer?’ Sonny asked. ‘Maybe he could help us out.’
Brixey wrapped an arm around Spike. ‘You’re my brief, Spike. What can you do to save these lads?’
‘So what did you do?’ Ren asked Sonny, walking home from the shop. ‘Try driving off with a bulldozer?’
‘I couldn’t stop thinking about that big hole they’re digging. I took the bolt-cutters from behind the toilet and cut through the fence at the compound and tried to break the padlock on one of the sheds.’
‘Why the shed?’
‘It’s got this sign on the front, that explosives are kept inside. I wanted them.’
‘Explosives? What were you gonna do with them?’
‘Blow up the machines.’
‘You’re crazy, Sonny. You wouldn’t know how to use explosives. You’d have blown yourself up first.’
‘Nearly did. I couldn’t break the lock with the bolt-cutters. I found a metal bar and tried to smash it. Didn’t work either. I gave up and climbed back through the hole in the fence. Then I remembered I left the bolt-cutters behind. I was searching for them when I saw one of the dozer doors was open and the keys in the ignition. I got in, turned the motor over, put my foot down on the pedal and drove straight for the shed. Plan was to knock it over, but then the steering wheel locked. I went straight past the shed and drove through the fence on the other side. I had to jump out of the machine before it rolled and slid into that big hole.’
‘And the Collingwood beanie?’
‘I cut holes in it for my eyes. It was supposed to be my disguise but I forgot to put it on. It must have fallen out of my back pocket.’
A car drove past as they were about to cross the road into their street. Ren pulled Sonny into a narrow lane behind the corner shop. They waited a few minutes until they were sure the car wasn’t coming back.
‘Why didn’t you come get me?’ Ren asked. ‘To help you break into the compound.’
‘In case I got caught. I didn’t want to get you in trouble.’
‘I love the river as much as you do. You don’t reckon I’d take the same risk, to save it?’
‘It’s not that. I was laying on my bed thinking about how easy it had been for them workers to blow the steps above the falls. You were right all along, and so was Rory. These pricks can do whatever they like to us and we can’t stop them. Breaking into the compound was nothing to do with saving the river.’
‘Why’d you do it then?’
‘To make them pay. Nothing more than that.’
‘We’re the ones who will pay now. That copper, Foy, he’ll come after us.’
‘Doesn’t matter. You done nothing wrong and all he has on me is a Collingwood beanie. Can’t arrest me on that.’
‘He won’t forget, Sonny. Brixey’s right. He won’t let this be.’
‘What’s he gonna do? Give me a kicking? I been copping those for years off my father. I can take another one.’
When Ren got home Archie was at the stove cooking sausages, which could only mean Loretta was out. She refused to let him cook the nightly meal if she was at home. She reckoned what Archie didn’t burn or over-boil he suffocated with a bucket of salt.
‘Where’s Mum?’ Ren asked.
‘She’s gone to the pictures with a couple of girls from the hospital, and then they’re off to a caf in the city for a meal. It’s me and you. Sausages and eggs okay?’
‘Yeah. Ta. You want
a hand?’
‘You can set the table. Knives and forks. Salt and Pepper. The bread and butter. Sauce.’ Archie said. ‘You’re a little late,’ he added.
Although it wasn’t meant as an accusation, Ren bristled. ‘I was helping Sonny out, fixing a couple of bikes at the shop.’
‘He keeping his head down?’ Archie asked.
‘He is,’ Ren lied. ‘Working hard and saving money.’
Archie dropped a plate in front of Ren, piled with greasy charcoaled sausages and runny eggs. Just the way Ren liked them.
Archie sat down opposite him, picked up the salt container and went on talking. ‘It’s just that I ran into Mick O’Reagan at the butcher’s and he was asking if I heard any commotion across the back last night.’
He put down the salt, picked up the tomato sauce bottle and drenched the plate. ‘I heard nothing. What about you?’
‘Pass me the sauce, Arch.’
‘You heard nothing either?’ he asked again.
‘Nah. I slept all night.’
‘It’s just that Mick was saying that he heard a noise. Crashing and banging that set his dog off. Then today he finds out that somebody broke into the yard where the machines are parked for the roadworks they’re doing, and crashed one of the bulldozers. Vandals, he said. You hear anything about that?’
‘Nup.’
Archie tucked into his meal. Ren thought the interrogation was over. He watched as Archie mopped up the last of the grease on his plate with a slice of buttered bread. He wiped his mouth on the dishcloth, something he’d never do if Loretta was home, and picked up the earlier conversation. ‘Mick also told me he saw you today, on the street. You never saw anything?’
‘Didn’t say I never saw anything. I saw a police car down the bottom of the side street. Didn’t know what they were doing there. Mick was telling me about a letter he got from his son, away in the war.’
Archie collected the dishes and placed them in the sink. ‘He said that nasty copper, Foy, was there. You’ve heard of him, of course?’
Ren picked up the dishcloth to wipe the table down. ‘Everyone’s heard of Foy.’