The Penn Friends Series Books 5-8: Penn Friends Boxset

by T H Paul

  Stuff was about to get very real for me that Saturday night. Some might call it entirely out of hand.

  As I entered that tower, however, I was still high from all that had happened that day. Yet I was about to find out something I didn’t realise I cared so much about, something that had I known, I might not have bothered asking about in the first place. And it started out as a bit of harmless fun. Until I stepped in, that is.

  Once again I turned something that should have been harmless into something that was dangerous. If knowledge was power, I was about to be handed a ticking time bomb.

  Penny decided that she wanted to go to the top of the tower––that was one of five options available, in what turned out to be a Tardis-like attraction. There was so much going on. She paid for them both to get a ticket for the top––Keith had made it look like he wasn’t bothered. She realised he probably didn’t have the eight pounds to pay for himself. She didn’t mind. It would be better having someone with her than to do it alone. The information promised a fantastic view from the top, and at least with him there, she might have a little clue as to what she was looking at.

  They spent an hour up at the top, standing on the glass floor for much of that, daring each other to not show any fear. Penny was having fun. Keith was so much older than the usual crowd she spent her days with––that being her classmates––that she actually appreciated the company. When it was time to go, they reluctantly left and were once more on terra firma.

  “Have you ever experienced one of Blackpool's fortune tellers?” Keith said as they strolled along the front.

  “I told you, I’ve never been here before.”

  “Come on then,” he said, grabbing her hand and leading her at a trot across the road. “You’ve got to meet old Meg.”

  Meg had apparently been based at the little side-street mystical shop for decades. Penny couldn’t tell what was older––the woman or the crumbling building. Keith had been clear the whole way that Meg was the laughing stock of the city, quite barmy and entirely harmless. She was comical because of that all and even played into that role. No one believed Meg had any ability in her chosen area, but that was all part of the appeal. She was an enigma, a local treasure.

  “You go first,” Penny said. She wasn’t sure what to make of it initially. Keith smiled. It apparently wasn’t his first time there, not that this was evident for old Meg. She seemed to be half blind herself.

  “I see a new relationship on the horizon,” the old crone started, and Keith just smiled. He mouthed to Penny while Meg continued to speak with her eyes closed, hands resting on his; she predicts this every time. Penny just smiled, suppressing a laugh as best she could. What struck her about it all was how seriously Meg was acting––maybe it was all part of the routine? Over the next twenty minutes, Meg gave it everything she had. By the end of it, they’d touched on nearly every possibility known to mankind. Meg was apparently playing the odds. Whether she knew this or not, Penny wasn’t sure, as Meg finished her session with Keith, still as earnestly as ever, though gave a smile at the very end. Was it all just a joke to her as well? Was she not just making up a load of random rubbish to keep the paying punters happy? Keith obviously didn’t base any value on it––he had brought Penny here for its entertainment value.

  Penny saw Meg for who she was. An actress playing the role of a fortune teller. She had to make a living somehow, and from what Penny had seen of Blackpool, it was just the place for anyone to make a living doing almost anything.

  Soon it was Penny’s go. Keith vacated his seat and grinned at Penny as she tentatively edged forward, as if marvelling at what profound truths might about to be revealed to her, both in on the same joke. She wondered if Meg too knew how everyone felt.

  Then Penny had a thought. Clearly, Meg had no abilities beyond a few well-rehearsed lines. What if Penny gave her some for real? What if she bestowed the very gift she was supposed to already have? Would Meg know any difference? Would she speak differently? Would it change anything?

  Give Meg the ability to see my fortune for the next twenty minutes Penny thought as she took her seat. She felt a little nervous even doing it and knew she had to limit the reach and effect it might have. She’d never done anything like this before, real or fake.

  Meg started with the exact same noise she had done with Keith, making Keith grin away like the Cheshire Cat. Penny suddenly felt less than jovial. She was about to immediately undo what she’d just given Meg, her idea a stupid one she was sure when the old lady started speaking. Her voice was as calm as before, and to the listening ears of Keith, it was no doubt yet more made up nonsense put together for the entertainment of her paying guests. For Penny, however, it was only too real.

  “I see you dancing,” she started, Penny sitting bolt upright in her chair, petrified as to what was coming next. “You don’t do that anymore, dear. So many shadows over that situation. I see friendships that have been and are no longer. I see sadness, I see anger. I see great rage!” There was sudden silence. Meg opened her eyes; she’d not done that once during her entire performance with Keith, and yet seconds into her time with Penny, looked more fearful than ever. “I see tremendous gifting, gifting that very few people have, yet it’s dangerous. Destructive. Yes, it’ll cause you to implode, if you aren’t able to control it.” Keith had never heard her be so dark before. He started to regret bringing Penny there at all.

  Over the next ten minutes, Meg continued to drop various snippets in, most long forgotten history, but each revelation was yet more vinegar on Penny’s open wounds, each time biting at her inner rage that Penny knew she’d never dealt with. Then Meg stopped for a full sixty seconds. There was nothing but total silence. The session still had five minutes to run. Penny exchanged glances with Keith, who was trying not to laugh at it all himself, though Penny was far from giddy. It had been a much rougher experience so far for her.

  “I see an address. Ten Cranborne Avenue. Yes, there is a man there. A man wanting contact with you.” Keith couldn’t contain himself anymore, and let out a snigger. Maybe he’s tall dark and handsome he mouthed to Penny, who wasn’t saying anything but her eyes were telling him firmly to shut up. He went silent again, taken aback by how seriously Penny was taking it all. Meg continued as if allowing the distraction of Keith to pass. “Yes, a man. Your father. He’s searching for a way to connect with you.”

  “My father?” Penny couldn’t help herself. “You see my father?”

  “Yes, at number ten…” but Penny didn’t want the address repeated, didn’t want to allow Meg any more time to talk about a man who had abandoned her as a teenage girl.

  “Enough!” There was an uneasy silence, though Meg didn’t open her eyes. There was still time on the clock.

  “I see a boy, a man and an old man. Oh, my. Penny, you need to know what connects the three…” but Penny was on her feet. She couldn’t do this anymore. I take away Meg’s ability to see my fortune. The old lady went silent. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes, as if waking from a dream. She checked the time. There were still two minutes to run, but her client was already on her feet.

  “I think we are finished,” she said, in a happy tone, as if they’d been discussing the weather. Keith made his way towards the door, Penny hanging back a little. She wanted to check one final thing.

  “Did you see my mother?” she asked, her voice quiet so that it was a conversation only the two of them were having.

  “Your mother? No, dear. I didn’t. I fear she is gone, yes?”

  Penny nodded. She would leave it at that.

  “Dear,” the old lady called as Penny was at the door. “The art of foreseeing is tricky to unpack. I do hope you weren’t frightened by what I shared earlier.”

  “You remember what you said?” Penny didn’t know why she’d said that. She’d not taken any the woman’s memory, maybe presuming she wouldn’t actually recall what was coming out of her mouth.

  “Of course. It felt different with you. Tha
t address, the one for your father. He really does care for you.”

  Penny flinched again. Meg went silent.

  “I sensed a profound divide between you both. So much pain. I’m sorry that I’ve raised the issue again for you.”

  “No, it’s okay, really,” Penny said, the change in the old lady such that Penny now felt sorry for giving such a reaction. “Number ten you said?”

  “Yes. Cranborne Avenue. Do you know it?”

  “No, I don’t. Look, thanks, anyway. I know you meant well.” Penny opened the door to leave.

  “You need him.” Penny stood there in the doorway, one foot on the street and the other on the doorstep. She’d frozen. Penny didn’t know what to think about any of it. Make her forget everything she just saw Penny thought. This had to stop. She had to undo this. She’d been stupid to have allowed it to happen in the first place. She, of all people, should have known better.

  “What did you say?” Penny said, turning to Meg one last time.

  “You need him. I felt that as much as anything. I also felt great danger for you.” Meg hadn’t forgotten anything. Penny turned and walked out of the shop.

  Keith was waiting on the corner, having a cigarette.

  “What was all that about?” he called to Penny as she made a slow walk towards him. “In there, I mean. What that woman said. Is it true?”

  “You suddenly believe her, do you?” Penny acted as if it was all just rubbish, though convinced no one.

  “Penny, your reaction. It meant something. What she said about your father wanting to find you.”

  “That’ll never happen!” She was practically screaming at him.

  Keith took a long inhale, giving them both a moment to think, before blowing a ring of smoke up into the air.

  “That’s one thing we at least have in common, you and me,” he said, stubbing his cigarette out in a bin.

  “What’s that then?”

  “We both have daddy issues.” He said nothing more and walked off down the street, Penny actually smiling at the weight of that thought before following on after.

  7

  To be honest, I didn’t know what to do with it. My father walked out of my life. That part of my childhood was gone. He was gone. I was free. Yet, now I had an address. I’d given that woman an ability, and I knew it was his address. And she’d said he was searching for a way to connect with me. What did that mean? What did any of it mean?

  He’d bloody left me! He’d abandoned me at the time I most needed him around. I hated him for that!

  That Saturday had so far been one hell of a day––it was fast becoming a nightmare. The next two hours would push it over the edge. I had come away from that session with Meg, and I was in turmoil. I couldn’t control my rage. I needed an outlet. I needed an outworking. Keith would just have to unwittingly be just that.

  It was now dark. All of the main attractions were already closed for the night as Penny walked with Keith around mostly empty streets. The parts of the city that had a nightlife, of course, were only just coming alive. Penny felt no draw towards those, however.

  They were back at the amusement park.

  “Have you ever been in after it’s closed?” Penny asked.

  “In here?” he asked, nodding up at the roller coaster. Penny nodded back. “Yes, once, when we were teenagers. Me and Little Mike snuck in as a dare. Got chased out by two old security guards, though they had no chance of catching up with us.”

  “Show me where you got in.”

  “Penny, I’m not a kid anymore.”

  “You chicken?”

  “No, course not. Look, it’s this way.”

  Ten minutes later they were standing in the shadows, now inside the deserted amusement park. The buildings housing the main rides were all firmly secured. There was very little they could actually do. They stayed for five minutes, seeing no one and being seen by no one, before leaving the way they came.

  “That felt good,” Penny said. She felt like going wild like risk and danger were the only way to get rid of the hurt and anger she had bottled up inside. Rage from years of just suppressing what she was feeling, pushing it all down, to be dealt with some other day. That day had finally caught up with her.

  “Bit of a risk taker are you?” Keith had not seen this side of her before. “Let me show you something.”

  Ten minutes later they were outside an art supply store on an empty side street three roads back from the seafront. “We used to go through these bins all the time back in the day. You’ll be amazed at what they can’t sell and have to throw out.” He vaulted a fence that housed the two industrial-sized rubbish bins and opened the first. Within seconds he was fishing out a couple of cans of spray paint. Only the second one had any black paint left in it. “See, what did I tell you.” He returned to where Penny had remained. “I used to be quite the street artist in my time, you know.” And he sprayed a little motif onto the pavement with the can he’d just found. He handed it to Penny.

  “What should I write?”

  “Anything. The street is your canvas. Mark any goddam thing you want. Just don’t get caught doing it!”

  They spent the next thirty minutes sneaking around and doing just that. There was a particular power in doing something that was wrong––Penny wouldn’t allow herself to make the comparison with Jack and his shoplifting. The can of paint finally ran out, not before the pair had left their mark on a dozen spots that an hour ago had been entirely free of graffiti. The street cleaner would not be impressed in the morning though sadly graffiti was common place.

  “What next?” Keith said. He was apparently in a rebellious mode as well.

  “You drive?”

  “Am I able, yes.” She took it that Keith didn’t have a license. Make him able to drive well and speedy Penny thought, and she led the way back to where she’d parked her Jeep. Penny knew she couldn’t be behind the wheel herself. She also didn’t know the city well enough to not get lost and trapped if the police were to chase them.

  “Take me on a joy ride then,” she said after a few paces, handing him her keys and laughing in a girly manner. She felt totally free.

  Twenty minutes later they were racing at sixty down roads that were empty, skidding around corners before doing three-hundred and sixty degree spins in the car around an empty supermarket carpark, the vehicle soon hidden in its own cloud of smoke. The carpark was one trick too many, however, and a security guard called the police as soon as he spotted them. Sirens were heard just minutes later, and Keith shifted the car into gear and did his best to speed from the area. He raced through the streets for some time, all the while hearing those sirens getting ever more prevalent and the blue flashing lights ominously bouncing off more and more brickwork in the darkness and knew the game was up.

  “Get out, quick!” he demanded, as he stopped the car for a moment, giving Penny the chance to make an escape. “I’ll find you!” And he was off. Penny hung in the shadows as just twenty seconds later two patrol cars sped along the road in pursuit.

  Racing around the streets at such an hour had been thrilling. Keith had been able to handle the car well, and she knew it was in safe hands, believed she could trust him. She just hoped he would be able to evade capture and return the car to her in one piece.

  With everything they had done that day, she realised she’d never sorted out anywhere to stay. It was nearly three in the morning, and she knew nowhere decent would take her in now. However, she didn’t feel tired. She’d seen the casinos were open throughout the night and walked back towards them. By the time she had reached the one she had in mind, the high-speed chase had already come to a stop. Keith was being taken to the police station where he would spend the night.

  All hell broke loose by Sunday morning. Keith had had no fixed address when he was processed into the system at the police station, but his prints were on file. That led to a late night call to the only contact that the police had for Keith, namely his father.

  Michael
Thomas was a hard but fair man. The call had been out of courtesy. Michael was a well-respected man, a builder by trade who’d worked his way up the ladder until establishing his own business in the area. He now employed three dozen others, often turning young tearaways into responsible young adults by the time they’d put in the time and effort on his various building projects. His son, Keith, had been the literal one who got away. Michael had never been able to influence and inspire his only child the way he’d managed to do with so many others, such as Big G and Little Mike to name just two.

  The fact his son was in town was a big surprise, though given Keith was already in police custody, it was much less of a shock. Michael was dressed within five minutes of ending the call and at the station before five. He had a full day’s work ahead of him and was expected on the site of a new proposed project at seven. This was the last thing he needed, and it showed on his face as he walked into the room in which Keith was being held. The officer who’d been standing beside Keith nodded to the father and moved out of the place. Keith had it in mind to call after him and plead with him to remain, just for his own protection. He didn’t, however. A copper was still a copper.

  Michael closed the door quietly behind the officer before turning to look at his son. Keith hadn’t seemingly changed in the ten years it had been since he first ran away. There was still that sixteen-year-old lad in there somewhere.

  “It’s good to see you, son,” Michael said, almost through tears. He’d been so angry since putting down the phone that morning, fumed about the lost decade as he made his way into the station. He was fired up and ready to knock his son into line. But now inside, now just the two of them, he’d melted inside. Here sat his son, no longer a boy, but a man. Michael didn’t have it in him to jump on him straight away. That would come, he was confident of it––he’d make sure of it, in fact. But connection needed to be restored first. Whatever reason had brought his son home, whatever had caused him to joyride at three in the morning, Michael knew it was a second chance. His son was back.