by J Scaddon
“Red…..Red…..You dreaming, boy?” said Gus. Red was day dreaming. His solid start to work had grown weak and forlorn. He was now thinking of Ida. Why hadn’t she acknowledged him? Had he done something wrong? He thoroughly thought that his long drawn out campaign of politeness was getting him somewhere, but now he was unsure. Was there another man challenging for her affections?
“Red!” shouted Gus. “Will you stop day dreaming and help me out with this.”
Red snapped himself back into the real world and went over to help Gus tape up the edges of a vehicle. Gus could sense his misery. He had been sensing it all day and was starting to get annoyed by it.
“If you carry on like this then I am gonna cut your throat, never mind this killer hobo guy. When are you gonna man up and speak to her properly?”
“Didn’t you see what happened this morning? She blanked me,” said Red.
“Did you hear what happened?”
“No.”
“No you didn’t. You didn’t stop to think why. You just got all het up, thinking about yourself. She got broken into last night. Someone took food or something. So no wonder she aint in the chatter, chatter mood. If you keep on like this you’re gonna blow it anyway.”
“So what do I do?”
“What am I, a stuck record? I say it over and over. Get off your ass, go to her and tell her that you would like to take her to a dance. Or the bingo, or whatever people like you do nowadays. Staring at her and stalking her aint gonna work. Say, now you didn’t go stalk her last night did you?”
“Course I didn’t.”
“Well someone did and it may well have been you. All stalking and no talking.”
“Okay. I’ll show you.”
“It aint me you wanna show.”
“I’ll go and see her.”
“When?”
“Now!”
“Now? Red! We have work to do.”
“Fuck work!”
A wicked smile crossed Gus’s face. “Fuck work, indeed. Now that’s the spirit. Take the truck. But bring it back afterward as I aint walking home. Unless you get a little something.”
“Gus. I’m a gentleman.”
“Not me! I’m a pig.”