by Lynda Paige
The man held his hand up. ‘Not so fast. I never discuss business without a drink. Jonathon, do the honours.’
The brute’s name was Jonathon! Had Sonny not been so frightened, he would have laughed. A bottle of cognac was on a shelf in the kitchen area, along with a couple of glasses. ‘Business? What business could you have with me except to get your money? As you can see, I’m just a fair worker.’
The man leaned forward and eyed Sonny darkly. ‘Did you not listen to me? I said I do not talk business without a drink.’
It was only his boss Jonathon got a drink for and, despite the fact he could desperately do with one, Sonny felt it prudent to stay put.
Drink in hand, the man took a gulp, swilling it around his mouth before he swallowed it. ‘Not a bad drop. Obviously you do well for yourself. Now, that business I referred to. There are times I need a safe place for keeping certain items for a length of time, somewhere the filth wouldn’t think to search.’
Sonny eyed the man quizzically. ‘This is a travelling fair, we’re never in the same place for longer than a week, a fortnight at the most. I can’t see how that would…’
The man’s eyes darkened thunderously and he smashed a fist hard down on the arm of the chair, making Sonny jump. ‘The reason I’m who I am and you’re just a pleb is because I’ve got brains. A fair is the perfect cover because you do move around. The police believe we like to keep our loot where we can keep our eye on it so wouldn’t dream of thinking we’d ever let it out of our sight. But I won’t have any trouble worrying over my goods being out of my sight until I come to collect when I’m ready to as they’ll be kept very safe and secure, won’t they?’
He was leaving Sonny in no doubt that should anything that was left in his safekeeping not be available when it came time to collect, just what would happen to him. ‘Yes, yes, course they will be, Mr er…’
The man sat back and smiled as he took another sip of his drink and a draw from his cigar. ‘Glad we understand each other. I want a list of the places the fair is playing in for the rest of the season and where it holes up over winter. Just expect a visit from a representative of mine at any time, understand.’
Sonny didn’t like this state of affairs one little bit. What if the police did get wind of this arrangement? But then, as matters stood, it seemed he wasn’t in any position to refuse. ‘What do I get out of it?’
He flashed his gold tooth at Sonny with a smile. ‘You’ll get your cut when the goods are handed over to my representative.’
Sonny supposed that was something. ‘And what about last night’s winnings?’
He thought on that for a moment before he responded, ‘Well, whatever way you did it, you won it. I’ll just take the same cut as I would have done from those two clots had you not outwitted them. Half.’
Sonny had thought he’d end up with nothing for all his troubles so half was better than he’d hoped for. He looked over at Jonathon, then back at the man in the chair. ‘Alright if I go and fetch your share?’
‘Go with him, Jonathon.’
The man and his minder left straight after Sonny had handed him his money and his parting words to him were that someone would be in touch very soon.
A while later Sonny had finished the whole bottle of cognac that had been almost three-quarters full before the crime boss and his henchman had arrived. He couldn’t believe what he’d gone and gotten himself involved in. Pinching a wallet, cash lying around or thieving some jewellery he could pawn from someone’s house he’d gotten himself invited into was one thing. Sonny suspected that the man wanted him to hide items of great value, high on Wanted lists by police. He had no choice in this matter though, it was do as the man said or risk ending up in a concrete coffin on a building site.
But just where would he hide the man’s goods? The hiding place would have to be inside his van as far too many people had access to anywhere else in the fair. But where was he going to find a place inside his van to hide goods? Bleary-eyed, he slowly looked around before his eyes came to rest on the arch leading into his bedroom. Then a slow smile kinked his lips. He knew just the perfect place to hide the man’s goods and, should they be uncovered in the meantime, it wouldn’t be him that paid the price.
Chapter Thirteen
Gem had taken it upon herself to drop by Ren’s at some point every day to check on her. Ren seemed her usual chirpy self but her eyes held a sadness in them that told Gem she was still suffering the loss of her dear friend and far from over it yet. Now she knew of her plight, Gem wished she could do something to help the lovely, fun-loving little woman get over her loss but knew from experience that emotional pain caused by the loss of a someone precious was not something that happened overnight; it could take months, years in fact. Besides, she couldn’t openly say or do anything as she was not supposed to know. All Gem could hope for was that by calling regularly to see her, Ren would know that she might not have the love of the man she wanted but, regardless, there were people who cared very much for her.
Having bought a quarter of boiled sweets from Ren’s stall to suck on while she updated the accounts, Gem was about to return to her van when she spotted Col. He was acting very suspiciously, seeming to be sneaking his way out of the fairground. Lessons were still in progress so he should be in the school tent. She called over to him. At hearing her voice, he froze mid step before slowly turning around to look across at her with an extremely guilty look on his face.
Going over to him she looked down at him quizzically. ‘Why aren’t you in school, Col?’ Then a horrifying thought struck her. ‘Oh, you’re not running away are you? You only told me the other day how happy you are with Iris and Bert. Is that not true then, are you so unhappy with them you’ve decided to run away?’
He gawped mortifiedly at Gem and urgently blurted, ‘No, no, I ain’t running away, ’onest I’m not. I am so very happy, Mrs Grundy. Mam and Dad are the best mam and dad I could ever have… well except for…’ He didn’t need to tell Gem his own dead mother and father. He frenziedly blurted, ‘I’ll go straight back to school, I promise, but you won’t tell me mam and dad will you what yer caught me doing only they’ll be cross with me and think I’m not a good boy and want rid of me.’ Tears came then to his eyes and he started to cry, absolutely distraught at the thought.
She knelt down before him and took his hands and earnestly told him, ‘Col, Iris and Bert love you as much as they would had you been born to them. Iris was only telling me the other day that neither her or Bert could imagine their lives now without you in it. They would be upset of you sneaking away from lessons and punish you for it but never get rid of you, you must never think that.’ She then asked him quizzically, ‘Just where were you sneaking off to, Col?’
He sniffed back snot as he wiped tears away with the back of his hand. ‘It's mam’s birthday today and I’ve been doing errands for people to earn money to buy her a box of chocolates and was going to pick some wild flowers for her from the fields on my way back from the shop. I have to go straight home after school to do my chores and if I told Mam I wanted to go to the shops she’d want to know what for and wouldn’t let me go on my own anyway, so the only way I could buy her present without her knowing was to sneak out of lessons. I asked Miss Dunn if I could go to the toilet.’
Gem was sniffing back her own tears by now. ‘Then you’d better hurry to the shops and get back as quick as you can. Miss Dunn is bound to ask what has taken you so long so tell her that on the way back you bumped into me and I kept you talking.’ She smiled warmly at him. ‘Iris is going to love her surprise birthday present from you.’
A look of delight split his face. ‘Ahh, thanks, Mrs Grundy.’
‘Here, before you go have a sweet,’ she said, offering the bag out to him.
He didn't need asking twice.
She watched him run happily off towards the entrance. If Iris had any doubt on just how much she meant to Col then in a very short time she was going to have that dispelled. Such a like
able young lad he was and Gem knew that come time he was going to become a greatly valued member of their community.
She was just about to resume her way back to her van to update the account books when she then saw a large group of women, middle-aged and elderly, streaming through the fair entrance that Col had had just dashed through. Her heart sank and she heaved a frustrated sigh. Over her twenty years with the fair she had seen many bands of women such as these descend upon them to protest for what they claimed was the rise in local crime, noise and disorderly conduct, caused by the fair being in their vicinity. Any moment now, Gem expected the women to brandish their placards and start causing havoc. She was just thankful they had chosen a Wednesday afternoon on which to make their protest as it was the quietest time of the week so had fewer people’s enjoyment to spoil and less loss of earnings for the fairfolk. She knew she was no match for a gang of angry women but, regardless, she needed to try and stop them from what they were about to do, spoiling the fun of the people that were here. She wished she could summon Solly; he was good in situations like this. He had a way with him that calmed volatile people down and defused explosive situations such as this one now potentially was. He wasn’t on site though, he was off in the town collecting leaflets and posters from the printers to send off with a couple of the older fairground children to hand around and put up in shops in their next port of call. Then he was to buy parts to fix two rides that were still out of commission after the raid by the Teddy Boys. He was also going to collect Velda’s wheels from the wheelwright which had been ordered when it became apparent that her own two were beyond repair. Sam had been known to fuel these protests with his own anger that the mob dared to attempt to hound them out with their outrageous claims, so fetching him wasn’t a good idea. Nor did Sonny have the temperament to soothe women on the warpath. So she was the only member of the family to tackle this situation at the moment.
Putting the bag of sweets into her pocket, she went over to waylay them. She addressed the woman who seemed to be in charge; a large, formidable, matronly woman with a bulldog face with hairs on her chin. She was dressed in a brown tweed suit, brogues on her feet and her greying hair was cut into a short, unflattering bob just below her ears. Gem, though, was somewhat perplexed as the women appeared be in a state of excitement against what she thought would be angry.
Gem said politely, ‘Can I help you.’
She shot Gem a surprised look before she responded matter-of-factly, ‘I don’t think so, young lady. We are all quite capable of managing this on our own.’ She turned to the rest of her group and clapped her hands several times to get all their attention. ‘Are we ready then, ladies?’
Before any could respond, Gem blurted, ‘Look, there’s no need for this. There are people here enjoying themselves and you’ll spoil their afternoon if you do.’
The women all looked at her, bewildered. The leader of them folded her arms underneath her vast bosom and sternly demanded, ‘Do what exactly? Just what is it that you think we’ve all come here to do?’
‘To protest about the fair being here.’
The woman stared at her for a moment then, to her shock, she burst out laughing. A deep, horsey haw-haw-haw. She turned to the rest of the women. ‘Did you hear that, girls? This young lady thinks we’re all here to protest against the fair.’ To deepen Gem’s shock, they all laughed together then. The leader turned back to Gem and told her, ‘We’re here, my dear, to enjoy ourselves at the fair, not protest against it. It’s been years since any of us have actually had the chance to have fun on the rides, play on the stalls and just enjoy ourselves without children or grandchildren pestering the life out of us. Usually it’s us watching them have all the fun. We’re all members of the WVS, the North Barnsley branch. I’m the chairwoman. When one of our members at a meeting a few weeks back mentioned Grundy’s was due and that she’d be taking her grandchildren and that she couldn’t remember the last time she actually had some fun herself at the fair without having the responsibility of children or grandchildren to watch over, that got us all saying the same thing. So we unanimously voted that instead of having our annual spring outing at a country garden or suchlike, we’d have an afternoon at the fair instead. So here we are. Now, if you don’t mind, dear, we are wasting time. Please excuse us.’
With a huge smile on her face Gem then watched as thirty or so middle-aged and elderly ladies dispersed. Some headed in the direction of the gallopers, some for the House of Fun, some over to the side stalls and others to Ren’s stall to buy their candy floss, sweets and ice creams to eat while they decided what to have a go on first.
Gem was so very relieved that the women had not come to do what she had suspected. She would have liked nothing more than to be a bystander and observe these usually upright woman shrieking and laughing like schoolgirls on the rides, but her own work beckoned. Sam would be wanting his financial update imminently and if she hadn’t updated the accounts she wouldn’t be able to give it to him.
She was heading towards her van when she spotted Emily Dunn. She was supposed to be teaching the children wasn’t she? Seemed Col wasn’t the only one sneaking out of lessons today. She stopped dead, wondering just what the woman was doing. She seemed to be lurking by one of the stalls, closely watching four of the WVS women giggling like schoolgirls as they tried to shoot the targets on the shooting range. Gem wondered if she knew the women and was waiting her moment to make herself known to them without interrupting their enjoyment. But then she saw Emily turn her attentions to another group of the women taking a turn on the Roll-A-Penny stall. It was then that the look on Emily Dunn’s face registered. Such longing that she had never witnessed before in anyone. Emily Dunn didn’t know those women; she was wishing she was one of them.
She went over and laid a hand gently on her arm by way of letting her know she was there without startling her. ‘Hello, Miss Dunn. Can’t deny that those women are enjoying themselves.’
The older woman sighed. ‘Yes, yes they certainly are.’ A worried look then clouded her face and she blustered, ‘I shouldn’t be here watching them. The children have been so good and all did well in a spelling test I gave them this morning, so I decided they deserved a treat. I asked Sadie Middleton if she would sit with them for a short time while I fetch a bag of sweets from the sweet stall, but then I saw the women and got side tracked I'm afraid.’
‘Those women belong to the WVS and they’ve come to have some fun. When I first saw them arrive I worried they were here to protest. Oh, whoops! That woman on the carousel is laughing so hard she nearly fell off. Oh, and look, that women on the rifle range can certainly shoot as she’s won the large teddy. She must have hit three bull’s eyes in a row to have done. One of her grandchildren is certainly going to be pleased with their granny when she gives them it. Which is your favourite ride, Miss Dunn? I have to say that mine is the dodgems but then I do have rather a soft spot for the gallopers as Solly proposed to me when we were both riding on them.’
She replied hesitantly, ‘Oh, I er… don’t have a favourite.’ She then added, wistfully, ‘They all look such fun, don’t they?’
Gem eyed her sharply. By her tone of voice and what she had said, she could only mean one thing. Emily Dunn couldn’t have a favourite ride as she never been on any. Gem couldn’t believe that she had met a living soul that hadn’t experienced the thrill and excitement of a visit to the fair! But by the way she spoke and conducted herself, Gem assumed her background to have been a poor one. Well, this was something that was in Gem’s power to put right. Sam would just have to wait for his financial update; this couldn’t as far as she was concerned.
‘Do you know, Miss Dunn, I might work on the fair but I can’t remember when I actually had myself some fun in it. No time like the present. What would you like to go on first?’
Emily looked agog at her companion. ‘What, me go on the rides!’ A look of pure excitement lit her face for a moment but then quickly faded. ‘Oh, but I told Mrs Middleton I
’d only be gone a few minutes, so I need to buy those sweets and get back.’
‘I’m sure Sadie will be fine looking after the children for a while,’ Gem assured her.
‘You are sure she will? Oh, then I very much would like to have a go on a ride. I’d better fetch my purse.’
Gem chuckled. ‘One of the perks of working for a fair is that you get to ride on anything you like for free. Now, which one would you like to try first?’
The gleam in her eyes shone beacon-like and her voice was loaded with utter joy when she said, ‘Oh, the carousel, please.’
* * *
As they ate dinner that evening, Gem relayed the events of her afternoon to the others around the table. ‘I can’t believe that Miss Dunn had never in her life been on a fair ride until now.’
‘Miss Dunn,’ said Solly thoughtfully as he forked a portion of sausage and mash into his mouth.
‘Emily Dunn, our school teacher,’ Gem reminded him.
‘Oh, yes, of course she is, I remember now.’ He lapsed into thought again and mused, ‘Funny though, I’ve read that name somewhere recently.’ He then looked meaningfully at his two sons. ‘Before you tell me I can’t read, I can a little and I know I have read that name somewhere, just can’t remember where at the moment. This gravy is delicious, Velda.’
The older woman smiled, pleased. ‘Glad you like it. There’s plenty more.’