All is Fair

by All is Fair (retail) (epub)

  Robbie had a splinter in his thumb and was trying to get it out with the blade of his penknife. So that was her name, he thought as he poked and prodded. Zena. It was a pretty name for a pretty woman. No, she was more than pretty; she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and the minute he had clapped eyes on her perched on the back of her father’s flat-bed lorry as they had driven into the living area just over a week ago to join the community, he was instantly smitten. He had seen her a couple of times since, helping out on her father’s donkey derby stall, and his feelings for her had only heightened.

  According to community gossip he’d overheard, she was a nice girl too, very amenable and friendly. Apparently, she had been excited to learn that Grundy’s had its own school and was keen to have the chance to learn to read and write proficiently, so she obviously had a brain in her head that she wanted to expand. He liked a girl who took an interest in more than film stars and the latest fashions, who he could have a decent conversation with. But he’d known from the start that hankering after a girl like her hoping she would fancy him was futile. She could attract any man she wanted – and now he knew that Jimmy was interested in her, his chances were even slimmer.

  Other young men with an older brother better-looking and far more charismatic than they were themselves might have been insanely jealous and extremely resentful, but not Robbie. He loved his brother, admired and respected him, and he knew that Jimmy felt the same about him. Rivalry didn’t exist between them, each happy with the other’s successes and willing to do what was necessary to help bring those triumphs about. Their parents had seen to that, nipping any potential brotherly trouble in the bud right from them being babies together. Robbie knew that if he told Jimmy of his feelings for Zena, then without hesitation Jimmy would step aside and aid him in his aim to get a date with her. But he couldn’t see the point, for even if Zena agreed to go out with him, all the time they were together he would know that really it was Jimmy she wanted to be with.

  He stopped what he was doing and shook his head at Jimmy. ‘No wonder you’ve got the reputation you have, looking at another woman when you’re already got a girlfriend.’

  Jimmy laughed. ‘Not me, brother. I’ve been free and single since I ended it with Tessa the other night. She was starting to hint about engagement rings. Marriage ain’t for me for a long time yet. I’m having too much fun finding the right girl. So, are you coming to the party?’

  Robbie pulled a face. ‘Everyone is paired off at the moment so I’m about the only one that’ll be going who hasn’t got anyone. I don’t fancy playing gooseberry, so I might give it a miss.’

  ‘I’ll be on my own.’

  ‘Not as soon as Zena arrives you won’t.’

  Just then two young women passed by arm in arm, giggling together. Spotting Jimmy, one of them stopped, flicked her hand through her long hair and said coyly, ‘Hello, Jimmy. Going to the party tonight?’

  He shrugged and replied nonchalantly, ‘If nothing better comes up.’

  Her eyes lit up. It was obvious that was just the news she’d been hoping to hear. ‘Oh, I might see you there then.’

  He shrugged. ‘Yeah, yer might.’ As the girls carried on their way, heads bent together giggling again, he said to Robbie, ‘Nice to have a backup if Zena doesn’t come. Anyway, why don’t you get yourself a date for tonight? What about Joannie Hopgood? She’s not got a boyfriend at the moment since that gaff lad she was seeing upped and left. I’ve seen her looking at you more than once. You don’t have to marry her, it’s just a date.’

  Joannie was a nice enough girl and Robbie wouldn’t say no to a date with her, but he didn’t think it fair to take a girl out when he really wanted to be with someone else. He needed to get Zena out of his system first. He made his excuses. ‘She’s pretty friendly with Billy Cocker. I saw her talking to him during the community dinner today.’

  ‘They could have been talking about anything. Why don’t you ask her anyway? Go on, go and do it now, while we’re having a break.’ Jimmy couldn’t fail to see the look on Robbie’s face. ‘Are you afraid to for some reason?’ he asked.

  Robbie felt the red of embarrassment rush up his neck. ‘No, no, it’s not that,’ he blustered.

  ‘What then?’

  He heaved a sigh. ‘It’s… well… I’ve only ever asked one girl out before and that didn’t go well.’

  Jimmy looked shocked. ‘But you must have asked out more than one; you’ve had three girlfriends to my knowledge.’

  ‘Four, actually, but it was them that asked me out. Two of them I didn’t actually want to go out with but I didn’t like to say no.’

  Jimmy burst into fits of laugher and slapped him on the back. ‘Oh Robbie, sometimes you’re too nice for your own good.’

  ‘It’s not funny, Jimmy. It’s all right for you, you’ve only got to look at a girl and she’s putty in your hands. The one time I tried to ask someone out I got all flustered and ended up making a right fool of myself, and the girl and her friends took the mickey out of me for weeks after. I ain’t going to risk that again.’

  Jimmy smacked his hand down on Robbie’s leg. ‘Asking a girl out is easy. Just do as I say and you’ll have them desperate for a date.’

  Just then Jenny arrived. She eyed them both scathingly. ‘This what you call working?’ she scolded. ‘If Dad catches you, I wouldn’t like to be in your shoes.’

  Jimmy replied defensively. ‘He won’t know, he’s right over the other side of the fair working with Gully and Tom fixing a fault on the waltzer. Anyway, we’re allowed a break, sis.’

  ‘You only had your dinner break an hour ago.’

  ‘Well it don’t look to me like you’re working either, strolling around the fairground like you are.’

  She placed her hands on her hips. ‘I’ve just helped wash and dry a mountain of pots after the community dinner and now I’m on my way to help Ren put some new bunting up around her stall, so put that in your pipe and smoke it. Anyway, you two look like you’re plotting something. What are you up to?’

  ‘Don’t tell her, Jimmy, please,’ Robbie pleaded with his brother. ‘What I told you was private between me and you. Jenny’ll think I’m a right idiot if you say anything.’

  She looked hurt. ‘I would never think you an idiot, Robbie. Why do you think I would?’

  Jimmy nudged him in the ribs. ‘You’d better tell her. She’s like Mum, she won’t give up until you do.’ Before Robbie could respond, he turned to Jenny. ‘Our little brother is shy when it comes to asking girls out, so I was offering to show him how it’s done.’

  ‘And you’ve had plenty of practice the amount of girls you go through,’ Jenny said with a twinkle in her eye. ‘I’ve only been on the scene less than a year and you’ve had six girlfriends – and that’s just the ones I know about!’

  He grinned. ‘Blame Mum and Dad for having such a good-looking son.’

  She tutted disapprovingly as she sat down between her brothers and challenged Jimmy, ‘Well come on then, I’m interested in seeing how you charm a girl into going out with you.’ She noticed a young woman approaching, heading over to the stalls edging the fairground. She was slim and very good-looking, with long blonde hair that she had protected by tying a colourful scarf pirate fashion around it. She was wearing fashionable fitted black pants and a baggy knitted jumper that covered her shapely backside, and was weighed down by a heavy holdall she was lugging. ‘She’s pretty, just your sort,’ Jenny said. ‘Show us how you’d go about getting a date with her.’

  She was indeed Jimmy’s sort, and unfortunately Robbie’s too. It was Zena.

  Whilst Robbie’s heart sank at the prospect of watching the woman he had been fantasising over since the moment he had seen her agree to go out with his brother, Jimmy jumped up and swaggered over to waylay her, saying, ‘A beautiful woman like you shouldn’t be carrying such a heavy load. Here, I’ll help you.’

  He tried to take the bag from her, but she pulled it out of his reach. �
��So, if I wasn’t beautiful, in your opinion, then you’d just let me get on with it?’

  He looked taken aback, used to women giving in immediately. ‘Eh? Oh, no, course I wouldn’t. I was just… er… just…’

  She finished for him. ‘Trying to chat me up.’

  He shrugged sheepishly. ‘Okay, you got me.’ He shot her one of his practised winning smiles and said cockily, ‘It’s your lucky night tonight. After all the offers I’ve had, I’ve decided it’s you I want to take to the party tonight. Eleven suit you? That should give you plenty of time to tart yourself up after the fair shuts. You just say where and I’ll be there.’

  She shook her head. ‘No,’ she said flatly. ‘Thanks for asking, though.’

  He looked absolutely flabbergasted. ‘What! You’re turning me down?’

  She nodded. ‘Yes. I’ve heard about your reputation and I don’t intend becoming another notch on your bedpost, thank you very much.’

  He glanced round at his audience. If he failed in the task that he had so blatantly bragged was a foregone conclusion, he was going to look a right idiot and would never live it down. ‘Now listen,’ he said. ‘What you heard about me… well… yes, I’ve had a few girlfriends, but you’re different—’

  Zena cut in. ‘I bet you tell all the girls that when you ask them out. But you’re right, I am different. I don’t fall for men’s claptrap. Anyway, I’m sure you’ve a list of other women who’ll jump at the chance to go to the party with you, and I wouldn’t like to stand in their way.’ She turned and smiled at Robbie sitting a few feet away, then returned her attention to Jimmy. ‘Now if your brother asked me, that would be a different matter.’

  Jimmy gawped, astounded. ‘What, you’d sooner go to the party with Robbie?’

  ‘Absolutely I would.’

  He sulked. ‘Why? What’s he got that I haven’t?’

  ‘From what I’ve found out about him since I first saw him, he’s got everything that I like in a man.’

  Robbie was staring, stunned, not believing what he was hearing.

  Jenny nudged him hard in the ribs and hissed urgently, ‘Do you want to take her to the party, Robbie?’

  ‘Want to! I’d give my eye teeth to, sis. She’s everything I’ve ever dreamed of.’

  ‘Then don’t just sit there like a clot; go and make arrangements with her before she thinks you’re not interested. She might not give you another chance.’

  He didn’t need another telling.

  Jimmy was reeling. He didn’t begrudge his brother his good fortune in having a girl like Zena set her sights on him, and he dearly hoped their date went well for Robbie’s sake, but regardless, he felt so stupid and embarrassed in front of his sister and brother for failing to pull off what he had boasted was a done deal. He wished the ground would open and swallow him up.

  He realised his sister had joined him and steeled himself for her ridicule. He was shocked when instead she patted his arm and said sympathetically, ‘You can’t win ’em all, Jimmy.’

  He grunted, shuffling his feet uncomfortably. ‘No, suppose not.’ He just wanted to get away and nurse his humiliation. ‘I need to fetch something from home,’ he muttered, and without waiting for a reply, he hurried off towards the living van area.

  Jenny smiled to herself as she watched him go. Until short of a year ago, she’d had no idea she had a brother, let alone two, but she had grown to love them both as much as she would have had she known them all her life, and she knew by the way they treated her that they felt the same. She didn’t like to see either of them upset, but it didn’t hurt for Jimmy to be knocked off his perch for once and realise that good looks weren’t everything. Maybe in future he might not be so complacent. Knowing her brother, she felt sure that he would soon shrug off his hurt pride and be back acting like it had never happened.

  She watched as Robbie and Zena headed off towards her father’s stall. Robbie was now carrying the holdall and their heads were close together – making their arrangements for the evening, she assumed. They looked well suited and Jenny had a feeling that this was not going to be a one-night stand, though time would tell on that score.

  * * *

  Living in a community of eighty or so people did have its benefits. No one was ever lonely; there was always someone around to have a chat or share a triumph or trouble with. But when solitude was craved, which was what Jimmy wanted now – just a few minutes on his own to lock away his disgrace and return to his usual self – that could prove difficult. He did have a place in mind, though, and that was where he was heading now. Through sentimental reasons his father had been unable to decide what to do with his grandfather’s living van, so for the time being, it was parked on the periphery of the living area. The empty van was just the place Jimmy needed to recover his equilibrium.

  At the back of the van was a small straggle of trees, and leaning his tall, lithe frame against a trunk covered in crawling ivy, Jimmy rolled himself a cigarette. As he placed it in his mouth and lit it, his eyes settled on his grandfather’s van and immediately memories of the old man flooded in. Big Sam had been seventy and riddled with arthritis when he had accidentally fallen from the top of the helter-skelter, but he had still been a commanding figure, parading around with the aid of a stick, surveying his domain, checking all was running smoothly and to his exacting standards. He’d had a gruff manner and stood no nonsense, even with his beloved grandchildren, but nevertheless he was much admired, respected and loved, and still keenly missed by all the community.

  Looking down the side of the van now to the door, Jimmy could almost see his grandfather emerging from it, dressed smartly as usual in his trademark striped blazer, ready to face anything that came his way. He knew that Big Sam would have shown no outward sympathy about what had happened, but would have told him in his blunt, matter-of-fact way that it was his own conceitedness that had caused his humiliation, and to man up and learn from the situation. He smiled ruefully. That was just what he’d do. And next time he fancied a girl enough to ask her out, he wouldn’t assume that he was making her dreams come true.

  He realised he’d better get back to work. It wouldn’t do for his father to find him absent; he’d demand an explanation, and the whole mortifying episode would quickly become the topic of conversation around the dinner table, not to mention the entire fairground. Taking a last draw from his cigarette, he threw it down and ground it out with the heel of his shoe. He was just about to set off when a movement over at the door of his grandfather’s caravan caught his eye. He froze when he saw that a head had popped out and was furtively looking around, its features hidden by a wide-brimmed hat. His immediate thought was that someone was burgling his grandfather’s van, and fury filled him.

  ‘Oi, you!’ he bellowed angrily as he straightened up and made to dash over to apprehend the robber.

  At the sound of his voice, the head spun to look at him; then, before Jimmy could react, the intruder, wearing a belted mackintosh with the collar pulled up, bolted down the steps and raced off. Jimmy went to make chase, but found that the heel of his shoe had become entangled in the roots of the ivy and instead fell flat on his face. By the time he was on his feet again, he knew the intruder would be well on his way, so there was no point trying to pursue him. The man had appeared to be empty-handed, so hopefully he hadn’t found anything in the van worth taking; nevertheless, Jimmy ventured inside to have a quick look around.

  The van hadn’t been lived in for many months, but his mother made sure it was kept clean. Jimmy was gratified to see that nothing seemed to have been touched. Hopefully he had disturbed the man before he’d had the chance to rifle around for anything of any value. None of the community ever locked their doors, but maybe his father would decide to keep this van locked in future in light of this incident.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Julie smiled to herself as she put away the breakfast dishes and gave the small kitchen table a wipe. She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt so happy and
contented. Even when she’d been living at home before she had met Dicky, life hadn’t felt this good.

  She might only have been in her job as lead rider for a matter of weeks, but already she felt that the men, even bigoted Ray Jenkinson, were impressed with her. They certainly seemed far happier going about their work than they had been when Dicky was in charge. The name of the ride had been changed so that it was no longer Dicky’s Daredevils; after consultation with the team and a vote on the names they had put forward, it was now called Wheels of Death, implying to the audience that what they were about to see was death-defyingly dangerous.

  The whole team had a say in the way the shows were run, what tricks were performed and by whom, and Julie had rotated the slots so they all had an equal share of riding time and took it in turns to open and close the show. She had successfully overseen the packing up and unpacking of the ride and their equipment twice now as the fair had relocated, and none of the members of the team had even showed a sign they were thinking of leaving. So, although never complacent, she believed she was proving to Solly Grundy that he hadn’t made a mistake in promoting her. She heard only praise for what she was doing when he regularly came to check how things were. She hoped that continued.

  Her living van was now feeling more homely and she had added some feminine touches in the form of scatter cushions, with a couple of pictures from a second-hand shop breaking up the bareness of the walls. She hadn’t yet got around to buying any ornaments, as concentrating all her efforts on her new job left little time for shopping except for essentials.