part 6
Eddie scowled up at him. The boy turned in a slow circle searching the room. He had to clear all the stuff out of the middle of the room, then clean up the floor and put all of it back. He'd do it too, he'd show this Yank he didn't need any help. He'd show them all he could take care of his own self. His eyes lit on the cloth that covered the arm of the large sofa. Snatching it up he stalked to the end of the table and bent over to grab the leg in his hand. It barely moved when he jerked up on it.
Garrison stepped away from his wall and laid his hands on the table to help only to have a bony shoulder shove him out of the way. "It's OK! I said I could do it."
Rethinking his approach Eddie laid the cloth on the floor close to the legs, put his foot on it as he grabbed the edge of the table with both hands and lifted it off the floor. Using the toe of his shoe he slipped the cloth under the wooden feet before letting the table drop onto it with a clunk. Marching to the other end of the table he shot a defiant glare at the American officer before hoisting that end up with a grunt and gliding the table off into the corner.
Garrison smiled to himself when the boy's back was turned. He certainly was a stubborn little so and so.
Eddie lifted the table off the cloth and brought it with him to the end of the large sofa. He tossed it on the floor expecting to use it the same way but it fell short of spanning the distance between the carved feet the sofa rested on. Undaunted he pulled the cloth off the other armrest and tossed it in place. This was going to be a snap he thought... that was before he tried to lift the end of the sofa.
Craig watched as the boy grunted and strained, waiting for him to figure out that he needed help and to ask for it, but it didn't look like his stubborn determination was going to allow him to do that. "Alright. That's enough."
Garrison pushed off the table he'd been leaning on and stepped across to lay a hand on the boy's shoulder. It didn't take much overcome his resistance and propel him to a chair that sat along a wall nearby and push him down to sit on the cushions. The kid was shot, but the look he gave him made Craig smile to himself. He might have run out of steam in the muscle department but his determination was still at the boiling point.
"You just need a little help with this big piece and then we'll get out of your way and let you do it yourself....I promise." When he turned he didn't have to use the intercom to summon help. Actor was standing in the hall just outside the door and from the smile that ghosted on the con man's face he'd been there for some time."
"Care to lend a hand?"
Actor dusted his hands on the sides of his trousers, then scrubbed the palms together as he stepped into the ruined room. "Certainly."
The men positioned themselves at either end of the sofa. They easily lifted it off the floor but let it tip back, allowing Eddie to scramble off his chair to come to their rescue and steady it as they carried it out of the middle of the room. When they set their burden down Garrison kept his word by waving Actor out of the room ahead of him. He made his way to the closet in the hall and brought back a broom and a dust pan, handing them over to Eddie.
"Uh, .... Thanks."
"Don't mention it." With that he turned on his heel and left the child to his work, meeting Actor in the hall as he closed the door on the mess.
"That was a very good lesson. Do you suppose it would work on you?"
Garrison shot his second an irritated glance before he broke down and laughed. "No. I've got too many years to unlearn for that little stunt to work on me."
g
They found Goniff sitting over an untouched cup of tea Casino had made up for him down in the kitchen. As soon as he saw them he climbed to his feet.
"Is he OK?" He thought he was prepared for Eddie's reaction to being told he'd be going somewhere else to live, but when the pillows had started flying, when no matter what he tried to say or do just seemed to make things worse he'd turned tail and run for it. That proved it didn't? That proved he wasn't no sort a fella to have rights to a kid like Eddie.
"He's fine." Garrison moved past his second story man, laying a hand on his shoulder to encourage him to sit back down at the table. He headed for the cupboard where he knew a bottle was stashed and dosed the little man's tea with a spill of liquor. Actor had poured out a measure of the brew for the rest of them before settling down on one of the chairs and he dosed those cups too. He placed the bottle on the table, shoving it into the center between them as he sat down.
"I shouldn'a run out on 'im like that.... I should a stayed and..."
"No. You should have gotten out of his way, just like you did." Garrison took a sip of his enhanced tea.
"And if you'll take my advice," Actor lifted his cup off the table and toasted the little man. "you'll stay out of his way."
"But...."
"Are you nuts! Actor's right Goniff. Eddie just needs a little time to himself right now. He knows what you told him is right... He just needs to be left alone so the idea can sort a sink in."
Goniff scrubbed at the back of his neck with his good hand a moment before snatching up the cup and downing the brew. He tossed the cup back onto the table and reached out for the bottle...
g
"Need a hand?"
Eddied looked up from his task. "No!" The answer was curt. He'd been trying to lift what was left of one of the plants back into it's place in the pot he'd just righted but no matter how he struggled or how high he went up on his toes he couldn't seem to get it to clear the rim and drop inside. He was getting frustrated and had been just about ready to go ask for help. Some how, having this young Indian fella duck into the room through the French doors and make the offer just stiffened his resolve to prove to all of them that he could do it all by himself. That he didn't need no one!
"Don't mess it up." The boy just looked at him with a puzzled frown on his face. Chief waited for the questions, the denials, but they didn't come. Eddie was a rare one if he'd spend the time it took to listen to what another person had to say, if he didn't try and fill up the silence with his own words.
"You got people around you who'r willin' to help... Don't shove 'em away, they might not know you don't really mean it." Chief hadn't meant it when he was young. He'd shoved people away too, always hoping for someone who cared enough to keep on trying...
Eddie let the plant drop so it rested on the toes of his shoes. It seemed everything was heavier now that he wasn't quite so mad. He looked around the room, there was still an awful lot to do.... Heaving a sigh he finally looked up. "Awright... but don't tell no one."
Chief smiled as he reached out and grabbed the little tree by its trunk and hoisted it into its pot. "Wouldn't think of it, man."
g
Goniff looked up and started to get out of his chair but was stopped by the Warden's raised hand. Garrison turned to Chief. "He finish cleaning the room up?"
"Yeah." The group's scout pulled out one of the chairs, turned it and straddled it. Resting his arms on the back of the chair he smiled across at the cat burglar. "Took him some time to figure out how to handle the broom and dust pan but he got real good at it after a while."
"I better go and see to 'im."
"Stay right where you are, Goniff." Garrison shot a look at Casino and the safe cracker immediately clamped a hand over the pick pocket's arm, pinning it to the table. "What's he doing now?"
Chief shrugged. "He's flaked out on one a the chairs takin a break."
"That your idea, Junior?"
The young man just smiled and nodded.
Goniff shoved his chair a little further back, pulling against Casino's iron grip he made another move to rise.
"Goniff!" At the warning note in the Warden's voice the little man slumped back into his chair, but he hadn't given up yet. He continued to twist and squirm trying to break free.
"But I gotta go to 'im, Warden. I gotta talk to 'im...."
"What you have to do is leave him alone for a little while longer."
"But 'ee's up there all by hisself, Warden. Ee's thinkin' nobody wants 'em, that I'm just throwin' 'em aside... That 'ee's not good enough t' keep. ..."
"No he's not, Goniff. He's just damn mad that he's got to leave, ..., that he can't have things the way he wants them to be. If he didn't think he was good enough to stay here he wouldn't have blown up like he did. He wouldn't have had a hope of making you change your mind."
The cockney's complexion went from it's normally pale hue to almost pasty white and he leaned forward on his elbows, his attempt to get away from Casino forgotten. "Y' mean it's a good thing he went crackers like that?!" His eyes were wide and the opinion that shone from them was that the Warden had finally cracked.
Garrison took a deep breath. "I think so." He didn't really know anything about kids, but it seemed like if the boy didn't have any confidence in his own worth, in his own right to have a say in things, he would have just meekly gone where he was told. "Now sit back and finish your..." Garrison picked up his own cup and waved it in the direction of Goniff's. ".... tea."
ggg
"Do I really have t' go, Goniff?" He was brushed and combed and done up in his best. His satchel was packed and sat next to his cot, along with a stack of books tied up with string.
"Now we been over this b'fore ain't we?" Goniff turned his back on the little boy, pretending to straighten the blankets on his bed long enough to work up a smile he could manage to keep in place. Turning back he sat down on the side of his bed and reached out to turn down Eddie's collar where it'd folded up in back. "I got it all worked out for you t' go and stay with Alf and Winnie and they're takin' you back with 'em now that they'r all finished workin.... So y'see, it has ta be today. Why little Marion came along and everything, just sos you'd have company on the drive back." It was a perfect arrangement but Goniff still felt himself wishing it was Actor or the Warden sitting here selling the idea. "They're countin' on you t' come, ya know," and he dropped his voice down to a whisper. "She won't say nuthin' 'cause she's too proud, but there's been bullies botherin' Marion at school and seein's your older 'n all, Winnie, she asked if you wouldn't sort a keep an eye out for her."
"Well, I guess I could do that, ... But..."
"And it's not like you'll be that far away.... Just the next village over. And they'll bring ya when they come t' work on the place, any time it doesn't get in the way a your lessons."
"But that's only of a Saturday, Goniff. ... And.."
"You'r forgettin'! We still have that deal we made with Mrs. Reid, don't we? I'll be there on Sundays too... Whenever we're not off workin." He caught the flicker of doubt in the brown eyes that studied him. "I promise."
It was a perfect set up, and it hadn't taken much effort to make the arrangements after Chief dropped him at the door of the couple who kept the mansion for the family that owned it. The house and grounds had been turned over for the Army to use but they wanted someone to keep an eye on it for them while they were away in Canada for the duration. At first the Warden wouldn't have civilians on the grounds, not until he got so he trusted them not to act like a bunch a hooligans around the place. Alf came first, to see to the gardens that were up close around the manor, and then Winnie started to come to tend the house. It wasn't very long before she was doing a bit of cooking for them as well. ... Well, it was right after she saw what they were working up for themselves. She'd make up meals on the two days she was out and leave them in the cooler. They got their own breakfast and tea when they were around the place but there was usually enough put by that all they had to do for their supper was pull out a pot and heat it on the stove or in the oven. She and Chief were even working on plans for a bit of vegetable and herb garden when the weather turned off warmer.
Winnie'd been the first to know of Eddie coming out to stay and as soon as she'd seen it she'd gotten permission from the Warden for their granddaughter Marion to come along with her of a Saturday. Eddie hadn't wanted much to do with the little one, her being a girl and all, and younger by almost two years, but at least there was another kid about the place.
When he'd settled down to talk them into the deal it was like they were already primed and ready... In fact it was Alf brung the whole thing up by askin' what come of the boy when they were all off over on the continent. It was him said they might drop the boy by for them to look after when they had to be away and that led to them both saying that it would be better for the boy to be with them full time because of school and all. By the end of the conversation it was like Goniff had t' be the one talked into the arrangement, and not the other way round!
Goniff reached a hand out and ruffled his hair up for him so Eddie wouldn't look quite so much like Actor'd seen to his gettin' dressed. "This is gonna work out just fine. You'll see."
g
They were gathered around the table in the kitchen waiting for Goniff and Eddie to put in an appearance.
"I didn't realize you took milk in your coffee." Actor indicated the cup that sat in front of the Warden with a wave of his hand.
"I don't..... I don't take honey in it either."
"Jeeze!" Casino cringed at the thought. "Honey?!"
"Or lemon. The cleaning woman's granddaughter brought it to me." They all sat eyeing the cup. "It seems she..."
"...has a crush on you."
"Apparently." Just because he understood what was going on didn't mean he knew how to handle it. Garrison looked up and fixed on Actor. "What do you do about something like that?"
The Italian con man chuckled. "I have no idea."
"I thought you were supposed to be a ladies man."
"As you might say; the 'operative' word here is 'lady'..." Actor smiled across at their commander. "Just how old is this admirer of yours?"
Garrison shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, ... eight?"
"Like 'em kinda young do you, Warden?" Chief asked quietly.
Casino snorted a laugh. "I'll have ta tell Ma, it'll make her match makin' a little tougher but, .... Hey! Maybe she'll turn whole deal over to Jeannie."
"Shut up Casino."
Actor turned his concentration from the group gathered around the table to the group gathering at the far end of the room. "I wouldn't worry too much about it. I think it won't be long before you'll find yourself displaced by another more suitable match." And he directed their attention to the two children at the foot of the stairs. While the adults talked over their heads Marion had slipped up close to Eddie and stood gazing up at him, obviously admiring the fact that he was strong enough to carry not only his own satchel, but a small stack of books as well. Eddie studiously avoided her appreciative glances and edged away from her, favoring a spot behind Goniff.
"Well, don't feel so bad Warden. You know what they say... 'Better to have loved and lost, than never..."
"Shut up, Casino." Garrison shoved away from the table and made his way to the end of the room to take leave of the little boy.
He didn't do much more than shake Eddie's hand and tell him he'd see him on the next Saturday and the others took their cue from him. They kept their farewells brief and cleared out of Goniff's way by following the Warden out of the kitchen and up to the floor above where they gathered together in the library.
g
Casino lifted the glasses and brandy bottle down and played bartender as they listened to the door below slam and then the sound of a car making its way down the long gravel drive to the gate. It was another few minutes before they heard Goniff's step in the hall and there was only a slight delay before the little cat burglar joined them.
"Come on, mate. You look like you could use a belt."
Chief shoved a chair out for him and waited for the little Brit to take a seat. "Don't take it so hard, Goniff. The kid'll be back here in a week."
"That's seven days." Goniff shook his head as he waited for Casino to fill his glass. "Seven whole days. I din't never think a how long a week was 'til now."
"Did you tell Eddie about Milford?" The news had come in just before the cat burglar had gone up to start the child on the task of getting ready to leave and Garrison left the decision to tell the boy up to him.
Goniff sat looking down into his glass a moment before he nodded. "'Ee had a right t' know, din't 'ee?" Picking up the glass he downed its contents in one swallow. "Me n' Alf told 'im. I wanted 'im to know that he din't have no secrets t' keep from Alf."
"What'd you tell the little guy?"
Goniff shrugged as he watched his glass being refilled. "The truth. I told 'im that even behind bars they don't take to fellas buggerin'.... Well, I din't say that ... I told 'im that even prisoners don't take kindly to fellas that bother little kids and that the blokes out at that prison where the bloody vicar was stayin' thought they'd just save us all the trouble of a trial."
"D'you think he got it that the guy was dead?"
"Oh 'ee got that part alright. 'Ee's no dummy." Goniff knocked back the next drink. "The little bloke even asked if we thought the old bugger made it up in t' heaven like the Reverend Whitehead said. I didn't know what to say to that and while I was still stammerin' around Alf up and told 'im that if 'ee did, God was sure a findin' out about it and tossin' 'im out again. 'Ee said that there was some stuff that just had t' be paid for the hard way."
They sat in silence a moment before Casino slapped his hands on the table and shoved his chair back and stood up, followed by Chief and Actor. "So? You comin' or not? I still got that hot little number on the string down in town and if you don't come with me, Junior here's gonna be beatin' your time with that friend a hers."
Goniff pushed up to his feet and toyed with the glass in his hand before he stretched it out towards Casino who stood closest to the bottle. The safecracker glanced at Garrison and waited for his nod before he filled the glass again. Goniff tossed off the third drink and stood rubbing at his eyes a moment before shaking his head. "Nah, you blokes go ahead."
Clutching at the table to keep his balance he bent over and retrieved a book from the floor next to his chair. "I think I'll go up. I've got tired all of a sudden."
"What's that you have there, Goniff?"
"Nuthin', just a book Eddie found when we was looking through here for stuff for 'im t' borrow. There's two of 'em so 'ee come up with the idea that if we both read a chapter a night a'fore we turned in it'd be just like we was readin' the story out to each other." Goniff hooked the bottle off the table and turned for the door. "I think I'll just curl up and get started on it."
g
They hadn't spent much time in town. The date went great, the girls were....inviting...but none of them could settle in to enjoying themselves. The Warden was still at his desk when they all trooped by on their way upstairs. He didn't even ask, just watched them as they disappeared up to the second floor.
Actor swung the door open and waved the other two through with a flourish.
"Jeeze! Where'd he get to?" Casino stopped short just inside the door causing the others to pile up behind him as he scanned the room.
"I suppose he could have gone into the library. He was going to read that book..."
"Nope." Chief had searched the room with his eyes. The book was gone, so was the bottle. There'd been no one in the library downstairs, the lights were off. He shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it on his bed before jerking his chin over his shoulder at the fireplace.
Casino gave a snort and Actor smiled as they made there way across the room. Chief pushed on the corner of the lower panel and there was a soft click. When it swung silently in to the room they could see Goniff curled up, just inside, the book clutched in his hands and the bottle, empty beside him.
Casino reached in and hooked his hand around the little man's arm. "Come on you, time for bed."
ggg
"What are you doing out here Goniff?"
The little cat burglar shrugged and jammed his hands down into his pockets. "Aw, I dunno, do I... I s'pose I was kinda hopin' t' find Eddie hiding out in here..." Goniff kicked at some leaves that had drifted in through the broken window, leaving a scuff mark in the layer of dirt that carpeted the floor.
Garrison looked around the deserted gardener's cottage. "You don't really want him to be unhappy enough to run back here, do you?"
"A'course not! It's just... I should be glad of him gettin' a soft spot like he done.... But, ... I s'pose I miss havin' 'im underfoot is all."
"How'd your visit go? You went over there today, didn't you?"
Goniff nodded and wandered over to slouch against the frame of the broken window at the back of the room. "Oh, sure.... It went fine."
Usually he had a hard time stopping the constant flow of chatter from the talkative little man. "Is he settling in with the Marley's?"
The pick pocket nodded again and continued to stare out at the shrubbery. "Like they was made fer each other."
It'd been several weeks now and the regular Saturday visits had begun to fade away from every week to every other week to occasional as Eddie'd gotten more and more settled with the new family. He was in the village school there, introduced to the other children as Marion's cousin come up from London after losing his parents in a firestorm. The bullies Goniff created for him turned out to be real and tried their tactics out on him but with the little bit of training Casino and the Sergeant Major had given him Eddie handled them ... and remembering Garrison's example and Chief's advice he found a way to organize the other children into bigger groups so they couldn't be cut out for trouble, and then went first to Alf and backed by him to a teacher for help.
Goniff continued to go over to the village to see him 'of a Sunday' and watched as the boy became more involved in the life of his new home. He was glad for him, really he was, but as he made more friends there it seemed to the little man that he was less in need of his old friend out at the manor.
"I, uh, .... I don't think I'll be goin' over there for services again."
"Why not?"
The pick pocket shrugged and turned more of his back to the Warden before he answered. "It's just, .... Uh, ...well.... It was different when I was takin him fer 'is own good. Y' know, when we was walkin in there together or goin' up t' talk t' the parson with me holdin' on to 'is hand sos 'e wouldn't be scared. But, ... uh, ...Walkin' in that place still gives me the willies."
They'd just returned from a mission that kept them in France for over two weeks so Goniff missed three Sunday visits.... After an initially enthusiastic greeting on this fourth Sunday Eddie'd done a bit of toe dragging.... He was in the children's choir now and needed go and sit with them during the service and then one of the Mum's had worked up a special children's tea all prepared for after...Goniff was invited to go along, but...
The idea of reading the same chapter of the same book every night worked for a while... but the last book was finished before Goniff got back. He spent his first few days back in England reading off the rest, catching up sos he could talk to the boy about it as they wandered the stacks of the bookstore the little clerk fell to openin' up for them after church services was over, but Eddie had that tea t' go to didn't he. And the boy'd already found the next book... and then, according to Winnie, got so excited over it he couldn't wait to start on it. That one was read and set aside and he was already started on a third...
"It's 'bout time he forgot all about me."
Garrison stepped across the room, laid his hand on the cat burglar's shoulder and turned him around to face him. "Why should he do something like that?"
"Blimey, I'm all tied up with what happened to him ain't I." Goniff shrugged out of the Warden's hold and turned back to stare through the broken glass. "A little bloke don't want to be rememberin' none a that."
"I don't think you're the one that gets to make that kind of decision."
The Warden didn't follow that up with anything, just stood there for a while. Goniff could feel him staring at his back but he couldn't bring himself to turn back and tell him about how bad it hurt inside not having Eddie around. How it was Eddie who gave him the courage to walk up and start a conversation with the parson, not the other way around, how he couldn't do it if the boy wasn't holdin' on to his hand. How the visits with him, the grin that he had on his face when he saw him, was all tied up with thinkin' of his Mum and the brother he lost and what it would have been like if all a that hadn't a happened. Aand that just thinkin' like that helped carry him through when they went on their missions now. Just as he gathered himself and made to turn and tell him how much he missed the boy, how hard it was to feel like he was being shoved out of the picture by the new people he had in his life...however good they were. Just as he was ready to confess it all he heard the Warden turn and leave him on his own.
Goniff heaved a sigh and slumped against the frame of the broken window. It was a nice day outside, breezy and blue and mild, but it might have been gathering a gale together for the way the dark thoughts colored what he was lookin at. He was a fool for letting the brat get under his skin like he done. He didn't want to be wasting his time off over in no church watchin a bunch of kids singin no hymns. He didn't want to be givin up the time he could be down at the Dove's drinkin and playin' cards 'n darts with his mates just sos he could wander around a dusty old book stall while some little bloke chattered away about dragons, and knights, or explorers or dinosaurs... He should be glad a someone takin' the boy off 'is hands. He should...
"Goniff?"
"What'r you doin' over here, Eddie, I thought you had that tea t' go to?"
Eddie hesitated. Goniff hadn't turned around to greet him. He thought he'd a been glad of having him come looking for him, but he just stood there looking out the window. "But you were 'spose to come too. Why'd you leave, Goniff?" He stepped carefully into the room but the man still didn't turn around. He started to worry that he'd done something wrong.
"Winnie said maybe you'd a found out where the party was and we'd see you at the tea, but you weren't there neither." He'd made it into the middle of the room but he couldn't make himself move any closer. Goniff still stood with his back to him and he still had the creeping feeling that he wasn't welcome. "Are you mad at me, Goniff?"
Goniff stiffened and drug his sleeve across his eyes before he turned. "A 'course I'm not mad at you, you little nit!"
Eddie shot across the remaining distance and wrapped his arms around the little cockney's hips in a tight hug. "I went over to the bookstore when I couldn't find you after service. I thought you might a gone over there... Beryl said you wasn't there though. She was real disappointed that you didn't come. I made a special trip down there after the Sergeant Major called, to tell her you were gonna get to come again, that you was back from over there..." He turned to look up, still questioning. "Are you sure you'r not mad at me?"
"I'm not mad, Eddie... See I thought maybe you didn't... I thought that with Winnie, 'n Alf and Marion... With all your new friends, that you wouldn't...." Goniff stammered to a stop. He really didn't know what to say, how to explain it.
"But Goniff I borrowed you permanent, remember? You said I could. You said if somebody didn't have a family they could borrow one didn't you?"
"Well, yeah, I did, ... but..."
"Are there rules about it Goniff? Can I only borrow one person cause I'm little? Casino's family's got a lot a people in it and the Lieutenant got to borrow all of 'em.... But if there's rules, Goniff... If you only want me t' borrow you I'll tell the Marley's that I have to..."
He finally smiled and relaxed, but he had to take a dash at his eyes again and wait to find his voice. "There's no rules, Eddie. You can borrow as many people into a family as you want to. I was just bein' silly and I forgot that. You can borrow up the hugest family ever and I'll be glad a meetin' everyone of 'em."
"Good!" The boy gave him another squeeze then stepped back and caught at his hand and started tugging him towards the door. "'Cause I borrowed Beryl and she's real nice, and you'll like her a lot... but she's gonna be pretty mad if we don't get back over there."
Goniff was letting himself be towed across to the door but stopped in his tracks at that. "She's not kept the shop open all this time you was comin' over here and all the time it'll take us to get back?!"
"No! I know where she lives." Eddie assured him as he began jerking his hand to get him moving again. "I been visiting her a lot. We're to go by there when we get back and she'll go down with us and open up again."
"Well we better get to it then." Goniff shrugged and followed along. "I'll have to talk the Warden outta one of 'is jeeps."
It was Eddie's turn to stop and stare open mouthed. "But he said you could use the one he come over and got me in.... Didn't he tell you?"
The pick pocket stood there a moment chewing on his bottom lip before he grinned and took the lead towards the door. "He must a forgot to mention it."
g
They made their way down the gravel path that led from the cottage around the side of the house to the front drive and climbed into the jeep that sat waiting. Goniff fired up the engine and rolled off towards the gate and wasn't surprised when the guard didn't stop them with any questions, just raised the barrier and waved them through.
Eddie turned on the seat, looking back at the house as the jeep made the turn onto the road. "Could I borrow all a them into the family too, Goniff? Do you the fellas would mind bein' borrowed in?"
Goniff reach out and tugged the little boy around so he sat securely in the seat before he picked up speed. "That's real nice a you, Eddie..." He grinned as he thought what Actor'd have t' say 'bout them being relatives now. "And I don't think they'd mind a bit."
They drove in silence for a while. Goniff could see Eddie worrying his fingers in his lap.
"Say, Goniff..... I been thinkin' about what you said 'bout that vicar...."
"Yeah?" They said the boy would still need to talk about it, that even though the man was no longer a threat that he'd still need to work out what had happened and how he felt about it all, and they said he better be ready with answers. They said that's what would help the little bloke turn out better n he done, havin' someone he could talk to about it rather than hidin' it all away inside. The Warden said t' just be honest with the kid and the doctor, he said it too.... Just tell 'im the truth and just remind him how it wasn't none a his fault.
"'Member how you said what he done wasn't..... wasn't....."
"Yeah. I remember." Goniff shot the boy a look along his shoulder and tried to smile to be encouraging' "What'd y'need t' know 'bout that, Eddie? C'mon, you know you can ask me anything." He glanced at his knuckles as they whitened from the grip he had on the steering wheel and tried his best to relax. He still didn't like talkin' about it,.... But he'd do it for the kid's sake.
"Well.... If that wasn't the proper way t' go about such things like you said...." Eddie chewed his lower lip for awhile before throwing himself sideways in the seat so he could look at his friend. "What is, Goniff? What's the proper way.... and when am I gonna understand?"
Bloody Hell! "Well, uh..... Well, see... it's.... uh, it's like this........."
The End
