Just Another Day, стр. 36
Terry looked at his boss in a different way than a few hours earlier. He acknowledged that it had taken a degree of courage, whisky talking or not, for him to have opened up in the way that he did. He recognised that Frank had been carrying a huge burden of responsibility in the knowledge that he had and the fact that he could not speak about it previously.
As he left the yard and Frank, burning the midnight oil and completing more paperwork in the office, he thought that they had both learned something. Maybe they had both earned the respect of each other. They each had their own roles, but it didn’t mean they had to be disrespectful in any way. Better to be a team than at loggerheads thought Terry as he turned out of the dock gate and gave a friendly wave to the Bobby.
Think I’ll have a pint in the Bramley before I go home he mused.
Chapter 16
‘Just slow down a bit and run that past me again little brother.’
Luke was now looking intently at the swaying figure at the bar with the bulge in his arse pocket.
‘Yeah, he’s been doin it for a few months now. Soft cunt can’t help himself. He’s pissed. Told me all about it Luke. Says he’s doin another one in a few days.’
‘Do you think he’s said anything to any one else? Anyone here got wind of it?’
‘I don’t think so, I think he realised after he’d told me that he’d already said too much. He tried to pass it off as a joke and said he was just taking the piss and having a laugh. I could see it in his eyes bro, he was telling it for real and that wad in his pocket is certainly real. Peeled off a twenty for his fags and a pint of Guiness from a thick roll before he realised. He quickly shoved it back in his pocket when he saw me looking. Nobody else noticed as we were too close together.’
‘Did he say anything about when he’s driving again?’
‘Yeah, He’s got the day off tomorrow, no driving, that’s why he’s out on the piss tonight. He’s got a late run over to Yorkshire he said on Wednesday. Just the one container.’
Luke continued to look at the racing pages as he quietly scanned the rest of the bar. No one paying any attention to Terry as he gently swayed as he downed the last of his ale. All the usual punters, no strange faces, no one else talking to him or wanting to buy him a pint. Pretty quiet tonight. Not many customers on a Monday night. Three regulars at the dartboard minding their own business and engrossed in their own company. Couple of Filipino crew from the Blue funnel boat in the Huskisson Dock, nothing to worry about there.
‘Irish Mary’ getting bladdered again and stroking the thigh of her next customer, a 19 year old deck hand off one of the fishing trawlers in the Canada dock. Poor lad wouldn’t know what had hit him when she’d finished with him. Half a dozen lads off the Tugs. They were just leaving to board the nearby Trafalger tug as they were off out to the Bar in the Liverpool Bay to bring in a big chemical tanker.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Terry swaying towards his table. One step forward and two back.
‘Fucking had yeh there Tony, eh. Had yeh going there mate didn’t I. Yeh believed every fuckin word of me little joke, didn’t yeh?’
‘You’re not wrong there Terry. It took me a few minutes to realise you were taking the piss out of me you old fucking wanker you.’
He gave Terry a playful punch on the leg.
‘I might just give you a slap if you take the piss out of me again. Go on you old twat, piss off and leave us in peace eh?’
‘Aye, I didn’t want to fuck off without making sure yeh knew I was just joshing yeh. Just having a laugh, eh? Alright there Luke, just having a laugh with your Tony eh, just a bit of a wind up y’know?’
Luke never looked up from his paper.
‘No problem Terry. He needs a bit of piss taking now and then, don’t you Tony. He was just telling me how he nearly believed you at first, and then he realised you were just winding him up. No problem Terry, mind how you go now, you’ve had a bit of a skinful mate. Look after yourself on the way home. Take it easy out there okay.’
‘Ah, cheers lads, I’ll be off now, think yer might be right Luke, maybe one or two over the odds eh. Take it easy boys, see yeh soon. Glad we sorted that out boys before I left. G’night and God bless lads.’
With that, Terry swayed over to the door, took hold of the door pillar and stumbled out into the cold night air. He was well pissed, but even so, he realised he had spoken out of turn and the words of Frank echoed in his alcohol steeped brain, ‘There’s some evil bastards in our game Terry’; and they didn’t come much more evil than the Johnson brothers. He was well aware of the tales over the years including that of the last landlord to have spoken out of turn. It wasn’t just the chill of the night that made him shiver as he walked alone along the Dock Road.
‘You stupid old twat’ he said out loud as he stumbled along. ‘You’re a fucking arsehole Terry Penrose, a stupid, stupid fucking arsehole.’
He turned the corner up Nelson Street and hoped his last few words to the brothers Grimm would have done enough to convince them that his story was nothing more than a fairy tale. As he hadn’t convinced himself, he doubted he’d done enough to convince them as he put one foot in front of the other and walked unsteadily away from the pub. Normally, he would sleep like a top after a bellyful of ale; tonight, he tossed and turned till the sun rose.
‘You OK Terry, you look a bit under the weather mate.’ J.J. climbed off the back of the big Mercedes tractor unit where he had been making some adjustments to the air brake couplings.
‘Yeah, I’m fine. Must have been something I ate the other day. I had the wild shites all day yesterday but I’m much better now. Good job I wasn’t due to do any driving yesterday. Don’t think I could have sat in me wagon for more than half an hour. Is frank in the office J.J.?’
‘You know him Terry, he’s always in the fucking office, think he lives there sometimes. Wish he’d give me a hand with some of these old fucking wagons he keeps asking me to repair. Half of them are like me Terry’ as he wearily climbed back up onto the diesel tank of the unit, ‘ready for the knackers yard.’
Terry turned and began climbing the steel steps. He felt weary himself and met Frank as he was coming out of the door.
‘Hello Terry, didn’t expect to see you today. Thought you had that box to take out tonight. Everything okay?’
‘Not really boss, any chance of a quick word? I know you’re busy.’
‘Have to be pretty quick, I’m meeting the MD in Liverpool in about half an hour so I can’t be late. Can it wait till later?’
‘I really need to see you now; won’t keep you more than a few minutes, but I don’t want to talk to you in the yard.’
They both went back in the office and Terry sat down on the chair, usually he would wait for Frank to invite him to take a seat but as he knew he was wanting away as soon as possible, he plonked himself down heavily.
‘You look a bit worse for wear Terry. You okay? You look like you’ve had a late night.’
‘I can’t do it any more Frank. It’s time for me to call it a day. I think I’m going to take early retirement. I’m sixty next week and the job’s just getting to me.’
Frank also plonked himself down in the chair,
‘Fuck me Terry, this has come out of the blue, when did you decide on this?’
‘I’ve been thinking of it for a little while now. The kids are long gone and Connie’s been pretty poorly the last few years with a bit of a dicky heart and I’ve been feeling a bit wound up meself for a month or two. I think you know why eh?’
‘I did wonder how long you would be able to keep it up for Terry. I think you’ve done pretty good. There’s a lot of stress mate when you’re hauling those boxes, sometimes, I think its better not to know what you’ve got on the back eh? It’s not all about money mate; some things are more important Terry. You’re a rich man if you’ve got your health eh?’