Well … Pat shrugged.
I dont think you agree with me … Davie smiled and added to Arthur. What do you say on that one Arthur?
Ach it all depends.
Aw aye, I know.
Pat grinned at John and Elizabeth and he said: What do yous two young folks have to say about all this?
Davie called: Maybe you’d change your mind if you had a couple of your own!
I hope no, said Pat, but you’re probably right Davie. Notice but, how when we as adults are discussing what’s to happen to weans, the only ones we dont ask are the weans themselves! It’s the same with all exploited groups; they never get asked a question if the question’s to do with them. It’s always the bosses that have the dialogue and then arrive at the decisions for them — well in fact it’s for themselves really but they kid on it’s for the slaves they’re doing it.
Good point, said Arthur.
Pat laughed: And when we do ask weans a question it’s aye the most stupidest question in the world. I’ll give you an example: a boy flings a stone at one of his pals and it goes through a window by mistake; out comes the man of the house and gets a grip of the boy. What did you do that for! And if you dont tell me I’m gonni give ye a belt on the jaw! And the poor wee boy canni say a word because the question just doesni have an answer. Do ye know how? Cause it’s no an actual question, it just sounds like one. But it isni.
Davie chuckled. I’ll give ye a better one … but he paused when he saw that Arthur was signalling him and the clock. And Arthur glanced at Pat.
Uncle Pat … John said: We went up to your house and you wereni in.
I know.
We went to grannie’s.
Was she in?
Yes.
And granpa was in?
Yes. We got our tea.
Elizabeth opened the packet of sweeties she had and offered it to Arthur and Davie who both took one.
Davie sniffed. Heh Paddy I take it we’re abandoning the idea of a continuation? getting the women up I mean, later on?
Arthur was shaking his head. I doubt if it’s really on, no the night.
Pat shrugged.
Should we ask G. D.? said Davie.
If ye like.
I’m no so sure, said Arthur.
I tend to agree with you Arthur; Patrick continued, I dont think a certain lady would be too keen, and I’m just reading between the lines, about the reaction when the certain lady came in and saw the alcoholic beverages.
And to be honest, said Arthur, I dont think Maureen would be too keen on the idea either.
Right then; right then … Davie held his two hands aloft. Another time another place eh!
Aye, said Pat; he grinned at the weans: Yous two dont know what we’ve been talking about because yous werent supposed to. It was a code that grown-up people have so yous mob of children canni hear.
Davie gestured at the table: Should we tidy it up?
Dont bother, said Pat, I’ll do it.
I’ll take my empties though, Arthur said, already gathering the empties together and putting them into a plastic shopping bag he picked up from the other side of the armchair he had been sitting on.
Gavin came in. He said: Yous going?
Aye.
Wise move.
It looks the best, said Davie, another time another place eh!
Another time but no necessarily another place. You’re aye welcome here as well ye know Davie.
Aw aye, I wasni meaning nothing.
Gavin nodded. Mind your Bo Diddley! he said to Arthur while strolling to his chair and reaching for his cigarettes. Elizabeth came to sit beside him immediately. She squeezed in on the edge and he put his arm round her shoulder.
John said: Can I switch on the telly dad?
On ye go, but no too loud.
We’ll leave yous to it then, said Arthur.
Pat gestured at the bottle of whisky but Arthur and Davie shook their heads and he nodded.
So, said Davie, nice seeing ye again Paddy. Dont make it so long the next time eh!
Naw, said Pat and they shook hands. Then Pat and Arthur shook hands.
Nice seeing ye, said Arthur.
Aye Arthur.
Okay Gavin … said Arthur.
Maybe see ye on Friday, said Davie, down by I mean, Box D and all that.
Aye, said Gavin.
Arthur held the door for Davie and nodded at Pat, and said to Gavin: Maybe give ye a bell the morrow night.
Gavin nodded. The door closed. The two men could be heard saying cheerio to Nicola and it was a further couple of minutes before the front door finally shut. And Arthur’s footsteps were audible on his way up to the flat above. And that door opened and slammed shut. Gavin and the two kids gazed at the television screen. Pat turned the whisky bottle about on the table, he started reading the label. Then he glanced at his wristwatch.
It was best they went away, Gavin said suddenly. Otherwise we’d have wound up getting guttered. It was a hell of a big carry-out ye got.
Pat made no response since it might have been construed as a criticism. In fact what else could it have been. I just thought a halfbottle would go too quickly, with four of us all getting into it I mean … Patrick gazed at his brother. His brother gazed at the television; when he spoke he spoke calmly and quite quietly:
Davie! he’ll always just sit and guzzle what ye put down in front of him. And he’ll never think of putting his hand in his pocket. That homebrew was all mine and Arthur’s. Arthur’s mainly but some of it was mine. I’ve started making it myself and he gives me a hand. Davie’s really tight. It’s the exact same with the fags. You might no think so but he is. You’ve got to watch him, take my word for it.
Patrick nodded.
He’s a nice enough fellow and that, but … Gavin shrugged. All I’m saying is he’ll sit and guzzle everything ye put out and never think of chipping in with something to help.
I wasni looking for him to chip in.
I’m no saying that. What I’m saying is he can catch ye out. I’m no meaning you personally, I mean everybody. Gavin glanced at the drink on the table: Was that a dozen superlager ye bought?
It was, aye.
Bloody fortune that must have cost.
It did, aye, it was a lot. If I had thought about it I wouldni have done it but I never thought about it I just actually done it, it was spur of the moment. I was gonni get a halfbottle like I said but I changed my mind, there and then, when I was getting served by Ebenezer Scrooge. And I just bought the bottle.
Neither John nor Elizabeth seemed to be listening to anything being said. But weans are devious specimens and nothing could be taken for granted with them. Patrick and Gavin had been using the most matter-of-fact voices but John could have been making sense of it. It was a children’s cartoon show about a Northamerican white hero who was defeating socialist forces of evil who were of alien extraction.
The weans were engrossed, or seemed to be so. Probably they were in a world of their own.
Arthur as a nineteen-year-old and all set to travel to the Northern Territories of Canada as a trader in furs and pelts! Yet given that he was so fucking brawny and big insofar as physical individuals were a desirable commodity in relation to the hostile environment and one here thinks of the grizzly bear or fierce snow wolf as opposed to the rascally badman.
But the fundamental fact of the matter is: that he should have made contact with the secretary’s office to advise them of the leave-taking. Ms Thompson would have been genuinely inconvenienced. And that is not just. You have to be just. If you cannot be just then that is that. And the idea of her getting into bother with the authorities because of one of his daft actions! A simple conversational phonecall to redress matters. He could explain he had been feeling upset both psychologically and physically. And he wasni at all feeling as bad as that now, at this point in time. And what time was that?
Eh Gavin … okay if I make a phonecall?