She didn’t know why she was telling Jimmy all this. She just wanted to.
— I’d a murmur once, said Jimmy. — But a lorry splattered it.
— Ha ha. Anyway, it’s at eleven.
— Wha’?
Sharon looked at the ceiling.
— Me antenatal check-up, yeh simple-head yeh.
— Oh yeah. That’s great.
He looked at where his watch usually was.
— Meetin’ the lads, yeh know. See yeh, righ’.
— Yeah. See yeh.
He stopped a few steps down.
— An’ come here, he said.
He was reddening a bit.
— Abou’ Burgess bein’ the da an’ tha’.
— He’s not!
— I know, I know tha’. No; I mean — IF he was.
— He’s not.
— I fuckin’ know. Will yeh shut up a minute. — There’s people tha’ still say he is, righ’.
He was getting red again.
— An’ they’ll prob’ly always say it. — I couldn’t give a shite who the da is. D’yeh know what I mean?
— Yeah. — Thanks.
— No; I wanted to say tha’. An’ the lads couldn’t give a fuck either.
Sharon grinned.
— Mickah says it’s great.
Sharon laughed.
— He says there’s hope for us all if fuckin’ Burgess can—
— Jimmy!
They laughed.
— Seriously, Jimmy, though, said Sharon. — They don’t really think it was him, do they?
— No, not really. It’s just, yeh know — funnier.
— Yeah.
— Good luck.
He had the door open.
— Jimmy.
— Wha’?
Sharon looked over the landing rail.
— How. Now. Brown. Cow.
— Fuck off, said Jimmy Jr. — You’re the only brown cow around here.
— Thanks very much!
* * *
— I’m not takin’ this, said Jimmy Sr.
He pushed his chair back and stood up and walked away, towards the bar.
— What’s he on abou’? Bimbo asked Bertie.
— Don’t know, compadre, said Bertie.
They got up to follow Jimmy Sr.
* * *
— These are reheats, Jackie complained, but she kept eating them.
— Mine aren’t too bad, said Sharon. — Look it. That’s a lovely one.
She held up a huge, healthy-looking chip.
— Come here, said Jackie. — I wouldn’t mind seein’ tha’ on a young fella.
— Jesus, Jackie!
They screamed laughing.
They were going across the Green to Jackie’s house. It hadn’t rained in ages so the ground was nice and hard.
— I shouldn’t be eatin’ these, said Sharon.
— Wha’ harm can they do yeh?
— They’re all fat an’ things. I don’t know; things that’ll clog me up, I can’t remember. — She asked me did I eat chips an’ tha’, your woman this mornin’.
— None of her fuckin’ business.
— Yeah. I said I didn’t. Ah, she’s nice though. She says I have the right kind o’ nipples.
— Lezzer.
— Ah stop; for breast feedin’. Me blood pressure’s grand.
— I’m very happy for yeh.
— Fuck off, you.
They got to Jackie’s gate.
— Come here, Jackie, said Sharon. — Did Yvonne say annythin’ else about me?
They’d been talking about Yvonne Burgess before they bought the chips.
— Only; she said you led him on.
— God, said Sharon. — Poor Yvonne. Still, I’ll break her head for her if I see her.
— Yeh know wha’ else though? said Jackie. — She said he paid yeh.
— He did, said Sharon.
Then she laughed.
Jackie looked at her, and then she laughed as well.
— I’m pissed, d’yeh know tha’, said Sharon.
She patted the lodger.
— He’s playin’ fuckin’ tennis in there.
— He’s prob’ly eatin’ your chips, said Jackie.
— Yeuuh; stop.
Jackie remembered what she’d wanted to ask Sharon earlier but she’d been a bit afraid to. Now, with a few vodkas inside her, she was still afraid but it was easier.
— Come here, Sharon, she said. — Why didn’t yeh tell me earlier? Yeh know; abou’ your sailor.
— Aah. I don’t know—
Sharon couldn’t tell her the truth: because I only made it up a few days ago and you ARE the first person I told. Or the realler truth: because we’re not that close; or weren’t anyway.
— I just — I was too embarrassed. Sorry; I should’ve.
— No, it’s okay. I was only—
— Here, I’ll tell yeh the next time, righ’.
They screamed again, but quieter because people were in bed.
* * *
Jimmy Sr came in with a bloody nose. The blood was dry and there wasn’t much of it but it was there to be seen. He put a brown paper bag with grease marks down on the table.
Veronica took off her glasses and scooped up the loose sequins and poured them into a tobacco tin. She put the lid on the tin. Then she saw Jimmy Sr and his nose.
— Where in the name of God did you get that?
— Hang on till I have a look at it, said Jimmy Sr.
He pointed at the bag.
— I got yeh a burger as well.
— You didn’t go into the chipper with that nose!
— No; I got them from the van.
— You can eat them yourself then. Who hit you?
Jimmy Sr had the curtain pulled back and he was trying to get a good look at himself in the kitchen window. He was leaning over the sink.
— It doesn’t look too bad. From here annyway.
— Who hit you?
Veronica was eating the chips but she wasn’t going to go near the burger.
— Ah, I’ll live, said Jimmy Sr.
— More’s the pity, said Veronica. — Who hit you? I want to thank him.
— You would too. Are yeh not eatin’ tha’ burger?
The inspection was over. There was no real damage done. He hadn’t even got any of it on his shirt or his jacket. He’d wash his nose before he went to bed. He took a good bite out of the burger in case Veronica said, Yes, she was eating it.
— I’ll tell yeh one thing though, said Jimmy Sr. — I gave back better than I got.
— Aren’t you great?
— Tha’ soccer shower, said Jimmy Sr. — Yeh know the bunch o’ wankers tha’ hang — used to hang around with Georgie Burgess. They were laughin’, yeh know. The whole gang o’ them. They’ve been at it since — yeh know. The bollixes.
— How d’you know they were laughing at you, for God’s sake?
Jimmy Sr ignored the question. Bimbo had asked it already and he hadn’t answered it then either.
— I got Larry O’Rourke when he was up at the bar an’ I told him if, righ’, if they were laughin’ at me I’d fuckin’ kill them. Every—
Jimmy Sr liberated the rest of the burger.
— Every—’scuse me, Veronica — every jaysis one o’ them. He said they wouldn’t bother their bollixes — pardon, Veronica — bother laughin’ at me, an’ I said they’d better not. For their own sakes.
— You’re—
— An’—sorry — I gave him a bit of a dig — nothin’ much now — when he was tryin’ to get past me. Bimbo an’ Bertie got in between us. Just as well.
He wiped his fingers with the bag.
— I’d’ve destroyed him.
Veronica didn’t know what to say. And he was too old to be slapped.
Jimmy Sr continued.
— I’m not goin’ up there annymore. I don’t care. I only have to walk in an’ they’re—