I found myself a nice fat stick and got ready. I was watching him like a hawk. As soon as he made a move … I don’t know what I was going to do to him – break his legs if I could, I suppose.
‘No one’s going to give anything to the likes of me or you,’ said Sham. ‘But she’s different.’ He glanced at me to see if I was listening. ‘I’ve been thinking about it, see. You couldn’t let someone like that down …’
‘You did.’
Sham shook his head irritably. ‘It doesn’t matter what I did. Look – she believed I did it but she came back anyhow, didn’t she? So I couldn’t do it again – no one could do it now, not twice – not after that.’
‘You did it, though, didn’t you?’
‘Bloody no – listen …’ I didn’t want to listen. Why couldn’t he just admit it if he wanted me to believe him? But he never would. He leaned forward, hurrying on. ‘If she makes me believe her, she can make them believe her. See what I mean? All they have to do is believe her. She’s like she is no matter what anyone does. She can convince them. She convinced me. If I believe her – see what I mean? She can do it. No one else could, but she can.’
I began to see what he meant. I was staring at him trying to work out if it was another one of his tricks, but it didn’t sound like the sort of thing you just think up.
‘She’s the sort of person they give rewards to,’ explained Sham.
I was still angry with him for making me so scared. But what he said was true. It didn’t matter that she was stupid and didn’t know what people were like and how things worked. It didn’t matter how much of a cock-up she made of it. If she made people different, if she made them trust her, they might reward her after all. And you had to trust Jane, anyone could see that. Even Sham trusted Jane.
‘Do you reckon?’ I asked. I almost said ‘please’ because I wanted it to be like that so badly and it all seemed to depend on Sham believing in her.
Sham was trying, you could see it. He was convincing himself at the same time. ‘No one could do it again. If I had done it, I couldn’t do it again, I really couldn’t. She just has to meet them and they’ll see. They’ll trust her. She’s too … she’s too …’
‘Too honest! Too stupid!’ I cried. I was almost doing a dance because for the first time I began to see how it could work. It didn’t matter how stupid she was. If she made a couple of rubbish kids like us believe her …
‘Too bloody good!’ grinned Sham.
It was crazy, but why not? She’d got away with it so far. ‘You reckon? Really?’ I begged.
‘Sure! I couldn’t do her down, not after she came back,’ insisted Sham. We grinned. He believed in her – Sly Sham the pickpocket, the smart guy. It was ridiculous!
I began to laugh. ‘She can do it!’
‘Sure she can!’ laughed Sham. ‘She’s our – our secret weapon!’
And we began to laugh and laugh, because all those people looking out for us – Mother, the police, the gangs, Mr and Mrs Tallus – they’d be looking out for all the tricks they knew. But they wouldn’t be expecting Jane!
That’s what Sham said to me in the woods that day. Looking back I don’t know if he believed it himself or not. You could never tell with Sham. Maybe he said it to find a way of getting me to trust him. Maybe he was on his way out to the Monroes when he heard me yelling and got scared. He never did tell me why he never answered my calls. I don’t know any more, but I believed it then – every word. After that everything was different because I knew at last that we really could do it just like she said. I was so grateful. I could have forgiven him anything for being on the same side as Jane.
We were looking forward to getting back into town but we were scared as soon as we got off the bus. It wasn’t our land. We were in Clapham just because the bus went there. It was late. Soon people would be leaving the streets. The Squads worked at night. The local kids knew where to go and hide but we were strangers. Kids were dangerous, too. Even though they have nothing, the kids guard their streets like proud soldiers. Strange kids had to answer to them and you might have to join their gangs and swear oaths.
We got off the bus and heard music and we headed towards that. Where there’s music there’s people and where there’s people there’s safety. There was a big green ahead full of lights and noise and voices. People were streaming towards it. Sham and I grinned at each other. No one was going to notice two new faces in this crowd. We were together, we were friends again, better friends than we had been before. What better place to spend our time? It didn’t matter that Sham had given us away – in fact it was a good thing, because if he hadn’t given us away he’d never have come to believe that Jane could do it.
It wasn’t a little street fair – it was a great big fair with rides. They had the Big Wheel, the Tilter, the Spinner, the Roller Coaster, the Cage of Death. We walked round for a bit, just staring at it like poor kids do. Then I remembered I had all that money Jane had given me in my pocket.
‘I got eighty quid,’ I said suddenly to Sham.
‘All that?’ he said. He licked his lips and looked around him at all the fun and good things. He began to smile. I felt a big fat grin spreading over my face, too.
‘We can get some decent clothes and somewhere to sleep for the night,’ I said. That was the sort of thing Jane would say.
‘Yeah – yeah …’ said Sham. We were both looking round at all the things we’d seen so often, but we’d only ever just tasted – just enough to want lots more.
‘We could get a proper meal or something,’ I added.
‘Roast chicken,’ said Sham, slobbering. ‘Popcorn. Fish-on-sticks. Burgers.’
‘Kebabs. Ice cream,’ I agreed.
Sham screamed. ‘Look!’ he screamed. ‘Look – WhipSpin!’
We’d turned under the Big Wheel and we were face to face with it: ‘WhipSpin!’ screamed Sham again. And we forgot about the somewhere-to-sleep and even the chicken and fish-on-sticks and we ran up and paid our money. The man poked it with his finger and smiled and let us into one of the little cells in the big tube. We had to wait for ages for it to get filled up and everyone noticed us, because poor kids don’t have enough money for a treat like that very often. They were all smiling at us. We were so excited and out of our senses that we didn’t care. We were proud!
At last the cells were all filled and we got sucked up like juice up a straw.
Have you ever been on a WhipSpin? It costs the earth because it’s so special and we never dreamt about having a go. Here we were, doing it with the rich kids! It’s all made of clear stuff and as you get sucked up there’s nothing between you and the ground. You go up hundreds of feet! You can hardly move a muscle because the cell is so tight and you can see everything under you – the Big Wheel under you, the Roller Coaster zipping up and down under you – everything underneath you. Sham and I were screaming and howling even though we were still only going up.
Then we got to the first loop and POP! we were spat out and went hurtling through the air so fast I could feel my stomach dragging miles behind. We got up, up to the end of the loop and WHIPSPIN! The whole cell whips round and spins like a top and if your head wasn’t held so tight inside the cell you’d break your neck. Then you speed up off in the other direction. Whack! All the way to the end of the arm. And WHIPSPIN! – and then you’re hurtling down so fast you think you’ll make a hole in the ground three metres deep. And WHIPSPIN! – inches from the ground and off you go, up, up, up, for another ride …
Sham and I got off giggling and swaying and staggering about. We had no sense left at all. After a ride there’s a little compound where you can stay for five minutes to get your wits back. You can see the other people in the bottom loop just above the ground. WhipSpin! – their faces get all stretched out and they’re howling and laughing all at the same time. They look funny! Then we had another go and Sham wanted to do it again, but I was sick with it and he didn’t want to do it on his own. So we had a go on the Roller Coaster in
stead, and then the Mouse, and then the Cage of Death and I don’t know what else. But it was all pretty tame after the WhipSpin.
After that we got thirsty so we bought some pop and we sat down on the grass to drink it. The pop was seething in my stomach. We went for a walk to see what we wanted next. We were drunk on rides! A hot smell came wafting past us.
‘Roast chicken,’ Sham reminded me. We started slobbering again just at the thought. There was a stall selling spit chickens just by us.
All that money – we could have everything we wanted! It was as if it was all free. I bought a whole roast chicken and we sat down a few metres away from the stall and scoffed it. Then we bought another one but we couldn’t eat much of it so we wrapped it up in paper and took it along for later.
‘Another WhipSpin?’ suggested Sham, with a greasy grin. I groaned; it would have been a disaster. We were so full! But we were so high on money we didn’t dream of stopping. We had more rides – the Ghost Train, the Spinner, the High Drop, the Snake. I was sick behind a stall and then I felt like another WhipSpin. We did that and then I was hungry again so I ate a bit more chicken and then we bought two of those sugar lollies. Not the little ones – the huge ones with about ten different colours in spirals as big as your face. And we walked round slurping and licking and watching the kids stare at us and pulling faces – that’s how far gone we were.
Two poor kids spending money like that. Walking around eating lollies bigger than our heads – and pulling faces at the other kids! We were asking for it.
‘Those are our lollies,’ someone said suddenly.
There was a group in front of us – seven or eight kids, some smaller, some older than us.
‘Where’d you get all that money?’ one demanded.
‘We’ve been watching you,’ said a girl resentfully.
‘We’re having a day out – our mum and dad are here somewhere,’ said Sham.
‘You stole that money,’ said one of the bigger boys. ‘This is our patch.’
‘Run,’ said Sham quietly, pushing me away with his hand. I turned and fled.
We were weaving through the crowd, but the kids were right on our heels There were people everywhere, we were banging into everyone. We flung our lollies behind us and some of the younger ones stopped to fight over them; then the chicken went and that stopped some more, but the bigger ones knew we had money.
Sham could run like the wind and he was ahead. I thought I’d had it. But then he fell back to my side and panted, ‘See you by the bus stop.’ And he fell down.
I couldn’t believe he’d done it on purpose. I couldn’t believe he’d done it for me. But there he was, rolling on the grass, and the boys were on him. I put my head down and ran fast. They were kicking and punching him but they stopped chasing me and I got clean away among the crowd and the noise and the lights.
I ran and ran. That chicken inside me didn’t stop me running. I didn’t want to turn a corner and come across those kids again. I passed the Tube station on the other side of the road and got lost in the network of little streets behind it. Then I slowed down and I began slowly to make my way back to the bus stop we’d got off at.
Sham wasn’t there. I had to spend an hour wandering around on my own. I stayed in the streets around the fair even though I was scared of that gang of kids, because it was late now and they were the only streets with many people on. I didn’t want to be alone. All those kids making pests of themselves at the fair with no money to spend – it was the right sort of place for a clean-up.
I started getting scared on my own then and I thought – it’s a trick. Sham’s done it again, he’s gone to get someone, they’ll be waiting for me …
I turned right round. I wanted to put as much distance between me and Sham and that bus stop as I could. But even as I ran I doubted. Why should he go now, when there was still everything to play for? So I crept back one more time and there he was. He was a mess. He had a bloody nose and a fat lip and his hair was all over the place, and his clothes were torn.
‘They followed me. I had to go miles to lose them,’ he said. He wanted to get away from the area because they were still looking for us, so we walked quickly off.
I said, ‘Thanks.’
‘Is the money all right?’ Sham asked.
‘Oh … yes …’ And I laughed out loud, because it wasn’t me, of course, it was the money he was saving. If the kids had got me they’d have got our money. It was just common sense!
Sham’s face broke into a wide smile. ‘They kicked hell out of me,’ he said proudly. ‘How much have we got left?’
We huddled in a doorway and counted. Twenty pounds.
‘We spent sixty pounds on the fair,’ said Sham, in awe. ‘Sixty pounds!’ We smiled at each other, full of pride and shock at what we’d done.
‘That was the most fun I’ve ever had,’ said Sham fervently. ‘Even getting chased. Even getting beat up. The best!’
‘We’ve been stupid,’ I told Sham. We’d spent our time enjoying ourselves and now we didn’t even have anything to cover us up at night!
Sham said, ‘We’ll manage.’ He wasn’t bothered. Maybe it was worth it after all, but I didn’t fancy another night like the last one.
We walked aimlessly around, keeping out of sight. We saw a scruffy little kid hurrying nervously down the dark roads.
‘Give us a fiver,’ said Sham.
‘What for?’
‘Watch,’ he hissed. I dug out a five-pound piece and gave it to him. Sham swaggered up and stopped the kid. ‘Hey,’ he said. ‘Me and my friend want to know where the kids sleep at night round here. I mean the good places.’
The boy glanced shiftily up the road, but he knew better than to run.
‘I dunno …’ he began, but Sham waved his hand.
‘You’re a street kid. You’re a skinny piece of nothing. You know all right. Come on – tell us and we won’t hurt you.’
‘We don’t say where we go,’ the boy whined.
Sham pulled the fiver out of his pocket and held it out.
‘Do you want this?’ he asked.
I laughed; the boy goggled. What was a scruff like Sham doing with fivers? ‘Yeah, I want it,’ he confessed, trying not to look at it too hard.
‘Tell us,’ said Sham.
‘We go in the subway by the Common,’ said the kid quickly. Sham handed over the money.
‘Even better – you can take us there,’ he said.
The boy was willing to do almost anything on the chance there’d be more fivers. He led the way, fondling his money and watching us curiously.
‘You’re stupid,’ I whispered to Sham.
‘I found out where to go, didn’t I?’ he boasted.
‘Yeah, and he’ll tell every other kid who sleeps there that we’ve got money to give away. We can’t go there now …’
Sham pulled a face then. He’d only wanted to act the big man.
‘I’ll get our money back,’ he said.
I laughed. Just like Sham! ‘Let him have it, why not?’ I said. ‘There’s plenty more. Jane’ll have something for us tomorrow …’
‘Either that or nothing,’ said Sham. But he let me tell the kid to wait there because we had to go round the corner to get something. We said we’d give him another fiver when we came back if he was still there.
‘We may be a long time,’ warned Sham.
Then we went round the corner and legged it. We went three streets away and when we stopped we started laughing at the thought of that kid waiting for another fiver to come round the corner. That was so funny! We cracked right up and laughed and laughed till it hurt. And all the rest of the night, all one of us had to say was – ‘Do you think he’s still there?’ – and we’d crack up laughing all over again.
We’d spent more money and we still had nothing. We carried on just walking. At last we spotted a little group of kids turning down an alleyway and we followed them. They led us to a street of derelict houses.
There
were plenty of houses to choose from. There must have been a lot of people hidden away in there. We found ourselves a room on the first floor of a house with no staircase. Sham said if anyone came they’d have a hard job climbing up to us, while we could get away over the roofs or down a drainpipe at the back.
It was cold and damp. We pulled some wallpaper off the walls to cover ourselves and we even found some old clothes stuffed in a damp cupboard. Sleeping wasn’t easy even when you forgot about the cold and the hard boards and began to doze. First some drunks came and talked and shouted for hours before they went to sleep down below. Later on still we heard kids screaming. It was just a couple of houses down. ‘They’re coming! They’re coming, they’re here!’ someone was yelling. Other kids started up, then – some screaming and others shouting at them to shut up.
Someone yelled, ‘Squads!’ There was panic then! Kids were running. I was going to run but Sham grabbed me.
‘They won’t look up here for us if they get enough down there,’ he hissed. We hid but no men came. Later on, from the arguments going on, it sounded as if someone’d had a nightmare. A few hours later the whole thing happened again but now we knew what was going on and we just lay and listened to make sure it was okay.
I was aching and still tired when we woke up. It was dark but I could hear people moving about. When the early light came we crept downstairs. There were the drunk men, four of them, all asleep. The place stank of booze and piss. Other kids were emerging at the same time, rubbing their eyes and picking their way over the rubble and rotten timber. We watched each other warily but no one spoke. There was a family sitting round a fire outside; a boy was breaking up wood and the man was cooking something that smelled good. He stared briefly at us, and then forgot us.
Sham and I stepped out of the broken-up street and back into the town.
‘I wonder if she made it?’ said Sham.
11
LUKE’S WAS A really stupid place to meet. People knew us. You can bet every shopkeeper and especially Luke had been asked about Sly Sham and Fly Pie. Mother’s Big Boys would be looking out. Maybe Shiner would be waiting around. And, of course, the Monroes.