When Queenie looked around, she was startled. Karen was behaving just as Vinny had described earlier. Her eyes were glassy. She looked on a different planet, and as she let go of Lenny and picked Little Vinny up to swing him around in the air, Queenie was worried for her grandson’s safety.
Vinny and Ahmed had been watching Karen for the past ten minutes, and had found the change in her hilarious, but when Queenie walked towards them they both pretended to be engrossed in their own conversation. ‘You all right, Mum? Want another drink?’ Vinny asked.
‘No, I’m not all right. You seen the state of Karen? She’s acting really weird. She better not have been taking that shit you told me about in my house, Vinny, because if she has, get fucking rid of her now,’ Queenie hissed.
Vinny looked around, then pretended to be shocked. ‘Oh for fuck’s sake. See, told you what she was like, didn’t I? Believe me now, do ya? I’ll take her home in a bit. Little Vinny can come with me for the ride.’
‘You ain’t taking Little Vinny with you if she’s off her head. Leave him here. Me and Vivvy will look after him. He looks upset to me. I think he’s trying to get away from her.’
‘Well, she won’t be working for me and seeing him for much longer, so best he knows the truth about her, Mum. At least if he sees her acting strange, then it’s easier for me to explain why she is no longer part of our lives.’
‘How you gonna get rid of her? Druggie or not, you can’t do anything bad to her, Vinny.’
‘As if I would, Mum. When I say get rid of her, I mean send her away to one of those special clinics to sort out her drug abuse. I have already spoken to my doctor about it, and he is looking into it for me.’
‘Oh my gawd, Vinny! What’s she doing now? Everyone’s staring at her, look. You’d better get her out of here now. She’s embarrassing herself and my good name.’
Watching Karen crawl along the carpet while mumbling something about big spiders, Vinny desperately tried to keep a straight face. The audience around her was getting bigger by the second. ‘I’ll just finish my drink, then Ahmed can help me put her in the car,’ Vinny said. He wanted to ensure that everybody had seen Karen in her current state. It was all part of his plan.
Snatching the glass out of her son’s hand, Queenie threw the contents down the sink. ‘When I say I want her out of my house now. I mean fucking now.’
Less than half an hour after Karen had left the house another drama occurred.
Big Stan had always hated One Eyed Harry ever since the drunken old bum had run over his beloved dog Shep, and when Harry made a derogatory comment about his wife’s weight and food intake, Big Stan saw red and demanded an apology.
‘I’m not saying sorry. Why should I? I’m only being honest and saying what everybody else is thinking. Never seen such a greedy fat beast in all my life. Six plates of grub I’ve seen her eat. I’m surprised she ain’t fucking burst,’ Harry said, in his usual blunt manner.
Big Stan draw back his right fist and hit One Eyed Harry so hard that he went flying backwards into Queenie’s beloved glass ornament cabinet.
‘Aw, my giddy aunt! He’s smashed me cabinet and all me fucking china,’ Queenie screamed.
Big Stan was mortified. ‘I’m so sorry, Queenie. I’ll try and pay for any damage I’ve caused. It was an accident, honest it was.’
Absolutely seething, Queenie picked up her china fruit bowl and began clouting Big Stan around the head with it. ‘You couldn’t afford to reimburse me for one of them ornaments let alone all of them, you great big lummox. Now, get out my house and take that gluttonous wife of yours with ya.’
When Big Stan and his wife left, Queenie snatched the mike off Lenny. ‘Right, that’s it. The party is over. Apart from family, you can all drink your drinks and fuck off home. The quicker you leave the better. Thank you all for coming.’
‘Fucking birthdays, I hate ’em. Let’s sit out in the garden and drink our sherry, eh? We can clear the mess up later,’ Vivian suggested, handing her sister a cigarette.
‘Good idea. I’ll tell you something, Vivvy, that is the last time I ever have a party here. Not only has my lovely home been smashed up, but what a fucking show-up with that Karen, eh? Kicking and screaming like a loony she was when Vinny tried to get her in the car. Nosy Hilda clocked everything. I’m gonna have such a go at Vinny for inviting all the bleedin’ neighbours. He knows we don’t really mix with them, and we like to keep our business private. What was he thinking, eh?’
‘Don’t ask me. The party was a shambles from start to finish. The only thing I liked was me cake, and some bastard knocked that on the floor. Such a shame about all your lovely china though.’
Sipping her sherry, Queenie suddenly saw the funny side and began to laugh. ‘Only last week I looked at that china cabinet and thought how dated it seemed. My Vinny can buy me one of them posh sideboards now. What a day eh, Viv? And what with Denise turning up with her pregnancy letter. What must people think of us? Talk about free entertainment.’
Vivian raised her eyebrows. ‘As for my Lenny showing me up again. Pissed in your rose bush he did because there was a queue for the toilet. Flopped his todger out right in front of poor old Ivy. She was out here having a fag.’
Queenie held her aching sides. ‘Do you know what, Viv, I’ve come to the conclusion that none of our kids are normal. Most families have one black sheep, but between me and you, we managed to breed a fucking flock of ’em.’
Debbie Ryan was amazed when she saw the state of her friend. Vinny had knocked on her door, explained what had happened, and asked if she would be kind enough to keep an eye on Karen for him.
‘Why is Mummy acting scary, Dad? She’s frightening me,’ Little Vinny said, clinging to his father’s leg.
Debbie had never met Karen’s son before and it was obvious the child was confused and upset. ‘Your mum isn’t well, love, but she will be better soon, I promise you that.’
‘Get away from him,’ Karen screamed, rocking to and fro with her head balancing on her knees.
Desperately worried about her pal, Debbie knelt down next to her. Many a time, Karen had babysat for her two kids and she was the most reliable, trustworthy and responsible person that Debbie knew. There was no way in the world that Karen would have jeopardized her relationship with her son, or her relationship with her son’s father. She wasn’t that bloody stupid.
‘Get them away from me. You know I hate spiders,’ Karen wept.
Debbie squeezed her friend’s hand. ‘It’s OK, mate. I’m here to look after you now. There are no spiders, I promise you that.’
‘Yes there are! I can see them,’ Karen shouted. She then got on all fours, crawled along the carpet, and hid behind the sofa.
Grabbing Vinny’s arm, Debbie led him into the hallway. ‘I think we need to call an ambulance, or the police. Karen isn’t drunk, and I know for a fact that apart from the odd spliff she doesn’t do drugs. I reckon someone must have spiked her drink or something.’
Not expecting Debbie to be so clued up, Vinny was slightly taken aback, but still managed to hold his composure. ‘There is no way that her drink has been spiked. We have only been at my mum’s house with family and a few of the neighbours. Look, between me and you I think Karen has a bit of a drug problem. On a few occasions, she has got out of her nut at the club and I’ve got a feeling she’s buying the shit off one of my other barmaids. You can’t start calling ambulances, or the Old Bill, because they will put on her record that she is a druggie and stop her from seeing Little Vinny. Break her heart and his, that would. They have become so close now.’
Debbie looked at Karen’s son’s tear-stained face and reluctantly agreed. ‘I don’t mind looking after Karen tonight. My kids are at their dad’s, so I can stay here with her. What if she takes a turn for the worse though? I can’t sit back and do nothing then.’
Vinny asked for a pen and paper. ‘I’m sure she’s over the worst. Whatever she’s taken is bound to wear off soon. I’m going back to
the club now, and that’s the phone number. If by any chance you are really worried about her, ring me and I’ll pay for a private doctor to visit her. That way, it won’t go on her record. I would hate to see her looked upon as a bad mother ’cause she isn’t. I’m meant to be helping her move tomorrow, so I’ll be back first thing in the morning. If she still isn’t well enough, we’ll leave moving until Tuesday.’
After she’d seen Vinny out, Debbie shut the door and leant against it. Even though Vinny had seemed sincere enough, there was something about his story that just didn’t ring true.
Back in Whitechapel, Michael had finally managed to get his mother alone, and was just building up to giving her his father’s letter when the doorbell rang.
‘Auntie Queenie, Colleen wants you,’ Lenny shouted out.
Queenie pushed past Michael and dashed down the stairs. Colleen never visited the house alone, so it must be something important.
‘Where have you been? I’ve been trying to ring you for the past two hours,’ Colleen said, before bursting into tears.
‘There was a bit of a scuffle and the cable got pulled out the socket. We’ve only just noticed it and put it back in,’ Vivian explained.
Fearing that her son had lost his battle for life, Queenie clung onto the banister for physical support. ‘Please God don’t tell me Roy’s dead,’ she stammered.
Even though she was still crying, Colleen’s tears were ones of pure happiness. ‘Roy’s come out of his coma, Queenie. He’s awake!’
As usual on a Sunday, Terry Smart had spent the whole day abusing his liver. At ten p.m. he said goodbye to his pals and staggered out of the Grave Maurice pub and onto the Whitechapel Road. Seconds later, a white van pulled up, the back doors flew open and two foreign-looking men leapt out and grabbed him. ‘Get off me, you cunts. What the fuck you doing?’ Terry slurred, as he was bundled into the back of the van.
Instead of answering Terry’s question, one of the men grabbed a cosh, smashed Terry over the head with it and knocked him spark out.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Queenie’s initial joy that her son had awoken from his coma somewhat dwindled during the course of the next week. Looking at Roy was like looking at a completely different person. He was nothing like the son she had known before the shooting. Roy was now paralysed down the left-hand side of his body, and had minimal movement in his right side. He had to be spoon-fed small amounts of mashed-up food like a baby, and his face was drooped on one side which made him look like he had suffered a bad stroke. The poor mite also had no control over his bowel movements and Queenie was sure she could see the horror in his eyes every time he shat the bed. There was no way he could tell anyone how he was feeling though, as when he tried to speak, it was more like noises than words coming out of his mouth. The only plus side that Queenie could think of was Roy recognized his family. He had tears rolling down his cheeks every time Colleen spoke about her pregnancy, so he obviously understood what was going on. He had also tried to ask in his own way what had happened to him, and had understood when Vinny had told him he had been shot outside the club and Johnny Preston had been arrested for the shooting.
‘You OK, Mum? You seem ever so quiet this morning,’ Vinny asked, as he parked his car.
Queenie had always had a reputation for being as hard as nails, but seeing Roy in his current state on a daily basis had really taken its toll on her. In this past week, she had cried more tears than in the previous thirty years, and once again she couldn’t prevent them from rolling down her cheeks.
Vinny took his keys out of the ignition, leant across his seat and enveloped his mother in his arms. The club had re-opened again now, but Vinny hadn’t shirked any of his other responsibilities. He had spent nearly all day every day at the hospital since his brother had woken up and he planned to support both Roy and his mum as much as he could, whatever the future might bring. ‘You got to stop getting upset like this, Mum. Every time I see you cry, it makes me want to do the same. We need to be strong for Roy’s sake, and his unborn child. They are both gonna need us to be at the top of our game, aren’t they?’
‘I just can’t bear seeing your brother as he is, Vinny. He ain’t the boy I gave birth to any more. He’s a fucking vegetable,’ Queenie spat, her face contorted with pain and anger.
Vinny hated hearing his brother referred to as anything but normal. ‘Don’t say shit like that, Mum. We’ve got to be positive. Perhaps the scan results will give us some better news? Roy hasn’t been awake for long, and the doctors did warn us that his recovery would take time and patience.’
‘But, say he don’t get better? Say he never walks and talks again, eh? He can’t stay in hospital forever, and how am I meant to cope if he comes and lives with me? He won’t be able to get up and down the stairs, will he?’
Vinny laid his mother’s head on his shoulder and stroked her bleached-blonde hair. ‘Let’s not look too far ahead, eh? Roy will be in hospital for ages yet, and if he’s still no better when the time comes for him to be discharged, then we can look into other options. Perhaps we could hire some nurses to care for him? I would do anything for my family, Mum, and if that means paying privately for the best care possible to help Roy with his recovery, then so be it.’
For the first time that morning, Queenie managed a weak smile. ‘You’re a good boy, Vinny. The best a mother could wish for.’
Michael Butler felt rather nauseous as he paid the jeweller in crisp twenty pound notes.Getting hitched at his age was the last thing he really wanted to do, but since his mum had checked out Denise’s pregnancy story, which her doctor had confirmed to be true, Nancy had barely spoken to him.
Michael loved Nancy more than he had ever loved any girl, and he knew he was on the verge of losing her forever, which is why he had bought the engagement ring today. It was the only rabbit he could pull out of a hat to save their rapidly deteriorating relationship. Surely marrying her was better than losing her, wasn’t it?
Unaware of her boyfriend’s planned proposal, Nancy was sitting on the bench in her favourite little park currently crying on her mother’s shoulder.
‘Oh, Nancy. Why don’t you come back home, love? I can talk your dad and brother around, so don’t you be worrying about them. You don’t want to stay with a lad who’s having a baby with another girl, do you? It’s too much to take on something like that, especially at your young age.’
‘I know you are right, Mum, but even though I hate Michael for doing this to me, I still love him as well. He says he will support his child financially and as a father, but he has sworn to me he wants nothing whatsoever to do with Denise. He reckons she trapped him on purpose by not taking her contraception pill.’
Mary held her daughter’s hands and squeezed them. ‘Only you can decide what you want to do, darling, but let me tell you one thing. Whenever you have a child with someone it creates a strong bond, and this one’s a bond you won’t be part of. I know Michael says he wants nothing to do with Denise, but once she gives birth to his child he will be in contact with her on a regular basis again. How’re you going to feel when she is ringing up every five minutes asking for this and that or telling him the child isn’t well, Nance? You’ve got your whole life ahead of you, and are beautiful enough to bag yourself any lad you want. I would hate to see you sell yourself short.’
Nancy nodded sadly. What her mum had just said was spot-on and deep down she knew it. ‘I’ll pack my stuff when I get back to Queenie’s, Mum, and tell Michael I’m moving back home. Are you sure Dad will be OK about it?’
‘You leave your bloody father to me, darling. I pulled the wool over his eyes to escape today. I only let him think he wears the trousers to keep him happy. He won’t overrule me, because if he does then I shall leave him. Our home will always be your home, you know that.’
Nancy looked at her watch and silently cursed the time. ‘I’m gonna have to go, Mum. I am already in trouble at work for taking too much time off so I daren’t be late back fr
om lunch. Can you be near the phone if I ring at dead on eight tonight? Make sure you speak to Dad first though so I know everything is OK your end.’
‘I will. When will you move back in?’ Mary asked, her face a picture of happiness.
‘I might as well come back tonight, I suppose. Once I’ve spoken to Michael, then rung you, perhaps Dad will pick me up?’
Mary grinned. ‘You bet he will, and I’ll come with him so you don’t feel awkward.’
‘Thanks for everything, Mum. I’ll see you later,’ Nancy said, before sprinting off.
As Mary walked back to the shop, she could not wipe the smile off her face. She had her little girl back.
At the hospital, Queenie, Colleen and Vinny had just sat down opposite the brain specialist.
‘Well? Have you got the results?’ Vinny asked, impatience creeping into his voice.
‘Yes, I have, and I’m afraid the news isn’t as good as we had hoped for. The scan shows that there has been a considerable amount of damage to Mr Butler’s brain, which is the cause of the paralysis down the right side of his body.’
‘But, he will get better, won’t he? There must be something you can do, surely?’ Vinny interrupted, now agitated.
Bursting into tears, Colleen ran from the room. She was training to be a nurse, therefore knew what the specialist was going to say next and couldn’t bear to hear it.
Queenie sat frozen to her seat. Her heart felt like a lead weight and it was as though time had stood still and she was in a trance. Images of Roy in his younger years flooded through her mind. His first day at school with his little legs poking out of his long shorts. Those same legs sprinting to glory when he won the hundred-yards race at the age of thirteen. Roy dancing with her to Kenny Ball’s ‘My Mother’s Eyes’ on the opening evening of their first ever club. How could it be possible that her handsome, strapping son would never use those legs again?
‘So, what can we do to get him better?’ Vinny asked the specialist.
The Trap Page 28
