Bagheads
Page 31
“I found it in his coat Gladys. I only found it today. It was under his bed.” Holding her head back into the chair she shook her head slowly. Katie placed her hand on her shoulder but she shrugged her away. Ged bent down and kissed Gladys on the cheek. He felt uneasy and knew she was going to blow any minute. He said goodbye to Katie and left.
“Mam, it’s so sad. He must have known exactly what he was going to do.” Her mother stood from her chair.
“I need a wee,” she muttered. Gladys headed to the toilet. Her shoulders were hunched and her body felt weak. Katie read the letter over and over as she sobbed. She spoke to herself.
“Ya fucking dickhead Shaun. Why the fuck did you have to go and kill ya self. We could have got through it ya know.” Gladys walked back into the room. Katie watched as she popped three Diazapam in her mouth. She swilled them down with a swig of her brew. Watching her sit down Katie shook her head.
“Mam you better stop necking them tablets like they’re Smarties. You’ve been taking loads over the last few weeks.” Her mother’s face turned red. She confronted her and screamed.
“Since when have you become a fucking doctor? I’ll take how many I want.” Katie huffed.
“Well you’ll just make yourself ill won’t you?” Gladys ran at her with fists of fury pummelling them into her body. She’d snapped.
“Get out. Fuck off. Who do you think you are dictating to me?” Katie scuffled with her. She finally gripped her hands from her body. She spoke no words as she walked away from her and grabbed her coat. Gladys flung herself back onto the chair.
Katie walked towards the front door and paused. She looked as if she was thinking whether or not to go back into the living room. After a few seconds she opened the front door and left, slamming the door behind her.
The house was in silence.
*
Weeks passed and Gladys still popped her pills. Katie still come to see her and tried her best to pull her through the heartbreak.
Gladys died on the 3rd of May that year. The doctors thought it was suicide at first, but they discovered she’d had a massive heart attack. Everyone said she died of a broken heart and I for one believe them.
Gladys had lived and died for her son and somehow I think she is happy now. The Cook family carried on living with the loss of their brother and mother and Katie still tells stories to her children about the good times they shared. She doesn’t tell them the details of her brother’s death but she warns them about drugs and how they can ruin your life.
Katie left her boyfriend not long after her mother’s death and found happiness with someone who did deserve her. She still kept in contact with her brother and father and they spoke regularly.
Ged kept to his promise to his parents and stayed off the drugs. Don’t get me wrong he did slip off the wagon a few times but over the years he turned his life round. He often went to Shaun’s graveside and spoke with him about his new life without drugs.
To this day Tavistock Square in Harpurhey Manchester still looks like a ghost town. If you close your eyes and listen carefully I’m sure you can still hear the laughter of all those youngsters who used to play there when they were kids.
The people who lost their lives to heroin will always be a part of Harpurhey’s history and I for one will always remember them as the people they were and not who they became. Next time you see a drug addict begging on some street corner or looking like they need help, remember they weren’t always like that and probably have their own story why they sold their soul to drugs.
Nobody is born bad, it’s life that makes them that way.
THE END