by Paul Kelly
When we eventually arrived back at 97 Mansfield Road, we were greeted with respect as we distributed the money and I once again felt that I had achieved something in my life that I had hitherto given no thought to or even imagined I would ever have been able to do such a thing. Life was taking on a different colour for me and I was looking forward to another achievement with Travis.
In the next four months, we had robbed five banks and not one policeman had attempted to locate us. Mansfield Road was simply a respectful address where law abiding people resided in peace and no questions were asked.
When Angus sent for me again, it was to congratulate me on my manhood, but I was a little taken aback when he reached down from his six foot odd height and tried to kiss me. I didn’t think that was a manly thing to do but when I mentioned the incident to Travis, he simply shrugged his shoulders and told me that we were all different in how we lived and that acting in the way Angus had done was not a crime, but simply a way of showing that I was truly a member of his gang, nevertheless I slept uneasily that night and felt sure that men did not kiss other men unless there was something feminine in their actions... and then I wondered if every member of the gang got kissed... with a hope that it was not just me on this occasion. No, never that. I didn’t have any feelings for Angus that would merit that... NO WAY.
Chapter Six
It was after about three weeks since Travis and I had done the banks and Charlie met me to contribute to the congratulations, suggesting that he might want to do something like that himself and I was pleased to think that only Travis and I were the only two people in the gang who had made this achievement, but Charlie corrected me and told me that two of the girls had been involved in ‘bank jobs’ but they had been disguised as men and the suspicion was diverted.
Charlie suggested that Angus would like to hear more of what I had done, but by this time, I wasn’t too eager to tell Angus anything of my doings as I had a strange feeling that my relationship with Angus was not just quite right and I didn’t want to talk to Charlie about my doubts, most probably because it could have been my own stupid imagination, but whatever it was I wanted to play safe and see Angus as little as I needed to.
Anyway, it was Charlie who suggested we should go together to a local post office and do what we had done in the banks and together with a balaclava and a gun each, we set off to do the necessary.
The lady behind the screen at the post office appeared to be on her own and there were four other people waiting for something like stamps or postal orders as I pointed my gun at her but strangely enough, so unlike the men at the banks, she stood still and looked me straight in the eye. I panicked and swallowed hard, not knowing what to do next, but Charlie darted forward and as he pointed his gun at the post office lady, I heard a sudden click and with a bang, the lady fell down behind the counter where she had been serving. I panicked even more at this stage and was about to run from the post office together with Charlie, as I pulled off my balaclava when one of the people who had been in the office stood her ground and stared at me near the entrance door. Charlie had gone a far distance by this time and I could not move... as the girl who stared at me was the same girl that I had seen at the library. The one who asked me if she could help me in any way and I looked away from her and started to run, but I couldn’t find Charlie. wherever he had gone, I didn’t know but I made my way back to Mansfield Road and rushed in through the front door only to be stopped by Sheba who grabbed me by the shoulders and demanded to know what the hell I was doing rushing into the house... and for what reason, but I started to stutter and as she slapped my face hard, I could not tell her how the post office lady had collapsed behind the counter when Charlie and I had each pointed our gun at her, with no ammunition in either gun and yet she had apparently been shot and I decided to get a newspaper the following morning to see if there was any news about the post office incident, feeling sure that someone could read but it was not until the evening newspaper came out that we found there had been a murder at the post office and I immediately became worried that sooner or later, I would be arrested by the police as a suspect, but I decided to lie low for a while and stay in 97 Mansfield Road.
After a week, with nothing seriously being said in the newspapers or T.V. it suddenly came out in the nine o clock news that a lady from the post office had been shot and that she had died after having been taken to hospital.
I was lost for words and by some strange happening, Angus appeared at Mansfield Road and I could see by the way he looked at me, that I was in for some questioning, but his enquiry was quite different to what I had expected. He said nothing about the post office incident and from the way he spoke, I thought he might not even have heard about it, but he asked me why I had chosen to go out with Charlie for a pistol practise when he heard that I had been out more regularly with Travis and I think he knew about the bank robberies... but nothing at all about the post office, which to my mind was far more serious and had greater consequences than the banks, but Sheba came up to us as we were talking and gave me a funny look, hoping that Angus hadn’t seen her and I guessed there was something she wanted to talk to me about... when we were on our own.
Angus left Mansfield Road after about an hour and I was still somewhat confused as to why he had come until Sheba cornered me after Angus had gone and enlightened me about his visit.
“He always comes here after there have been a few robberies, as he expects to get half of the money and I thought you knew that, Idiot.”
I told her I knew nothing of that and asked her how she even knew about the bank robberies as I had said nothing about that and expected Travis to do the same, but Sheba informed me that any events involving money had to be shared with Angus as he kept us all in pocket money, rent free and with no involvement with tax problems.
I wondered what would happen when Angus found out about the post office business... and would he give us a discount for murder?
After having spent about four or five days secluded in Mansfield Road, I ventured out into a glorious sunshine and strolled along the street, thinking that at least by this time, the post office business could be settled and the matter of the shooting could have been set aside until more details were found, but I had hardly walked towards the park when I was stopped by a policeman who looked at me very strangely from top to toe before he spoke.
“Are you Felix Marr?” he asked and I was surprised that he knew my name and when I said I was indeed Felix Marr, he asked me to escort him to the police station.
I guessed it was something to do with the post office business but I could not understand why a policeman would ask me my name, but when I arrived at the police station, I needed to think no more. My old ‘friend’ Sergeant Harrington was sitting smugly at his desk and grinned as I approached.
“Well, well, if it isn’t our old mate, Mr. No Comment and what can we do for you this morning, SIR? he asked but I stood still knowing that he had some idea of why I was at the station or he would never have sent for me and asked a policeman to get my name to ensure I was the right person and then he went on as sarcastically as I had expected.
“Betty Boop... or Mr. Felix Marr... I presume and would you be able to assist us in our questions about the local post office where Mrs. Madden has been shot?”
I hung my head and felt less of a man than I had ever felt I would.
“I don’t know what you are talking about and where did you get the name Felix Marr. I don’t know who he is,” I lied hoping they would be put off the scent but old Harrington was no fool.
“When you went to the library, you told a young lady there that your name was Felix Marr and she told you that she had never heard such a name in all the years she has worked there. Is that true, Mr Marr, Sir?”
Once more I had to hang my head and then Harrington told me that I would be charged with murder and that I would have to appear in court one week
from that date, but I still could not understand how I could have shot anyone with a pistol that had no bullets in it... unless... and fear gripped me as my thoughts went back to the post office scene where it could never have been possible to have shot anyone unless some other person with a similar gun WITH BULLETS could have fired the shot.
I stood powerless before Harrington, but I had no intention of giving him any information that would make him think other than he was thinking at that moment and I knew I would have to speak to Charlie whenever I could get the chance.
I was escorted back to Mansfield Road with two police officers, one on either side of me and I am sure I must have looked an idiot when Travis opened the door to me and I could see the worry on his face as he had suspected the worst, but I smiled at him and shook my head hoping he would understand what I meant. The subject of my arrest was to do with the post office affair and nothing to do with the banks, but as the police officers followed me into the lounge, we passed Charlie, who gasped as we passed him and again and I tried to give him a message, but I could hardly ask him there and at that time, if he had a bullet in his gun when we both went to the post office, but there was no way I could possibly understand what had gone wrong on that fateful day. The police made a telephone call which I presumed was to old Harrington to let him know that I had been deposited at an address that had hitherto been unknown and then they left, telling me not to leave the country and that I would be getting a serious summons in a few day’s time.
As soon as they had left the house I could hear Sheba making a phone call and I knew that within a short time, we would have another visit from Angus and I guessed that if he had heard nothing of the post office job, he would be back to collect the rest of his money and I wondered what Charlie would say to him on his visit, but when I looked around to see Charlie, he had gone. There wasn’t even the smell of him.
Chapter Seven
Angus wasn’t at all pleased that I had to go to court as it offended his ‘dignity’ and he let me know as much with a surprise burst of anger that made me feel so responsible for something that as far as I was concerned, I had never done.
I could not believe that I had used a pistol that was loaded and as I looked across the courtroom I could see Angus giving me dirty looks as he had made firm instructions that we should never have a loaded gun as the pistol was simply to frighten people and not to harm them in anyway, but what was I to do... plead guilty and accept the punishment? After all Mrs. Madden was dead and I was the only one responsible... or was I?
I stared at Charlie as he sat with the gathering around the courtroom but he seemed to be determined not to look at me as I could see he kept his eyes down. The jury seemed to be made of normal people and I wondered what was on their minds and I could see the young lady from the library and I guessed she must have been the one who informed the police that she had seen me at the post office. After all, I had removed my balaclava when I came away from the place, but the ‘library lady’ was the only person standing outside the post office door and Charlie had made his getaway somewhere around the corner.
I listened to the judge’s order for us all to rise and then the battle commenced. I was asked all sorts of questions and did my best to answer as truthfully as I could but there were moments when I knew that if I said a ‘YES’ I should have said a ‘NO’... but all the time I was talking I could see the anger in the faces of both Charlie and Angus, which I guessed was for very different reasons for both of them and when the judge told us all to break up for lunch, Angus came rushing over to me and grabbed me by the arm.
“What in hell’s name were you doing at a post office,” he demanded, “I told Travis to look after you with the unloaded guns, so what happened?”
“I wasn’t with Travis at the post office, I was with Charlie,” I replied and Angus went red in the face as he stared at me in utter disgust.
“Charlie has no authority to do that,” he screamed. “He is useless and thinks he knows everything when he knows bugger all,” but I had no knowledge of that when Charlie first suggested that we should choose a post office instead of a bank and I began to think that perhaps robbing a post office may not be so lucrative as robbing a bank, but it was less of a risk, I supposed. The premises were smaller than those of the bank and there was only one old woman in charge of the post office whereas there were several men and women in the banks. I began to think then that perhaps Angus was furious with Charlie for his choice of decision as there would be less money for Angus and that was of far less importance, but by this time I was beginning to regret that I wanted to join Angus’s gang as there were other gangs I could have chosen from, but I had made my choice and even if it had turned out to be disastrous, there was nothing I could do about that now until at least I could prove that I was not guilty of the crime that I was accused of. I watched the gathering from the court leave at the end of each day and simply went into a cell for the night to wake up to another day of doubt and although I had no idea of any religion or even of God, I made every effort to call to heaven for help and the dream of manhood had long since left my pathetic being, It was nearly two weeks before the jury came to their conclusion and I was found guilty of murder where I was sentence to prison life for twelve years. Angus came to see me before I was taken away in a concealed police van and I was not at all pleased by his visit. Of course he told me how everyone in the gang would miss me including himself and the girls in particular hoped I would be alright and be released before my time, but as I was about to leave the table where Angus and I were sitting, he referred to the fact that although he was very interested in money and that everyone in his gang contributed in some way to that, he told me that there were other ways that a gang member could contribute and he hoped I would return to the gang whenever I was released from prison... what a hope when I would be incarcerated for twelve long years, and before he left, he touched my hand very tenderly and told me that of all his gang members, I was special and he had strong feelings for me AS A FRIEND... but as I got up and moved back to the cell where I was confined for a while until I was taken into prison, I looked back and Angus blew me a kiss.
This made me decide that if and when I got out of prison, I would never return to the gang that I had left. There was no way that I would become a real man if I stayed with that lot, ever... and the other prisoners I was to meet in prison would prove to be better friends to me than I had ever had before in my sad life.
Prison is something I had never expected in my life although I am surprised myself now that I can think that as I have done some terrible things that would have earned me a place in Her Majesty’s retirement home... I had stolen anything I wanted and didn’t give the matter any consideration. I was a selfish bastard but it was only now when I was sitting in handcuffs with a prison officer on either side of me in the van that I thought it was time I had to pay for my errors.
The first glimpse of the prison was fearful and I shivered, but there were three men sitting beside me waiting to go into the prison and I waited to see their reaction, but whether they were used to prison life or not, I can’t be sure, as neither of them turned a hair and simply kept looking at the floor of the van until the officers demanded that we should get out. The next step was the ‘stripping’ where we were lined up before a man whom I presumed to be a doctor and he touched our balls as he told us to cough. I must have passed the test, whatever it was for, as he waved me on and as I went to put my clothes back on, he put his hand in the air and shook his head.
“Not those laddie,” he called out, “We have some ready for you here,” and he showed me across the room to a box which looked as though it was full of men’s clothing; jeans, shirts and underwear etc. but they looked as though they were ‘second hand’ and I wondered if they belonged to the prisoners who had been released as we were taken captive. I put the vest on and then the drawers, but I didn’t feel comfortable and wanted to scratch for ages, espec
ially at my balls and I had never felt so ‘itchy’ in those parts of my body before; When I looked at the underwear that the other lads took off, I was sure they would be glad of the ‘itch’ as what they took off were rags and filthy rags at that and I closed my eyes to think if I had to wear what those lads took off, I would have jumped into a river to get myself clean. I would rather have walked about in the ‘nuddy’ than wear what I saw deposited into that washing basket.
Nevertheless one of the lads looked rather ‘cultured’ in comparison to the other two, who kept swearing at each other as they put on the prison attire, as if they were used to a much better dress, but we all trouped through to a large room that looked like a dining room of sorts here many men were sitting around long tables and eating food.
We joined the gathering and a man shoved a plate of something in front of us, which didn’t look very appetising, but then I knew I would have to get used to whatever was given us to eat as there was no ‘café choice’ in our new abode. The other two lads who didn’t look very clean tucked into the stuff on the plates and rubbed their tummy’s as they waited for more to come, but when the man who served us told us that what we had eaten was all we would get, my companions started to swear and even heard one man shout out.
“Fuck this mate... we’d get better than this if we were in prison,” and there was a peel of laughter as everyone returned to their respective cells. Of the three that came into the prison with me, two of them went off scratching and swearing, but the third man who I thought might be a bit more ‘civilized’ joined me and as we were allocated to two prisoners in a cell, he asked me if I minded if he came with me and I nodded as we walked down a corridor together and a guard of some kind, ushered us into a fragile cell and locked the door after we went in.
