by S G Read
It was 10 o'clock before he walked through to Goliath's tavern and Goliath was busily cleaning and polishing as usual. He saw William walk in and nodded, William nodded back but instead of heading for his usual table he walked over to where Goliath was working.
‘I need someone to clean for me.’ He announced.
‘Well if you're suggesting I do it you can think again,’ Goliath retorted jokingly, ‘I have enough to do with this place.’
‘With your not being available then,’ William replied in the same vein, ‘do you know anyone who is available to clean my house?’
‘There is a woman I've heard of who lives in one of the shanties near the bridge who does that sort of work, when she can but it's not the sort of place to go to lightly, it's full of footpads and ne'er-do-wells.’ Goliath answered.
‘I think I can handle a footpad and a ne'er-do-well,’ William replied, he was young and he was strong that should be enough surely, ‘whereabouts does she live?’
‘I'll get Gus to take you, he knows where it is and that way you might get out again, alive.’ Goliath answered and continued with his work.
William did not argue, he thought better of it and walked over to his usual table. It was obvious to him that he was going nowhere until Gus was about, so all he could do was wait. Goliath put a pint of beer in front of him without him asking and William started sipping it, he did not want to drink too much before he went off to see this woman.
Chapter 5
It was an hour before Gus returned and it was then and only then that William could go off and find his cleaner, he also wanted to buy an oil lamp for the room. In fact he was going to buy two lamps, one to hang just inside the door and the other to hang in the room with the door to the future in it. That way he could turn up the lamp by the door walk through and then turn up the lamp in the little room, then walk back and turn out the lamp by the door. Otherwise he either had to leave the lamp on or walk across to the bathroom in darkness, having turned the lamp out, which did not make sense.
He wanted to leave straight away but he had to wait a bit longer so that Gus could have a pint before he went, as he had driven a long way. Goliath walked over to them, in his hand was a pistol, not a flintlock but a percussion pistol, these were the latest things out and how he came to have one William did not know but he soon found out.
‘I bought this offer British sailor who was down on his luck, he looted it from a ship when they attacked it,’ Goliath announced, ‘I don't lend this just to anyone but if there is trouble I would like to think that you are well protected, you do know how to fire one of these things?’
William took the pistol, cocked it and pointed it. As if to show yes I do know how to fire one of these things, he uncocked it to make it safe and was going to put it into his pocket but the one thing he did not know was how to reload it, Goliath had to show him that before they could go.
When they arrived at the shanty town by London Bridge William stepped down, nodded to Gus and walked in the direction he pointed.
‘I take it you're waiting for me?’ He asked.
‘You're right there,’ Gus answered, ‘if I drove off and left you Goliath would have my guts for garters and he would never see his gun again.’
‘It's nice to be wanted.’ William retorted.
He walked down the alley which led to a varying type of shacks, all of varying shapes, sizes and decay. As he walked by a shanty someone appeared in the doorway to see who it was but did not venture out. William counted down the little shanties until he came to the one he was told the woman lived in.
He stopped outside the shanty but it had no door and there was nothing to knock on, it was mainly made of cloth of some description probably old blankets or tarpaulins, if they had such things at this time. In the end he decided just to raise his voice.
‘I am looking for Mary Marchant,’ he called through the open doorway, ‘I've been told she might do some cleaning work for me.’
A woman appeared in the doorway.
‘I am Mary Marchant, where do you want this cleaning done?’ She answered.
‘At 41 Tooley Street if you're available.’ William answered.
‘I'll come right away.’ She answered and turned to speak to someone inside.
William did not hear what she said but he waited patiently with the pistol in his hand. He thought that if it was in plain sight it might dissuade the so-called footpads or ne'er-do-wells from taking some sort of action and it did seem to do the trick. She reappeared from the shanty and followed him keeping two steps behind until they reached his chaise, then she stopped.
‘I want you there as soon as I'm there so you're riding the chaise,’ William ordered, ‘have you any objections to that?’
He said it as an ultimatum but there was no argument, she merely climbed up alongside Gus in the driving seat ready to go. Gus did not argue, he turned the chaise round and headed back up the street away from the shanty town. He stopped right outside of William’s house and William climbed out as the woman climbed down. William unlocked the door and walked in, she followed.
‘My name is William Just and I am renting this place,’ he said as he opened the door, and as you can see it is very dirty. I need it cleaned from top to bottom, can you handle that?’
‘Yes I can Sir.’ She answered.
‘The name is William and that is what you will call me. You will not call me sir do you understand?’ William asked.
‘I do sir, I mean William, if you show me where things are I’ll get started.’
‘Now that's the thing I have nothing to clean with. You will need to take the chaise to a shop buy what you need, as you are the one that knows what you will need to clean the house with. When you have bought it, bring it back here in the chaise is that understood?’ William asked.
‘Yes sir.’ She answered.
‘William.’ He repeated and reached into his pocket, pulled out a guinea which he gave to her.
‘Take that to pay for the cleaning supplies and the cab, you can start as soon as you get back, it is then I will tell you what I want you to do.’ He explained.
She nodded and walked out to where Gus was waiting. They were soon out of sight. William had nothing to do but wait, he did consider going back into his flat to wait but he needed to be here when she returned and he did not know just how long that would be, he chose to walk over the tavern instead. He walked across the road and into the tavern, first going up to the bar and giving Goliath his pistol back before walking over to his normal table.
He rehearsed just what he was going to tell her to do while he sat in the tavern drinking a pint of ale, he needed to keep her out of the room with the door to the future in it and just wanted the rest of the house cleaned from top to bottom. The water would come from the stand pipe which was a little way up the street and he assumed she would tip it in the gutter by the back door. In the end when she did return he just asked her to clean one room, deciding to tell her what to do when that room was clean. The room in question was the same room his bedroom was in, in the future, with the back door close handy. All she has to do was to throw the dirty water out the back door and get clean water from the stand pipe in the street.
While she cleaned the bedroom he locked the other door to keep her out, as he did not want any accidental discovery of his door to the future. What she would make of that he did not know and he did not really want to find out. She filled the bucket and started cleaning the bedroom although at the moment, it was just a bare room with a wooden floor and one very dirty window in it. William stood and watched for a few minutes and then thought, ‘this is ridiculous I might as well be doing it myself.’
‘When you've done this room come and find me in the tavern and I will tell you what I want done next.’ He called from the doorway after he had attracted her attention.
‘Yes Mr William.’ She answered.
He did not pull her up about the Mr William and left her to it choosing to go over to the tave
rn and talk with Goliath and Gus, if the latter was about. Now that he had a timeframe for buying all he could from Ebenezer’s shop, he was thinking of refilling his coffers. He thought he had enough money to buy all he was going to buy and he was going to be haggling with Ebenezer to get the prices down even though he did not really have to. He was assuming there was no race meeting that he could go to before Friday as that was where he planned to recoup all the money he spent at Gold’s but he did not know if there was anything else he could bet on before then.
He crossed the road and walked up to the bar where Goliath was working. There was no sign of Gus or his chaise and he assumed that he was taking someone somewhere.
‘So when is the next horse race meeting round here?’ He asked idly.
‘Gus will know that,’ Goliath answered, I only know about the boxing, there is fight on Wednesday over the bridge which I'm going to. Do you like boxing?’
‘Bare knuckle as it?’ I asked.
‘It is, you're not one of these people that think its barbarous are you?’ Goliath asked.
‘I just like a bet now and then,’ William answered, ‘but I'm pretty good at betting and I'm more right than wrong. Who is fighting?’
‘It's Bendigo versus some out-of-towner, can't recall his name.’ Goliath answered.
‘My namesake William boxing,’ William replied, remembering the nickname Bendigo and who it was, William Thompson, I'll come along if that's alright with you?’
‘Come by all means, Gus is going and as you're rich you can pay for the cab.’ Goliath answered.
‘My pleasure.’ William answered.
They stayed and talked for some time until Mary walked across the road, wiping her hands on her dress as she did so. Goliath saw her coming and canted his head toward her. William looked in the direction he was nodding and saw Mary coming, he had to resist the urge to look on his wristwatch as back in the 1840s they had not been invented. He pulled out his pocket watch instead and looked at the time.
‘That's one room clean,’ he declared, ‘when do people usually work to nowadays?’
‘They clean as long as you make them, William.’ Goliath answered.
William nodded and walked to meet her at the door, she immediately turned and started back for the house, William followed. He inspected the room, the window was clean, the floor was clean and the walls were clean. She had even washed the doors and they were clean.
‘Very nice Mary you can start on this room now,’ William declared, it was the large area with the stairs in it, ‘I don’t expect you to finish this room today, as I want a good job done. You do as much as you want and then go home when you want to, do you understand?’
‘Yes Mr William I'll start right away.’ Mary answered and hurried off to fill her bucket.
William inspected the room in more depth, it would do for storing what he was going to buy in but it would be easy to break in and steal everything from this room even if he fitted strong bolts to the back door they would just come in through the window. The special stuff needed to go into his little room to make sure it was still there in the morning but it was only a little room and he needed to get in and out through the television. He heard Mary start cleaning in the main room and walked through to get out of the door before the floor was wet. He walked across to the tavern.
When he walked up to the bar he saw that his nearly empty tankard had been replaced with a full one, he did not mind the beer had been quite warm near the end as he drank it slowly. He took a large mouthful from the fresh tankard of ale and licked his lips.
‘Name of Ward now I recall,’ Goliath announced suddenly, that's the boy who is fighting Bendigo.’
‘Nick Ward is that, is he the out-of-towner you were talking about?’ William asked.
‘He is.’ Goliath answered.
‘What do you think of his chances against Bendigo then?’ William asked.
‘Not a lot, I think Bendigo will do for him in the fourth round.’ Goliath answered.
‘Personally I think I'll bet on the underdog, Mr Ward.’ William answered.
‘It's your money,’ Goliath declared, ‘my money will be on Bendigo.’
‘We'll see who comes home richer then.’ William replied.
‘As you’re richer from the start, it has to be you,’ Goliath answered.
William could not argue with that logic and to challenge Goliath to bet on a fight that William already knew the outcome of would not be fair, so he said nothing and supped his ale. He knew who won the fight and how long the fight had taken, as it was local to where he was, he thought that he might go and lay a bet on it. He could always use more money, as he was going to buy a lot of stock from Ebenezer Gold.
‘It might be worthwhile taking your pistol when we go,’ William explained, just in case I do get it right as I intend to put a big bet on.’
‘I shall have it with me.’ Goliath replied.
‘Good it might come in useful, that and that old blunderbuss Gus carries.’ William answered.
‘That will do a power of harm at short range,’ Goliath replied, ‘he loads it with small stones, they don’t cost anything!’
‘I’ll remember not to rile him then.’ William acknowledged.
That night William checked on the internet, just to make sure who won. He could remember it from his photocopy and just wanted to make sure. Yes, there it was, the unknown Nick Ward beat Bendigo in the fourth round by knocking him out. As William would not be alone and would have the large Goliath and Gus with him, he thought it was worth a sizeable bet, to build up his funds for the big shopping trip on Friday. He went to bed a happy man.
The following day he arrived for the journey and they were soon on the way to the boxing match. William had decided to watch the people betting to see what size bets were being waged, and on who. If enough were betting on the favourite he had decided to bet £50 on Nick Ward and swell his coffers by £200. There was only one bookie there and as it was in the back of another tavern William assumed that he was giving a cut to the innkeeper. He watched as people queued up to place their bets, including Goliath and Gus. The bets ranged from £1 up to ten pounds when one rich man wagered £100 on the favourite William moved into the line, this was the time to bet. His £50 bet helped the bookie offset the £100 bet and there was a glimmer of a smile on his mouth when he took William’s money. William smiled himself, he knew the man would be very happy when the outsider won and he could pocket all the money bet on the favourite, which far outweighed the money bet on the outsider.
They found a place they could watch from, helped by Goliath’s size. No one argued when he wanted to stand somewhere and a shuffle to one side made room for William and Gus. The fight began with both men taking punches and blood spraying over the audience at times. William watched with only a passing interest until it came to the fourth round, now he watched with great interest. They had both taken punishment and both were bleeding but out of nowhere came the winning blow. Bendigo moved in to try to finish the fight and a right hook lifted him off his feet and he landed on his back. The man counting started the count at normal speed. His count slowed noticeably when he passed five but as Bendigo was not moving, it did not matter. Bendigo did not stir for a full minute and the man counting had to declare Nick Ward the winner. When Bendigo opened his eyes and found out what had happened he walked over to Nick Ward.
‘That was some punch,’ He cried, shaking Ward by the hand, ‘I look forward to our next fight.’
‘I will look forward to it as well.’ Ward answered.
The two walked off arm in arm to clean up while the people who had lost complained and the winners collected their winnings. William collected his winnings and tucked it into his pocket.
‘Next time I bet on the same one you do!’ Gus complained as they walked back out to his chaise.
They returned to the tavern and they celebrated William’s win, with him paying but then he was quite happy to pay. They talked until it was late and then W
illiam walked to the door to walk across the street to his flat. Both Goliath and Gus walked with him to accompany him.
‘Why the escort?’ William asked.
‘We are both known where we went and as you were with us, anyone wanting to take the money you won, just had to watch this place until you come out, so we are making sure you get indoors safely.’ Goliath answered.
Goliath had his pistol and Gus had his blunderbuss. They both accompanied him across the road, Goliath carrying a lantern with his spare hand to let anyone watching know that there were three of them. They waited as William unlocked and waited outside while he locked it back up and slid the bolts across before they returned to the tavern.
William locked the outside door and bolted it then did the same to the door to the room with the opening into the future in it and climbed up the ladder. He had drunk quite a lot of ale and was soon asleep, fully clothed with his duvet pulled over him.
A noise woke him and he looked around but saw nothing untoward, the light pollution making it possible to see in his flat. He heard a voice and traced it to the past and moved over to the television. The door to the room below creaked as someone was trying to open it by force.
It was late and he was tired so he pulled the ladder up, unplugged the television and went back to bed, it could wait until the morning. The money he had won was still piled on the table where he had left it and there it was out of their reach. He pulled the duvet over him and snuggled down, sure in his mind that he was safe from the footpads who were trying to rob him.
When he woke the following morning it was later than normal, as there was very little noise in the flat with the television off. Cars still went by out in the street but he was used to them by now and it had no impact. He opened his eyes and remembered the people breaking into his house in the past and considered his options. The door was likely to be wide open and damaged as would be the door to the room he used to come and go from. That door was no problem but the door outside would be visible to Goliath and Gus. They were bound to investigate and possibly wonder where he was. The peelers might be called to investigate and he would have to come up with some sort of answer as to what happened when they broke in.
