ScrapCH THREE part 27

CH THREE part 27
The dogs are going mad, yelping and barking furiously and waking the baby from his morning nap. A Mark ten Jaguar has screeched to a halt outside Casey’s yard and they have never seen it before. Danny’s passenger gets out, wrenches the gates open and Danny drives into the barn where Chewy is quick to shut the doors behind him and secure the yard gates. ‘Fuck me that was bloody close,’ he says hoarsely as Danny climbs out and locks the car door, ‘you sure know how to shake off a tail Danny boy, I’ll give you that.’
The two men go to the boot and remove three large holdalls, which they hide in the space they have created behind the false wall. They were not expecting to be required to bring the consignment home with them and it makes them nervous knowing that there is enough explosive in the barn to blow them all to Kingdom Come. The sooner they can deliver the goods to their destination the better.
Orla frowns as they walk nonchalantly into her kitchen having forgotten to remove their boots. They return to the lobby and do as she wants then casually ask if there is any tea on the go. ‘We’ve not seen hide nor hair of you for best part of a month then here you are in a new car setting the dogs off and all hell sets loose. You can make your own bloody tea while I try to settle young Jason here.’ She takes the baby upstairs where he will be safe from further distraction and lays him in his cot but by now he is wide awake and in no mood for sleep. She will have to put him in the pram and take him for a walk up the lane; she can’t face her son-in-law just yet.
Rosa’s happy mood sinks, her stomach tightens and a feeling of doom clouds her sunny day as she breezes in to the kitchen and her eyes meet the cold stare of her husband, who has been waiting to greet her after his long absence. Chewy has gone to his room so the two have the place to themselves. ‘Well, don’t I get a kiss from my wife after all this time?’ Rosa blushes, not from excitement but from an odd guilty feeling. She gives him a brief kiss on the lips and goes to draw away but he pulls her onto his lap and nausea hits her as he starts to remove her blouse. He stops at the sound of the front door opening and his mother-in-law calling out: ‘it’s only us; he won’t go to sleep so I’ve given up.’ Rosa jumps to her feet and rushes to pick up her son, making a fuss of the lad as an excuse to ignore the lecherous stranger who sits fuming in the other room. She takes the baby into the living room and gulps as she hears Danny stamping up the stairs and slamming the bathroom door behind him. ‘I can’t stand much more of this,’ she whispers to her child, ‘never mind I’ve made my bed so I must lay in it. Either he goes or we do.’
‘Are you going to enter young Jason in the bonny baby competition?’ Orla has asked this same question at least four times and Rosa’s reply has always been in the negative so the only response she gets is a warning look. ‘I’m going in for the glamorous granny,’ her mother babbles on, ‘it’s only a bit of fun but you have to join in the spirit of the thing, after all it’s only once a year and you always used to enjoy the carnival week.’ Rosa finishes changing the baby’s nappy and lowers the soiled terry towelling cloth into the disinfectant bucket, gives it a prod to cover it in the liquid then washes her hands at the kitchen sink. ‘I used to enjoy a lot of things when I was a wean,’ she says wistfully, ‘now I have to make a living for me and this little one so I have more important things to do with my time. I am letting them use my lorry and trailer for a float in the carnival parade so maybe you’d like to ride with me and Jay in the cab. That’s if you’re not on the glamorous granny float of course.’
Danny and Chewy appear in the doorway; ‘is it safe to come in?’ They do anyway and take their seats at the table expecting to be waited on. Orla fills the kettle and sets it on the stove, fussing around making a pot of tea and setting out some home-made tarts, which they men devour and look for more. She plonks the tin on the table and they take their time in finishing the rest of the batch of 24 as they sip their tea. ‘What happened to your hand?’ Orla has noticed that the ring finger on Danny’s left hand has been ripped off, the stump still red and bruised though it has obviously been healing for some time. Danny tries to hide the injury, murmuring something about getting his wedding band stuck in a nail sticking out from a packing crate. ‘Don’t worry,’ he smirks, pointedly watching his wife for any reaction, ‘I still have the ring; look, it’s on the other hand.’ He holds up his right hand to prove the point and his wife says it must be painful. ‘Only pity is they couldn’t sew it back on,’ adds Chewy, ‘by the time we found a doctor the finger had gone off.’ This remark is met with shocked expressions from the other three and Danny quickly changes the subject.
After twenty minutes chattering about nothing in particular Rosa looks at the clock and announces that she has to get a load of tomatoes to the markets, hoping to make her escape without any further uncomfortable contact with the black hearted man she was fool enough to wed. ‘I’ll come with you, ride shotgun,’ he says, noting the shocked look on her face, ‘it’s been a long time since we had a night out together.’ Rosa is desperate to avoid this encounter, arguing that he will be bored and that he surely doesn’t expect ma to entertain his friend and look after the baby on her own. ‘We’ll take him with us,’ he replies, ‘ma says you often have him in the cab with you, it’ll be a proper family outing.’ Rosa looks pleadingly at her mother but Orla shrugs; having said many times that her daughter is not giving the marriage a fair go. She gives in and sets about packing what they will need for the trip while Danny goes upstairs to change. ‘Thanks for nothing,’ Rosa mutters as her mother helps with the sandwiches, ‘I hope you enjoy your evening with the monster from the deep.’