Angel 34 (Jonah)

Val made a point of meeting Angel outside her cell door after her meeting with the governor.  ‘Some of the girls have been talking. C’mon back to mine for a word.’

Val shared a cell with Carla, a thin girl with a twitch. There was something of the little and large about them and might have been a bit more. Angel didn’t want to think about it. She had her own worries.

‘Make us a cuppa and then fuck off,’ Val told her cellmate. ‘And gie’s a bit of peace.’

It was like a girly cave with a kettle and telly. The walls of their cell were decorated with snaps of celebrities. Angelina Jolie seemed to be a favourite.

Carla’s legs dangled from the top bunk. She got up from her bed and flicked the kettle on. She stood beside ladder to the top bunk and yawned loudly, winking and twitching at the telly. ‘We’ve only got two cups,’ she told Val and looked over at Angel who’d remained standing near the door.

‘We only need two.’ Val reminded her. ‘You’ll no be here.’ She sat in the hard chair across from the telly. One knee was balanced on another and she clutched her foot at the ankle.     

Val sipped at her tea, but waited until her cellmate was away before she spoke. ‘Heard you’d a bit of a run in with that cow Carol Anne. Can’t say I blame you, I can’t stand her and we’d a bit of previous. Was gonnae sort it out. She owes me a good bit.  You’ve done me a big favour.’

Angel warmed her hands on the mug. ‘Glad to be of help.’ She sat on the lower bunk, her knees sticking out like a grasshoppers. ‘But I cannae really claim any great credit. She really did stick herself with a fork.’

‘Aye, well, whatever. Hope the fucking cow dies.’

‘Jesus, don’t say that.’  Angel shifted her bum along to get more comfortable as the mattress seemed to slope into the centre and suck her in. ‘Then, I’d be up for murder. That would be just like the thing, everything I dae turns to fucking shit.’

Val chuckled into her tea. ‘Aye, you’re probably right.’

‘You’re my pal,’ said Angel. ‘You’re meant to disagree wae me.’

‘Aye, well,’ Val’s eyes danced with merriment. ‘Pals are pals but you cannae knock the truth.  Even the screws are a bit wary of you. Your kinda bad luck is like a contagious disease. I bet if you went to help a blind man across the road as soon as you touched his hand he’d run into the road and get hit by a bus.’

Angel smiled. ‘Aye, you’re probably right.’ She took a gulp of tea and shook her head. ‘This tea’s rotten. I cannae drink it.’ She put the mug below the bed, at her feet.

‘My tea’s fine.’ Val nodded her head. ‘That just shows you, eh? Two mugs of tea and you pick the wrang one. That’s my mug you’re drinking from.’

‘How,’ Angel slapped a protective hand across her belly. ‘Was there something in it?’

‘Aye, there was.’ Val leaned sideways and slapped her across the leg as she delivered the punch line. ‘Tetley!’

‘You sure?’

‘Don’t flatter yourself, Angel.’  

‘Sorry, I just thought.’

‘I know whit you thought. I was just having a laugh.’ Val shrugged. ‘These things happen. But you know, of course, Carol Anne willnae plead. As soon as the screws come to interview her she’ll backtrack on everything she said. She knows better than to be a grass. Her life would be a living hell. But she’s got whit she wants, they’ll move her to another wing.

Angel took a deep breath, ‘No I never knew that. Thanks.’

Val picked at her nose. ‘Nae bother.’ She flicked the snot away. ‘That’s whit friends are for, to fuck you up.’

‘Need to remember that.’ Angel kneaded one of her knuckles and stood up. ‘Better go. Supposed to have a visitor tonight.’

Val played the fool, her voice rising in mock merriment. ‘Oh, anybody, I know?’

‘Well, actually, you dae.’ Angel watched her face change at being caught off guard. ‘Remember Tony, from the Home.’

‘Nah,’ Val rubbed an arched eyebrow.

‘You do. Blonde hair. Always wae me. And Bruno.’

‘Bruno! Oh aye, I remember that freak. Who wouldnae? And the other boy – oh aye, he was handsome, eh?’

‘Aye, I think he’s alright, I suppose.’

‘Fuck off. He was fucking gorgeous – that you’re boyfriend? – yah lucky bastard. Angelina would have chucked Brad and married him in a second, if she’d met him first.’

‘No, we’re just friends.’

She flicked a wrist, waved a hand impatiently, but there was a smile on her chubby cheeks. ‘Fuck off wae the friends shite.’

Angel sat in the waiting room of the visitor’s block, biting at her nails. She shifted a head and looked around at the empty seats.

A guard stood at the door and looked over at her. His face was sympathetic and his voice more so. ‘Visiting time’s nearly up,’ he said. ‘Looks like a no show.’

‘There’s still time,’ she bit back tears.

He shook his head. ‘No, there’s no. Naebody will get in now…And people are leaving.’

‘Doesnae matter,’ she sniffled. ‘Something must have happened.’

The screw dragged one foot back and forward scuffing the floor. ‘It usually does…Whit was it a boyfriend or something?’

‘Aye,’ she replied emphatically. ‘Just a friend. If it was a boyfriend I’d be raging.’

‘Aye, well, you’re lucky then. Could have been much worse.’

‘Suppose.’

‘I’ll maybe get somebody to take you back to the block early – if that’s what you want, maybe get catch the early supper crew?’

Angel rocked back and forth. She looked at the door to the visiting room. ‘Aye, that’d be great, but I’ll just wait. Just in case.’

The guard shook his head. ‘Nae mair visitor.’

‘Aye, I know. Appreciate it.’ Tears dripped from Angel’s chin, blinded, as she stared at her feet. ‘But you might hear something.’