x Winning In The Final Minute 2

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style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">Winning In The Final
Minute

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style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">But that was because everything was different since
the?

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Zinky said, come on, you've got nothing to
lose.

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I swivelled, arrowed him a stare. Zinky was getting famous
for his aphorisms. It was time someone put him in his
place.

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I said, I've plenty. 

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"> style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">    Zinky's face was marblate,
round where it should have been narrow and narrow where it should have
been round. His body wobbled as the head made turret like movements on
his shoulders. He narrowed his eyes to paper
cuts.

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-Like I said, said Zinky,
nothing.

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My room, a packing case that had once contained a dodgem
from Chessington World of Adventures. My furniture, scavenged from
sites within a five mile radius. My breath, the air that we breath.
It's killing us.

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I said, Ok, where is
it?

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First you need a
cockroach.

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I put down my book, 'When We Were Very Young'. Apt in one
way, ironic in another.

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"> style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">    I said, Will you
help?

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Zinky's eyes shone.

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style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">We skirted the parliament crater and skidded down the old
Euston Road. From shells eyes watched
us.

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Zinky said, This way.

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style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">The shopkeeper was a Chinaman. The Chinese were the new Jews.
Or so they liked to believe.

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"> style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">    The Chinaman stroked his beard
upon our request.

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 12.75pt"> style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Can you pay? he
asked.

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I pulled out two tins of
sardines.

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The price is three tins, said the chinaman. His fingers
drifted across the counter top like
spiders.

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Zinky was in the background hovering. This is why he had
brought me.

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I said, What do you want? This one deal or more deals to
come. Two now and next time? I let the words hang in the
air.

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The Chinaman sighed like I was robbing him. It was an act.
He had seen robbery and so had I.

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"> style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">    Ok, he said, and he called the
boy.

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style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">Hurry, said Zinky,
hurry.

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This part of town was new to me. It was probably new to
itself. Things changed quickly these days. People came, people went,
looking for something better. They rarely found
it.

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Here, said Zinky.

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"> style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">    We were outside what had once
been a factory. Two goons were standing outside the door. They were
holding machetes.

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"> style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">    You ready? said Zinky.

style="mso-spacerun: yes">    I nodded
my head.

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I said, As I'll ever
be.

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style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">Inside I hadn't seen as many people in once place since?
well, since before. The smell of unwashed bodies washed over me. My
heart pumped. What had Zinky said, I had nothing to lose. He was wrong.
In times of nothing, we can cling tightly onto
anything.

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There, said Zinky, and he pushed me
forward.

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The man was like a breezeblock with a penchant for
homemade tattoos. He nodded at me I nodded back and took out my
cockroach. A smile fleetingly passed across his lips. It was like a
pebble in a pool.

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"> style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">    You know the rules? he
said.

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They are quite clear I said and two men in the background
cut the air with the blades of their knives. The meaning was obvious.
Briefly I wondered what I was
doing.

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What's the name of your cockroach? said the
man.

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He doesn't have one, I said. Not
yet.

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Nor ever, said the man and he
laughed.

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style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">The smell was stronger than ever. People pushed at me from
behind and in front of us was a circle clearly defined by a line of
chalk. In the centre of the circle was my cockroach. And the
man's.

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Go, someone shouted and the cockroaches probably startled
by the sound as much as anything,
went.

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They'll eat anything, Zinky had said. Even each other. The
Chinese they know how to starve a cockroach. We can't
lose.

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Probably, he was
wrong.

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Already my cockroach was on his back, tumbled from a side
charge. His legs clung to the air and passed
through.

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Sunlight slipped in from a gap in the ceiling, bodies
pressed closer.

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Turn over, I mouthed. Turn
over.

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The other cockroach charged again and this was it's
mistake. It should have taken it slow. Eaten mine bit by bit. But the
charge righted mine and he swung in for a low
attack.

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The crowd sighed.

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"> style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">    I took a deep breath. Sweat
rolled down my back. Zinky was next to me. I clutched his
hand.

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How long have we got? I
said.

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A minute, he said.

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"> style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">    Oh god, I said. Oh
god.

style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">    I wondered why I was doing this. Why
in this time I had agreed to this competition. It would have been
easier to carry on as I was. I didn't need this excitement. I could
have settled for an easy life.

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"> style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">    I closed my eyes and opened
them again.

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Pieces of cockroach littered the circle. Mandible.
Flagellum. Prothorax. Mesothorax.

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"> style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">    Who won? I
said.

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Difficult to say, said
Zinky.

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For once he was
right.