Scrap CH THREE part 8

Scrap CH THREE part 8
Frank is reluctant to go back to the camper van but he is in need of sleep so hopes to sneak in without Dawn seeing him as she has been dropping hints about moving it out of the garden in readiness for the family relocating to the new house.
It is a fine afternoon and children are home from school and playing cricket in the road so he parks the 4litre R well out of range of the batsman’s reach. The ice cream van turns into the road and the Stewart children greet Frank enthusiastically knowing that he will put his hand in his pocket. ‘You’re not catching me on that one again,’ he laughs, remembering the occasion when he ended up paying for all the kids in the street, ‘here’s a couple of quid, get what you want and share the change. And keep the noise down, I’m going for a kip.’ They promise to be quiet and he lets himself into the van and falls into a deep sleep as soon as his head hits the pillow.
Scotty has been in bed since lunch time and by six o’clock he is ready to face another night’s work. He has a quick wash, puts on his clean jeans, t-shirt and boiler suit and heads downstairs to the kitchen where Dawn is washing up after the children’s tea. He gives her a kiss on the cheek and she smiles up at him, still in her reverie about the new house. ‘Your dinner’s in the oven,’ she says, ‘meat pie and veg; mind the plate’s hot.’ Scotty picks up a tea towel and manoeuvres the hot plate onto the table, takes the saucepan lid off and sits down to eat the slightly dried up repast. ‘Me and mum took the twins up to see how the new house is coming along,’ says Dawn as she dries her hands and puts the kettle on for a cup of tea. ‘It’s really exciting getting our own place; I never thought it would happen to us. It’s a bit scary too: what if we fall behind on the payments and they repossess the house?’ Scotty assures her that everything will be alright; ‘the repayments are less than this place costs in rent,’ he reminds her, ‘and we’ve never fallen behind with the Council.’
They sit for five minutes over their mugs of tea, Dawn keeping quiet on the guilty secret that they have often fallen behind with the rent but always been able to catch up. She shrugs away her fears and returns to the happy place where in her mind she has been fitting new net curtains to all the windows and buying proper fitted wardrobes for the bedrooms. She has every detail worked out and goes over her plans many times a day, smiling to herself at the prospect of becoming a home owner. ‘There is one problem we still have to sort out,’ she says, indicating the spot the other side of the wall where Fat Frank’s caravanette stands. Scotty groans inwardly; ‘I told you he’s moving it out at the weekend. Don’t forget we owe him for that business last year.’ Dawn shrugs and returns to her domestic duties, indicating that the discussion is over.
Scotty knocks on the door of Frank’s motor home and calls out that it’s time he was up. ‘Okay, thanks,’ comes the muffled reply, ‘come in if you’ve got time, it’s not locked.’ His pal sits awkwardly on the bench opposite the bed as Frank has a wash and gets dressed in the same clothes he was wearing the day before. ‘Don’t remind me,’ he says, noting the pained look on his pal’s face, ‘she’s been on about me moving the van out the road again. It’ll be gone on Saturday tell her, and don’t worry about me I’ll be okay. What time is it, do we have time to stop at the services for something to eat or is it fish and chips again?’ Scotty gives a sheepish grin as he admits he has already had his dinner and Frank says not to worry as he fancies fish and chips again.
They are about to leave when a terrified scream can be heard from the other side of the privet hedge. A group of children are running about shrieking and crying as a small boy is under attack from a vicious looking dog. The men rush to try and prise open the mutt’s jaws but he holds fast as blood seeps down the boy’s arm. Someone comes out and throws a bucket of cold water over them but succeeds only in soaking the two men as the dog continues his attack. Frank ducks into the van and sprints back with something in his hand. ‘Try and hold him away from the dog’s arse,’ he orders as he takes the lid off the Deep Heat spray and applies a long burst to the dog’s bollocks. Suddenly the boy drops to the floor in a screaming heap; the dog turns to lick the burning sensation in his nether region and in doing so sets his mouth on fire. He begins to spin round and round, not knowing which end hurts the most and is last seen whirling like a demented Dervish up the road and out of sight.
One of the neighbours scoops the boy up and tells her nipper to go fetch the child’s mother. The two men survey their wet clothes, knowing they have no time to change and get on their way. There’s always some drama when Fat Frank is about but he has saved the day yet again.
They trap their wet boiler suits in the passenger windows where they can hang to dry on their way to the markets. Well Frank’s will dry because his cab has a proper heater but Scotty will be lucky with the useless one in the old ERF. They don’t even have time to stop at the chip shop so Frank has to dig into his emergency supply of chocolate bars and biscuits to keep him going.
Neither of them spots the hitchhiker standing at the end of the slip road onto the M2, their nearside windows being obscured. Young Patrick Chapman is left open-mouthed as both his father’s London bound lorries rumble past and onto the carriageway. On second thoughts it’s probably just as well that they haven’t seen him: he wants to make his father suffer. How dare he treat his only son like some kind of freak just because he is not like him? Well stuff him and stuff his haulage business: Patrick is going to be an actor and he can lump it. It may not be the Guildhall but the drama college he is headed for has offered him a place and he has accepted. Now he will have to make his own way and earn his own money. The £215 in his Post Office account won’t last very long and he hasn’t even told his mother he is off, relying on the note he left on the mantelpiece. The only person who knows is Scotty’s daughter and she is sworn to secrecy. She only wishes she could go with him but she knows that will never happen. A tanker driver pulls onto the hard shoulder and Patrick climbs inside, all he owns in the world packed tightly inside his rucksack.