George and Spider Part Seven - Spider's Story cont'd

'It it's fine,' said Spider, 'Thanks Mmmmmr Jules.'

George looked worried. He knew that a pint was more than enough to get Spider drunk, and if he hadn't eaten, ill with it too. He opened his mouth to advise his friend to drink slowly, then thought better off it and sighed instead. Perhaps drink was just what Spider needed to come out of his shell.

'I was just saying to these boys,' said Winky, 'It's all change in here isn't it Arthur?'

'Yep, it's the business.'

Francis cocked his head towards his father and said, 'Dad's always in here. Best mates with the new landlord.'

'He's got his niece helping out tonight, she's a bit slow though, a bit green.'

'Green?' said Winky, confused.

'New,' said Francis, 'still learning the ropes.'

'Oh, a young one. Is she very-?' Winky raised his fat hands in a curving motion across his chest, as if he were fondling a large pair of breasts.

The others laughed. 'She looks like a little mouse!' said Arthur, 'Poor girl can barely see over the bar.'

Winky turned towards Spider and said, 'Perhaps a good fit for this young man.'

Spider was mortified and promptly accelerated his drinking rate. He lifted his glass to his face, as if to hide, and George could see a distorted version of his friend's panicked features through the bottom of the glass.

Suddenly Winky lifted his hand to his mouth and produced a loud, deliberate cough. The others sensed that he was trying to change the atmosphere, to make it more serious, to make them look at him. 'While we are all sober, ' he said, standing up and reaching down into his trouser pocket. 'I have something to show you.' He held up what appeared to be an auction programme and thumbed through the pages until he found the correct one. 'Here, here it is, look at this now.'

He dropped heavily back into his seat and tapped the image with his thick finger-tip. The other men leaned forward and observed a photograph of what appeared to be a small gold box, exquisitely decorated with gemstones, arranged into a crest. Scribbled down next to it was an address. George cocked his head to read it, the address was local, it was on a road he knew well.

Winky looked distressed for a moment. 'A friend of mine lost out on this,' he said quietly. 'His mother was very sick and he was out of the country, attending her needs and distracted by her pain. His staff, the fools, they missed it too. So now he is er, a little sick himself because he is a collector of rare and beautiful things, objects,' Winky became animated now, he looked at each man in turn and continued, 'Objects which sing and tell stories. I know you boys are in the business, and I am quite sure that you understand his desire.'

The men all nodded and vaguely agreed. Francis looked very nervous, Arthur smiled politely but there was worry in his eyes. George and Spider both had their hands clasped together, for they were anticipating something for themselves and their guts turned little somersaults.

'And this friend of mine,' Winky continued, 'well, he waited a very long time for this particular object to come onto the market, and now,' he shrugged, 'it's come and gone, joooooom! Right from underneath his hairy Jewish nose.' He turned to stare hard at George and Spider, and said, 'Something tells me that you two boys are the ones with the skills to retrieve this for me, so I can pass it onto my friend. He will be very, VERY grateful and forthcoming in rewarding your efforts. And -,' Winky laughed now. 'Best of all he will be forever in MY debt, and that is something which one can never under-estimate the value of.'

Spider glanced at George with a sidewards grin on his face, trying to stifle his excitement. George did a double take, his friend was now showing signs of intoxication; his face being extra pale and free from the anxiety which had previously dominated his expression. Arthur looked at both of them, then back at Winky. Francis looked gravely at his father, as if to say, should they really be getting into this?

Winky's proposal created an invisible meniscus of tension around the table. He was a dominant character, an alpha-male, and he'd held their attention for several minutes. Now there was a tautness in the air which the others felt desperate to break. But surely the only way to break it was to agree to what the man was asking them to do.

'Well this IS what you two do isn't it? I mean I hope I'm not asking too much of you.'

George shook his head firmly. 'No, no Winky, not at all. This is exactly what we do,' he said, placing his hand upon Spider's shoulder. 'Isn't it mate?'

Spider blinked hard. He had a glazed over look about him, like a child who's stayed up too late. 'Yes,' he said, 'when there's an R in the month, yes - it's what we do.'

Arthur shook his bronze head in dismay. 'You what? When there's an - R in the month? What the - do you mean by that?' he said, looking to George for an answer.

'He just means that we do it more in the winter than the summer, that's all Dad,' said George impatiently, 'There's more opportunities in winter - for professionals like us that is.' He turned to Winky and nodding reassuringly, he said, 'We're not the sort to push filthy hands through kitchen windows and grab, you know, whatever happens to be there on a hot summers day. We're not housebreakers, never have been. We're more respectful, thoughtful about what we do. We take a little here, a little there, under the cover of darkness, and we're careful about who we take it from.'

Spider sat up and cleared his throat. 'There a whole er, eco, ecosystem out there,' he said, 'It's not our place to go upsetting it. In the sssssummer months we like to withdraw from the trade and just lllet the public re-stock. You'll find us on the fffishing lakes then.'

'Good! Professionals are exactly what I'm looking for. Well - you don't have to decide now,' said Winky as he folded up the auction leaflet and returned it to his pocket. 'You can think about it. Let me know in say- , three quarters of one hour, okay? Now let's have another drink.'

Winky got up now and headed off in the direction of the toilet. There was about thirty seconds of silence. George tried to behave as if nothing important had taken place, and in an attempt to display this nonchalance he emitted a sort of quiet, tuneless whistle.

Francis sighed heavily and said, 'Not sure about this Dad.'

'What's it got to do with you?' George snapped. 'It's sounds like a bloody straight forward job to me, and it's on our patch. What do you say Spider?'

'I know I can retrieve the box - no problems,' Spider said plainly.

'I reckon Winky'll make it worth your while kids!' said Arthur, rubbing his hands together.

Francis placed his elbows on the table and clasped his fingers together to make a sort of roof shape. He frowned hard, showing the deep lines of his forehead. 'Stealing to order Dad? That's what this is. It's one thing to rob things on an, on an ad-hoc basis, but surely this is crossing a line into more organised stuff. I don't like it.'

George gave his brother a hard, uncompromising stare.

'Them two boys,' said Arthur, pointing rather rudely at Spider. 'Will always be involved in crime. At least this way we know about it, we can supervise it. I'm giving em the amber light.'

Francis looked horrified, he said, 'On your head be it Dad.' Then he turned to George and said, 'You two wouldn't last two minutes inside. They'd make mincemeat of young Spider here, they'd break him into pieces and-'

George turned now. Strange little dents appeared upon his forehead as he morphed instantly into a hissing, hateful Pit Viper. Occasionally this happened, it had been a feature of his personality since he was a toddler. 'Inside?' he said, 'You've got no idea how good we are Franny, how professional we are! There's nothing, what was it you said, ad-hoc, there's nothing AD-HOC about what we do. We've never even come close to getting caught. We're not like you Franny, sitting there all day long in your cosy world, doing what? Fiddling! Fiddling with bits of metal. You know fuck!'

'Okay George, keep yourself in!' said Arthur. He noticed Winky walking back towards the table with some drinks, he lowered his voice and said, 'Fran's only trying to protect you.'

Winky plonked the tray of drinks on the table. 'All good things,' he said, 'all good things, I hope you were saying about me. I trust you will find these refreshments to be correct, I was served by the little mouse. She has fine white teeth, not at all like the long, orange teeth of a mouse.'

George watched with great concern as Spider grabbed his second pint and began to gulp. Winky lit up a filthy cigar and began to stare at Spider as if he were some curious object. 'So this young man is known as The Spider, ah?'

'Spider,' said George.

'T's what he said,' said Spider.

'He said - The Spider.'

'Yep, that's my name,' said Spider, rather more loudly than George had heard him speak for a very long time.

'So tell me erm, Spider,' Winky began, 'for I am very keen to learn, how exactly did you get into your profession?'

Spider sniffed nervously, he looked at George who gave him a strong, singular nod, as if he were transferring some special energy to his friend to enable him to speak.

'I I I-' Spider stopped suddenly and took a deep breath. He was saddened and resigned rather than distressed to discover that he couldn't beat his stammer. However alcohol had softened his nerves, freeing him sufficiently to continue. 'Well I only ever wanted to be an astronaut like George,' he said very quickly.

'No no,' said Arthur with a shake of the head. 'What he means is, that he never wanted to get a proper job like George!'

The men laughed. George raised his eyebrows and said, 'He's too good for a proper job, that's the point Dad, he'd be wasted on it!'

Spider waited for the laughter to fade, since his voice wasn't up to competition, then he continued, 'I had a strange childhood, My m mom, she worked in here, in this p pub, for years. I d didn't want to come tonight.'

'I know, I remember her, Bev Buffet - I think everyone remembers Bev Buffet!' said Arthur, laughing.

George gave his father a hard, chastising stare, the second of many that evening.

Spider licked his lips, sadly nodding, he said, 'Yes - that was her name.'

'It's all changed now,' said Arthur, 'nothing like when your mother was here.'

'Yes, it's very d different,' Spider said, glancing around, then his eyes fixed down on the table. 'She didn't like me - my mmmother. She hhhated me actually.'

'Hated her own son. I don't believed such a thing!' said Winky.

'It's true,' said George, 'hated him.'

There was a short silence. Spider seemed to drift into another world. George gave him a nudge and he continued, 'She didn't like - looking at me, didn't like ssseeing me. From a very young age - I had to learn to vanish, to dis disappear.'

'Disappear?' said Arthur, grimacing.

'Yes!' said George, 'Just listen Dad!'

'I had to keep out of her way, to be invisible. There was nowhere to hide in our tiny mmm mmm-'. Spider hated the word maisonette but he was determined to get it out. 'Mmmmaisonette.'

'Carry on son, we're listening,' said Arthur.

'When I was t ten, she met the Welsh lorry driver - B Barry. She was mad for him, she cut down her hours here, he didn't lllike her working see, n not in a bar. Things got a lot worse then - I had to be out of the house all the tttime, until mmmidnight at least, otherwise I might c catch them, you know, at it. Then she'd go mmmad, completely mad and-'

The others stared at Spider, their faces had changed now, their expressions attentive, concerned.

'Women!' said Francis, shaking his head.

'Welsh lorry driver?' said Winky very slowly, as if the words were somehow more significant than they actually were.

'Carry on son,' said Arthur.

'So what did you do until midnight?' said Francis, 'Where did you go?'

Spider stared at the space in front of his head for a few seconds, then slowly he looked back at Francis. 'Well to begin with,' he said, 'I just hung around, near our maisonn-, house. But there was nnnowhere to hide see, not on our estate, there's nothing, nothing but ggrrass and-'

'He lives at The Lawns,' said George.

'The Lawns?' said Winky.

Arthur shook his head and said flatly, 'It's a rough place to live. Carry on son, we're listening.'

'If she saw me out there, on the grass, she would lllean out of the window and just yyyell and scream, the most horrible things at me.'

'You must have been very lonely,' said Arthur, 'I know what it is to be lonely.'

Francis and George felt uncomfortable and oddly guilty about this impromptu comment from their father. For some reason George felt exceedingly annoyed by it and briefly he fantasized about breaking a glass over his father's bald head and watching a dark drip of blood roll down his smooth bronzed face.

'I had a pet spider for a while,' Spider continued, 'but my mom mashed it up. She hated spiders, said they were the-,' he thought for a few seconds. 'The embodiment of evil.'

'I'm non too keen on them myself,' said Arthur.

Francis tutted and said, 'So what happened next, where did you go?'

'I used to walk and walk, on the streets, but I never had a proper c coat. Sometimes I got very tired so I started going down the sides of people's properties to rest, hiding in their back gardens and that. I felt like an an animal, a feral creature. It was very fascin- fascinating, I looked at people through their windows, normal people, I hadn't seen normal people, except on TV.'

'Normal people?' said Francis.

'Yeah - just n normal like. Washing up, having meals, cooked meals. My mom didn't cook so I'd never s seen live cooking, in action-'

'Live cooking!' said Arthur, 'You can come round mine and watch me, I like an audience.'

'Dad!' said George.

Spider smiled. 'I listened to their voices talking. It was like - all these other worlds existed. I didn't have any toys when I was young see, and we never had a proper garden, just a smoking yard, but I discovered all of these worlds, on the str the streets. I could watch.'

'So where did you hide, when you were spying?'

'I never did spying Mr Jules. But I went into front gardens, in hedges, behind bins, up trees. I was like a cat. I was friends with the local cats, I was one of them. Cats like to watch don't they, but no-one would accuse them of spying. I was cast out into the night like them. I even used the bushes in the way that they do.'

Arthur rolled his eyes but George gave him another hard look. Spider took a long swig of beer. His dark eyes kept getting drawn like magnets to the orange, flashing lights which shone in sequence on the games machine across the room. Spider's brain seemed to take relief in watching the pattern repeating over and over again.

'That machine was here before!' he said suddenly looking frightened.

Arthur shook his head, 'No, not that one, landlord got it new.'

'But then you started going inside houses, didn't you Spider mate?'

Spider slowly came out of his daydream. 'Yes,' he said quietly, 'It was mostly because of the cold, I feel it see. I was amazed, so many p people just leave their back doors unlocked. It's as if part of them actually wants somebody to just wander in off the str streets, and j join them on the sofa.'

'I doubt that son!' said Arthur.