A Chancer Read Free

the door was shut she could be heard asking if the tumbler had smashed.
    There was a travelling clock on the dressing table. Nearly 8 pm. He got up from the bed, walked to the window, pulled the curtains aside to see out and down the three storeys to the street
below. It was now dusk, rain drizzling. He closed the curtains. He looked at himself in the mirror of the wardrobe door, patted his hair down. In the ashtray his cigarette had burned away and the
grey ash was about threequarters of an inch in length. He took two drags on it before stubbing it out.
    By the time Betty returned another LP was playing and he was sitting on the bed browsing through the sleevenotes on the various covers. I’m really sorry Tammas. She said, It’s that
wee bugger William. I ended up having to put him to his bed. He’s a bloody pain so he is.
    Mm.
    You never get any peace in this house at all.
    Tammas nodded. He opened his cigarette packet and lighted one. Betty shook her head: You dont know how lucky you are. Sometimes I feel like running away. Just packing my bags and going away,
going away from here altogether.
    She sat down beside him and he put his arm round her shoulders. And she continued speaking: I’ve got an Auntie lives in England. She was up in the summer for a visit and she was telling me
there was plenty of jobs down there if I ever felt like trying it.
    Hh, whereabouts?
    Torquay.
    Is that no just seasonal work?
    No, all the year round.
    I never knew that, I thought it was just hotels.
    No.
    They were silent for a short while. Tammas leaned across to nip his cigarette into the ashtray, leaving the remainder on the side to be smoked later. He grinned: Did the tumbler smash right
enough?
    It was a china cup! Mammy’ll kill him . . . She smiled, put her hand to her mouth and bit at the corner of her thumbnail. She smiled again and added. What like were you when you were a
boy?
    Terrible.
    Honest?
    What! Terrible! No kidding ye Betty!
    I dont believe you.
    I was – ask my sister!
    Well I will!
    Good! Tammas grinned at her and inclined his head to kiss her on the lips.
    She moved away quite soon and she said, It was their fault anyhow because they shouldnt’ve let him take one of the china cups.
    He nodded.
    •••
    The runners were at the post for the 2.15 at Lingfield. He was standing gazing up at the names of the horses listed on the board. The latest betting show had just come through
the speaker and the elderly boardman was still marking up the price changes. Then Donnie appeared in the doorway. He rushed straight over and grabbed Tammas by the elbow, kicking the holdall bag
that stood between his feet. Come on ya bastard!
    Hang on a minute.
    No time man come on they’re nearly fucking away . . . Donnie bent and lifted the bag and pushed him on the other side of the shoulder. Tammas glared at him and strode off to the counter,
scribbled out a bet and passed it beneath the grille to the cashier who returned him the receipt when he had paid across the money.
    Donnie was holding the door open. They raced along to the subway station, in time to see the others disappear round a corner beyond the ticket office.
    Down at the platform a subway was in and they clattered aboard just before the gates shut. The rest of the team was sitting along at the top end of the compartment. Following Donnie down Tammas
sat next to him on the side away from the others. Donnie was pointing him out to the man in charge of the team and saying, This is the guy I was telling you about, plays in the midfield, or
wherever.
    The man glanced along at him and so did some of the team members. He took out a cigarette and lighted it, he gazed at the floor while exhaling smoke.
    Forty minutes later they were at the park and having to rush into the dressing rooms to get changed. The opposing team passed them on their way out.
    When Donnie had his strip on he began fixing an elastic bandage round his left knee and he whispered, I’ll see him in a