Guns 'n' Rose Read Free Page A

as if he was family.
    â€˜And, ah, while you’re up there, Les,’ said Price. ‘I might get you to do me a bit of a favour.’
    â€˜A favour?’ Norton sat up a little in his seat, his eyes narrowed slightly and he stared directly at Price.
    Price moved his gaze across to George Brennan. ‘George’ll tell you all about it, Les.’
    Norton zeroed his eyes in on George like two laser beams. ‘So, go ahead, George… old mate. Tell me, what’s this favour? I’m all ears.’
    George lifted his chin a little and the look he gave Norton was almost saintly. ‘While you’re up there, Les, I’d like you to look after my young nephew,Jimmy… James. He’s my favourite nephew and I love him dearly. And that’s the truth, Les.’
    â€˜The truth, eh? Okay, George, what about some more truth? How old’s this James? And what’s he doing up there?’
    â€˜He’s … nineteen. And at the present time young James is in Kurrirong Juvenile Justice Centre doing a year … sort of.’
    â€˜Doing a year… sort of?’ repeated Les.
    â€˜Well, he’s doing his time at Mount Narang. But we got him transferred to Kurrirong because some nutter in the other nick is convinced James gave him up and wants to kill him … blade him. We’re still not sure if he’s safe in Kurrirong. But we got him five days’ compassionate leave while we sort the rattle out with this other Elliott and either get him necked or his legs broken or transferred to Goulburn or something. That’s all.’
    â€˜That’s all?’ said Les.
    â€˜Yeah,’ nodded George. ‘That’s it. Just look after my young nephew for five days in Terrigal. Take him out, have a good time, do what you like. You’ll like him, though. He’s a top bloke.’
    â€˜A top bloke, eh? Well, if he’s such a top bloke, what’s he doing in the nick?’
    â€˜Ahh, some rotten cops up there who don’t like him set him up on a pot charge.’
    â€˜Pot? Shit, that’s bugger all. Especially if he was set up.’
    â€˜And now he’s got some nutter wanting to kill him for nothing.’
    â€˜Yeah, well he sure doesn’t need that, the poor cunt.’
    â€˜So, Les,’ said Price, ‘in a way you’d be doing both yourself and the kid a favour if you go up there. And George, of course—the kid’s uncle.’
    â€˜That’s right, Les,’ said George, ‘a big favour.’
    Les stared into his bottle of beer for a moment. He knew almost from the word go that it was too good to be true. But on the other hand, it did save a lot of stuffing around and he was muttering something to himself earlier about having a bit of company. And besides that, if James turned out to be a flip, it was only an hour and a half back to Sydney and he could piss off somewhere else. Les took a mouthful of beer then shrugged a look across to George. ‘Yeah, why not? Why bloody not? So what’s this nephew of yours’ surname, George?’
    â€˜Rosewater,’ replied George.
    â€˜Rosewater?’ Norton closed his eyes, shook his head and laughed. ‘Jimmy Rosewater. Doing a lag at Kurrirong Juvenile Justice Centre.’ Norton tossed back his head and laughed again. ‘I like it. Oh yes, I like it.’
    By the time everybody except Eddie was half drunk, Les knew what he had to do, where he had to go, and had a road map and the directions on a piece of paper showing him how to get there. He also had the keys to the house and $3000 in cash. All he had to do was pick up a hire car the next morning, take a relaxing drive to Terrigal and collect young James on Thursday morning. Les also had this feeling of deja vu or as if his life at times was like an episode of ‘Minder’ running over and over, and like poor, suffering Terry, he was always doing the right thing by people and getting