Last Orders Read Free Page B

in their lunch hours to do deals for cash.
    Lenny says, 'Don't encourage him, Vie.'
    Vie says, 'A hearse is different, everyone makes way for a hearse.'
    Lenny says, 'You mean they don't make way for Vincey here?'
    Vie sits in the front beside Vince, holding the box on his knees. I can see it's how it should be, Vie being the professional, but it don't seem right he should hold it all the time. Maybe we should take it in turns.
    Vince looks across at Vie. He says, smiling, 'Busman's holiday, eh, Vie?'
    Vince is wearing a white shirt with silver cuff-links' and pongy after-shave. His hair is all slicked back. It's a brand new suit.
    We head on past the gas works, Ilderton Road, under the railway bridge. Prince of Windsor. The sun comes out from behind the tower blocks, bright in our faces, and Vince pulls out a pair of chunky sun-glasses from under the dashboard. Lenny starts singing, slyly, through his teeth, 'Blue bayooo,..' And we all feel it, what with the sunshine and the beer inside us and the journey ahead: like it's something Jack has done for us, so as to make us feel special, so as to give us a treat. Like we're off on a jaunt, a spree, and the world looks good, it looks like it's there just for us.

Amy
    Well let 'em go, eh June? Let 'em do it, the whole bunch of 'em. Let 'em do without me. And you. Boys' outing. Do 'em good.
    Jack should know that. All work and no play. Unless you count propping up the bar in the Coach.
    That's what I told him all those years ago. We should give ourselves a break, a treat, we should give ourselves a holiday. His brave little Amy. When you fall off your horse you should get straight back on again. We should get ourselves out of ourselves. New people.
    It might never have come to a choice between you and him.
    My poor brave Jack.
    Back on the merry-go-round, back on the swings. Seaside fun. All those things, June, you never knew. Donkey rides, bucket and spade, Punch and Judy. The waves coming in and the crowds on the beach and kids yelling, running, kids everywhere, and him looking at it like it was all a trick. Watch the birdie, kiss me quick, end of the pier.
    But it wasn't the Pier, he even got that wrong. It was the Jetty. He ought to have remembered: the Pier and the Jetty, two different things, even if the Jetty looked more like a pier, and the Pier was only a harbour wall. Except there isn't no Jetty now, all swept away in a storm, years ago, and good riddance, I say, and amen. So maybe it wasn't his mistake, maybe it was his alternative arrangement. If he had to be chucked, if it was a case of chucking, if he had to be taken to the end of somewhere and chucked, but count me out, Jack, I won't be doing any chucking, then it had to be the Pier. Though it should have been the Jetty.

New Cross
    Vie says, 'Pam sends regards. Shell be thinking of us.'
    Lenny says, 'Same goes for Joan.'
    Vince says, 'And Mandy.'
    I reckon if wives are being mentioned I should shut up.
    Vince says, 'It was good to see Pam at the funeral, Vie. Aint often we get the pleasure.'
    Vie says, 'Sad pleasure.'
    Lenny says, 'Went a treat.'
    We're coming up to the lights by New Cross Gate station and the traffic's slowing to a crawl.
    I don't suppose Carol's even heard. I'dVe got the shock of my life if she'd showed up at the funeral.
    Lenny says, 'They might all've come along too. Joan was all set But I suppose if Amy—'
    I say, 'I don't know how we'dVe squeezed in seven of us, Lenny, even into this thing.'
    Vince says, 'Four of us is comfy. Maybe it's a blokes' job anyway.'
    I say, 'Five.'
    Vince says, 'Five.' Then he says, 'It aint a thing, Raysy, it's a Mercedes.'
    Lenny looks at me then at the traffic all around us. 'Still, aint no car built yet that'll beat a jam, is there, Big Boy?'
    Lenny's a stirrer.
    Vie says, 'Pam was all for doing us sandwiches and a thermos but I said I thought we were old enough to take care of ourselves.' He's holding the box like it might be his lunch.
    Vince says, 'She's a