My Name Is Leon Read Free Page B

blocks and maisonettes.
    There’s a bundle of wood in one corner of the yard like someone was once going to repair the fence but forgot. Instead, the people in the maisonette next door have mended the hole with barbed wire because of their dog and the argument they had with Leon’s dad when he used to live with them. Leon’s dad stood in the garden, pointed his finger, and said (and Leon can remember it word for word), “If that fucking beast gets into this yard and bites my kid, I’ll rip its fucking heart out, all right, Phil?”
    The dog is called Samson and it has no fur on its chest because of a fight. Instead, it has a bald circle of pink skin and Leonimagines its little dog heart beating underneath and his dad’s hands grabbing Samson’s front paws and tearing them apart until the dog howls.
    Leon knows the sound of a howling dog and when he sees Samson in next-door’s garden, he stands and they look at each other through the rusty barbed-wire hole.
    But today Samson isn’t in his yard and Leon sits with his old Action Man and his new Action Man on the back step. Carol bought the new Action Man for Leon’s birthday at the beginning of July and Tina bought the Action Man outfit. His dad sent him a card with some money in it, so Leon bought a better outfit with jackboots and a gun. When it’s Christmas Leon wants two more Action Men with army uniforms. That will make four altogether and if he keeps going he will have a whole Action Man army.
    Leon hears the doorbell and a man’s voice. He picks up his new Action Man and they both crawl on their elbows, along the carpet, behind the sofa, and look through the gap in the door. A man is in the doorway letting cold air rush in. He’s chunky and tall, wearing a long, black leather coat with a suit on underneath like he’s the bad guy from James Bond. And from the way he has his hands in his pockets, he might also have a gun.
    If he has got a gun and he tries to shoot, Leon will kick the door off the hinges and attack him before he can pull the trigger. Leon knows the moves people make before they shoot, like in westerns when they put their hands out to the side. Or, if Tina is in, Leon could rush past the man and ask her to come and help. Or call the police. Leon wishes he didn’t always need the toilet when he gets excited or frightened. He bunches his trousers at the front and squeezes his crotch into the carpet to stop the pee coming out. The man speaks slowly with his head to one side like his mom is a baby or she’s a bit slow.
    â€œDon’t make this into something it ain’t, Carol.”
    Carol’s crying and saying “Tony” all the time but the man isn’t listening.
    â€œI’m married. Good as. I didn’t want another kid and I don’t want another girlfriend. I don’t want someone calling the house all the time and I don’t want someone visiting my friends and making a fuss.”
    Carol’s making gulping noises.
    â€œDidn’t I say that already?” the man says, still with his head to one side and still with his hand on the invisible gun.
    â€œDon’t pass messages to all my friends, either. It’s pissing me off. Just leave it, Carol.”
    Carol starts speaking a few times but she can’t get her breath, so her words come out lumpy and wrong.
    â€œYou haven’t even laid eyes on him yet, Tony. What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to think when you can’t even be bothered to buy him a rattle?”
    â€œCome off it, love. You saying this is about money?”
    Carol’s head shakes from side to side.
    â€œNo,” he continues, “this is about the crap you’ve been telling yourself to cover a couple of months screwing in the back of my car, isn’t it?”
    Carol says nothing.
    â€œI don’t know what it is about you, Carol. Even with snot on your face you’re a beautiful chick but