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Back Goodnight Lady Save as PDF
Chapters (60)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Page
  3. Praise
  4. Dedication
  5. BOOK ONE
  6. Prologue 1989
  7. Chapter One
  8. Chapter Two
  9. Chapter Three
  10. Chapter Four
  11. Chapter Five
  12. Chapter Six
  13. Chapter Seven
  14. Chapter Eight
  15. Chapter Nine
  16. BOOK TWO - 1925
  17. Chapter Ten - 1925
  18. Chapter Eleven
  19. Chapter Twelve
  20. Chapter Thirteen
  21. Chapter Fourteen
  22. Chapter Fifteen
  23. Chapter Sixteen
  24. Chapter Seventeen
  25. Chapter Eighteen
  26. Chapter Nineteen
  27. Chapter Twenty
  28. Chapter Twenty-one
  29. Chapter Twenty-two
  30. Chapter Twenty-three
  31. Chapter Twenty-four
  32. Chapter Twenty-five
  33. Chapter Twenty-six
  34. Chapter Twenty-seven
  35. Chapter Twenty-eight
  36. Chapter Twenty-nine
  37. Chapter Thirty
  38. Chapter Thirty-one
  39. Chapter Thirty-two
  40. BOOK THREE - 1947
  41. Chapter Thirty-three
  42. Chapter Thirty-four
  43. Chapter Thirty-five
  44. Chapter Thirty-six
  45. Chapter Thirty-seven
  46. Chapter Thirty-eight
  47. Chapter Thirty-nine
  48. Chapter Forty
  49. BOOK FOUR - 1968
  50. Chapter Forty-one - 1968
  51. Chapter Forty-two
  52. Chapter Forty-three
  53. Chapter Forty-four
  54. Chapter Forty-five
  55. Chapter Forty-six
  56. Chapter Forty-seven
  57. Chapter Forty-eight
  58. Chapter Forty-nine
  59. Chapter Fifty - 1970
  60. EPILOGUE

- Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844-1900

Chapter Thirty-three

Chapter Thirty-three

‘I swear to you, Boysie, I ain’t done nothing! Danny, Danny Boy, tell him for Christ’s sake!’

Dickie Lawson watched as two identical faces peered at him through the gloom.

‘You’re a liar, Lawson. You tucked us up and we ain’t having it.’

Boysie grabbed him around the throat with one large fist. Tiny Dickie Lawson looked at him with terrified eyes.

‘Now I’m going to hit you, see, hit you so hard even your grandchildren will have an headache.’

Daniel stood by while Boysie began pummelling Lawson with his fists. As the man dropped to the floor, Daniel kicked him once in the stomach.

The twins looked at one another and smiled. Then, checking their suits to make sure they were still in pristine condition, walked out of the alleyway and along the Barking Road.

‘Little ponce he is! I tell you now, Danny, he better have my winnings by the end of the week or I’ll muller him. Mind you, after tonight I think he’ll be paying us out all right. Quick smart.’

Boysie looked around him as he walked, taking in everything and anything. Convinced that people were looking at him, admiring him. He had an air of arrogance that tended to draw people’s attention. Daniel on the other hand kept his eyes straight ahead. Of the two boys he was the quieter, the one who did the thinking, the one who was the planner. Unlike Boysie, who lost his temper in an instant and was just as quick to forget a fight, Daniel was unforgiving. He had to have a reason to resort to violence but when he did, he never forgave, ever.

They got into their car in Marlborough Road and made their way towards Manor Park where they lived.

Barking and Dagenham were still showing the signs of the war in great empty spaces filled with rubble. Dirty children were playing where terraced houses had once stood. The Becontree Estate was underway, new homes, shops and new churches to go up upon the rubble and ashes of the past. The spirit of the people, though hungry, homeless and drained by a war that left many of them without men or a place to call their home, was as it always had been. They’d won, and if the price they had paid was high, it was for King and country- though the wags said for a King they hardly saw and for a country that was going to the dogs!