BooksBarbecue
Back The Jump
Chapters (52)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Page
  3. Dedication
  4. Acknowledgements
  5. BOOK ONE
  6. Chapter One
  7. Chapter Two
  8. Chapter Three
  9. Chapter Four
  10. Chapter Five
  11. Chapter Six
  12. Chapter Seven
  13. Chapter Eight
  14. Chapter Nine
  15. Chapter Ten
  16. Chapter Eleven
  17. Chapter Twelve
  18. Chapter Thirteen
  19. Chapter Fourteen
  20. Chapter Fifteen
  21. Chapter Sixteen
  22. Chapter Seventeen
  23. Chapter Eighteen
  24. Chapter Nineteen
  25. Chapter Twenty
  26. Chapter Twenty-One
  27. Chapter Twenty-Two
  28. Chapter Twenty-Three
  29. Chapter Twenty-Four
  30. Chapter Twenty-Five
  31. BOOK TWO
  32. Chapter Twenty-Six
  33. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  34. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  35. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  36. Chapter Thirty
  37. Chapter Thirty-One
  38. Chapter Thirty-Two
  39. Chapter Thirty-Three
  40. Chapter Thirty-Four
  41. Chapter Thirty-Five
  42. Chapter Thirty-Six
  43. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  44. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  45. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  46. BOOK THREE
  47. Chapter Forty
  48. Chapter Forty-One
  49. Chapter Forty-Two
  50. Chapter Forty-Three
  51. Chapter Forty-Four
  52. Epilogue

Lighting yet another cigarette, Dolly sat down. Taking off her slippers, she waggled her toes.

‘You were right, you know, Donna, with what you said just now. I know I treat you like a baby, but it’s the effect you have on people. You make them want to look after you.’

The smoke from her cigarette was making her eyes screw up and for a split second Donna saw Dolly as others must: a large-boned, blowsy woman, with ill-fitting false teeth and a permanent wave. She saw the short stubby fingers and the chipped nails. The lined face with heavy jowls, and the rolls of fat underneath her spotlessly clean apron. Donna felt a surge of affection for her.

‘Well, don’t look after me too much, Dolly. From now on me and you are equal in this house, OK?’

Dolly nodded and took a deep drag on her cigarette. ‘OK.’

She sipped her tea and grimaced as there wasn’t any sugar in it. As she added three large heaped teaspoonsful, she smiled at the thought of the men hidden in the grounds outside at this very moment.

Me and you might be equal, Donna my love, she thought, but as for looking after you - someone’s got to do it. Your old man’s left you in a position where you’d need looking after if you was the Devil himself.

The two women chatted amiably while Big Paddy Donovon and his henchmen watched the house from every angle.

When Lewis’s little mates struck, they’d be ready for them.

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Georgio was watching Lewis as he played chess with one of his posse. Ricardo laBrett, known as Ricky, was a large Afro-Caribbean man, noted on the Wing for his big muscles and even bigger intellect. If anyone wanted to know anything, it was Ricky they went to. It was strange that Lewis, a known racist, courted Ricky’s company. Georgio surmised that Lewis, fancying himself as an intellectual, hoped that his friendship with Ricky would put the seal of approval on it. Why he would want to impress the average lifer was beyond Georgio, but then Lewis had never done anything logical in his life so why should he start now?

Sadie waltzed into the recreation room and Georgio winked at her. After giving him the warning, Sadie had gone up in his estimation, though he was careful not to let it show. The News came on TV and there was a story about the Queen being slighted by a foreign president.

The men watching the news became aggressive.

‘Fucking Australian cunt! I’ll give him fucking snubbing the bleeding Queen! Who’s he think he is anyway! Arseholes the bleeding Aussies are.’

‘Lager-swilling wankers the lot of them. My sister emigrated there and she was home quick smart, I can tell you. Spiders bigger than Thatcher’s gob crawling all over the place there is!’