Chapter 2: The Eastenders

The first days of the holidays passed slowly. It rained a lot and the Gang of three's greatest pleasure was sleeping late. By second week the sun had begun to shine, so Clarence, Sumo and Jeff started looking for action. One some days this meant going over to Wansted Flats, grassland on the edge of the Forest where girls walked and where football was played. It was like a Park with the attitude of a Beach.

Clarence loved the forest. He thought other areas of the East end were concrete jungles, with no space to breathe. The flats were a quick escape to greenery. He knew the area well but the took much of its cultural diversity for granted. At school he learnt how in the 16th century French Protestant refugees called Huguenots settled there, then Germans, Chinese, Vietnamese, Jews and Poles had settled too and the least arrivals were Caribbeans, Africans and Bosnians.

Some things never change; though. Every bank holiday the funfair came to Wanstead Flats. All the girls would head there in their girl gangs with their best summer clothes on and the boy gangs would gather with their tough faces and their egos turned on full.

These year, Sophie decided to visit the fair with a couple of friends from school, leaving de Gang of Three to themselves. She had gone to the fair before with the boys and she had hated it. All they wanted to do was drive bumper cars, try to win money or stand around posing and trying to look cool. Sophie loved the thrill of the rides, which the boys weren't that keen on, so she wasn't going to let them hold back.


When the Gang of three arrived at the fair early in the evening, it was still bright and busy. The sounds of the fair rang out over the Flats and the strange smells of electricity and Candyfloss lingered in the air. There was a heavier than usual police prescence. It was normal to see a couple of vans in the back streets nearby but tonight there were two vans at the entrance, and extra police on foot.

You could tell that Clarence was about to play a prank. He put on his "Mischevous" face. He raised his eyebrows and rubbed his chin. His nostrils flared as if to send more oxygen to his brain, then he smiled.

-You two wait here, watch me-

Clarence walked over to a police officer and Started to act distressed. He was very convincing –Officer, there's a man over there with a gun!-

The policeman reached for his radio –Where, son?-

Clarence pointed. –Over there, officer-

The Officer, who was in a state of full alert, turned, only to fin a man pointing a rifle at a coconut shy.

-Hit 1 coconut and ya get a coconut, hit 2 and ya get a toy, and if ya hit 3 ya get a cash prize of a fiver. Can't be bad, good luck, mate-Shouted the vendor on the other side of the counter.

The police officer was furious but relieved. –Come here, you-He shouted to Clarence, who was turned back; Jeff and Sumo cautiously headed in his direction to listen in.

-What da hell do ya think yu doing? Do you wanna spend time in a cell?-

-What for?-

-What for? How about wasting police time, or giving false information for a start-

Clarence put on his "Reasonable" face –What's the matter? Can't ya tek a joke?-
The policeman got angrier and began to point his radio at Clarence's face.

-Listen, son, what you just done is no joke. If I'd got on my radio there could have been up to a hundred officers on this spot within a minut. If you think that's a joke, tell me what's funny about it. Think yourself lucky, lad, I got bigger fish to catch than you tonight. Let me tell ya something, if you ever come my way again I'll nick ya for spitting. I'll lock you up quick, geezer, now move!-

Clarence's face was expressionless. He wasn't frightened, in fact he was tempted to laugh to show the other two how in control he was, but he didn't want to upset the officer too much. Jeff look worried and Sumo looked impressed. At this point a small group of onlookers had began to gather and a higher ranking police officer joined his colleague and asked if there was any trouble.

-No, Sarge, just a kid messing around-

Jeff grabbed Clarence by the wrist and pulled him away. –Let's go-

The police officer repeated his warning. –Remember now, if I see your face near me again, make sure you're innocent-

Clarence was proud of his prank, He checked his credibility with Sumo. –That's was cool, wasn't it?-

-Wicked, guy, you got guts-Sumo replied

Jeff saw things differently –You're mad, you can't mess with the law, you know you're crazy. That's a copper not a teacher-

Clarence put on his "Victorious" face and proclaimed –The law is an ass-


As the Gang ventured further into the fair it became even more apparent that something was not right, Clarence stopped two local boys as they passed –Hey, man, how come there's so many cops out?-

-There's been a trouble-One of the boys replied-The Stokie Crew came down and started to pick pockets. A couple of them tried to mess with Big E girls, so a Big E brother pull a knife and Stokie Crew have to run-

-Any Bloodshed?-Sumo enquired

-Nah, when the Stokie boys see blade, them disappear-

-Later-Clarence ended and the two groups went their ways.

The Big E was the Big E Posse, E meaning East, an alliance of East end gangs. Once all the gangs in the East end fought each other, White Gangs, Black Gangs, Muslim Gangs, Sikh Gangs and Chinese Gangs. But when they were all under attack from gangs like Stokie Crew from Stoke Newington and the South Massive, they were forced to unite to defend Aberdale, their piece of city. When united were left alone no blood was shed.

The gangs still existed on the East side like the Tigers, The Dread Lions and also School gangs like the Bix 6 Posse and the Soul Crew.

Today it seemed that de Stokie Crew had been back sent back but police weren't taking any chances.