CHAPTER SIX
Two weeks later, Lofty saw Jac going into a building in town and hoped she'd be okay. He'd seen the nameplate for the dentist's surgery. He sat on a bench and read his graphic novel until she came out again.
"Are you okay? Would you like my arm?" he asked.
"What on earth for?" asked the ungracious Jac.
"You've been to the dentist, haven't you?"
Jac decided to tease him.
"Might have."
"What happened?"
"I might have one coming out in a couple of weeks" Jac replied, trying not to smirk.
"That's a long time to wait." Lofty's face was concerned.
"You're telling me!" Jac agreed.
"Look, why not come back home with me? I'm sure Dad will have some good painkillers around."
Jac sighed. This was going to get messy if Mr Hanssen was involved.
"Okay, I haven't been to the dentist. That was just to stop you asking lots of daft questions about where I have been. The place on the top floor is a newspaper office. They buy horror stories. I thought it might bring some money in-"
She wished she hadn't said that when Lofty said earnestly:
"Dad and I are more than willing to help-"
"Forget I said anything about money. Duffee will have my guts if I start begging."
Lofty decided to change the subject.
"I know a secret that might make you laugh" he ventured.
"Go on then."
"You know how Zoe's only got one glove at the moment?"
"Yeah, she looks a real prat."
"Well, I know where the other one is."
"Do tell" Jac's voice reflected boredom.
"Max has got it."
Jac was bored no longer.
"What the hell for?"
Lofty smirked.
"I don't know, but he carries it about in his suit pocket, next to his heart."
"I've never heard anything so disgusting in my life! The pervert! The great sleazy pervert! I'm going over there to punch him right now!"
"Please don't, Jac. Dad'll skin me alive if he knows I've been taking the pee out of Max."
"Good. You'd look better skinned!"
Lofty decided to deflect the drama for the time being.
"Okay, I'm a prat and I shouldn't have told you. Come on, I'll race you back to Dad's."
"That'll be the day!" Jac decided to swallow her rage for the present, and went rushing off down the road.
Lofty ran after her, trying to keep up. He was an agile lad but Jac could be like a juggernaut once she got in motion.
"Story in the paper you might want to see" Jac said casually, two weeks later.
Rashid looked in the paper at once, as he liked to support Jac. He went very pale after reading the story, and passed it to Dom.
"Oh wow! Oh this is nasty! I love it!" Dom chuckled.
"Let me see."
Zoe had her turn and said a little prissily:
"It's not a nice story is it? Zombies loose in the park? Who wrote it anyway?"
"I did" Jac said almost defiantly. She was annoyed with Rashid and Zoe for being wet blankets.
"Oh, Jac! It's really good!" Rashid's big heart overcame his squeamishness.
"Well I got fifty quid for it" Jac said, trying to sound casual.
"Oh great. We can go on the razz tonight!" whooped Dom.
"It's for the flat. Food, maintenance. Moron!" Jac snapped at Dom.
"Maybe we could have a takeaway?" Rashid suggested a compromise.
"Not when there are scraps in the kitchen that Saint Jac can get Glen to cook" sulked Dom.
Things were just turning nasty when Duffee came in, her face pale. She held a letter in her hand.
"From Charlee" she said, her lip quivering.
Jac, being Jac, grabbed the letter and read it through.
"But this is good" she enthused, "Charlee looks as if he's decided to become a committed adult and-"
It was very rare that Duffee raised her voice. So when she screamed at the Trainees, it was a total shock.
"Learn to read, Jac, for goodness sake! The letter does not say he's become a committed adult."
Glen, sensing drama, came in to hover.
"He's confessed to committing adultery!" screamed Duffee and wiped her eyes and nose on Glen's apron.
"You wash that before you cook us anything" Jac hissed at Glen. Glen was already holding the apron at arms' length and taking it to the laundry basket.
"I have to go and talk some sense into him! I thought he'd been fighting on the picket line, not entertaining that Union floozie Frieda Petrenko! You'll just have to manage without me, Trainees."
"Nooooo!" wailed Dom, but a punch from Jac shut him up.
"Tell us what to do" she said calmly to Duffee.
"Well, no more lolloping for a start" Duffee's smile was wintry, "Keep the flat nice. Take it in turns to do the washing and the housework. Keep up your training. Mr Hanssen and Lofty are there if you have any big problems but don't go running to them on a whim, okay? There's lots of food in the pantry and the fridge so you needn't worry about that. Now get me a cab."
Duffee rattled away in her cab and the trainees cried together for a while, then just got on with things. For two days they were full of enthusiasm and determined to keep the place nice for poor hurt Duffee. Then the rot set in. Rashid came home from training with a bad cold, which looked like turning to flu.
"Could somebody go into town and look in on Mr Avdiyovski?" he asked hopefully.
"Can't do it, Rashy. Got my Day Release with Mr Griffin" shrugged Dom.
"I've got to go and look after horrible Grace Beauchamp" hedged Zoe. She didn't have to go till later in the afternoon but wanted to do some window shopping first.
"I'm halfway through another story for the paper. Fifty quid, remember?" Jac was out of the door before you could say Big Issue.
Rashid sighed.
"Okay, I'll go. I've a bit of money for him and some food."
Oh, if only those Trainees had known, they would have insisted on going to town with Rash themselves! But they couldn't have known.
Rash turned up at the usual Big Issue spot in town. It was dark and cold and he just wanted to lie down at home but he knew that Mr Avidiyovski would be so grateful for the food and money. But alas, Mr Avdiyovski was no longer selling Big Issues. He'd sent letters and attended an interview and had now got himself a voluntary job in a goat sanctuary that was going to lead to a real job later. And the new Big Issue Seller was a false, evil man. He took the food and money willingly from Rashid, but that wasn't enough for them.
A sobbing Glen told the Trainees the rest of the tale.
"He stalked poor Rashid and jumped on him in a quiet part of town. He stabbed Rashid in the heart and ran off with his wallet!"
The police officers standing at the door seemed to verify Glen's story.
The Trainees were stunned.