Stone Cold Red Hot (8 page)

“One chap I knew, Archie Ferguson, he was a big man in the unions at Ferranti. Well, Archie died last year and his wife Betty rang me.”

“‘George,’ she says, ‘I’ve half-a-dozen boxes here, Archie’s papers and he wanted you to have them.’ I got round there and she’s got a room full. He kept everything - minutes going back forty years, notices of meetings, old rule books, correspondence. I could have filled a ship with it. Well, I found what was worth keeping, and that took some doing, mind you, and I told her to get the scouts to take the rest for their paper collections.”

I smiled. “I’d like to get a cup of coffee.”

“I’ll do it,” he pulled himself up.

“I don’t mind,” I volunteered, if you show me where you keep everything.”

“I’ll show you now and then if you need anything later you know what’s what.”

Back in my viewing position I sipped coffee and demolished my snack. I felt an initial wave of fatigue as all the blood rushed to my stomach. I stretched and yawned and fooled around with the camera a bit. It was dark now, the scene illuminated in moody orange from the streetlights.

Two cars drove down the Close at high speed. People spilled out at the bottom. There was a lot of shouting and snatches of a song. “Engerland, Eng-er-land.” I felt my spine tense. I wondered whether Mrs Ahmed was listening too, waiting for the trouble to begin.

The group walked up the street and gathered on the pavement outside the Ibrahims’. I began to film. There were six in all. The twins and Micky Whittaker were there and another teenager, seriously overweight and with a shaved head. I filmed the group and the scene before cutting in for close-ups. It was obvious who the men were, they closely resembled their offspring: Mr Brennan, balding with thin patches of flame coloured hair, short, stocky, grinning a lot; his accomplice Whittaker, tall and stooping with lank, shoulder length hair and a thin moustache. He wore a denim jacket and torn jeans and looked as if he was freezing. He shivered frequently, stood with his shoulders hunched, arms crossed, hands tucked under his armpits.

A joint was passing round and the Whittaker boy passed round cans of super-strong lager. One of the twins sprayed the other with foam and got cuffed across the face by his father who screeched at him. “Don’t waste it, yer fuckin’ pillock.”

The teenagers glugged at the cans, toked on the joint. They moved closer to the house. Then in turn they ran up and hammered on the door, screaming and shouting. After a minute or two they’d swap places, like a sick relay race. The men began to sing a dirge; “Go home, go home, fuck off, go home...” to the tune of Amazing Grace. As the ditty finished they broke into a fast chant, obscene and racist. I caught fragments, I didn’t know how much the microphone on the camera would pick up, enough I hoped. “Coons and wogs, they eat dogs, ay allez oop...”

I hated them. I wanted to silence them, kick their stupid, racist heads in. Not a civilised response, I know, just a gut reaction.

Next time, if there had to be a next time, I’d leave the window ajar to catch more of what they were saying.

I heard a movement behind me - Mr Poole opening the door. He’d had the sense to turn the landing light out.

“I’ve spotted Brennan and the twins and Whittaker and his boy. There’s another lad as well, shaved head, overweight?”

“Bunter, that’s what they call him. Darren is his real name. He lives next door but one. He’s a bit slow. They lead him on, that lot, take advantage of him and he gets into trouble. He doesn’t understand half of what’s going on - just wants to be part of the gang. Grown men.” I heard him sigh. “What, on god’s earth, makes them do this?” Frustration strained his voice.

The songs and the chants went on, more cans were consumed. The empty ones were hurled at the house, the group cheered whenever a window was hit. They repeatedly went up and kicked the front door.

“I’m going to ring the police now,” I said to Mr Poole, “I don’t want it to get any worse.”

It took the police twenty minutes to arrive. In the meantime I filmed Darren peeing against the Ibrahim’s door, egged on by the others who cheered when he’d finished. I was shaking, my teeth gritted shut. Where was Mrs Ahmed and her three children? Settled in the kitchen as far as possible from the threats at the front? Could she get the children off to sleep and sit and listen alone? Or did she put the telly on to drown them out; try and follow the stories from the images, the babble of English hard for her to understand? Did the shouts and thumps bring back the horrors she had lived through in Somalia, swamping her with fear making her hands shake and her mouth dry? How did she cope?

“Get a chair next time,” yelled Brennan, “do it through the letterbox.”

“She might suck it for yer,” roared Whittaker.

The group howled with laughter. The twins made wanking motions with their fists. Where were the bloody police?

At last the squad car appeared and as it drove down the Close the gang became quiet. They moved nearer together, ribaldry over.

The police got out of the car. I kept filming. Brennan greeted one of them by name. “Alright, Benny.” He said there’d been reports of a disturbance. Innocent faces were pulled.

“Carl Benson,” Mr Poole whispered, referring to the younger policeman, “local lad.”

“I live on here,” said Brennan, “this is my street. Can’t a man walk down his own street?”

“Free country, innit?” asked Whittaker. “Used to be anyway, till we were swamped by immigrants, taking houses and jobs.”

“Come on, now, time for home,” said the other policeman.

“Why, eh? Why?” Brennan was all outrage, hands spread wide. “We haven’t done nothing, this is harassment, this is.”

There was no reply. The police stood there. Implacable but not looking half as hard as the men they faced.

It was Whittaker who gave the signal at last. “Freezin’ out here anyway. Funny smell an’ all. Like a farmyard.” One of the twins snorted. I saw Carl Benson’s face tighten, his adam’s apple bob.

“Got a dirty movie back at the house, few more cans.” They began to walk away.

“Darren?” A woman’s voice calling. “Darren, come on now.” Darren’s face fell, he turned away from the group, rolled his shoulders in an embarrassed shrug.

“Go on, Bunter,” teased Micky Whittaker, “beddy-byes.”

The police stood and watched until the group had gone into the houses at the bottom of the Close. The older man got in the car. Carl Benson crossed to Mr Poole’s. We went downstairs and Mr Poole let him in. I confirmed that I’d called the police and told him what I’d seen, he noted it all down in his book. I explained that I was video-recording events for a possible court case - it was all on tape. Yes, I would be happy to be a witness if required.

“It’s Carl, isn’t it?” Mr Poole said.

“Yeah,” he blushed a little.

“How’s your Mum doing?”

“Alright, they’ve put a ramp in now and a downstairs bathroom. It’s a lot better.”

“‘Bout time and all. Give her my regards.”

“Yeh, right. Best be off.”

“Glad it was them,” said Mr Poole as we returned to the kitchen. “There’s one copper round here and all he ever wanted to do was race round in fast cars - now he does it for a living - like the Sweeney. If he wasn’t a copper he’d be a villain.”

“It’s possible to be both at the same time.”

“Aye and he probably is. But Carl’s a good lad.”

I left Mr Poole to his filing and went back upstairs.

I was tired now, just a couple of hours to go until Mr Ibrahim was due back. Precious little happening. A couple more dog walkers. I yawned a lot and did some more stretching.

At twenty past two a private hire cab arrived and stopped outside the house opposite. A man got out; dark coat and hat, moustache. Mr Ibrahim, I presumed. He knocked on the door. I realised they probably used bolts as well as locks so she’d have to let him in. The door opened and he slipped through. I caught no glimpse of her. The taxi drove away.

Time for home.

I packed up the camcorder and cleared the bits into my bag. Downstairs I looked in on Mr Poole. He was still at his table but sitting back in the large, upholstered chair. Eyes closed, mouth open, snoring softly. With each snore the loose skin around his chin shivered. I went across and touched his shoulder.

“Mr Poole? I’m going now.”

He blinked a few times and shut his mouth; rubbed his face with his hand.

“I’ll see myself out. Don’t forget to ring me whenever there’s any bother. Goodnight.”

The roads were quiet driving home. Once I’d gone a little way I took the wig and glasses off. I wondered whether the footage I’d got would be enough for Mandy Bellows to take the troublemakers to court. Surely it would.

Verbal abuse - overtly racist, threatening behaviour, attacking property. I noted that the men had watched and spurred on the youths but neither Brennan nor Whittaker had actually gone up to the Ibrahims house. Intentionally - so they couldn’t be accused? But my recollection was that injunctions could apply to tenants and to their families, so even though the teenagers were minors they could still be the subject of a court order. And if they carried on with the anti-social behaviour the property could be re-possessed.

I reckoned there was plenty to go on but it would be up to the solicitors at the Town Hall.

Home was still, quiet. Laura was there, I could always tell from the smell of her perfume. Overpowering, she must chuck bucketfuls of it on. Acted on me like nerve gas. Must have stripped the linings of her nostrils so she couldn’t even smell how strong it was. Left the rest of us reeling. I was being uncharitable, I was tired.

Bed felt blissful. I closed my eyes. Images from the evening flickered through my mind; the faces of the group, drunk and giddy with cruelty, Whittaker shivering in his denims, Darren beaming as they all applauded. Mr Poole’s voice, raw with emotion. “What, on god’s earth, makes them do this?”

The weekend was a blur of domesticity. Saturday afternoon I took the kids to Castlefield. The Museum of Science and Industry were hosting a dinosaur exhibition. Tom was beside himself with excitement. Maddie kept trying to act cool about it, “dinosaurs are for babies, Mum,” but when we entered the Jurrasic environment her face said it all. The place was done out like a swamp complete with soundtrack of blood-curdling roars. The animatronic dinosaurs had both Tom and Maddie enthralled. And when one particularly nasty one actually spit at Tom I thought he’d wet himself with glee. After a trip to the shop we visited our old favourites; the steam hall with its massive engines complete with life-size T. Rex this time and the interactive section upstairs where the kids played with magnets and mirrors and shadows and sounds. By then I was too tired to take them to the Air and Space building, Appollo and the Daleks would have to wait for another day.

I had done a little bit of work that morning. I watched the video - it was blurry at times and the light wasn’t brilliant but it was adequate in terms of seeing what was actually going on. The sound was muffled, I might need to tell people what the youths had been shouting, but even without the words the pictures said it all. Reviewing the behaviour of the gang made me tense with anger again. The cruelty of their taunts and the ugliness of their behaviour revolted me. I tried to work out how they must feel about themselves to be so ready to attack others?

I dispatched a courier with the videotape for Mandy Bellows. I included a note asking her to let me know as soon as possible whether the tape was all they needed. I could then return the camcorder.

I also checked the e-mail for answers from potential Jennifer Pickerings; everyone I’d contacted had replied and none of them was the right person. The woman in Scarborough even referred to the fact that she’d been contacted before, by a member of the family. Roger, I presumed. Of course he’d have checked for her online - it was his field of work but I consoled myself that at least I was being thorough.

On the Saturday night it was dry enough to have a bonfire and burn the debris from the garden along with some scraps of wood from the cellar that Ray had no use for. There was also an old wooden cupboard, riddled with woodworm, that had been rotting in the shed. The kids took great delight in helping to break it up.

There’s an old paved area at the bottom of the garden, in one corner. I’m not sure why it was laid there as it’s no suntrap but it works fine for the children to ride bikes on and it’s ideal for bonfires. I used a couple of rows of broken flagstones to form a small circular fireplace and then I built a pyramid of scrunched up paper, kindling and sticks. I lit the fire. It was smoky at first until it burnt off the moisture then the twigs crackled and hissed and I gradually added larger pieces of wood.

I called Ray and Laura and they brought out the food; baked potatoes with cheese and tomato sauce and sticks of carrot and celery to crunch on. Maddie and Tom drank dandelion and burdock, the rest of us had some bottled beer that Laura had contributed.

“When’s bonfire night?” asked Maddie.

“A while yet,” I said.

“How many weeks?”

“Can we have fireworks,” said Tom, “very, very loud ones?”

“I hate loud ones. We should just have sparklers. Is it next week?”

“No, about six weeks.”

“That’s ages,” she complained.

“Look in the fire,” I said, “what shapes can you see?”

The chunks of wood were burning slowly, revealing their intricate grid design, charring into little squares, echoing the structure of bark. The patterns always reminded me of the fine network of lines on our skin, too.

“A witches face,” said Maddie, and a little house. There,” she pointed.

“I can see a dog being sick,” Tom boasted.

“You’re sick,” said Maddie.

“And a willy,” he found this absolutely hilarious and nearly choked on his dandelion and burdock.

We let the children carefully add wood to the fire, warning them not to throw anything on which could knock it all down and put out the flames.

Laura and Ray sat close and every so often Tom would launch himself onto Ray’s knee and wriggle off after he’d got a bit of attention.