The Runners (8 page)

‘Being pissed off.’

‘I got you a present.’

Jay had never got him a present before.

‘It’s a free bet with Ladbrokes.’

‘It doesn’t look like a free bet.’

The present was small and long and was wrapped in masking tape.

‘If you can’t guess what it is, then you can’t have it.’

‘It looks like a load of masking tape wrapped around a cucumber.’

‘You got it in one. Here.’

Bobby started to unwrap the masking tape. It was tied so tight that it took ages. Underneath it was plastic. When he had enough of the tape off, he ripped the plastic open to reveal something red.

‘It’s a Red Mist.’

‘It’s the Liverpool shirt,’ screamed Bobby.

‘Happy birthday.’

‘Thanks, Jay.’

Bobby pulled off the England shirt and put the Liverpool one on.

‘Did you look at the back?’

Bobby had to take it off again to look at the back. It had the number seven on it.

‘How did you get a number on it?’

‘Tony Ward can put them on. Number seven, Red Mist.’

‘Red Mist was number two and I’m never betting again.’

‘Yeah, right.’

‘Never three quid anyway.’‘

Bobby couldn’t believe Jay had spent fifteen pounds on a jersey for him. He wanted to wear it in bed but didn’t want to wet it. So he hung it from the laths of the top bunk, and stared at it for ages. First the front, then the number seven. It would remain his most treasured possession.

Anto handed them another video cassette and sent them on their way. At the top of Sackville Avenue, Jay turned to Bobby.

‘How can Anto make money renting videos?’

‘It doesn’t cost him anything to make them.’

‘But how much does he pay us to deliver them? It’s a tenner for this one, right?’

‘Yeah.’

‘And is Micka paying a tenner for this video?’

‘Maybe he’s just doing it because he’s their friend.’

‘Does Anto look like he would be friends with them?’

‘What are you saying?’

‘How much is it to rent a video?’

‘It’s one pound for the new releases in Xtra-vision.’

‘Exactly.’

‘So what are you saying?’

‘Let’s go up to my flat.’

‘For what?’

‘I want to check something.’

‘What are you checking?’

‘Just wait and see.’

When they got there, Jay took the video out of the box. He examined it, pressing the button on the side to lift up the part that protected the tape.

‘What are you doing?’

‘I think there’s something in here.’

‘What are you on about?’

Jay shook the video and it made a rattling noise.

‘See?’

‘Don’t be stupid, all videos make a rattling noise when you shake them.”

Jay got a small screwdriver. On the back of the video cassette, there were three screws. He unscrewed them and lifted the back off. Inside were three packages wrapped in clingfilm. Jay unwrapped one of the small packages. Inside, was a white powdery substance. He poked at it with the screwdriver.

‘I don’t think we should be doing this, Jay.’

‘Do you know what it is?’

‘I think so.’

He poked at it again.

‘What are you doing?’

‘I’m going to snort it.’

‘What?’

Jay put his nose up to the package.

‘I’m only messing. How much is it worth? What do you reckon?’

‘I haven’t got a clue.’

‘If one of them is worth a hundred quid, then how much is all that worth?’

‘Three hundred quid, you dope.’

‘It’s worth a lot more than that.’

‘Put them back in and let’s go.’

Bobby had a really big knot in his stomach walking into Summerhill Parade. He knew they shouldn’t be bringing the video to Micka.

‘Why is Anto sending us up with this?’

‘He trusts us.’

‘Jay, it’s heroin. It’s not right. We could get in trouble. My mam will kill me if she finds out.’

‘How will she find out?’

‘I don’t know. I’m nervous.’

‘It’s just a video.’

‘It’s not just a video.’

‘You have to think it is. Just like the jeans. If I walk out of the shop thinking I’m going to be caught, I will be caught. I’ll look guilty if I start panicking.’

‘I’m starting to panic.’

‘Turn around and go home then.’

They stopped on top of the bridge. Bobby leaned on the wall looking into the canal below.

‘I’ll knock for you in the morning. We can go and spend my tenner.’

‘You can keep the tenner, I’m coming with you,’ said Bobby.

‘No panic allowed.’

‘None.’

Bobby knew he couldn’t turn back. He had been fighting for acceptance from Jay for years. Bobby knew he was a chicken sometimes. Jay was never a chicken. Whether it was robbing jeans or orchards or orange juice, Jay never showed any fear. He believed he could do anything. Bobby wanted to be like Jay and have no fear. He didn’t want to be seen as different, and he certainly didn’t want to be considered a chicken. If Jay had decided to turn back, Bobby would have turned back with him.

‘Will we jog down? That will take your mind off it.’

Jogging didn’t keep either of their minds off it. They dropped the video off and looked at the fellas hanging around the flats in a different way.

‘I’m not delivering any more videos,’ Bobby announced just before they were about to get in the ring.

‘OK.’

‘Are you serious?’

‘Yeah. One more and then we’ll stop.’

‘Why one more?’

‘Have we got a deal?’

‘Come on lads, you’re delaying everyone,’ Anto shouted at them.

‘Have we got a deal, Bobby?’

‘Right, one more. If you promise to stop.’

‘Are you chatting or boxing?’

‘Chatting and boxing, Anto. Muhammad Ali could do it.’

‘You’re far from Muhammad Ali, Jay. Quit the chatting. Three one-minute rounds.’

They boxed as hard as they could for the three minutes. You didn’t have time to think about anything when somebody was throwing punches. The feeling of a punch flush on the nose hurt, but made Bobby smile at the same time. He had learned how to keep his composure when hit. Anto always told them to pretend like it didn’t hurt. ‘Smile back at your opponent,’ he would say. ‘You have to have a poker face.’ Jay couldn’t do that. When Bobby caught him with a flush punch, he would go mad throwing as many punches as he could with no coordination whatsoever. Bobby could easily duck out of the way. They both loved bloody noses. They were the sign of a successful night in the ring.

‘I’ll see youse tomorrow. Call over at lunch time,’ Anto told them quietly as they left the club.

Jay was giddy and had the usual bounce in his step. Bobby walked much slower, Jay telling him to ‘hurry up’ every time he fell a few steps behind.

‘Are we going to tell him we are just stopping?’

‘You’ll see,’ said Jay, frustrating Bobby by withholding information.

‘What are we going to do?’

‘I have a plan.’

‘What is it?’

‘Do you promise to go along with what I say?’

‘How can I promise if I don’t know what you’re going to say?’

‘What if we get robbed on our way to do a delivery?’

‘What?’ Bobby interrupted.

‘Listen, will you? If the video gets robbed before we deliver it, then Anto will stop us delivering them. We won’t have to say anything.’

‘That’s your master plan?’

‘Yeah. It’s perfect.’

‘It’s stupid.’

‘What do you suggest, Bobby the brainbox?’

‘We just tell him we’re stopping.’

‘OK. Anto, we’re not delivering the videos any more because we know what’s in them. Is that what you’re going to say?’

Bobby knew Jay had a point, but he didn’t think his plan would work.

‘Bobby, I want to stop too. But we can’t say it to him or he’ll know we opened it.’

‘Right,’ said Bobby stubbornly.

‘I’ll come up with a story about being robbed.

If we both stick to it we’ll be fine.’

Bobby lay in bed for hours worrying about everything. When he couldn’t sleep, he would say an Our Father, followed by a Hail Mary, repeatedly until he began to get tired. When he started forgetting the words of the prayers, he knew he was nearly there.

Jay answered the door like he hadn’t a worry in the world.

‘Good morning, good morning.’

‘What has you so happy?’

‘I have the story.’

‘Go on then.’

‘We’ll say that when we got to the bottom of Micka’s stairwell, there were three lads standing there. All of them had hoods pulled up on their heads. Two of them grabbed us by the arms and the third one grabbed the video. Simple.’

‘Simple. What if we have to go to Johnny’s?’

‘We’ll just say Johnny’s stairwell then.’

Anto gave them the video, unaware of what was about to happen. Jay rightly predicted it was Micka who would be receiving it. They left the video in Jay’s bedroom and jogged down to Micka’s. They took off at a slow pace, without talking. By the time they passed the Red Brick Slaughterhouse on Rutland Street, Bobby could see his chest expanding, he was breathing so heavily.
He wasn’t jogging very fast, yet he was out of breath. They stopped jogging at the swimming pool and walked across the courtyard of the church. There was nobody at the bottom of the stairwell.

‘You stay quiet and let me do the talking.’

Jay kicked on Micka’s door as loud as he could. Four boots, followed by five.

‘Your video was robbed.’

‘What?’

‘Someone grabbed us and robbed your video.’

‘Who?’

‘I don’t know. Goodbye.’

‘Goodbye nothing. What did they look like?’

‘I don’t know. At the top of the stairs, three people grabbed us and ran off with the video.’

‘What did they look like?’ Micka growled at the lads.

‘They all had hoods up, we couldn’t see them,’ said Jay.

Micka sprinted down the stairs. They could see him from the balcony running around looking for someone that didn’t exist. It was a long walk back to Anto’s. Bobby couldn’t believe what was happening, but he knew they had to stop delivering the videos.

‘What are we going to say to Anto?’

‘Exactly what we just said to Micka.’

‘You told him it happened at the top of the stairs.’

‘I said the bottom.’

‘You said the top, so say the same to Anto.’

‘Are you sure?’

Bobby gave him the look without answering. Jay knew when Bobby was being serious.

They walked slowly back to Ballybough. Jay was excited. He wouldn’t stop talking about the look on Micka’s face.

‘We need to do something else.’

‘Another master plan?’

‘No, you need to punch me on the nose. Make it bleed.’

Jay closed his eyes.

‘Hit me.’

‘No, hit yourself.’

Jay tried to punch himself on the nose but he was unable to do it with enough force. It was much easier to hit someone else.

‘I need you to do it. I’ll close my eyes and count to three.’

Jay closed his eyes again.

‘One.’

He opened them to see what Bobby was doing.

‘Close your eyes.’

‘One, two.’

Bobby didn’t wait for three. He landed a stiff punch flush on Jay’s nose.

‘Aaaaargh. Jesus, that hurt.’

‘It was supposed to.’

Jay put his finger up his left nostril to feel for the blood. He took the finger out and there was no sign of blood on it. A trickle began to leave his right nostril. Jay smiled as it reached his lip.

‘We have blood. Let’s go,’ he announced.

‘Are you going to do the talking?’

‘Leave it to me.’

Anto answered the door with no top on. He had a six-pack stomach. Bobby had done thousands of sit-ups, like Anto had told him, and he didn’t have any muscles.

‘What happened?’

He could see the blood because Jay had spread it to make it look more dramatic.

‘Did Micka get the video?’

‘No.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Three fellas grabbed us and took the video.’

‘Who were they? What did they look like?’

‘They had their hoods up, we couldn’t see them.’

‘You must have seen something, Bobby.’

‘It all happened so quick. Jay wouldn’t let it go. He tried to stop them. And one of them punched him.’

‘Where did this happen?’

‘On the stairwell of Micka’s flat,’ explained Jay, ‘I tried to stop them.’

Jay pretended to get upset.

‘Don’t worry. Don’t worry.’

‘Why would a junkie rob a boxing video?’ asked Jay.

‘How do you know they were junkies?’

‘All the fellas down there look like junkies.’

Anto ran back inside and put a top on, before sprinting past them down the road.

‘I wouldn’t let it go.’

‘I thought it sounded realistic.’

‘It did. You’re good.’

Bobby got a little bit of a buzz being believed by Anto. He didn’t suspect a thing.

‘Now what are we going to do with the video?’

Bobby wanted to know the next part of Jay’s master plan.

‘What do you want to do with it?’

‘I think we should throw it in the canal.’

The only things they had ever thrown into the canal were rocks, at the dirty rats that lived under the bridges.

‘We should see what’s in it first.’

‘We’re not opening it.’

‘We can’t throw all that money in the canal.’

‘It’s not money.’

‘Are you not curious about how much it’s worth?’

‘No. And neither are you. We’re getting rid of the video.’

‘We can get rid of the video, without the drugs in it.’

Jay started to unscrew the video.

‘I’m going home, you’re doing it on your own.’

Bobby was only home for ten minutes when Jay knocked.

‘Anto wants the two of us. He has his own plan.’

‘I’m going to follow behind the two of you. If anyone tries to touch you I will be there to pounce. I want to try and find out who it is. Don’t look behind you or act suspiciously,’ he informed them.

‘Did you find out who robbed us?’ enquired Jay.

‘They didn’t rob you. They just borrowed something that belonged to me and when I find out who it was, they will give it back,’ Anto said, with a certainty that they believed.