A Small Knifepoint in Time
A S MALL K NIFEPOINT IN T IME
A FTER A FILLING SUPPER at the church hall where Charlie devoured a custard tart and had a spoonful of Gran’s pudding, they walked back to their flat. Gran had been strangely reserved during the special meal, so Charlie knew that something was amiss.
Gran led Charlie into the front room and asked him to sit down. She would not meet his eye, which made Charlie fear what she was about to tell him.
She placed an aged hand on one of his bony knees. “There’s no easy way to say this, Charlie.”
“Are you s-sick, G-Gran?” he stammered.
“What? No, Charlie, no. I’m fine, luv. But there is some… bad news. The thing is, the bake shop hasn’t been doing a’tall well. Can’t get enough to sell and when we do, folks don’t have the money to pay for it. And while I wasn’t made redundant or anything, my wages, well, my wages have been cut in half.”
“What does that mean?” said Charlie, though he knew it could mean nothing good.
“Well, for one thing it means we can’t stay here. We’re going to have to move.”
“Move where?” asked Charlie with dread in his tone.
“Well, I haven’t quite figured that out yet. I only learned of all this today. But people will help us, Charlie, I’m sure of it. And I think there is a ministry to assist folks with housing and the like. Now, we might have to go to a place where we’ll have to share with others, but there’ll be a roof over our heads. I’m sure we’ll be fine.”
“How much would it cost to stay here?”
She blanched. “Charlie, this is my problem to figure out and I will. Now, you just go off to bed and get a good night’s sleep. Things will look better in the morning.”
Gran rose and lumbered to her room while he hurried to his cupboard and lay in his box thinking all of this through and settling on a plan.
He didn’t even wait until Gran was asleep. He rose, exited quietly out the window, and skittered down the alley. He needed to get some money and do so quickly. His plan was to go to Molly’s house and see if she could give him the half crown. That was bound to help Gran. He hoped it wasn’t too late for him to visit her.
When he turned the corner, he stopped when he saw Lonzo and Eddie standing there. Lonzo had the butt of a cigarette in his mouth; thin wisps of smoke rose off it to join the fog that clustered around them, blurring their images.
A few moments later Lonzo ground the finished cigarette into the pavement with the heel of his thirdhand boot. His hands in his pockets, he stared at Charlie.
“We ’eard ’bout yer gran. Got her wages cut. What you gonna do?”
“I’m goin’ to get some money.”
“How?” This came from Eddie.
“Dunno yet,” Charlie lied. He didn’t want Lonzo anywhere near Molly Wakefield.
Lonzo stepped forward. “Thin’ is, we seen you go to that bookshop ’cause we followed you to the school.” He poked a finger into Charlie’s slender chest. “We tried tellin’ you that the other day, but you run off, didn’t you? And then we followed you the next mornin’ and seen you give back the quid to that bloke. Are you barmy or what?”
A thin line of sweat broke over Charlie’s forehead despite the chill.
“It was a lot ’a money, Charlie,” added Eddie. “Nuff to help yer gran.”
“And help us , mate,” said Lonzo with a malicious grin.
Charlie backed away and shook his head.
Lonzo took out something from his pocket. Charlie saw that it was Lonzo’s flick-knife. He opened it to reveal, a small, lethal blade. “Now, your gran’s a nice old biddy, ain’t she, Charlie? Shame if somethin’ happened to her.”
A furious Charlie leapt forward to attack Lonzo. But Eddie grabbed him and held him tightly while Lonzo edged the blade against Charlie’s quivering neck.
“So we’re all goin’ to get the money you took back to that bloke. Then we splits it, three ways, all fair, like we always done. ’Cause you ain’t one to let the side down, are you, Charlie?”
Charlie struggled against Eddie’s grip, but the older boy’s strength was greater than Charlie’s.
“Don’t be daft, Charlie,” urged Eddie breathlessly. “He won’t even miss it.”
“He will,” exclaimed Charlie. “He don’t got much.”
Lonzo said, “Well, he’s got mor’n we got. So let’s go.”
Charlie finally burst free from Eddie’s grasp. “I won’t help you do it.”
“Okay,” said Lonzo, folding up his blade. “We’ll go and you get nothin’. But if the bloke tries and stops us…? Well, he’s goin’ to get cut, ain’t he?”
Thinking quickly, a desperate Charlie said, “Okay, I’ll go with you. We can get in and out without him even knowin’.”
Lonzo grabbed Charlie’s arm. “Let’s go.”