LITMIR.BIZ

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from crying. His mother was such a strong woman, as hard as nails, and to see her so upset tugged at his heart-strings.

      ‘There yous are. What’s happening? Any news yet?’ Michael asked, dashing straight over to his mum.

      ‘Oh Michael. It was awful. You should have seen him. I thought he was brown bread, I really did, but the ambulance men said he still had a pulse,’ Queenie explained, hugging her youngest son.

      ‘How’s my Lenny, Michael? Hysterical, he was. Never seen him like that before. Has he calmed down a bit now?’ Vivian asked.

      ‘He’s still upset and very tearful, but Brenda and Dean will take good care of him,’ Michael replied.

      ‘What about Little Vinny? Is he OK? I just thank God he was asleep in the club when it happened. I would have hated him to witness it first hand,’ Queenie said.

      ‘Little Vinny weren’t with Bren and Dean. They only had Champ with them,’ Michael informed his mother.

      Vinny felt his blood pressure rapidly start to rise. ‘What do you mean, he weren’t with them? I thought you told Bren to look after him, Auntie Viv?’

      ‘I did. Bren and Dean was gonna take him home with my Lenny. I wouldn’t worry too much. Karen was still at the club. Perhaps he wanted to stay with her?’ Vivian replied.

      Unable to stop himself, Vinny punched the wall with pure frustration. ‘Ahmed, shoot down the club and find me my son. I want him brought back here, OK?’

      With a curt nod, Ahmed dashed down the hospital corridor.

      Back at Queenie’s house the initial awkwardness between Brenda and Nancy had just started to thaw. ‘So, how long you been seeing Michael then? Where did you meet him?’ Brenda asked, inquisitively.

      ‘I’ve not been seeing him long. We bumped into one another over at Barking fair last month. Your Dean seems like a nice guy, Bren. Yous two been together long?’

      Glad that Nancy was there as it took the edge off waiting for news about poor Roy, Brenda spoke frankly about her relationship with Dean, her plans for her wedding day, their unborn child, and her hopes and dreams for the future. ‘So, what about you? Do you still live with your parents? And do they know you and Michael are together?’ Brenda asked.

      About to explain that she had just left home and would be moving in with Michael, Nancy was stopped from doing so by Dean’s reappearance. ‘Lenny reckons he’s going up the hospital, Bren. I’ve tried to talk him out of it, but he got a bit bolshy and sort of told me to mind me own business.’

      ‘Well, you’re gonna have to stop him,’ Brenda ordered.

      ‘Bren, he’s a big old lump and nearly as tall as me. I ain’t even properly related to him, so what am I mean to do? You’re his cousin, you bloody well stop him.’

      Hearing the front door slam, Brenda leapt out of the armchair and opened the lounge window. ‘Lenny, get back in ’ere now,’ she yelled.

      ‘No. I ain’t some kid no more, and if I want to go to the hospital to see how Roy is, there is nothing you can do to stop me. I want to be with my mum and Auntie Queenie, not sitting here doing nothing.’

      Realizing that her cousin had a point, Brenda told him to wait a minute, then turned to Dean and Nancy. ‘Come on. Let’s all go up the hospital.’

      ‘Me and Nancy will be better off staying here, Bren. You go with Lenny. It ain’t right for us to go. We’re not even family.’

      There was no way that Brenda was leaving Dean alone with somebody as beautiful as Nancy, so she stood her ground. ‘You are family, you div. We’re having a baby together and getting married, remember? You’re gonna have to come too, Nancy. Unless you want to go home. My mum barely knows you and I can’t leave you alone in her house, she’ll kill me.’

      With no home to go to, Nancy nodded miserably. Queenie had insisted earlier that Michael’s ex-girlfriend was lying about being pregnant, but Nancy still didn’t know that for sure. Say she was at the hospital too? Also, Vinny was bound to be there, and just being within a fifty-yard radius of him gave Nancy the heebies.

      ‘Yous two coming, or what?’ Brenda asked, impatiently.

      Knowing she had two choices, none and sod all, Nancy followed Brenda and Dean out of the house.

      When Ahmed returned with both Karen and his son, Vinny wasn’t happy. According to a nurse he had just spoken to, Roy was still being operated on and he needed Karen around him at a time like this like a boil on his arse. ‘Why didn’t you send him home with Brenda like I asked? Is it too much for you to respect my wishes, even though my brother is on death’s door?’

      Karen was rather taken aback. ‘Our son was confused and upset, Vinny. He couldn’t understand what was going on. He wanted to stay with me, and seeing as we’ve been getting along well and I am his mother, I didn’t see it as a problem. I wasn’t going to take him home to Dagenham with me. I was worried about you and Roy, so was going to stay at the club with Little Vinny until you got back.’

      Colleen had been in a hysterical state after arriving earlier at the hospital, and was currently being treated for shock. Seeing her parents walking back towards him, Vinny led Karen around another corridor. ‘Look, I’m sorry, OK? I’m just stressed and off my head with worry.’

      Little Vinny followed his parents, and desperate to get his dad’s attention, leapt up and down while holding his arm.

      ‘Stop it! What’s a matter?’ Vinny shouted at his son.

      ‘Is Uncle Roy dead?’ Little Vinny asked.

      ‘No, he’s being operated on.’

      ‘But, might he die?’

      Vinny bent down and shook his son violently. ‘Stop asking such fucking morbid questions. Do you want your uncle to die, do ya?’

      ‘Stop it, Vinny, you’ll hurt him. He’s only five. He doesn’t know what he’s saying,’ Karen pleaded.

      When his son burst into tears, Vinny stood up, put his head in his hands and leant against the wall. ‘You had the right idea originally, Karen. Just take him back to the club and wait there until I get back. I should imagine I’ll be stuck here all night, so you can both sleep in my double bed. Tell Pete and Paul I said it was OK.’

      Putting Vinny’s foul mood and temper down to the family crisis he was currently experiencing, Karen kissed him politely on the cheek and dragged her son down the corridor.

      When Nancy arrived at the hospital, Michael immediately clocked how glum she looked and, desperate to speak to her alone, led her away from the rest of his family. He stopped at the nearest drinks machine. ‘Here you go,’ he said, handing her a plastic cup filled with weak-looking tea.

      ‘I’m so sorry there is no good news about your brother yet, and I hate to bother you with trivial things at an awful time like this, but I remembered on the way here that I left my case at the club earlier. I have to pick it up at some point tonight, as I won’t be able to go to work tomorrow otherwise.’

      Realizing that Nancy was near to tears and guessing the reason why, Michael put his cup on the floor, did the same with hers, and then held her tightly to his chest. ‘I spoke to my mum about Denise turning up like she did. She definitely isn’t pregnant. My mum wouldn’t say how she knows, she isn’t a grass, but I think we can safely say that Vinny already knew about you and I and set the situation up. Roy might have been involved as well, and I will find out the truth, but obviously now is not the right time for me to be kicking off about it.’

      ‘So, your mum is absolutely one hundred per cent positive that Denise is making the whole thing up?’

      ‘Cross my heart, and don’t worry about work. We’re gonna be getting our own place soon and your job will be to cook and clean indoors then. It’s only poxy Woolworth’s. I don’t really want you working there anyway. It

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