LITMIR.BIZ

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      ‘Where’s Vinny, Mum? Is he here? Really annoyed with him, I am. He promised me faithfully when he dumped Little Vinny on me and Dean yesterday that he would pick him up first thing this morning and we ain’t seen hide nor hair of him. Dean’s taking his nan out for lunch and I’m going shopping with Susan, so you’re gonna have to look after him. He ain’t my bloody responsibility.’

      ‘Is Roy dead yet, Nanny?’ Little Vinny asked innocently.

      ‘No, he is sleeping, and how many times have I told you not to ask that question, eh? What’s the matter with you? Do you want your Uncle Roy to croak it, do you?’

      Realizing that his mother was stressed out and in a foul mood, Michael picked Little Vinny up. ‘I’ll look after him. I’m taking Nancy out for a bite to eat after she finishes work, so he can come with us, can’t you, boy?’

      Watching her grandson and son share a hug, Queenie quickly forgave both. Michael had a heart of gold, and Little Vinny was far too young to understand what a coma was, or the seriousness of his uncle’s condition.

      ‘Right, me and Dean are gonna go now,’ Brenda said.

      ‘Oh, no you are not, young lady. You go and see your brother for five or ten minutes first. You didn’t visit him all day yesterday.’

      ‘That’s only because I was stuck indoors babysitting. I was gonna come up here last night. How’s Colleen today? Has she eaten or slept yet?’

      ‘Colleen ain’t well. She collapsed earlier next to Roy’s bed. The doctors are doing some tests on her, apparently. It’s probably just stress, or lack of sleep and food, but they haven’t come back and told us anything yet. Viv asked a nurse to find out what was going on about an hour ago, but she never came back either.’

      ‘Right, I’m gonna make tracks, Mum. Give your nan and aunt a kiss, Vinny.’

      Queenie hugged her grandchild, then turned to Michael. ‘Do us a favour, love. Before you go for your meal, see if you can find your brother. It ain’t like him not to pick the little ’un up, is it? I hope he’s all right and nothing bad’s happened to him. My heart can’t withstand any more drama.’

      ‘To be honest, Mum, since Roy got shot, Vinny has hit the bottle a bit. I spoke to him for about a minute yesterday when he dropped the little ’un off, and he said he was going to some club up the West End with Ahmed. I will see if I can find him, but if I can’t, he’s probably just on a bender somewhere.’

      ‘Well, best you encourage him to open the club up again, Michael. I’ve got enough on my plate without worrying about Vinny going off the rails as well.’

      Michael couldn’t help but smirk. Did his mother honestly think that Vinny had ever been on the fucking rails?

      Mary Walker felt sick with anxiety as she approached the entrance of Woolworth’s. Christopher had been full of it yesterday evening, saying how rude Nancy had been to him, and how she wasn’t worth bothering with any more because she was already one of them. Well, Mary didn’t believe that for a second. Her daughter would never be a Butler other than in perhaps name one day, and Mary just prayed that things didn’t even get that far. Donald had insisted last night that he was now completely washing his hands of Nancy for good, and Mary had been so angry listening to husband and son speak about the girl as though she had committed the crime of the century. She was a smitten teenager for goodness’ sake, and her only crime was to fall head over heels in love.

      ‘Hello, Mrs Walker. Are you looking for Nancy? She has just gone out the back,’ Rhonda informed Mary.

      ‘That’s why I came in at this time, love. Didn’t want to disturb her while she was working. To be honest, I was hoping she might spend her lunch break with me. I miss her terribly at home.’

      ‘Oh, I’m sure she will. Michael isn’t meeting her for lunch today. Here she is now.’

      ‘I hope you haven’t come here because of what happened yesterday with Christopher, ’cause if you have Rhonda will tell you he was bang out of order making a scene in the middle of the shop, weren’t he, Rhon?’

      Mary smiled. ‘Do you think I live in cloud cuckoo land, love? I know exactly what your brother is like. My fault for marrying your father I suppose. Now, seeing as I’ve missed you so much, will you make your old mum happy by allowing her to buy you a sandwich somewhere? It would make my day if you said yes.’

      Realizing that her wonderful mum still loved her as much as she always had, Nancy grinned from ear to ear. ‘You try stopping me.’

      Vinny Butler thought he was having a surreal experience when he dreamt that some bird was giving him a blowjob, but when he opened his eyes he was appalled to find that the encounter was actually real. Apart from treating his mother, aunt, and sister with respect, Vinny had never regained the art of being diplomatic towards women since Yvonne Summers had broken his heart, so instead of telling the tart to stop sucking his penis, Vinny punched her gently in the side of the head.

      Astounded, the girl looked up. ‘What’s the matter? Are you not enjoying it?’

      Vinny stared at the girl. She only looked about eighteen, had long blonde hair, decent breasts, amazing hips, and a bit of a Janis Joplin look about her. However, Vinny couldn’t wait to get shot of her, so he leapt out of bed, grabbed his trousers that were lying on the floor in a crumpled heap, put his hand in the pocket and threw forty quid at the girl.

      ‘What’s that for? I ain’t a prostitute if that’s what you think. You invited me here.’

      ‘Well, now I’m uninviting you. Just get dressed, take the money, and fuck off.’

      The girl hurriedly put her clothes on. Furious with the way she had been treated, she screwed up the two twenty-pound notes and threw them at Vinny. ‘Stick your money up your arse, you bastard. And, please do not add me as a notch on your bedpost. You couldn’t even get it up, you loser.’

      No bloke liked their manliness to be knocked and the words he had just heard were like a red rag to a bull for Vinny. Stark bollock naked, he grabbed the girl by the neck and slammed her stupid head against the door of his wardrobe.

      ‘Stop it! Look, I’m sorry. Please, can you just let me go home now?’ the girl begged tearfully. She wasn’t a slag, had never even had a one-night stand before, but last night she had taken a stupid LSD tab, and because all her friends were into the free love scene, had decided to go back to Vinny’s empty club with him. How she regretted that now. Trust her to pick a lunatic.

      Aware that the girl seemed absolutely petrified, Vinny released his grasp on her hair. ‘Look, I’m sorry. I just ain’t thinking straight at the moment. Go on, go home.’

      The girl didn’t need telling twice. She ran for her life.

      Nancy held her mother’s arm and led her to the tiny park where she and Michael usually went. ‘So, I take it you haven’t told Dad that you were coming to see me?’ she asked, as they sat down on the bench.

      ‘No. You know what he’s like, Nance. So set in his bloody ways. I told him I wanted to have a mooch around the shops before Christopher went back to school next week. I had to see you, love. I read about that shooting and it worried the life out of me.’

      Nancy sighed. ‘Me and Michael wasn’t there when it happened. We had already left the club.’

      ‘Well, thank God for that.’

      ‘It’s still been awful though. Roy is in a coma, and the doctor said that he might wake up with brain damage.’

      Mary squeezed her daughter’s hand. ‘Nance, I know you love Michael, but do you really want to be connected to a family like that? Say they try to shoot Michael next and you’re there with him? I would die of a broken heart if anything ever happened to you.’

      ‘Nothing bad will happen to me, Mum, so please try not to worry. Michael will protect me. He loves me and I love him.’

      ‘So,

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