Bank holiday (Good Friday)

Sean: The day that I killed him started with her waking me up to
tell me that Kevin was at the door. Why couldn't she just let me sleep?
I'd been working all week, except for Monday and surely I deserved a
lie in. One of these days I am going to give her such a crack and
she'll bloody deserve it. I told her to get me some coffee and I made
my way downstairs. Then the kid started. He was running from one end of
the front room to the other screaming some chant he'd heard on the
telly about loving dinosaurs or something.

I'm trying to have a conversation with Kevin about where we were going
and I can hardly fucking hear him because the kid is screaming and then
she fucking spills my coffee. I said:
"Kevin, I'll see you down the garden in half an hour."
I say, "I said it" but I had to fucking scream it, just so that he
would hear me. Then I went back upstairs and I had a bath. I looked at
the bed as I went past the room and I almost got back in it but I'm not
that kind of bloke.

My head cleared a bit while I'm in the bath and I think I may have
dozed a bit. Looking back it was the best thing that happened to me all
day. I can't understand these people who have showers. I'm sure that
they get you clean but really a bath does a whole lot more for you than
get you clean. I stayed in longer than I should have so, while I was
getting dressed, I told Linda to make me a bacon sandwich, so that I
could eat it on the way to the garden.

When I came downstairs Linda had the sandwich ready and she seemed in a
good mood. John had quietened down a bit and I was beginning to feel a
bit randy with Linda but I knew that we couldn't do much with John
around. I said:
"I'll eat the sandwich here and see Kevin down the garden later. We'll
have a cup of coffee together eh ?"
But I hadn't the words out of my mouth and the letter box is rattling
and Kevin says:
"I was bored down on my own so I came to hurry you up."
So I had to eat the sandwich as we walked to the garden, after all. We
stopped at the shop and I got a can of coke to wash it down with, and
the day didn't look too bad.

*************************************
Kevin: I went round to get Sean because I had been up since eight
o'clock and I was bored. I've known Sean since we were at school. He
was older than me but he used to come sometimes when we went to the
quarry every day and sniffed glue. That seemed to have gone on for
years but looking back I think Sean only came a few times. We would
spend all day up at the quarry and I can't remember what we did most of
the time. I think it was just hanging about. A couple of times Joe, who
used to be there every day, would organise some petty thieving but most
days we did nothing. We didn't even sniff glue all the time. It was
whatever we could get our hands on, which sometimes was cider and
sometimes it was glue. The odd time we would have some acid and
occasionally some dope. For a couple of weeks Joe organised us to
shoplift some vodka, but then we almost got caught and we didn't get
any more. Sean was there when we were drinking the vodka and he and I
got on pretty well. We had some really good laughs together.

I had seen Sean in the Comrades Club on the Thursday Night. I don't go
to pubs and clubs very much because I've no money but I got my giro
early because of the Easter weekend and I thought I would go down the
Comrades to see what was going on. Sean was in there and a few other
lads from "The Newlands" and we sat and watched the turn and played
some cards and got bollocked by the manager for having our feet on the
table and it was a good night. Sean told me that he had lost his job
that day. His boss had got pissed off with him for taking days off and
he'd finished him as soon as the company finished a big contract to put
windows in to some "Old People's Homes". Sean had three weeks wages in
his pocket even after he had given "Their Lass" a weeks money. He said
he hadn't told her about losing the job yet, cause she would only give
him a hard time for it.

A man with three weeks money in his pocket is definitely a man for me
to spend some quality time with, so I was sure to see him on the Friday
morning. We went to the garden first.

The garden, I share with Dave. It is rented in my name from the council
but I have an agreement with Dave, and he sometimes keeps some dope
there before he sells it. He sees me right by giving me dope for
nothing or cheaper than usual and my dogs keep away anybody who gets
too curious. I've two Lurchers and an Alsatian cross. The Lurchers are
what I use to get rabbits, which is how I make the giro last. The
Alsatian is crossed with a Pit Bull or something, but it is the most
vicious dog that I've ever known. I get on well with it and Dave is
usually alright but even he gets nervous if I'm not about. Dave would
not be the one to complain that the dog is too savage though.

I thought that Dave would be there but we had the place to ourselves
when we got there. The dogs all wanted to eat Sean but they were
alright once I had reassured them. I asked Sean to feed the dogs while
I rolled a joint. While we were both busy he said:
"Are you going to the match this afternoon ?"
I would rather have holes drilled in my head but I didn't want him
going off on his own, (Not with three weeks money in his pocket) so I
said:
"I might. Who are they playing ?"
And he told me, and I, sort of, promised that I would go, but I didn't
think it likely that I would be seeing Sunderland lose at home again.
It was "Two Nil" wasn't it ?

Well I lit the joint and soon passed it to Sean and then I started on
the second one. He wanted some cans of lager but I really couldn't be
bothered to go to the off licence so we smoked the two joints with just
a drink of cheap lemonade that Dave had left. It was warm and flat but
I didn't mind.

*************************************
Danny: The morning was cold but sunny and I think I felt the Spring on
it's way. I walked to the gardens to see who was about. In Kevin's I
found both him and Sean on their second joint. I said:
"Why don't we get a "Slab" from "The Paki's"? It's the cheapest in the
colliery."
Kevin wasn't very keen but Sean said he would chip in. I knew the slab
would cost twelve pounds so Sean gave me a fiver and Kevin gave me two
quid. Kevin will always be slow to put his hand in his pocket but I
thought that, getting two out of him, was good. Sean came with me and
he was fairly flying. He said:
"I've never smoked a joint before, without being pissed first."
This was said as a confidence but I know that he won't mind me saying
it in the circumstances.

The lager cost twelve fifty after all but Sean put in the extra fifty
pence and Kevin had rolled another joint when we got back to the
garden.

*************************************

Sean: I must have gone to sleep in the shed because I was woken by the
biggest dog in the world licking my face. Danny and Kevin had been
trying to get the dog to lick my balls but they got enough of a laugh
seeing how I got startled into waking up. We decided to go to "The
Duck" for one and see who was in. I had to get something to eat so we
called at the chip shop on the way. We ate them as we walked to "The
Duck" and then we were ready for a drink.

Jason and Paul were in "The Duck". Jason has a bit of a reputation and
he claims to be:
"The best car thief in the North East."
And, if he is not, then someone else must be very busy. I don't know
Jason that well and I have always been a bit wary of him. If we were
going to the match we would have to leave before two o'clock so I
thought we would just have a couple of drinks and then move on. It was
already quarter to two.

*************************************

Kevin We were in "The Duck and I was beginning to think it was going to
be a good day. Jason was in and you never knew what was going to happen
when he was about. He was on the pool table with Paul and it was good
to see that he was losing. Jason doesn't like losing and it gets more
interesting then.

Jason challenged Sean to a game of pool and Sean agreed but then went
on about not wanting to be late for the match. I'd forgotten about that
but I suppose I could go if there was no way out of it.

Tony Walls came in and the whole pub took notice. There was something
about the way he came in that didn't belong. He was with Harry and Heck
and these had not been in "The Duck" for years. They were both from
Blackton and had a bit of a name there but they didn't belong here.
Danny told me that Tony Walls had had his car stolen a couple of days
ago which was why he had brought the big lads with him. Jason and Sean
were still playing pool and Jason didn't seem to have noticed. They
were playing the black ball and Sean pocketed it. Jason looked at him
and said so everybody could hear:
"Sean! Fuck off !"
And then Sean sort of laughed but only sort of. Jason's expression was
absolutely serious. He said:
"Fuck off !"
again and I thought he was picking a fight with poor Sean but then I
saw that he wasn't looking at Sean but at Tony Wall. Then Sean got up
the nerve to say:
"Its only a game of pool"
Then Jason said:
"I thought I told you to fuck off."
This time there was the trace of a smile as he said it but then he
looked at Tony and said:
"Fuck off !"
And there was no smile there. Harry said:
"Jason! We're only out for a nice drink. Theres no need to be like
that."
But Jason said:
"And you can fuck off as well Harry."
And then he turned to Tony and said:
"Fuck off !"
And when there was no reply he said it again. He kept saying it over
and over again to Tony and to anybody else that tried to quieten the
situation down.

I lost count of the number of times he said it to Tony but I was over
twenty when I lost count. When he said it to anyone else there was a
hint of mischief but when he said it to Tony there was just a deadpan
expression. Gradually people got bored and I think he got bored as well
because after a while he wasn't saying it so often.

Tony finally got the courage to go and Harry and Heck went with him.
Harry tried to tell Jason that he shouldn't have been behaving like
this but he just got the same response.

Jason called a final:
"Fuck off"
To Tony but he had lost interest. Paul who was Jason's best mate teased
him about it and Jason took it well but he laughed and mocked himself
by telling everyone to "Fuck off" and the atmosphere eased. Sean took
it badly. He seemed withdrawn.

We started playing cards and then Decker came in. He said he had some
gear, so, when he went to the toilets, half the pub followed him. Sean
said he got some "E" but I didn't bother. After a couple of hours
playing cards, I was a hundred and fifty quid up and I had to be sure I
wouldn't lose it again, so I said I had to go and feed the dogs. The
biggest loser was Sean and I was fairly bored with him by then anyway,
but he came with me to the garden. He was a lot more pissed than I
thought and I just wanted rid of him.

*************************************

Sean: I know that I shouldn't have taken the ecstasy but I was really
out of it by the time we got back to the garden. It was a mixture of
the drugs and then when the dog barked I nearly went berserk. I was
unhappy because I had lost so much money at cards and the day was not
going well. I had not made it to the match and I had almost got killed
in a fight between Jason and Tony Walls. I was scared of the dog and I
should have gone home then, but how could I face Linda and tell her
that I had lost the job and had lost most of the holiday pay, playing
cards. Kevin was really getting on my nerves and so was Danny. They sat
in the shed smoking joints and laughing at nothing, while I sat with my
mind reeling.

After a couple of hours it started to get dark. We listened to the
football results and, Sunderland had got beat anyway, which Kevin and
Danny said, showed we were right, not to have gone. But I knew that if
I had gone, they would have won. I started smoking joints then. I was
really smoking a lot but it didn't seem to affect me much.

I went to Herringbottle club on my own. I've a mate Andy who goes there
a lot and I was pig sick of Kevin and Danny. Andy knows this girl
Jeanette who gave me a look which gave me ideas last time I saw
her.

The concert room was packed so I had a couple of pints in the bar. I
heard the turn coming on so I started to go to the concert room. I got
talking to the old man then. He said how he was the most popular gadgee
in Herringbottle and all the kids would spend time in his house. I
thought he was bent so I wanted to get away from him but Andy was not
in and neither was Jeannette. We watched the turn and I must have
fallen asleep because he nudged me and said that I could get some sleep
at his house which was just around the corner. He said he had a bottle
of vodka, so we went.

We were about halfway through the bottle and he really started to get
on my nerves. He was going on about how he missed his wife and then the
bastard started fucking crying. I stood up and told him that if he
didn't stop I would give him such a crack. He looked really frightened
then and I started to put my arms around him but he called me a puff.
Then I hit him. Nobody calls me a puff.

You ask, why I didn't stop hitting him ? When I used to fight with my
older brother he would let me hit him until I ran out of steam. Then he
would start hitting me and he would half kill me. I kept thinking about
this as I hit the old man. I knew that if I stopped then he would call
the police and I would get life.