George and Spider Part Nine - The Lawns Estate cont'd

'The big one?' said Spider, puzzled.

'Yes! Remember the big one, coming up? Winky Glowacki?'

Spider stared into space for a few seconds, then slowly nodded and said, 'Winky Glowacki - sounds familiar. Oh yeah, that job. Is it a big one then George?'

'The biggest mate.'

'Mmmmmm, just thought there might be some work in between, you know, some bread and butter.'

'Well there isn't,' George said rather harshly, as if he were somehow angry with himself. 'We're going to work up to this one, it needs precision. I don't want to mess it up Spider.'

'Okay George. Well, you do all the planning coz you're good at that, and I'll just do the thing, you know, the business on the night. Tell me what to do and I'll do it. No messing around and no messing up.'

George took a deep breath, blowing out his cheeks as he exhaled, he said, 'Can I have a cup of tea mate, I'm quite thirsty - since you ask.'

'I didn't ask - did I?'

'No but now that you mention it, I've got a thirst on.'

Spider looked thoroughly confused. He didn't drink tea and it was very rare for George to demand refreshment. He dithered for a few seconds, wringing his hands together, then said with a slight degree of irritation, 'Can't you just have a fag?'

'No mate! I want tea, come on, I'm thirsty!'

'Okay, I'll see if I can find an erm, a tea bag.'

Spider went through the little archway which led into his kitchenette and began to rummage around in search for the ingredients required for making tea. His cupboards were a sad indicator of his social life; just two drinking glasses, three cups, a dinner plate with a hairline crack, a casserole dish and some oddments of cutlery which he used for feeding his snakes. Spider rarely ate, his diet being restricted to cereal, milk, cakes and the odd burger; the texture of vegetables made him heave and there were a great many common foods which he'd simply never tasted.

In front of George, positioned on the largest table from the nest, stood a cage with a high-functioning rat inside it. Her name was Tia Maria and the fresh smells from the visitor had woken her from a deep slumber. After a few stretches and a long drink of water she climbed up the side of her cage, exposing her furry under-carriage as she attempted to get as close as possible to George and his smells. He watched for a while but couldn't resist opening up the cage and lifting her out, gently removing her tiny pink fingers which gripped the bars. She was extremely tame and didn't struggle as George placed her onto his lap. She crawled all over him, frantically sniffing his clothes, then stood up tall on her hind legs and looked at his face, twitching her pink nose and exposing long yellow teeth.

'How was your night at Sulman's Copse?' George called out as he stroked the rat's long body with the back of his finger.

'Oh - oh that. Good - I think. Can't remember too much about it but I reckon I saw some shooting stars - and other, aerial phenomena - but that may have been a dream. I definitely saw a heavy animal. It shuffled along like a shshshuffling shadow right next to my den George. It stunk too. Reckon it must have been a badger. I slept until eleven in the morning nearly. A dog walker woke me up.'

'A dog walker, really?'

'Yeah - poked me with a stick he did!'

'Maybe he thought you were dead.'

'I didn't look dead George, my arms were folded.'

George let the rat climb up his chest and under his chin. She was soft and odourless, except for the sweet aroma of wood shavings, and she seemed to have a gently inquisitive character all of her own. 'I'm in love with your rat by the way,' he said.

'Yeah, gorgeous isn't she.' Spider said as he returned from the kitchen with a mug of very pale tea which he placed on the carpet by George's feet. 'Apricot they call that colour. I polished her with a chamois this morning - before I did my cleaning.'

'Polished her?'

'T's what I said George. I took her down The Clock with me last night and all.'

George's eyes widened. 'You did what? Not, The Ticking Clock?'

Spider nodded and said, 'The Ticking Clock George, t's what I said. What of it?'

'No! You and - this rat here, went to The Ticking Clock?'

'Tia Maria's her name George.'

'What the hell for?'

Spider sat down very close to George so that their knees were almost touching, then he coaxed the rat onto his own lap and said, 'Well, after we went there, you know that night, I felt weird, I dunno, sort of free after. I just had to go somewhere, to my den at the copse.'

'I know, I remember. I tried to talk you out of it!'

Spider looked at George as if he were preparing him for some unreasonable information. 'Things happened there George, strange stuff. I felt in touch with myself - and the whole world, the whole universe actually. There's something about woods. And I spent a lot of time looking up, between the trees, up there.' Spider pointed up to the ceiling and said, 'I saw an orb.'

'An - orb?'

'T's what I said.'

George tutted. 'You had too much to drink Spider. I told Dad to get you halves!'

Spider shrugged and said, 'Well maybe I had some beer, a bit more than I'm used to, but something happened, I saw a spinning circle, an orb, they call it an orb-'

'Who? Who calls it an orb?'

'It's an orb George. It floated across the sky with all my demons enclosed within it,' Spider stopped speaking and smiled a little, then said, 'Well whatever it was, it released me from my past, well part of it anyway. And the next day I was different George, I felt different, sort of re-born I suppose.'

'Crikey! I'll ask Dad what he put in your drink.'

'It wasn't the drink George. It was an orb, an orb - period.'

'Period?'

'T's what I said. They say it on Maury. Any way I'm changed, I've overcome some of my issues, for now at least.'

'You can still - turn invisible can't you?'

'Unseen, yes I can George. But you need to understand, I had so many demons associated with that place George, The Ticking Clock. I used to see it in my dreams, I've walked past it so many times and I couldn't even look at the sign, couldn't even say the name. To see it all so different, to know it's changed, it's all gone, everything's been ripped out, thrown into a skip and turned to dust. The demons associated with that place, they've gone George.' Spider looked down for a second and cleared his throat and said, 'There's that girl aswell, behind the bar, I keep thinking about her.' He turned and looked at George. 'I think she's in my league George. Do you know how rare that is?'

'You mean that Kirtsy, landlord's niece?'

Spider nodded. 'Her. She was there when I went. I saw her behind the bar serving drinks, taking money, walking and talking.'

'Did you speak to her?'

Spider shook his head and said quietly, 'No - I wanted to, but I couldn't, I didn't stay long enough. There was a lot of people around and I was wearing tight trousers.'

'Tight trousers?'

'Yes. I didn't want to wear jeans so I dug some out of the wardrobe, they were from school I think. I reckoned they looked smarter, smarter than jeans, but when I got there I began to panic about everything, I was worried about, you know-' Spider opened his legs and pointed to his groin area. 'A - penile fluctuation,' he said in a half whisper.

George shut his eyes and shook his head firmly from side to side as if trying to shake the comment right out of his consciousness.

'And then Tia Maria got really wriggly inside my jacket. I was worried about losing her in there.'

'You can't be taking rats in there mate. If you loose her she'll be exterminated.' George sighed, gave Spider a long compassionate look and said, 'Just be careful mate. Woman don't like, you know, creepy stuff. If you want to speak to her, speak to her. Don't hang about all shifty like - with you school trousers on and a bloody rat inside your jacket!'

'I couldn't have done it without her George. She gave me the strength. She's a very giving rat.'

George bent down to pick up his mug, took a sip of tea and grimaced. He placed the mug back down with force so that it spilled a little over the rim. 'Spider, why is there a yellow tent in the middle of the grass out there?'

'Oh that. It's been there a few weeks now. Have you not seen it?'

George shook his head.

'There's a woman living in it.'

'A woman lives inside that yellow tent?'

'T's what I said. Ermmm, Titiana Muffat, that's her name. She's been evicted from the estate.'

'Evicted, for what?'

Spider rubbed his nose up and down the fur on the rat's back and said, 'I dunno, causing bother. I think she had a seance or something new agey like that. She lives next door to Bod the Baptist, you know, the God poker, evil bastard with pointed teeth - nothing but canines in his mouth.'

'I don't know him.'

'You do George! He's bald on top like an egg, but he's got these long curtains of hair all coming down then sides of his head.'

'Oh yeah, I've seen him.'

'Yeah, well he's out to get her, Titiana Muffat. It's been in the local papers coz she's disabled. There's a picture of her in her wheelchair. I've seen her in it, but I've seen her walking more, she can walk - with a stick. She's lived here ages. Maureen knows all about it.'

'It's an ugly tent. I'm surprised it's still standing.'

'It's blown over a few times.'

'Listen Spider about that job, the box-'

'Winky Glowacki, yes. Is he real?'

'Course he's real. You were there, you met the bloke!'

'I know, but that night George. It's taken me a while to digest it all. And that bit about the man, Winky Glowacki. I thought he was symbolic, part of a dream.'

'Well he isn't. It's the real deal. I'm going to get a feel for the house, you know, the address he gave me, the target. I'll go there this week, stake the place out, get an idea of the owner's habits, security and all that. I think it's important that we don't lift any extras Spider. Whatever you might see while you're there, leave it, stick to the prize. It might be hidden of course, then you'll have to call upon your sixth sense to retrieve it. There could be a whole collection of cigarette boxes. It'll be up to you Spider, to know which is the right one. We have to get this right first time.'

Spider dropped Tia Maria back into her cage and shut the lid. 'I'll find it,' he said casually.

'I thought, if we're ready we could do it soon, in the next two or three weeks.'

'Sooner the better George. I need Humbrols, they're expensive.'

George became animated now, as if he were giving a corporate presentation. 'We have to do it right, do it cleanly,' he said, making a box shape with his hands as he spoke.

'You know, it's funny George but just this week I feel as if I can achieve anything.'

George spun in his seat now, pointed at Spider and said, 'Well put your choke back in. I don't want you running out of petrol. I'll need you to be focused, alert.'

'I will be George. I'll be alert. I'll starve myself the day before, to stimulate my senses, and I'll meditate too. A Spider HAS to be alert to avoid being crushed - or murdered by a female; those things happen in my nightmares, I'm prepared for them George, I'm alert.'

'Okay mate. If we nail this, there may be more work, bigger pay. We can up the ante and retire young - young and untainted.'

Spider got up now, held up his thin arms and said, 'Free and untainted, untainted by the world of work!'

'Yeah, and the world of the nick.'

Spider sat down again and rubbed his hands together. 'We'll be pure - pure in every sense.'

'We can go to Marbella.'

'I haven't got a passport George.'

'You won't need one. I know where there is a shiny white boat, just the right size to take us there - and Max - and the creatures.'

'We'll be pure in every sense,' Spider repeated, this time rather wistfully.

George looked hard at Spider and felt suddenly sad. 'I think you should go back to The Clock on your own, speak to that Kirsty, just do it mate, what have you got to lose?'

Spider shook his head and said very definitely, 'I can't.'

'But you can "achieve anything" you said so yourself, and I sort of agree with you, she probably IS in your league.'

Spider licked his lips and thought a minute, then said, 'What league's that then George, is it the same one as your league?'

George shook his head and said, 'I'm in the premier league mate - and you're erm, Walsall third team, on the bench.'

'Get-!'

'Joking mate. She's within your range. You can do this! Just don't act too weird or you'll scare her off.'

Spider looked disappointed. 'No - it's too hard. My stammer won't let me do anything like that. I can't even imagine speaking to her, I can't even do it inside my head! I get halfway through the sentence and, this is physical by the way, not mental, I just can't talk no more, I'm frozen.'

'You need to sort that out. Make friends with your stammer, stop fighting it Spider and maybe it'll stop fighting you back.'

'You don't understand.'

George sighed and picked up his tea, he attempted to drink some more but it was cold now and tasted even worse so he carried it down to the kitchenette and poured it slowly down the sink. 'I'd better go,' he said, 'Max and I are out tonight. I'll see you down The Comet next Friday, if not before. Behave yourself now.'

'I will. I'm going to finish Battlestar Pegasus and meditate.'

'Good. Can't wait to see the finished article.'

George opened the front door and a gust of wind entered the lounge. He had a quick look up and down the pathway. He sniffed the air and said, 'I can still smell that smell you know.'

'I can't smell nothing, and what I can't smell can't hurt me.'

'Yeah whatever. See you later mate, ' said George, and he gave Spider a little two fingered salute as he went off down the path.

Spider closed the front door and then peeped at George through the little gap in his curtains. For privacy he kept those curtains almost drawn, save for a couple of inches to let in light. The view he had was hard, one-dimensional and oppressive. People walked by often. Spider heard snippets of their conversations; there was almost always swearing involved and he frequently heard the dreadful sound of spitting. The noise travelled unchecked through his single-glazed window. The local kids would sometimes ring his doorbell and shout the word "Bender" or some other potentially hurtful word, because that was their idea of fun. Spider's world was small, closed-up but not private. Only his animals and Maureen made it bearable.