‘Please, Mum, we promise we will eat our dinner,’ Frankie whinged.
Jessica could never say no to her kids and both of them knew it. ‘OK, but don’t tell your dad,’ she said.
Frankie and Joey locked eyes. ‘Thank you, Mummy,’ they said, smiling at one another.
In the heart of London’s East End, tempers were starting to fray. As Eddie Mitchell stared at the shivering wreck of a man, he felt nothing but contempt. ‘What do you mean, you ain’t got the fucking money? You know the rules,’ he shouted menacingly.
‘I’m really sorry. My car broke down and I had to get that repaired, then my fridge-freezer went wrong. I’ll pay you next week, I promise I will,’ the man pleaded.
Eddie turned to his two brothers. ‘What do you reckon lads? Should we give him another week or cut the cunt’s ear off?’
Ronny Mitchell gave a sadistic grin. ‘I don’t think we should chop off his ear. How ’bout we do his little finger instead?’
The shivering man fell onto his knees. ‘Please don’t hurt me. You know my wife is ill, she’s disabled. I had to get the car fixed to take her to the hospital. If you hurt me she’ll have no one to look after her.’
As Ronny licked his lips and pulled the knife out of his pocket, Eddie ordered him and Paulie to wait in the car. ‘But I thought you wanted us to do him?’ Ronny argued.
‘Just get in the fucking car, will you?’ Eddie yelled.
Hearing the front door slam, Eddie helped the man up and sat him on the sofa. ‘The thing is, mate, I know that you’re lying to me. You never got no car fixed or brought no fucking fridge-freezer. You spunked my money in the pub and the bookie’s, didn’t you?’
‘No, I never. I swear I –’
Annoyed at being lied to, Eddie stopped the man in mid-sentence by grabbing him around his scrawny neck. ‘Don’t lie to me, you cunt, ’cause I’ll kill you.’
The man started to sob. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to spend it. It’s so hard looking after my Elaine, a drink and a bet is my only release.’
Eddie looked at the man with pure disgust. He knew for a fact that he fucked off out every day and left his poor disabled wife indoors to fend for herself. The grapevine was a funny old thing and there wasn’t much went on that didn’t reach his ears.
Eddie knelt down and moved his face inches away from the man. ‘Now listen to me and listen very carefully. I’ll waive the money you owe me, on one condition.’
‘What? I’ll do anything, I promise,’ the man said.
‘I want you to look after your wife properly. If I hear that you’ve left her sitting in her own piss and shit for hours while you’re larging it in the pub or betting shop, I swear I’ll come back and personally fucking cut you to shreds.’
The man started to sob. ‘Thank you Mr Mitchell. You have my word.’
Over in Upney, Joycie Smith was busy showing her friends the new machine that Eddie and Jessica had bought her for her birthday.
Rita crouched down and stared at the object in question. ‘What’s it called again? And what does it do?’
‘I’ve already told you twice. It’s called a video recorder and you can record programmes off the telly and watch them at a later date.’
‘But how can it do that?’ Rita asked, bemused.
‘You have to put a tape inside and pre-set it. I recorded Corrie the other night and I only watched it this morning.’
Hilda looked at her in awe. ‘It’s marvellous, ain’t it? Bleedin’ marvellous.’
Joyce went into her peacock mode. She could almost feel her feathers spreading out like a fan. ‘It’s modern technology, ain’t it? Because Jessica and Eddie are so wealthy now, they know all about these things before anybody else does. You should see their new house – like a palace, it is.’
Hilda and Rita glanced at one another. They wouldn’t upset Joycie for the world, but they’d already heard about Jessica’s new house a thousand times before. So much so, the pair of them felt that they knew every tile, carpet and room inside out.
‘Cooking a posh dinner tonight, my Jess is. All the family will be there. Me and Stan could have done without it, but Eddie adores us, insists that we come,’ Joyce lied.
Bored as arseholes, Hilda furtively nudged her friend. Rita quickly clocked on and cleverly changed the subject.
‘Where is your Stan? We haven’t seen him for ages. My Arthur said he rarely goes down the bookie’s any more.’
Joyce sighed. ‘Out the back with them bleedin’ pigeons of his. Thinks more of them birds than he does of me. Keeps talking about getting himself a new cock.’
Hilda and Rita roared with laughter. Eddie had bought Stanley his first racing pigeon a couple of years back and he’d been hooked from day one. Joyce had hated his new hobby from the word go, but had put up with it because it was Eddie’s idea.
‘Dirty bastard things they are. Full of shit me garden is and I’m sure it’s them that’s killed me roses,’ Joyce moaned.
Rita smiled politely. ‘Well, I suppose it gives Stanley an interest. The only interest my Arthur’s got is the pub and the horses,’ she moaned.
‘Maybe you’re right. My Stanley don’t even bother going to the pub that much any more,’ Joyce said proudly, knowing full well that Rita’s Arthur was a borderline alcoholic.
Glancing at the clock, Joyce realised the time was getting on. ‘Please don’t think I’m being rude, but I’m gonna have to start sprucing meself up in a minute. Jess’s mansion is in the country and it takes us about half-hour to get there. She’s expecting us at seven, so I’d best get me skates on.’
Rita and Hilda immediately stood up. Talk about outstaying your welcome, they both thought.
‘Thanks for the tea and cake. See you soon, Joycie,’ Hilda said.
Joyce did her queen wave at the door. ‘Don’t forget, anything you want to watch, come and see me and I’ll record it for you.’
Slamming the front door, Joyce marched into the back garden. ‘Stanley, stop cuddling your cock and get yourself bathed and changed.’
‘Just give me ten minutes, dear, and I’ll be with you,’ Stanley said.
‘No, Stanley. Put your cock away now, pronto.’
‘SO WHEN IS that cheeky old cunt gonna pay up then?’ Ronny asked Eddie.
Eddie pulled into the pub car park. ‘Next week. I’ll go round and collect it myself,’ he lied.
‘Ain’t you coming in for a quickie?’ Paulie asked him.
Eddie shook his head. ‘Got the in-laws coming round for dinner. I promised Jess I’d be home early.’
Eddie sighed as his two brothers walked away. He daren’t tell Paulie and Ronny that he’d just wiped the geezer’s debt. They wouldn’t understand his reasons, they’d think he’d lost his marbles. It was only a monkey and Ed would rather ensure that the disabled wife was properly cared for than worry about a pittance.
Financially, Eddie was doing very nicely indeed and five hundred quid was no more than loose change to him. It hadn’t always been plain sailing. When his dad had first retired and handed him the reins a few years back, he’d worked his plums off to get where