The liquid crystal display flashed to
It had been 0829 for ages his eyes kept wandering back to the television screen, an advert for the Small Soldiers had just been on, he really wanted to see it but maintained his concentration on the clock. He started to move from the settee and it changed. He’d got it spot on and allowed himself a little smile. He walked towards the door, checked his jacket, picked up his bag and threw it over his shoulder. He got to the front door, turned, kissed his mother and left.
As he went out the front door he checked under his jacket for the reassuring feel of his pea-shooter. He regularly alternated between weapons, yesterday it had been the water pistol but he hadn’t done it up tight enough and it leaked in his coat making it all wet and him cold. The pea shooter was not as versatile as the water pistol but better suited to being carried in a coat or trouser pocket particularly when the weather was cold.
As he stepped outside the crispness of the morning reddened his cheeks and made his face tighten. The house was on a bend and the front door faced directly down the road. She closed the door behind him and went to the kitchen window. She always watched Jack down the road, he hated it but it made her laugh and she needed to keep an eye on him.
Outside he side stepped behind the wall that sheltered the front door. Here he was out of the line of sight from the road and could pick his moment to make himself visible. He listened intently for any rogue sounds from the street. There was the usual bustle that was there every morning, the milkman finishing his round, the post woman would be up the road shortly, then there was the traffic. This was quite a busy road and there was a constant stream of traffic, this made it very difficult to monitor and to spot anything that wasn’t normally there. From behind the wall he breathed deeply and stepped sideways to check the position, as he looked he saw a parked van with a ladder on the top. He panicked and stepped back behind the wall. That was different, he hadn’t seen that before. He breathed deeply again and made his move, he would focus his eyes on the van, there was writing on it but he couldn’t make out what it said. He confidently stepped out from behind the wall and made his way down the path. As he walked he scanned both ways desperately trying not to move his head to much and thereby alerting anyone watching that he knew they were there.
At the bottom of the path he opened the gate taking the opportunity to sneak a quick and nonchalant glance around. He managed to read the sign on the van, they were a double glazing fitters, he wasn’t sure what double glazing was but decided that it posed no threat to him.
Out through the gate, which he never shut, and onto the path. He walked down the road, taking care to stay close to the hedges and walls for cover and not to trip over his shoelace which was clicking against the pavement. As he got close to the van he looked at it closer, there were ladders on top and panels of glass secured to the side. Two men sat in the front reading newspapers and drinking from flasks.
He carried on down the path avoiding the cracks in the paving stones in case they were booby trapped, still scanning everything and keeping an eye out for his lift. Half way down he froze. A man had just come round the corner wearing a long coat, black gloves and holding an Alsatian on a lead.
He checked inside his jacket, his weapon was still there, he would wait until the last minute before drawing it. With his other hand he checked the pocket in his shorts, he had some ammo but not a lot. He wished he’d had his water pistol now, by the time he managed to get the screwed up pieces of paper into the shooter it would be to late. The man with the dog was walking towards him whistling, the dog was pulling on the lead seemingly trying to get into the road.
The path in front of him was completely blocked with the man the lead and the dog covering the whole width of the pavement. He didn’t think that the man had seen him yet, or at least the man appeared not to have seen him, and the dog was busy trying to get at the cars in the road. Rather than run for it he ducked into a neighbours pathway through their open gate and crouched behind a honeysuckle bush. Here he could still see them come up the road but if they made to get him he would have enough of a start to be able to get away from them, at least initially.
His bag between his legs and his heart in his mouth, he crouched on one knee which was freezing against the cold concrete. He was crouched for what seemed an eternity, at this rate he’d miss his car. The man and dog were drawing nearer, he jumped as he heard its bark, and was now doubting that he could out run the dog. He remained crouched and was torn between running and staying, but didn’t know where to run. If he ran home he’d blow his cover and would never be safe. With all these thoughts racing through his mind he didn’t notice that he was edging his way back into the neighbours garden.
Behind him there was an aggressive rapping on the window. He turned and stood quickly looking up at the house. There was an adult at the window who looked very cross and was making gestures with her hand for him to get out. He felt his face redden and panicked, he was in trouble here and yet outside there was potentially more trouble. He had no choice but to run for it. He grabbed his bag from the floor turned and bolted through the open gate straight into the man.
Jack didn’t really understand what had happened. He just thought his dad had gone somewhere and would return one day. She would explain it to him properly one day when he was a bit older but in the meantime she just let him enjoy himself. Right now he didn’t understand about being dead and she was happy for it to be that way. Right now he was spy crazy and more than anything wanted to be James Bond.
She watched him duck into the neighbours garden and then had seen the man with the dog coming and realised what he was doing. She quickly grabbed her coat and put on her shoes and made her way out of the front door. She ran down the path and out onto the pavement.
The double glazing fitters were now out of the van, one was unloading tools from the back the other was undoing the fastenings that held the windows secured to the side of the van. She brushed past the one on the pavement and as she reached the end of the van collided with the one unloading the tools as he went to help his colleague with the windows. She stumbled backwards but managed to stop herself falling over, the double glazing fitter apologised immediately and was checking if she was OK.
At that moment she saw Jack dart out from his hiding place and hit the man walking the dog.
Peter Elliot was new to the area. He and his wife were new. They had lived in a big house on the edge of town but as their kids had fled the nest decided to move into something smaller. He had retired two years ago at fifty-five and now just worked part time on a consultancy basis to keep from getting bored. Plus it meant he could keep contact with his old working colleagues very easily. Whether he was working or not he always walked his alsatian, Falstaff, in the mornings. Today he was not working and so was out a bit later than normal.
He hadn’t walked down this road yet. They had moved a week ago and since then each walk he had taken to a different route. Partly to get to know the area and partly to find the best walk that he could use regularly. As normal Falstaff was straining at the lead as they walked down the road.
As he walked down the road he suddenly had the wind knocked out of him as a young boy darted out from a gate and hit him in the midrift. He relaxed his grip on the dog lead and Falstaff pulled away from him running into the road.
Bill Jacobs and son had been double glazing fitters for some years now. Bill was fifty-three and considering finally retiring and handing the reins to Terry. Terry was twenty nine and had worked with his dad since he was seventeen. They were a good team. Bill knew the ropes, he had been a carpenter and moved into double glazing in the early eighties. Terry wanted to follow his fathers footsteps and Bill had more than enjoyed showing him the ropes.
They had a job here today and were due to start at nine. As always they were half an hour early so they could have a cup of tea and a quick read of the sport in the paper before starting.
The two men fell backwards, Bill screamed immediately as his ankle, caught on the kerbside, popped out of its socket. As they fell the window hit Jacks mother, her arms offered little protection to her head and she too was forced back. The three fell. There was sickening crunch as their heads were forced into the pavement they screamed in pain but almost the instant they were heard they were silenced by the glass breaking and shattering into millions of fragments over them.
Simon was driving to work. He used this road every day, and every day he would curse at the amount of traffic holding him up from the office that he never really wanted to go to. As he came around the bend the road was clear. He accelerated and as he did so was forced to break harshly as an alsatian appeared from nowhere.
He braked late, his foot already pressing the acceleartor, and instinctively steered away from the dog. He swerved and skidded. Luckily there was no traffic approaching. As he swerved across the road he caught a solid blow against a parked van.
Shook up but otherwise OK he heard glass breaking. He jumped out of his car and ran around the van. Behind him traffic was soon queued and car horns sounded back up the road. He got to the men and Jacks mother.
The two men were semi conscious, their faces covered in cuts and surrounded by glass. Jacks mother was still and making no sound. Her arms were bent at an unnatural angle over head, her face was visible and seemed untouched by the glass. She looked strangely peaceful and there was a serenity about the way she looked. In her neck a shard of glass about four inches long was sticking out. She was bleeding heavily from this wound. Simon ran back to his car unhooked his mobile phone and dialled nine nine nine.
While he was waiting for his connection he turned and looked down the road where he saw a man wrestling a small boy. He was finally connected, he turned back to look at the two men and the woman, he became distressed and couldn’t get his words out quickly enough. He managed to request police and ambulance help and then just dropped his phone onto the floor. Where he slumped burying his head in his hands.
The wind was pushed from Peter’s chest as Jack ran into him from nowhere. He dropped the lead and felt Falstaff pull away from him. Instinctively he grabbed Jack who was struggling to get away from him. His attention on the boy in his grasp he heard a screech of brakes a crash then breaking glass.
He looked up and saw three figures laying on the pavement. A man from the road appeared then disappeared only to reappear with a mobile phone.
He held onto Jack who was wriggling and kicking to get away from him. He didn’t want to hurt the boy and so didn’t want to just let him go as he’d just fall or hit himself against the parked cars.
In the distance sirens sounded and were getting closer. He was looking up the road and saw that the people laying on the pavement were not moving and the fourth person was now just sat slumped beside them. His attention distracted he let Jack go who fell to the floor.
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Jack got up and wanted to go home. He noticed that there was now a lot of activity in the street. Car horns sounded up the road, the sirens sounded much closer now and as he looked he could see an ambulance and police car had arrived. Up and down the street people were coming out through gates and looking out of windows to investigate the commotion. Two paramedics were tending to the people laying on the floor. As Jack looked he recognised one as his mum. He shrieked and ran up the road.
As he got to the van one of his neighbours tried to block his path not thinking that he should see this. The neighbour did not realise that it was Jacks mother laying there. As he tried to stop Jack he turned and recognised her. Jack was crying and bundled his way through the legs of the neighbour. He reached her and tried to grab her.
Paramedics reached the scene and tended to Bill, Terry and Jacks mother. One of the paramedics checked for a pulse on Jacks mothers wrist. There was a growing pool of sticky blood surrounding her head. There was no pulse.
Bill and Terry were shaken and cut and the ankle was causing Bill a lot of pain. Blankets were placed over them as they were going into shock and stretchers brought from the ambulance.
A small boy was trying to get to the woman and one of the paramedics tried to move him out of the way. The boy was crying and shaking. The paramedic asked the bystanders who he was and a neighbour explained that that was his mum laying on the pavement. The paramedic picked Jack up and took him to the ambulance. He wrapped him in a blanket and put him in the cab of the ambulance.
He then went back and placed a blanket placed over Jacks mother’s head.
A Police woman and Police man closely followed the paramedics. They called for backup to deal with the traffic build up that had occurred and set about finding the man who had made the call. They found Simon sat on the pavement, his face stained with tears. He explained that a dog had bolted out in front of him from nowhere, instinctively he had braked, he wasn’t travelling that fast and swerved. Next he hit the van and heard glass shattering.
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Peter retrieved his dog from the other side of the road. Falstaff was just sniffing around hedges on the other side seemingly oblivious to the commotion that had been caused.
He made his was up to the area of the commotion wanting to see what had happened and what had caused it. As he neared, Simon recognised the dog and lunged at him shouting that it was his fault, the policeman had to fight hard to restrain him but bundled him into the patrol car to calm down.
He came back to Peter and asked him what had happened. He explained that from nowhere a boy had run into him causing him to let the lead go and his dog bolted. He had no idea what else had happened in the meantime.
Jack sat in the ambulance. Frightened, his sobbing had eased and he was sat quietly. His eyes were swollen and red his nose was running.
The police woman tentatively got into the other side of the ambulance cab. She began talking to him softly. Asking him questions that he could not really hear or understand, she was asking him about his mother, telling him. She had a nice voice though, he thought to himself.
She continued to ask him questions and talking about his mum. She had put her arm gently around his shoulder, just like his mother did when he was reading to her. He was just thinking about how much he wanted to go home now and just watch Goldeneye, as if none of this had happened.
She continued to talk to him, she was explaining about his mother, explaining that she was not going to wake up. She was asking him lots of questions, asking him if his daddy was around, and asking about aunts, uncles and grandparents. He was not really listening, he was too confused and upset.
Jack knew his mother was not going to wake up and at that moment realised that his dad was not coming home. He thought back and all he could picture was his mother crying all the time. He now knew why.
The Police woman asked him his name, she had asked him before but he couldn’t speak. But now he knew he could answer her. He turned to her and replied - Butler......Jack Butler, amd at that moment he knew he didn’t want to be a spy anymore.
