Read Online Enchantment by Monica Dickens - Free Book Online

staircase. He had not got round to it, so Brian came up to have a look.
    Tim thought he was coming to ask for the second half of the rent, which was missing this month, because Buttercup had eaten into his salary with her demands for petrol and a new exhaust pipe when the old one got knocked off, backing into a high kerb. When he heard Brian at the foot of the steps, he wanted to pretend to be out, but the lights were on and the radio playing, so he had to open the door, his head seething with a stew of possible excuses.
    â€˜Need a whole piece of wood, that will.’ Brian came into the flat. ‘Your friend did it in, was it, the one in the white Escort with the pixie in the back window? He was a bit heavy for those stairs, if you ask me.’
    â€˜That step was broken before,’ Tim reminded him.
    â€˜So it was. I did ask Jack, but you know what he is. I’m sorry, Tim,’ Brian said, surprisingly for a landlord. ‘It’s not fair to neglect you, when you keep this place nice, and don’t give any trouble.’
    â€˜That’s all right, Brian. I’ll tell my, er, my friend to be careful, next time he comes.’
    â€˜Comes a lot, does he?’ Brian sat down on the bed that disguised itself as a couch with three cushions against the wall, and looked up at Tim thoughtfully, caressing his soft beard as if it were a lapdog carried high up.
    â€˜Well, I don’t know, really. He’s a – sort of – new friend.’ Was it worse to know when a blush was crawling up the side of your neck, or would it be worse to have other people see you blushing when you didn’t know it?
    â€˜I’m glad. Bit lonely here, is it?’
    Tim shook his head dumbly.
    â€˜Bit hard to make ends meet?’ Brian held up a hand. ‘Don’t worry about the rent. We trust you. Sit down.’ He patted the bed. Panic rose. ‘You’re a good boy, Tim, a really nice boy, and I want you to know that if you ever need a friend – well, you’ve got your new friend and that’s fine – but if you ever need someone handy –’
    Tim had not sat down. A sledgehammer could not have made him. So Brian put both hands on his knees and stood up.
    â€˜Well, on my way.’ He laid a shaggy woollen arm round Tim’s shoulders and gave him a one-armed sideways hug.
    Stiff as an iron bar, Tim stood still while Brian let himself out and ran down the steps, whistling. Tim remained rigid, his hands at his sides, staring at nothing. Help! he thought. I’d better borrow for the rent till I get my pay cheque. My
God
, he thought. I never knew.
    So if Brian … Then was that why he and Jack … But Jack had that woman Janet Fox at work, who … Was he both? Were they both both? ‘Good boy, Tim.’ Did he really think that
Harold …?
And so he thought that Tim … But what about the girl friend with the yellow hair? Total confusion.
    When he could move again, Tim tiptoed to the door and fastened the chain across.
    Better get myself a girl friend. Out of the confusion, that thoughtemerged. Well, and why not? Having a car would make it easier. ‘Your car can be transport, music centre, picnic venue, speed, excitement, privacy, bedroom. Get a car – get a girl!’
    Frog-princess Lilian was married to a toad, but Gail was unattached, and had been reasonably friendly to Tim of late. They shared a few familiar jokes about Mr D. and Fred and the worst of the customers. That would be something to talk about, for a start.
    Tim picked his time. Gail was quite passable, really, if you liked pointed noses with short upper lips pulled up towards them. She smelled clean too, and had a nice little way with customers, jollying the wobblies along towards the decision she had already made for them.
    She had high pointed bosoms, like her nose. One day, she came to work in the same sort of pink jumper that Helen Brown had worn at the theatre, but it looked