Read Online The Fire by Robert White - Free Book Online Page A

it had stuck in my mind.
    Tam stopped his march and viewed me with a mixture of amusement and disbelief. A split second later I was in range of him. I drew back my right foot as if I was about to take a goal kick and thrust it upward as if my life depended on it.
    I couldn't feel much, due to my brother's work boots being armour plated, but my leg stopped dead as I struck Tam a direct hit in the bollocks.
    I was an instant winner.
    Someone had definitely unplugged him. His knees buckled first, but then the rest of his limbs seemed to follow suit and he landed nastily on the broken bricks and shards of glass that covered his chosen arena.
    The crowd let out a thunderous 'Ooooh' as he fell, followed by a split second of silence.
    Tam started to scream in agony.
    Chief lackey Jimmy Boyle ran up to me all aggressive like, looking to avenge his bestest buddy, but I could see in his eyes, he had no stomach for a fight. I just gave him the evils and he backed away.
    That was the catalyst. Seeing Jimmy back down was a signal to the crowd that the king was dead.
    They began to chant my name. 'Co-gan...Co-gan...Co-gan'.
    I was so full of adrenaline that I shook uncontrollably. My feet were welded to the spot. Tam was being sick on Jimmy's shoes. Boys were patting me on the back.
    It was mayhem.
    Then I saw her.
    She pushed her way through the crowd of boys and stood in front of me.
    Of course I'd seen her before in school. I mean which boy hadn't seen Anne Margaret Mahoney? She just hadn't known of my existence. I was plant life to her.
    I'd heard that she had a boyfriend who was much older, so old that he had a car...a Ford Capri...I mean, who could top that? No one in our neck of the woods, let me tell you.
    She pulled her short black leather jacket around herself.
    "Hi," she said. "It's cold, eh?"
    I thought I was going to die for a whole different set of reasons. She was the most beautiful thing ever.
    "Hello, Anne," I managed. "I suppose it is... yes."
    She gestured toward the retching Tam, "You sure showed him a thing or two. I didn't realise you were such a hard man."
    "Erm...I'm not...I mean erm...well yeah...thanks."
    Then she delivered the bomb.
    "You're a handsome boy, Desmond," she purred.
    I'll never forget that look in her eyes. I knew I was supposed to come back with a reply; something clever, something cool. After all I had become the hero of the school.
    Before you take the piss... remember I was fourteen.
    "You look like Suzy Quattro," I said.

     
    Arriving at Glasgow Central, I'd trawled through enough mental memorabilia to do myself permanent damage. For some fuckin' stupid reason, I'd spent the last six years believing that Anne would one day come to her senses and walk through my door with open arms. Everything was going to be fine...happy ever fuckin' after.
    Now, it would never happen. She had lung cancer and had days left; maybe hours.
     
    Queuing to collect my hire car set me even more on edge. I was escorted to the lot by the Avis guy. He showed me a small white Vauxhall before waxing lyrical about how the key worked in the ignition and where the light switch was.
    The car took unleaded petrol 'only' and apparently you could tell this from the green pump at the gas station.
    I wanted to hurt him, but it wasn't his fault, was it?
    It wasn't his fault that Anne had smoked thirty a day all her life, more on a weekend when she'd a drink inside her.
    So was it her fault?
    I studied the car key Avis man had left in my hand, dropped it into my pocket and pulled out my pipe. Pushing the soft moist tobacco into the small bowl was almost as pleasurable as smoking it. I'd always enjoyed the process of smoking a pipe.
    I lit up, took the smoke down deep into my lungs and blew a plume into the cold Scottish air.
    Who the fuck was I to talk?
    It was nobody's fault.
     
    By the time I pulled into the drive of Hillside Cottage, I was frazzled.
    The place was just as I remembered; made all the more beautiful by the russet