Read Online Winterton Blue by Trezza Azzopardi - Free Book Online Page A

He chose to ignore it.
    Itchy feet, he said, And I’ve tried to phone. So let’s go and find out, shall we?
    Manny wouldn’t budge. He stood at the open door, staring across the seats of the cabin, and waited until Lewis slid in.
    Are you sure, son? he asked, and at Lewis’s nod, hauled himself into the passenger seat.
    Lewis reached his arm through the window and peeled a parking ticket off the windscreen. He handed it to Manny.
    What am I supposed to do with this? Manny asked.
    Dunno, said Lewis, It’s not actually my van.
    Rented?
    On loan, Lewis replied.
    What about this fella? asked Manny, flicking the plastic skeleton which hung from the rear-view mirror, Hitchhiker?
    Lewis gave a pained expression, then sighed.
    It’s a reminder. Sort of. Long story.
    Manny said nothing, but sat upright, shaking his head and tutting. He appeared very Gallic doing this, or perhaps, thought Lewis, perhaps it’s just the beret that does it. The beret looked brand new, as did the large patent leather holdall which Manny wore slung sideways across his body. He had the air of a geriatric dispatch rider.
    What d’you keep in there? asked Lewis, mainly to avoid the subject of stolen vehicles.
    Manny didn’t reply, just flipped the clasp and held open the flap. He angled it in Lewis’s direction, gave an artful smile.
    See? He said, triumphant. Lewis took his eyes off the road for a second and glanced across.
    I don’t want to upset you, mate, but it’s empty, he said.
    I
know that, said Manny, Do you think I’m gone senile? But
they
don’t, do they?
    Who?
    Them robbers down the precinct. It’s my decoy. They lie in wait, you know. Scagheads. Pension day, it’s like high bloody noon.
    Should you be drawing a pension if you’re still working? said Lewis, with half a smile to show he was joking.
    I’ve paid my tax, said Manny, not smiling with him, Here we are now.
    The house where Lewis’s mother lived was exactly the same in style as the house they’d rented twenty years before, except, at a glance, he could tell that she’d decided to settle. The garden had a clipped front lawn, neat rows of flowers in the borders, a giant yellow butterfly pinned to the outside wall.
    Manny flapped his hand at Lewis as he slowed to a halt.
    Round the bend! he shouted, ducking as if he were about to be shot, Don’t let her see us in this!
    Lewis sighed, scraping the van round the corner, parking it next to an overgrown hedge.
    Manny ran ahead of him, crabbing along the hedge, peeping over into next door’s garden, then racing up the path.He looked faintly comical in the open air, and he knew it, grinning widely at Lewis before stooping to look through the letter-box. Manny stared for a good long while, made a pantomime of cupping his ear to the door, then turned on his heel and trotted back.
    She’s not there, he gasped, winded by his efforts.
    How d’you know? asked Lewis, We could see round the back.
    Post on the mat, said Manny, pushing a hand to Lewis’s chest, C’mon, chief, we’ll try again later on.
    Lewis moved the hand away and stepped up the side path. There was a bicycle leaning on the wall next to the back door, which was slightly open.
    Mam? he called, and feeling Manny’s protestations behind him, called again, louder, Mam, are you in there?
    Who’s asking? said a man’s voice. It came from the stairs, followed by quick footsteps.
    Who’s asking
me
? Lewis shouted back, blinded by the darkness of the inside, I’m looking for my mam!
    Well, I’m her bloke, grinned the man emerging from the shadow, So I suppose that
could
make me your dad.

    Lewis’s Real Dad is dead. So whoever the man with the builder’s tan and the goatee thought he was, he wasn’t Lewis’s father. He was just having a joke. Lewis’s ‘dads’ went like this:
    D AD #1:
    Dead. As a child, Lewis didn’t often think