14 Serialisation of the book 'Uprising' 1st book in the 'Corpalism' series - by Arun D Ellis

Getting to know you
Always do what is right. It will gratify half of mankind and astound the other.
Mark Twain

Terry sat back in the arm chair and rested his aching head. He was dully angry; he’d had to forgo stitches due to the disconnecting of his chip and the fact he had no cash. The best Donald could offer was butterfly plasters, a lot of them admittedly, but he’d scar and not prettily. Sandra came into the room, sat on the arm of the chair and stroked his hair. Terry smiled and held her hand.

“I guess someone should’ve warned you about doing things like that in public,” said Donald, “they’ve got cameras everywhere.”

“I realised that,” said Terry, “but I didn’t know they were so paranoid about stuff.”

“Oh yeah,” said Don, “They jump on any sign of group activity.”

“So I gather,” said Terry. “Now”.

“And training kids how to defend themselves wouldn’t’ve gone down at all well,” said Donald.

“I thought you wanted me to train people though” Terry said accusingly, irritated at not being given the heads up.

“Yes, but that would’ve been behind closed doors, Terry….”

Jimmy came into the room; he was limping and holding a bag of ice on the back of his head. His face showed strong evidence of the attention Terry had applied to it. He gave Terry a cold look and plonked himself down in the settee next to Don, “So why we here then?” he asked.

“Well you’re here because we collected you from the street where you were laying,” said Sandra, “out cold, as I remember.”

“Yeah, well I know that,” said Jimmy, “but what’s he doing here? And why are you so friendly with him? I thought you and I had something going?”

“In your dreams, O’Connell,” snapped Sandra. Terry looked at her for explanation. “We went out years ago, but he was a dickhead so I dumped him.”

“No I wasn’t,” said Jimmy, “it was a year ago, and besides I dumped you.”

“He’s just an idiot,” said Sandra, “who can’t move on.”
Jimmy got up to leave.

“Hold on Jim,” said Donald, “we need to talk a few things out first…”

“Why were you in there anyway?” asked Don.

“Got nicked the other night, didn’t I,” said Jimmy.

“What for?” asked Donald.

“Who wants ter know?” demanded Jimmy.

“Don’t be like that, Jimmy,” said Don, “you know we have to follow these things up.”

“It wasn’t nuffin’ to do with that,” said Jimmy, sullenly.

“To-do-with-what?” Terry asked Sandra. She shook her head and whispered, “Later.”

“Then what was it to do with?” asked Donald, “Jim, come on, tell us.”

“Oh fuck it,” said Jimmy, “I got pissed and took a slash against the nick, didn’t I.” Donald raised his left eyebrow. “Just my luck, a couple of pigs turned up at that precise moment.”

“Right,” said Donald, “sounds about the sort of thing you’d do, Jim.”

“Yeah, well” said Jimmy, shifting position to pull a pack of cigarettes for his pocket. At a look from Sandra he put them back.

“So I see you both got roughed up in there,” said Donald, “looks like they really wanted to teach you a lesson, Terry.”

“I think it bothered them that I do martial arts,” said Terry, “I think they felt threatened, you know, needed to show some macho stuff.” He flicked a glance at Jimmy who affected not to notice.

“Of course,” said Donald, “What did they ask you?”

“Mostly why I was here,” said Terry, “I think they’d got it into their heads that I was here to teach the estate how to fight, marshal some kind of uprising or something.”

“How’s that?” asked Don.

“Well,” said Terry, “they just kept asking me over and over again why I was here and why I was teaching the kids to fight, it really seemed to bother them.”

“Of course,” said Donald, “did they ask you anything else?”

“Nope,” said Terry.

“What dad wants to know,” said Sandra, “is did they ask you about the meeting? About the group and who was there?”

Terry frowned, “No, what’s the big deal about your meeting anyway?”

“Oh nothing,” said Donald, “it’s just them, they get really touchy about that sort of thing, you know, poor old Tom could end up being raided or something.”

“You mean banged up inside for a good thumping,” said Terry, “no they didn’t ask about the meeting and I never mentioned it, besides I don’t know anything.” Donald nodded, apparently satisfied. “And I never mentioned any of you either.”

“Why not?” asked Don, as if Terry’s additional comment had some kind of significance.

“Well for one thing, as I said, they never asked and for another it never occurred to me that I could lift the heat off me by telling them about you, if it had I wouldn’t’ve thought twice.” Sandra squeezed his hand, Jimmy glowered, and Don looked fit to explode. “Though I wouldn’t have mentioned you, Sandra,” She smiled then made a face at Jimmy. “Look, so what if a few of you get together and discuss I don’t know what, it’s not like dangerous for them or anything, I mean what you gonna do?”

“I know it sounds ridiculous,” said Donald, “but here on the sink we have to be really careful.”

“Yeah, careful of everybody,” added Don, giving Terry a hard stare, “’cause there’s always someone ready to snitch on you to get a few favours or a few nice things from outside, you know what I mean.”

“Well,” said Terry, “I’m not being funny but that Tom’s got some nice stuff in his house, maybe you should keep an eye on him.”

“No, Tom’s alright,” said Donald.

“Can’t be too careful,” said Terry, “like Don said.”

“Well, that’s the thing,” began Donald, “I think we should discuss the group.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea yet,” said Don, “I mean, just ‘cause he got banged around a bit doesn’t mean anything.”

“I know, son,” said Donald, “but I get the feeling Terry is okay, what do you think, Jim?”

“I don’t like him,” said Jimmy.

“Well that’s okay too, Jim,” said Donald, “but that’s not what I asked. You were in there with him, what do you think? Is he okay? Can we trust him?”

“I don’t like him and I don’t trust him,” said Jimmy.

“Alright,” said Donald, “but if you can get past the fact that he leaned on you a bit earlier you might see the value he could bring.”

“What value?” asked Don.

“The very thing the coppers are afraid of,” said Donald.

Jimmy scratched his cheek, “Well he sure can fight, I know that much.”

Don pouted, “Yeah but, can we trust him?”

“Well Terry?” asked Donald, “can we trust you?”

Terry looked confused, looking at Sandra for an explanation that was not forthcoming, “Trust me? Yeah, sure you can, though I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Well, that’s okay then,” said Donald.

“How much you gonna spill?” asked Jimmy.

“Dad?” said Don.

“I think he could be of value to the community, Don,” said Donald.

“What value?” asked Terry, “look, what are you guys on about?”

“Could you put the kettle on, Sand?” asked Donald, “I definitely need a cuppa, even if no-one else does.”

“Thought you’d never ask,” said Jimmy, “don’t forget the biscuits, Sand.”

Sandra stood up, reluctant to leave the conversation and annoyed to be put on tea-making duty. Terry pressed her hand and smiled; mollified she left them to it.

“Biscuits?” said Terry, “where you been hiding them then?”

“We haven’t,” said Donald, “they’re fresh; Don and Jim brought them in the other week.”

Terry sat upright, “from outside the sink? You can get outside? Past all the security?”

“We have a route,” said Don, “it’s a bit round the houses and takes a few days but we can get out and get back in easy enough.”

“And the pigs don’t know?” questioned Terry.

“One or two aren’t that bad,” said Donald, “and they’re willing to turn a blind eye.”

“For the odd favour here and there,” said Jimmy.

“They don’t earn much either you know,” said Donald, “they have things that they’d like to take home to the wife as much as anyone. They’re not all bad.”

“Though some of ‘em are complete wanking bastards,” said Jimmy.

“Well said, Jim,” added Don.

“Right,” said Terry, “well, that explains why you guys are so edgy all the time.”

“We have to be,” said Donald, “because if they found out…”

“You’d be fucked,” said Terry.

“Exactly,” said Donald.

“So where do I fit in?” asked Terry.

“Well,” said Donald, “once the boys are on the outside they have to hunt down the produce and it’s not always easy to get, sometimes they have to resort to a little physical activity.”

“Break someone’s skull,” said Jimmy.

“And as you can imagine that can cause complications,” said Donald. Terry looked at Jimmy and grinned. “But if they were properly trained…”

“Then they could get in and out with less risk of capture…” said Terry.

“Exactly,” said Donald.

“I want to go as well,” said Terry.

“No!” said Don, “out of the question.”

“Why?” demanded Terry.

“It puts all our contacts at risk,” said Don.

“I’m not going to tell anybody,” said Terry.

“It’s just one more person who knows and we’re not sure about you yet.”

“I won’t tell anyone,” said Terry, “I just want to get back at these bastards somehow.”

“No, Terry” said Donald, “we don’t get involved in any of that revenge nonsense.”

“See, I knew we shouldn’t’ve told him,” said Don.

“I’m all for getting back at someone,” said Jimmy, warming to Terry, a fellow cop hater.

“No” repeated Donald.”

“Why not?” asked Terry, “We could do something to mess up the system.” Donald shook his head. “But, why not?” Nothing if not persistent.

“We have a good thing going,” said Donald, “You weren’t here when we had nothing. You didn’t see the deprivation, it’s taken us years to get to this position, now we’ve a few bits to trade with and it helps keep everything ticking.”

“I bet you don’t bring much in.” said Terry.

“That’s not your business,” said Don, “it took a long time to build up what we have, what d’you know about anything anyway?”

“You only look after this estate, am I right?” said Terry, “What about the rest of Boro 1?”

“Boro One?” Jimmy’s question was lost as Sandra came back in the room and the atmosphere shifted down a gear.

“Each estate has its own crew,” said Don, “and they know not to make waves.”

“I’m sorry, Terry… but if they think someone is getting out of Boro to cause trouble,” said Donald, “they’ll send in the heavies and smash this place up, drag off the likely suspects, destroy our routes, take down our contacts and generally push us back 10 years.”

Terry puffed out a long breath, “Okay, I didn’t know … an’ now I do.”

“Why’d you want to go so badly, anyway?” asked Donald.

“I dunno, just wanted to be involved, I guess.”

“You’d accept the rules?” asked Donald. Terry’s face lightened with hope. “Don? Jim?”

“Dad?” protested Don.

Jimmy rubbed his chin, “Can’t think of a reason why not, apart from the fact that I hate him.”

“Apart from that,” said Donald.

“Sure, why not,” said Jimmy.

“Oh for chrissake,” said Don.

Cheers for reading

Arun







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