Read Above His Station for Free Online Page A

indeed,’ I said, unable to hide my pride. ‘Well, at least I think so. I’ve got the confirmation letter, so it’s all done and dusted as far as I’m concerned.’
    ‘So what are you hiding from, Gramps?’
    Despite becoming begrudgingly attached to the little rat, there were times when its insight was damned well annoying. It knew exactly the wrong question to ask at the right time. Or should that be the wrong time?
    ‘Who said I’m hiding from anything?’ I asked it.
    ‘Does anyone know where you are right now?’
    ‘Well, hopefully my employers are fully-’
    ‘I don’t mean your employers. I mean friends…family. Do they know where you are?’
    ‘I don’t see what that’s got to do with anything,’ I said, obstinately.
    The rat folded its arms, outdoing me in the obstinate stakes by a considerable margin. ‘You take a job you’re not allowed to talk about, in a place you’re not allowed to say where, and you’re going to be living somewhere you’ve never even seen. Sounds to me like you’re either hiding from something…or running away from it.’
    ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about!’ A speck of spit escaped my lips. Had the rat been a human, I might just have given it a fat lip. ‘All I want to do is telephone my daughter! If something dreadful really has happened, I know she’ll be worried.’
    ‘She’ll be even more worried when you tell her about the tiger,’ said the rat, ‘and just out of curiosity – what will you tell her? My guess is you’ll keep your trap shut so you don’t spook her…but there are scarier things up there on the streets than tigers.’
    ‘Now see here!’ I snapped at the thing. ‘You keep going on about how bad things are up on the streets, but you won’t tell me a damn thing about it. I thought you said once I’d sorted my leg out, you’d explain!’
    ‘I did…but then I changed my mind.’
    ‘Why?’ I asked.
    ‘Because there’s no way you’d believe me.’
    I was feeling light-headed and I really didn’t need a rat giving me an ear-bending so I gave it an offhand wave, signalling my desire to talk about something else and my mind returned to what was important.
    ‘I’m going to find someone in charge, and with any luck they’ll direct me to the nearest telephone. Now…you can either come along, or scuttle off to wherever you came from, I really don’t care. All I want to do is get this business sorted out.’
    ‘In that case…lay on, Macduff.’
    ‘Pardon me?’ I enquired.
    ‘It’s Shakespeare, dude.’
    ‘I know it’s bloody Shakespeare!’ I said. ‘But it’s “ Lead on, Macduff”.’
    The rat rolled its eyes. ‘Humans…there are none so blind as those that will not see.’
     

3
     
    Now, allow me to lay all my cards on the table.
    I don’t have an OBE, a CBE or even an MBE. I don’t have any medals at all, as it goes. I have done nothing for the betterment of my fellow man, I am not currently employed by the armed forces, nor do I perform any notable work for a charitable organisation (other than a monthly stipend of £2 to the Save The Tiger Foundation that I have every intention of cancelling). In short, I have never had any call to visit Buckingham Palace before now. Even though Regal Street station was housed directly beneath it, I never actually expected to meet any of the Royals face-to-face. Considering that the station was only to be used in the most dire of circumstances, I had hoped that I would never have to. I would have been quite content to idle away my time in care of Regal Street without brushing shoulders with royalty. My small, grey-furred companion was quickly becoming adept at reading my thoughts, for as we strolled through the tunnels back towards the escalators, it said:
    ‘I guess it won’t be easy getting inside the palace.’
    ‘I imagine not,’ I said, wondering where I’d put my identity badge. Sod’s law it was right at the bottom of my bloody satchel. ‘I’ve completed