Read Crossing the Line (Kerry Wilkinson) for Free Online

corner of the room. ‘I’ve not been on any of their marches for ages.
    I left all that behind.’
    ‘But you used to be a part of everything they did. You were on our watch list – probably still are –
    because every time there was a protest march through the city, there you were.’
    As he reached towards the teapot, Tony’s hand was shaking. He plucked off the lid, took out the
    strainer, and dunked in a spoon, swirling the liquid around manically. ‘I was different then. Those
    guys used to meet in the pub, so I’d see ’em there. I was so pissed half the time, I didn’t even know
    what they were on about. I thought they were on a pub crawl.’
    ‘Come on, Tony . . .’
    He filled both cups with a steaming green liquid that smelled vaguely of tree bark and offered
    Jessica one, the saucer rattling in his hand as he passed it over. ‘Okay, it wasn’t quite like that but I still didn’t really know them. They’d go on about how big government was run by rich men and that
    we were all puppets. They bought me a few drinks, so I tagged along.’
    ‘What about the other marches?’
    Tony sat back on the floor, sipping his tea, his eyes on Jessica’s feet. ‘I don’t remember everything
    but it was always a day out – a bit of excitement. I remember this pink one where they had biscuits at
    the end.’
    ‘Pink one?’
    ‘Yeah, a bunch of girls all wearing pink going on about stuff. I remember the colour.’
    ‘I think that was a breast cancer awareness march.’
    ‘Whatever – I’m just saying that I don’t remember much. Whenever I saw the groups around, I
    thought free booze or free biscuits. Then someone would say, “Let’s smash something up”, and I’d be
    all “Yeah, let’s stick it to the man, man”. It was all the booze.’
    ‘I take it you’re not talking about the breast cancer march. They don’t tend to do much smashing.’
    The corners of Tony’s lips curled into a smile and Jessica realised he was actually quite good-
    looking. Now they weren’t hazed over by a drug-related fog of confusion, his eyes had a glint,
    mischievous but not shop-smashing. She couldn’t remember but perhaps that’s why she’d told him to
    stop mucking his life up all those years ago, rather than just slapping on the cuffs and chucking him
    and his pissy pants into a van.
    ‘How much do you know about Anarky?’ she asked.
    ‘Not much – there was some Tom bloke, I really don’t remember. I know everyone tells you that but
    I actually don’t remember and anything I could come up with could potentially be a dream anyway.
    I’m not entirely sure everything I recall is accurate – well, unless I once sat down for tea with a giant green elephant and we talked about the onset of global capitalism.’
    It was Jessica’s turn to grin. She picked up the tea and sniffed it, thinking it smelled a bit like her
    back garden after a solid weekend of rain. She sipped it anyway, surprising herself by not gagging. It
    wasn’t that bad, so she took another drink, thinking about the impending, swirling shit-storm that
    awaited her back at the station and concluding she was best hiding here for as long as she could.
    ‘How does it feel to be clean?’
    Tony’s smile became a laugh. ‘A bit boring really – I don’t know what to do with myself half the
    time.’ He lay back on the carpet, giggling to himself. ‘No, it’s good, like there was this grey fog which has gone now. Before, I used to look at everything as a means to getting something else to drink, or go
    up my arms.’ He sat up again, eyes back at Jessica’s feet, with a sigh. ‘You’d see mobile phones in
    shop windows and think, “that must be worth a few quid, I wonder what I could get for that”. You’d
    hang around cashpoints hoping someone gave you something or dropped a note. One time this woman
    walked off with her card but left the cash in the slot. There was about a hundred quid, so I took it and pegged it before she noticed.