Read Last Orders for Free Online Page B

had his own ideas about Dodds and Son, like not having nothing to do with it, and I suppose if I'd have known how he'd turn out in the end, I might have said, 'Get your hooks in deeper, girl.' Or I might have said, 'Back off him, he aint for you.'
    But then it was my dream too once, it was every poor bleeder's dream. A flash suit, a flash tie, a flash car, a wad of oncers always in your pocket. When I went down to Scobie's gym every evening, that was the promise. And all the crackling you could ask. The war put paid to that. A boxer, eh, a fighter? Good show, good man. Though I never saw how having a good left hook helped you dig a recoil pit.
    And look who got in there first. Little Miss Mandy. Fucking lassie from Lancashire.
    I reckon every generation makes a fool of itself for the next one. Vince had his own ideas about Dodds and Son, but it was stretching it, even so, to do what he did, to sign up for five years just to keep out of Jack's reach, just at the time when every kid his age was thanking sweet Jesus there wasn't no call-up any more. I reckon a tour in the Middle East was a hard price to pay for not being a butcher's apprentice and for learning how to fix a jeep. Lad might even have had his arse shot off. I wouldn't have minded if he had.
    And don't give me that tosh, my girl, about how he'd come back and see you right. About how he'd run off to join the Foreign Legion to make a better man of himself.
    I said, 'Well, Jack, you can't say he aint following in your footsteps. You were a soldier once, as well as a butcher.'
    He looks at me like he's saying, I aint in no mood for jokes.
    He says, 'I was a butcher by choice.'
    But I knew a bit of conscripting had gone on there too. Like I'd been having a few private chats with Raysy.
    He says, 'Soldier - bleeding defaulter I'd call him. Bleeding deserter. That's what I'd call him.'
    I think, And you'd be right.
    I say, 'It wasn't the only reason. What you think was his reason - it wasn't his only reason.'
    But he doesn't listen. Hears me but he doesn't listen. Like there's only one reason in the world and that's Jack Dodds, family butcher.
    I say, 'You don't own him, Jack. We don't own 'em, do we?'
    He says, 'Talk sense.'
    He looks at me and I think, You ought to be glad you don't own him, when you finally listen to what I'm saying, because you may be a big feller and it may be fifteen years since I stepped into a ring, but.
    I say, 'We don't own 'em, do we? Even when we own 'em, we don't own 'em.'
    He says, 'You're talking bollocks.'
    So I say, 'The other reason was Sally. He left her a little leaving present. I'd say she's going to have to get rid of it.'

Dartford
    Lenny says, 'So how's your Kath?'
    Vince don't answer for a long time. It's as though he hasn't heard or he's concentrating on the road. I see him looking in the mirror.
    'Still working for you at the garage?' Lenny says.
    Lenny knows she isn't, and Lenny knows Vince doesn't like 'garage'. It's 'showroom' these days. It was Lenny who said one night in the Coach, 'Showroom, he calls it, well we all know what's on show.'
    'No,' Vince says. 'Packed it in, didn't she?'
    Lenny says, 'Aint out of a job, I hope.'
    Vince don't answer.
    Lenny says, answering for him, 'No, I heard she aint out of a job.'
    Vince says, 'So why you asking then?'
    Vince puts his foot down just a bit. We all hear the extra revs.
    Vie says, 'What d'you say we all stop somewhere for lunch, take a break?'
    Lenny says, 'Curious, that's all. Can't always trust what you hear.'
    I say, 'Good idea, Vie.'
    Vic's still holding the box. He shouldn't keep hogging it.
    Lenny says, 'Only it's a shame she never went to see Jack, in the hospital. When he was— Jack would've appreciated that. Time was she used to call him Grandad.'
    Vince says, 'But he wasn't.'
    Vie says, 'I'd say somewhere around Rochester way.'
    Lenny says, 'Daughters. Who'd have 'em?'
    We're coming up to the M25 junction. The traffic's busy.
    Lenny looks at me. He says, 'You hear