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vibrations of which showed his powerful muscles rippling in his arms. Kibby contemplated his own puny biceps, and recalled the ridiculousness of his dad saying, — If anybody mucks you about at school, just gie them that, holding up his own scared fist in illustration.
    Brian Kibby’s grip tightened on the box he was carrying.
    As McGrillen looked up and clocked him in slow recognition, Kibby felt rising in him the customary bolt of fear his old adversary’s presence engendered. However, as he contemplated McGrillen, it seemed to settle into another, less definable emotion. The contempt in his old tormentor’s eyes was still there, but this time, clad in workman’s clothes, he wasconfronted by Kibby in a suit and some repressed bourgeois part of McGrillen’s soul was belittled. And Kibby saw it; saw that McGrillen could see his own life elongating out ahead of him, digging roads, while he, Brian Kibby, was in his suit and tie, a man of business and substance, a council inspector!
    And Kibby couldn’t resist a little smirk, in that, after all the school playground humiliations and the years of crossing the road at the baker’s or chip shop, he had now gained some measure of revenge, some kind of vindication. That small self-satisfied smile, how it must be like a nail in poor McGrillen’s heart! he thought as he danced over the forecourt, instantly withdrawing his glance and proceeding in a studiedly distracted, businesslike manner, as if McGrillen was somebody he thought he maybe knew but was obviously mistaken!
    Inside the impressive hallway, Kibby climbed a mahogany-panelled staircase to a set of lifts. Getting into one elevator, he saw a guy in a suit, his own age, maybe a little older. Kibby thought the boy looked cool, as the suit seemed expensive. And the guy nodded and smiled at him; at
him
, Brian Kibby! And why not? Now he was somebody, an officer of the council, not just an unskilled workie like McGrillen.
    The likes of that boy wouldnae even gie the likes of Andrew McGrillen the time ay day!
    Then he realised that the boy was with this lassie; well, Kibby felt his hormones race, and she gave him a smile too, before she started talking to the young guy. Wow, Kibby thought, admiring her light brown hair, her busy, big brown eyes and her full lips. What a doll, he gasped to himself, seized with a kind of ecstatic rush so strong, he almost forgot for a few moments about the box under his arm.
    At the next floor two men in blue overalls got into the lift and then a hot, fecund stench filled the box they were crammed into. Somebody had let off. It was awful, and the guy in the suit caught Kibby’s eye and looked to the boys in the overalls and screwed his face up in disgust. The workmen got off atthe next stop. The young guy in the suit said loudly, — That is minging!
    A few people grinned and the young lassie laughed. — Danny, she tutted.
    — I’m no joking, Shannon, Kibby heard the boy say. — There’s nae need for thon. There’s a toilet on every floor.
    Shannon, Kibby thought, too excited and flustered to turn and see if they were going his way. No, he thought, this was his big chance. They didn’t know him; he wasn’t going to be the timid boy at school or the quiet apprentice in the office who made the tea for grumpy old guys like in his last job. He was going to come of age here, going to be confident, outgoing and respected. Then he sucked in air and turned to face this Danny guy and this Shannon lassie. — Excuse me . . . can you tell me where the Environmental Health section is? I’ve an appointment to see Mr Robert Foy.
    — You must be Brian, the girl called Shannon smiled, and so, Kibby noted in appreciation, did the boy Danny.
    — Follow us, he said.
    Just in the door and I’ve already made pals with some really good people!

5
Compensation
    THE ALARM CLOCK’S relentless jackhammering jolted Danny Skinner from one hell into another. His hand shot out, slapping its ‘off’