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It had won its last four races.
    ‘Put it on trap two.’
    Bobby turned around to see Jay smiling at him.
    ‘I was thinking trap two.’
    Bobby took out a docket and picked up a bookie’s pencil. He wrote
£1 win T-2 1:33 Catford
on the docket.
    ‘That is one pound and ten pence, please.’
    The hare is running at Catford
.
    A race only lasted about thirty seconds. If the dog got to the first bend in the lead, it had a goodchance of winning. If it was last to the first bend, you could tear up your docket. The voice came over the tannoy again with the commentary for the race. Trap 2 was last out of the traps. Bobby thought his trap was spiked with a tin of Pedigree Chum. The race was over before it started, unless the other five dogs collapsed.
    Trap six wins, second is trap three, and the dog with the red jacket, trap one, is third. Close for fourth between five and four. Trap two trails in last
.
    If Bobby didn’t make it as a boxer, he wanted to be a tannoy announcer in Ladbrokes.
    ‘How much did you lose?’
    ‘Only a pound.’
    Bobby didn’t care about losing the bet. Jay was back by his side. He had only been gone for a few minutes and Bobby had thought it could be forever.
    ‘Why do you do bets?’
    ‘For the buzz.’
    ‘The buzz is the reason I robbed the jeans.’
    ‘So I have my buzz and you have yours.’
    ‘We are buzz brothers,’ laughed Jay.
    They walked back to Ballybough as buzz brothers. Bobby was glad Jay had followed him. He hated that Jay slagged him about being a poshie, but he loved the fact that the fight with Jay had only lasted for five minutes.

CHAPTER 5
    There were cans of Coke, Pepsi and Club Orange in the fridge in Anto’s house. He gave Bobby and Jay permission to drink as many as they wanted while they were helping him clear his garden of the weeds and overgrown bushes. At the back of his garden was a row of evergreen trees. Two wood pigeons lived in one of them. They were very fat, nearly too fat to fly. Bobby and Jay would dig for an hour, and then have a can; Bobby always had a Coke, Jay a Pepsi. He would goad Bobby that it was nicer, or that Bobby couldn’t tell the difference between the two.
    ‘I’ll close my eyes and taste the two, I bet you ten pence I can tell the difference.’
    ‘Ten pence! Is that all you’ve got?’
    Jay held his hand over Bobby’s eyes and gave him the first can, which was the Pepsi.
    ‘That is deffo the Pepsi.’
    Jay put the can down and picked up the same one again. Bobby took a sip.
    ‘That’s the Pepsi too, you bollox!’
    ‘No it’s not, I knew you couldn’t tell thedifference. That’s ten pence for me. You’re working for free today.’
    ‘You gave me the Pepsi twice, I’m not stupid.’
    ‘Progress is very slow lads, drop this video up to Johnny to earn your fiver today,’ said Anto.
    ‘Johnny, the boxing expert.’
    ‘Is he a boxing expert?’ asked Anto.
    ‘He thought George Foreman fought in the
Thriller in Manila
,’ said Jay.
    ‘I’d better give him the
Rumble in the Jungle
, so.’
    Anto went to his room and came out with the
Rumble
video tape.
    ‘Here you go. Drop this up and I’ll give you a fiver each when you get back.’
    They headed up to Johnny’s flat and had a race up the stairs, which Jay claimed he won. Just as they got to his flat, the door opened and Gringo walked out. He was the most feared lad in the Strand flats. He had a shaven head and huge ears. They called him Fa because his ears looked like the handles on the FA Cup. He walked by them and Johnny came out onto the landing.
    ‘Lads, how are me oul flowers?’
    ‘We’re grand, what did you think of the last video?’
    ‘Yeah it was great, which one was it again?’
    ‘The
Thriller in the Jungle
,’ said Bobby.
    ‘Brilliant, it was brilliant. What have you got for me today?’
    ‘The
Rumble in Manila
,’ said Jay.
    ‘Brilliant, tell Anto thanks a million.’
    Johnny took the video and closed the door. Bobby looked at Jay and said,