Prison visit
He marched up to the table, pulled out the chair and sat, watching the guard in the corner of his eye.
“Hello, Dad. Go on…”
“What do you mean go on! I’ve been worried sick!”
“Give me the bollocking of a lifetime, of course!”
“Oh, no. I’m saving that up for when you’re home!”
“How is she?”
“Your mother?”
“No, the woman I ran into!”
”How do you think she is!? Her arm’s likely to be in plaster for the next six months! They don’t heal well at that age. What the hell were you thinking?”
“I wasn’t thi”
”I knew that bike was a bad idea! I’ll tell you this for starters. That bike has been destroyed!”
“Dad! It took me a year to save up for that! It cost me over ten quid to get it made!”
“I don’t care. You’re a menace on the roads on that thing! At least a horse has common sense, unlike you!”
The guard moved away and stood by the door.
Eric grinned. He lowered his voice. “Did Lance keep his trap shut?”
“He did. Dave grounded him with Greg.”
Eric sighed with relief. “Did you bring what I asked?”
“Yes, they’re checking the books over, now… So how is it in here?”
“I agree with Diah. I actually like a lot of it. Banged up in your cell all alone, though. That’s the hardest part for me. I need to do stuff. God it’s boring. Even with a book.”
“It’s not meant t”
“I know, you don’t need to say it. I won’t either. What’s happening with two section, do you know?”
“They went on an exercise on Monday.”
“Yeah. Diah told me about them marching past his prison cart in full kit. How long?”
“A week.”
“Bugger. And I’m missing it! Have they started on the fighting, yet?”
“Don’t know. They’re on exercise, so I doubt it. Look, how is Diah?”
“I’ve only seen him once since it happened, but I know he’ll be fine.” Eric sighed. “Angry, of course.”
“I can’t believe you agreed to this, Eric. This…”
“Diah wasn’t even conscious until we were in that bloody prison cart on the way down here, Dad. He didn’t take the taser well, at all. He needed me and I am better than fine here. Just pissed off I needed to miss two days in chains because of what happened Tuesday night. God, he’s impressive.”
Fred nodded.
“I mean it, Dad. That guard…” He chuckled. “They’ve told both of us if we ever get banged up again, it’ll be hard labour every time whether we’re sentenced to it or not. They’ve never seen anything like it, for either of us.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Really. And what’s more, I’d be more than happy with it, too.”