Sunday 15 November 2020

An unwelcome visitor

 Mike Applebee was sitting in The Doughmother bakery and café, talking to Houlia, its owner, eating one of her brownies and  enjoying a black Americano, on a day off and he was glad of it. Life in The Fields had been hectic of late, with the death of Saffron Carter and the subsequent investigation, of which he was a small but important part. Then there was his wife, Kirsty, now home after a week in hospital, where she had been taken with appendicitis. Fortunately, and uninvited, her best friend Wanda had come to the rescue. They were coming to join Mike later for a light lunch, followed by a walk around the park. He was just bringing Houlia up to speed when the door of The Doughmother crashed open and two grown men collapsed onto the floor of the bakery, wrestling and punching one another as they did. 

Mike was up on his feet and pulling them apart before the two men did too much damage. ‘Clem, lay off him’ he shouted and Clem stopped and quickly climbed to his feet, whilst the other guy stayed down, who he recognised as Saul Gregory. ‘A bit off his turf’ Mike thought to himself. For now Saul Gregory was staying where he was — on the floor. ‘Outside. Both of you!’ Mike ordered.

Once standing outside, Saul regained some of his confidence and said ‘Are you going to arrest him for attacking me?’ Mike turned to Clem and said ‘Did you?’ ‘Yes’ came back Clem without a moment’s hesitation. ‘Are you really going to make it easy for me to arrest you?’ It was then that Saul said ‘You’re  not in uniform’. ‘I’m still a copper’ Mike replied, sensing that Saul didn’t like Clem’s willingness to be arrested. ‘So you’re having second thoughts about me arresting your assailant?’ Mike saw the hesitation in Saul’s eyes, like a man caught between a rock and a hard place. It was then he noticed Saul’s bulging pockets, with the tops of what appeared to be leaflets sticking out. ‘What are they?’ Mike asked. ‘What?’ came back Saul, instinctively placing his hands over the pockets to belatedly cover them up.

Out of the corner of his left eye, Mike caught Clem’s smile, as he volunteer a leaflet without saying a word. ‘PROTECT OUR TOWN FROM INTRUDERS – VOTE PHIL GREGORY – PEOPLES PATRIOTIC PARTY – THURSDAY 9TH NOVEMBER’.

‘Ah’ said Mike, now understanding everything. He was glad that the PPP thugs couldn’t find anyone on the Fields Estate to do their dirty work. Charging Clem would do him no harm, as he just happened to be the Eco Alliance candidate and could claim he was defending himself after he had been attacked by a racist, but to charge Saul with assault would help confirm a growing belief among voters that the PPP were no more than fascist thugs. He looked between the two men, before commanding Saul to empty his pockets and place all the leaflets in the litter bin close to where they were standing. Once Saul was out of sight he would cover the leaflets with wet leaves from the gutter. ‘We will forget that this ever happened’. Saul opened his mouth but said nothing. 

When Saul had gone Clem asked Mike why he let him go? ‘Think about it. There’ll be very few PPP leaflets delivered here. They won’t try again and Young Saul will have to explain his black eye to his brother. You in court would do no more than provoke them and we’d soon have a pitched battle on our hands. No thank you. Not on my watch’.  







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