Fighting Back Read Online Free PDF Page A

‘She came to ask if we’d drop the whole thing about Tess.’
    He held up his hands dramatically. ‘Do it, Kerry. Tellyour mum just to forget it. The Laffertys always win in the end anyway, and then they really would have it in for you.’
    I pushed the button for the lift. ‘I’m taking a chance going on this lift you know. I hope I don’t meet the Hippo Brigade again.’
    ‘The Hippo Brigade?’
    ‘Eight fat ladies who seem to spend their time going to bingo! And they don’t like redheads.’
    This doubled him with laughter. ‘The Hippo Brigade … I like that!’
    Where was the lift? I was going to miss my bus at this rate.
    ‘Why are you all so afraid of Ma Lafferty?’ I asked.
    He had been laughing but his face suddenly became deadly serious. ‘Everybody owes her up here.’
    ‘Not everybody,’ I reminded him. ‘We don’t. And there must be others.’
    ‘The people that don’t owe her keep well clear of her. Don’t give her any trouble, and she won’t bother you.’
    ‘Your mother? Does she owe her?’
    He didn’t answer me for a minute. Didn’t even look at me when he did. ‘See, you’ve got to understand, Kerry. People like my maw, they can’t get money anyother way. Ma Lafferty gave her the money to get Sky TV.’ Ming shrugged. ‘My maw thinks she’s OK. A lot of people around here think she’s OK. She helps people. Gives them money when they need it.’
    ‘And then she makes them pay … and pay … and pay – that’s what the police told us. And if they can’t pay,’ I shivered, ‘their pretty faces aren’t so pretty any more.’
    Ming shrugged again. ‘My maw’s always been able to pay. I’ve seen her working three jobs so she’s always able to pay!’ He said it with a lot of pride. In that moment I decided I liked Ming, in spite of the fact that he was obnoxious and had stolen my chips. I like people who stick up for their mother.
    ‘So you don’t care what Ma Lafferty does to other people?’ I punched at the lift button this time. Where had that lift got to? I suddenly blurted out, ‘She’s scary, Ming. She didn’t say anything – in fact, she was as nice as anything, but I’ve never been so scared of anyone in my life!’
    ‘She wants everybody up here to be scared of her. But she’ll leave you be if you drop this. Tess Lafferty will only get a warning anyway.’
    I couldn’t believe what I was hearing! ‘Is that whatyou really think? That Tess Lafferty should be able to do anything she wants and get away with it, and no one should stand up to her mother?’
    ‘I’m only telling you what everybody is saying. You’ll deserve everything you get if you don’t drop it.’
    ‘Tess Lafferty was shoplifting, and she was caught. Some people might think she should take her medicine, and not get away with it.’
    He was fed up trying to persuade me. He waved me away in disgust. ‘See you! I’m trying to give you a bit of good advice here.’
    ‘Thank you very much!’ I snapped back at him. ‘But I think I can do without your advice!’
    He began striding away from the lift, heading for the stairs. ‘Oh well, since you don’t want my advice then – ’ he shouted back at me, pushing open the stair doors, ‘I’ll not tell you that the lift’s broke!’ And his face broke into a grin and he was gone.
    By the end of the day, Ma Lafferty, Tess Lafferty, everything about the estate seemed a million miles away. I boarded my two buses back to the jungle very reluctantly, and what I found there brought me back to horrible reality right away.
    There was a crowd gathered round Ali’s shop, broken glass scattered about on the ground. I pushed through the mob and found Ali with a bandage tied round his head, blood seeping through.
    ‘Oh, Ali, what happened?’
    He beamed as soon as he saw me. ‘What do you think happened? You think this is the first time they try to scare me?’
    ‘They?’ I asked.
    ‘The Laffertys.’
    ‘You don’t know it was them!’