Humber Boy B Read Online Free PDF Page A

that pile.
    “Come on, Cate! Let’s talk catwalk fashion and latest hairstyles and forget about crime, even if only for half an hour.”
    “That could be a very short conversation,” Cate said, considering her reliable but boring navy suit, “but I’ll give it my best shot.”
    She was back at her desk forty minutes later when she got the call from Dot on reception to say Ben was in the waiting room.
    “Better come get him,” Dot said, always quick to assess the individuals in her waiting area. “He’s looking at the door like he could bolt at any second.”
    When Cate first saw Ben he was sat on the edge of the chair nearest the exit and she could see what Dot meant. He looked terrified.
    “Ben? Come this way, please.”
    She led him to her office and let him settle, arranging himself awkwardly in the chair, his bag precariously propped against the wall. As he bit his thumb and looked around, Cate considered the boy in front of her. Penny had described him as looking like a choir boy, and Cate knew exactly what she meant by that. He was small with fine blond hair cropped close to his head and, unlike most teenagers who swaggered into the probation office, he had clear skin. He had neat ears, a small nose, as if being locked away had stunted his growth, and the way he curled his hands and slouched didn’t help. His Superman T-shirt and jeans made him look even younger. Why hadn’t the prison staff given him some advice on clothes? Eighteen-year-olds don’t wear cartoon T-shirts and they don’t wear jeans that dark and neat.
    Ben rolled his shoulders and Cate could see all the trapped tension in his body, bunched up inside. She saw that being in an interview situation was torture for him. The paperwork could wait.
    “Okay, let’s get out of here,” she said.
    He frowned. “Where are we going?”
    “To see your new flat,” Cate said, picking up the key from her desk.
    The docklands area had climbed many social rungs from what it had once been, and Cate noticed all the changes as she passed the new dance academy, the Italian delicatessen, even the sweet shop looked expensive with jars of aniseed balls and pineapple chunks lined along the window, sweet enough for the middle class’ insatiable appetite for retro. Other shops were empty, with To Let signs in their windows instead of the anticipated goodies. Most of the flats hadn’t been snapped up by young professionals, so they had been converted to affordable housing, the only way to stop it becoming a ghost town, so how much longer the deli and the sweet shop would last was anyone’s guess.
    “Don’t be tempted to buy food in these places,” she told Ben. “It’ll cost you an arm and a leg.”
    “Okay.”
    “Did you do any shopping as part of your pre-release? Learn about prices or anything like that?”
    Ben shook his head, looking down.
    “Well stick to supermarkets for the moment. We can do a budgeting plan, help you work out how to spend your first giro, which you collect tomorrow. I’ve arranged for you to sign on at ten.”
    “Sign what?”
    Cate was so shocked she stopped. “Really? They didn’t even teach you about benefits?”
    Ben shrugged. “Maybe. It all felt a bit unreal when I was inside. I didn’t really believe they’d ever let me out.”
    Cate nodded, looked at the nearest flat to check its name. “Come on, let’s keep walking. The planners obviously decided against numbers when they built these apartments, too helpful. Your block is called Wolsey.”
    They walked along the waterfront. Beside them, tethered boats knocked hollow sides and seagulls were screaming at each other over scraps. Ben seemed lost, his eyes darting from this place to that, he flinched occasionally and looked over his shoulder. Cate thought how this client would be a change from the others on her caseload. She would need to work in a way probation officers used to, before everything became about offending behaviour. Ben would need to learn life