Ahead of his Time by Adrian Cousins (children's books read aloud .txt) 📕

at home and now rang here. He says he needs to talk to you urgently.”

Jumping up, I scooted into the hall to get to the phone. Don would have only rung around urgently trying to track me down if there was an emergency. As he’d phoned, I presumed he was okay, so that was a relief as I plucked up the receiver. My guess was it was something to do with Martin.

I was correct; it was Martin.

33

TCP

After relaying our conversation to Jen, we agreed she would get Beth home, and I would zip up to Don’s house. As the police hadn’t been called, we decided we’d leave it that way until I’d caught up with Don. I could see Jenny was worried and asked me to be careful, grabbing me before I went and hugging me tightly.

Don stood hunched with his thick Crombie coat on in the driveway as I pulled up and abandoned the car on the slew, jumping out of the car before the engine had even had time to cut itself off.

Don shouted across to me, “Son, don’t panic; we’re all okay.”

“What’s happened? You’re okay, aren’t you?”

“Yes, son, I’m alright. Come on, you better come in.”

I followed Don as he shuffled into number eight. Closing the front door, I noticed the Yale lock hanging loose on the inside with splinters of wood sticking at right angles to the frame. Don stood in the kitchen doorway and blocked my view. However, as I shimmied around him, I could see Martin sitting at the kitchen table, his head back and staring at the ceiling as he held a scrunched up blooded tea towel to his nose. A young woman I’d never seen before, I guess in her early thirties, stood beside him dabbing various cuts to his face with a dishcloth.

“Martin, you okay?”

“Fricking hell, dick-head, do I look it?” he nasally replied, as if auditioning for a flu remedy advert. “You should see the other guy!”

The young woman tipped her head sideways and looped her dark hair around her right ear as she continued to dab away at Martin’s battered face, which now resembled a splat pizza. She glanced in my direction and smiled.

I returned a tight smile. “Hi, I’m Jason,” not sure what else to say.

“Yes, I know who you are. My eldest, Craig, is a first-year student at the school. He thinks you’re great!”

“Oh, thanks. That’s nice to hear.”

“Yes, he’s really enjoying school at the moment. He thinks you’re hilarious at assemblies.” She stopped dabbing and looked up at me. “I’m Nicole, by the way.”

“Hello.” I smiled again. “Well, I not supposed to be hilarious, so I may have to change tack on that one.”

Nicole moved over to the sink to wash out the cloth in a bowl of water that contained copious amounts of TCP, judging by the pungent smell engulfing the kitchen. Fair play to Martin, though, as I would be yelping every time that liquid touched me.

“No, no, sorry. I meant that he really enjoys them. He says he learns a lot, and it’s good fun,” Nicole replied, as she prepared to attack Martin’s face again with a fresh cloth.

Martin tipped his head forward, gingerly taking the cloth from his face. “When you two have stopped talking about the Jason Apsley fricking fan club, perhaps we might discuss how I ended up looking like this!”

“Easy, son. Tip your head back again. It’s running out of your nose,” said Don, as he pulled at a chair opposite Martin and eased himself in. Nicole bent Martin’s head back and pinched the top of his nose.

“You seem to know what you’re doing.” I said, as she stood there, pinching his nose and holding Martin’s wrist, presumably feeling his pulse. Although he was very much alive based on the continued liberally thrown obscenities pouring out of his mouth.

“I should do as I’m a nurse at Fairfield General. Ha, and there was I thinking we were going to have some fun this evening, not continue to carry on my duties from today.”

Martin grinned as she removed her fingers from his nose and placed a damp cloth on his forehead.

“Met Nicole this afternoon; always been a sucker for a girl in uniform.”

Nicole gave him a wink and a seductive grin. Christ, he even had that magnetic pull when he was beaten up.

“Yeah, okay, whatever. Now can we run through what’s happened?”

“Gents, I’m going to clean up in the bathroom. Martin, keep the pressure tight at the top of your nose,” said Nicole, as she dried her hands, tossed the towel on the draining board and left the kitchen.

“Can you bring my glasses down? They’re on the bathroom window sill,” Martin shouted after her.

He tipped his head back and kept the cloth to his nose. “So, I got back after the pub and waved to Don as I got out of the car. It all seemed pretty normal then, but I did spot an old Ford Capri park up outside Don’s but thought nothing of it. I was going to have a wash and change before Nicole came around when some tosser started hammering on the door. I knew it wasn’t Nicole, as it was like someone was trying to break it down.” He rechecked the cloth for signs of fresh blood, “Fuck, he’s broken my nose.”

“Yes, son, I saw him pull up a few seconds after Martin. I was standing having a cuppa, just looking about out of the window. Knew exactly who it was as soon as he got out of the car.”

“Paul Colney?”

“Indeed. He marched straight up to the door and started hammering on it. Wasn’t sure what to do at that point.”

Martin looked up, satisfied his nose had stopped bleeding. “Yeah, and before I could even get down the stairs, he’d kicked the fricking lock in.”

“What happened then?”

“I just froze on the spot for a second … I couldn’t believe what he’d done! Then I think I told him to get the fuck out.