I was waiting by the fire extinguisher but I knew I could not wait much longer. If I was gonna make my move, it was gonna have to be real soon. The boys would hold on for a while, but not forever. It wasn’t that they wouldn’t, simply that they couldn’t. It was asking for trouble, a whole heap of it. We had agreed the place and time but I was 10 minutes late. But even so, I knew they would wait because we went back a long way but I couldn’t expect them to stick their necks out too far for me. Joey, that was our guv’nor, Joey had only just got back out after being banged up for what had seemed like ages but really was no time at all. I couldn’t expect him to risk being banged up again, no matter how close we were. I had to get out of that building and I had to take that extinguisher with me and i had to do it NOW. Without that, we could not carry out the plan we had spent so long carefully preparing. It was absolutely crucial to the success of the operation. The problem was her! It was not the first time she had caused a problem but normally there was some way round it. This time though, the fire extinguisher, one of those big old cumbersome ones, was adding to the problem since any noise in moving it could easily alert her. I couldn’t actually be sure she knew I was there but nor could I be sure that she didn’t know. The problem, you see, was that she wouldn’t want me to go or she would wanna go with me. She always did. But this wasn’t a job for girls. It was bad enough for the guys but if she knew what the caper was, she could very easily inform on all the fellas just to stop the deal. She wouldn’t care that they would all be banged up if it meant keeping me out of trouble. That’s the way she thought. Today though, she wasn’t supposed to have been around at all, all day long! Jeannie was supposed to have been around to look after things while she went out. But Jeannie hadn’t shown and no-one seemed to know why. It didn’t really matter why now though, because just her not being there had been enough to put the whole deal in jeopardy.
The minutes were still ticking by and I still couldn’t decide on what I should do. She had warned me once before that she would blow the whistle if she had to and she had, on Danny and he had not been seen on the street since. Everyone really like Danny. But after that I’d warned her if she ever pulled a stunt like that again, I’d take off pretty sharpish. She laughed. Trouble was that she knew she was the only woman I had ever really loved and to be perfectly honest, I still loved her though I’d never let on. Anyhow, if I managed to slip out but she heard or saw me, me and the boys could get to the place and they could be waiting for us. Then there would be trouble. They would have to drag Joey away screaming and punching, he was a wild one. That was if she hadn’t taken my threat to leave seriously. Deep down, I think she thought I wouldn’t be capable of it. Well, she had better not put it to the test!
Twenty minutes now, would they still be there? It would be dark soon and then there would be no way they could wait. At least they would know for sure that if it were at all possible, I’d be there. The others might be getting a bit restless but they were a good bunch all in all and I knew that Joey would keep them together and hold on ’til the last possible moment. Damn that Jeannie!
Suddenly, I can hear her coming up the stairs but her footsteps stop short of the top. Does she know I am here? Her words left no room for doubt. ’’Frankie,’’ she calls ’’I have cooked something special for dinner. Come down, darling, before it gets cold.’’ I dont answer although I remember thinking, God, food, at a time like this. Maybe, just maybe, she could be bluffing. We had had a row earlier, a row I had deliberately provoked to give myself an excuse to storm off hoping she might sulk and go out.
’’Frankie!’’ she shouts again, louder and gruffly this time, ’’come down this minute and eat your dinner!’’ She is still sulking. I stand up, tuck my shirt in as best I can and start towards the stairs; what was the date today I ask myself? Oh yeah, it was the ninth, well after the 12th she wouldn’t be pushing me around any more, no siree, coz on the 12th I’d be eight!