the low wall at the cars. There was every proprietary brand there, from
little Austins made before we were born to smart MGs and Rileys.
June said: ‘I’ll dare you to go in and let down the tyres.’
‘Go’n do it yourself.’
‘I’ll give you half a dollar to see you do it.’
‘Shut up.’
‘I’ll give you these stockings as well. I’ll dare you. Are you scared to try?’
‘Be a dope,’ I said. ‘What’s the good of it? It doesn’t help us , so I’m not doing it. See?’
We snarled at each other and walked on. Round the corner there was no one in sight, so we got on the wall and looked over the car park.
June said: ‘Well there, look at that there shoulder bag in the back of that car. I’ll dare you to pinch that, and that’s something we both want!’
This leather shoulder bag was lying on the back seat.
I said: ‘Go on, the flaming car’s locked, and I’m not going to break it open, even for you, you pimply tramp.’
We walked home mauling each other, but when she left me it was still only five and still quite light and I reckoned if I walked back to the car park again it would be going dusk by the time I
got there. I didn’t like being dared, and I thought, if I get the bag I’ll show it to her tomorrow.
I walked back and loitered past the car park, and the car hadn’t gone. I walked past twice because I wanted to see where the attendant was. He was at the other end and busy. The third time
I climbed over the wall. When I was arguing with June I’d seen that one of the triangular front windows for ventilating didn’t look as if it was quite closed, and sure enough when I
sidled up and touched it with a finger it moved on its swivel. If you’ve a small hand it’s easy then to put your fingers in and flick open the catch of the door. Then you stop to squint
round the car park at all the silent cars. Then you open the door and lean over to the back seat and grab the shoulder bag.
I hid the thing under my coat and slithered back over the wall. Then I began to run.
It was the first thing I’d stolen since four years ago when Mam had beaten the fear of God into me, and I was in a panic for a time. It wasn’t till I got near home that I really
began to feel good. Then I showed the first bit of sense. I remembered that when I was caught before it was because the girl I’d done it with had turned yellow and gave us both away. If June
saw the bag I was never really safe any more. I went into a dark alley and looked what was in the bag. There was two pounds eleven and sevenpence and a book of stamps and a cheque book and a
handkerchief and a compact.
I took out the money and the stamps and left the rest in and I walked as far as the harbour near the Barbican and dropped the shoulder bag in the sea.
So I went to the Rose Show on that Saturday afternoon. I didn’t care whether I saw the flowers or not, but I thought he might ask if I’d been, and it’s not
easy to pretend if you haven’t an idea what a thing looks like.
When I got there I really did get rather a lift out of seeing those masses of banked roses, and I realized my miserable rambler wasn’t much of a specimen to judge by.
There were a lot of people about – people of the type I’d only really seen since I came to London. Although I’d like to have put a bomb under them, you had to admit they
carried their money well. I stood by and listened to one woman ordering six dozen Peace and four dozen Dusky Maiden and three dozen Opera, and I tried to think what the size of her rose garden was,
because she only wanted these as ‘replacements’. I heard two men talking of a lunch they had had in New York yesterday. Someone was complaining that her villa in Antibes grew better
roses than her house in Surrey and she wanted to know why. It was a far cry from this to the local Labour Exchange with its scruffy staff and its dead-duck unemployables. I wondered if these people
knew that they lived on the same
little Austins made before we were born to smart MGs and Rileys.
June said: ‘I’ll dare you to go in and let down the tyres.’
‘Go’n do it yourself.’
‘I’ll give you half a dollar to see you do it.’
‘Shut up.’
‘I’ll give you these stockings as well. I’ll dare you. Are you scared to try?’
‘Be a dope,’ I said. ‘What’s the good of it? It doesn’t help us , so I’m not doing it. See?’
We snarled at each other and walked on. Round the corner there was no one in sight, so we got on the wall and looked over the car park.
June said: ‘Well there, look at that there shoulder bag in the back of that car. I’ll dare you to pinch that, and that’s something we both want!’
This leather shoulder bag was lying on the back seat.
I said: ‘Go on, the flaming car’s locked, and I’m not going to break it open, even for you, you pimply tramp.’
We walked home mauling each other, but when she left me it was still only five and still quite light and I reckoned if I walked back to the car park again it would be going dusk by the time I
got there. I didn’t like being dared, and I thought, if I get the bag I’ll show it to her tomorrow.
I walked back and loitered past the car park, and the car hadn’t gone. I walked past twice because I wanted to see where the attendant was. He was at the other end and busy. The third time
I climbed over the wall. When I was arguing with June I’d seen that one of the triangular front windows for ventilating didn’t look as if it was quite closed, and sure enough when I
sidled up and touched it with a finger it moved on its swivel. If you’ve a small hand it’s easy then to put your fingers in and flick open the catch of the door. Then you stop to squint
round the car park at all the silent cars. Then you open the door and lean over to the back seat and grab the shoulder bag.
I hid the thing under my coat and slithered back over the wall. Then I began to run.
It was the first thing I’d stolen since four years ago when Mam had beaten the fear of God into me, and I was in a panic for a time. It wasn’t till I got near home that I really
began to feel good. Then I showed the first bit of sense. I remembered that when I was caught before it was because the girl I’d done it with had turned yellow and gave us both away. If June
saw the bag I was never really safe any more. I went into a dark alley and looked what was in the bag. There was two pounds eleven and sevenpence and a book of stamps and a cheque book and a
handkerchief and a compact.
I took out the money and the stamps and left the rest in and I walked as far as the harbour near the Barbican and dropped the shoulder bag in the sea.
So I went to the Rose Show on that Saturday afternoon. I didn’t care whether I saw the flowers or not, but I thought he might ask if I’d been, and it’s not
easy to pretend if you haven’t an idea what a thing looks like.
When I got there I really did get rather a lift out of seeing those masses of banked roses, and I realized my miserable rambler wasn’t much of a specimen to judge by.
There were a lot of people about – people of the type I’d only really seen since I came to London. Although I’d like to have put a bomb under them, you had to admit they
carried their money well. I stood by and listened to one woman ordering six dozen Peace and four dozen Dusky Maiden and three dozen Opera, and I tried to think what the size of her rose garden was,
because she only wanted these as ‘replacements’. I heard two men talking of a lunch they had had in New York yesterday. Someone was complaining that her villa in Antibes grew better
roses than her house in Surrey and she wanted to know why. It was a far cry from this to the local Labour Exchange with its scruffy staff and its dead-duck unemployables. I wondered if these people
knew that they lived on the same
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