The Criminal Escapades of Geoffrey Larkin (7 page)

It was a tremendous relief when he saw his brother and Geoff Larkin at the far end of the playground. They were both smiling broadly as they came towards him so things must have gone OK, he thought.

The smiles left their faces as they got closer to Derek and saw the black and puffy eye that was forming and the scratches on his forehead. They quickly exchanged stories, Geoff omitting to say about the condition in which he had returned Mr. Shelly's clothes, but what Geoff had done was to remove the bulb in the changing room so it would be dark when Slipper Shelly got changed and left the school.

With a little bit of luck he would be back in his lodgings before he saw the condition of the garments he had travelled in from the school. He had decided to dump the odd shoe; Shelly would have to go to his digs in his trainers. What was the use of only one shoe anyway?

John Bolton went to see Whiplash Ashness, getting a warning about missing any future lessons, feeling he had got off quite lightly. He liked woodwork; some off his efforts, especially his carvings, had been put on display at the school open day. Ashness had received some favourable comments from several of the governors, which he knew would please his uncle. The teacher also felt there was some hope for this boy, Bolton, as long as he kept clear and didn't mix with the rest of the hooligans in his class.

Geoff was not so fortunate; he eventually entered the principal's office after a long, nervous wait in the corridor. At the front of his mind was,
Have we been bubbled, has someone reported our escapade in the town?

He stood in front of the principal's highly polished desk. Mr. Tattersall looked up, smiled to acknowledge him, and then carried on reading a letter in his hand. Geoff relaxed a little; Tattersall didn't seem agitated, as he would have been if he was aware of where they had been and what they had been up to that afternoon.

He looked around and was amazed by the vast number of leather-bound books that lined all the walls from floor to ceiling, but the message that the principal, Eric Tattersall, passed on to him a few seconds later, quickly brought him back to earth. ‘Larkin!' started Mr. Tattersall, in order to get the boy's attention, ‘I'm afraid I have some bad news that I received this afternoon about a member of your family.'

He stopped, looking at the frail young man, hardly more than a boy, standing nervously in front of him.

‘Your mother, who as you know was very ill, passed away early this morning.' Mr. Tattersall hesitated again and then continued, ‘You have my deepest condolences. My staff and I will do our utmost to help you through this most difficult time. Arrangements will be made for the funeral by the appropriate authorities and, of course, transport will be provided for you to attend this service.'

The rest of what the principal had to say, even though he could see the principal's lips moving; to Geoff was just a distant muffled sound, and was not registering on his shocked brain. He left the principal's study in a dream, after managing to mumble his thanks to Mr. Tattershall.

He had never been very close to his mother but she was all that he'd known. Of course there had been problems but she hadn't treated him like his father. He found he couldn't cry, there were no tears, he went back to the only friends he had, the Bolton brothers.

That night lying on his bunk he reflected on his past. The few happy times were those he'd spent with the old tramp, Sir Reginald, the bad times he preferred to blank from his mind. In six months' time he would be eighteen. He would then leave the detention centre for good and from then on he would be expected to make his own way in the outside world.

Several days later, he entered the taxi that had called at the school to collect him, taking him to the local cemetery to bury his mother. He missed the lecture that the principal gave at the morning assembly about how all the students should respect their teachers' belongings. He would not tolerate any form of abuse to his staff or their possessions, any culprits being caught disobeying these rules would be severally dealt with by him personally.

There were very few people at the funeral which was being held at the local crematorium. There was the vicar who attended the nursing home; he also conducted the service, several of the bearers from the funeral parlour and two old ladies from a local charity who visited the nursing home on a regular basis, plus the superintendent of the home.

It was the superintendent who afterwards approached Geoff to ask if he would like to look at his mother's few personal belongings, in the event of him wanting to keep any of the items.

His mother's room in the nursing home was small but tidy. It had a single bed, a small dressing table with a fitted swivel mirror above, a built-in wardrobe in the corner of the room and a comfortable armchair. He noticed there were no clothes or shoes in the room but there was a strong smell of disinfectant. There were only a few magazines in a brown, cardboard box along with several cheap trinkets, a photograph, going brown at the edges, of a man standing, a women sat on a chair in front of him and a four or five-year-old boy sitting by her side.

Geoff studied the photograph for quite a while. The couple were smiling, they looked happy; the woman in the photograph favoured his mother. He wondered what had happened to destroy the couple's hopes and dreams leaving them, a few years later, broken and destitute.

He placed the photograph in the cheap frame in his pocket; the magazines he wrapped in some brown paper to make a parcel. He did not say anything to the superintendent or the staff of the nursing home, he just left the room and went back outside to the waiting taxi.

On his return to the school he asked the taxi driver to drop him off at the far entrance from where he could enter the school unseen.

First he went to collect the rare book he had hidden under his mattress in his dormitory. He dropped the magazines into the rubbish bin and wrapped the book in the brown paper.

The changed situation offered a method of how to bring the book to Mr. Tattersall's attention, he intended taking full advantage of this. There was a faint smile on his face as he made his way down the school corridors in the direction of the principal's office.

Miss. Weatherhall looked up from her desk as Larkin entered, ‘Could I see the principal, Miss. Weatherhall?'

‘Is it important, Larkin? The principal is a very busy man you know,' she replied irritably.

So much for the offer the previous day of, we will help you as much as we can; that was short lived,
thought Geoff.

‘I just wanted to thank him for his help,' he said, speaking to the top of Miss. Weatherhall's head as she carried on with her paperwork.

‘Yes Larkin! Thank you, I will pass your message on to the principal.'

Without looking up she continued in a very authorative manner, ‘you can go back to your classes now.'

You don't get rid of me that easily madam,
thought Geoff as he still stood in front of her desk. Miss. Weatherhall looked up; she was not used to her instructions being ignored.

‘Was there anything else, Larkin?' she said, looking at the boy who she could see was rather small for his age, still standing in front of her desk clutching a brown paper parcel.

‘Yes, Miss. Weatherhall,' Geoff thought he would give her full title, it might help to get him in to see Mr. Tattersall.

‘My mother left me this book.' He indicated the brown paper parcel. ‘It's very old and I wondered if Mr. Tattersall could have a look at it and tell me what he thinks.' Miss. Weatherman held out her hand as Geoff handed over the parcel. She removed the brown paper and studied the book; she opened it and looked at several of the pages.

Over the many years she had been the secretary to the principal, she had acquired a fair knowledge of his hobby of rare and first edition books so she could tell that the book that Larkin had passed over to her was definitely worth an inspection by Mr. Tattersall.

‘I will pass the book on to the principal, Larkin,' she said with a tone that said,
you can go now!
Even though he was small in size, Geoff Larkin was made of sterner stuff; a middle-aged spinster with her greying hair fixed in a bun did not frighten him.

‘But, Miss. Weatherhall,' he countered, ‘the book was the only thing left to me by my mother, I don't really want to lose sight of it.' The secretary looked sternly at the boy standing in front of her. He was stubborn, that was obvious. She knew Mr. Tattersall was free as she had taken him a cup of tea several minutes ago.

‘Knock on the door before you enter the principal's office,' she said in a dismissive fashion. She passed him the book and indicated to Mr. Tattersall's office with a wave of her hand.

Geoff smiled to himself as he knocked on the polished mahogany door, turned the knob and entered on the faint command from the other side of the door of, ‘Enter!'

Mr. Tattersall was standing with his back to the door looking out of the large window that gave a view over the playground and part of the playing field. He was a slightly built man with rounded shoulders and wisps of grey hair partially covering a bald head. Geoff also noticed a sprinkling of dandruff over his back. He turned as Geoff entered. He was holding a saucer in one hand and a cup in the other. He placed them on the desk before he spoke. ‘Yes, Larkin. What do you want now?'

Geoff could sense the irritation in his voice.

‘I was left this book by my mother sir. It's rather old and Miss. Weatherhall said you might be interested in looking at it for me.' Tattersall sat down in his chair and indicated for Geoff to pass the parcel over to him.

As soon as he removed the brown paper Tattersall knew the book was old and most certainly a first edition.

Geoff was watching his reaction closely, forgetting the uncomfortable feeling of the sweat that was running down his back being soaked up by his shirt. He could sense the principal's excitement as he turned the book over in his hands
.

Well the bait hides the hook,
thought Geoff.
Now comes the tricky bit of winding him into the keep net.

‘Sir! I'm worried that the book will get damaged, especially with it being in such good condition, and with me being in the large dormitory.' Geoff waited a few moments before he continued, ‘If I was in one of the small dormitories, sir, the book would be safe, especially if I had some of my friends with me. Better still, sir, I'd like you to look after the book for me after I've read it.'

Geoff reached over the desk and took the book from the reluctant hands of the principal, placed a short note containing three names on the desk, turned and left the office, leaving the principal sitting behind his desk with his mouth opening and closing but no sound emerging.

Two days later Geoff, the two Bolton brothers along with Harry Sutton were told to stay behind after their form teacher, Terry Ashness, had marked the morning register. There were some quizzical looks in their direction from Dave Higgins and his cousin, Wilf Norton, as they left the classroom with the rest of the form on their way to the first lesson of the morning.

‘You four boys have been allocated a four bunk room. You are to move your belongings from the main dormitory to your new quarters at once. When you have completed that task you can join the rest of the form in their lesson.' The boys were silent; they were so surprised that Whiplash Ashness had not followed up the instructions with one of his cutting, sarcastic remarks, which he usually could not resist when addressing his pupils.

The four boys bounded to the dormitory after leaving their form room, quickly gathering their few belongings they then hurried to their new sleeping quarters.

Even Harry Sutton was in a jovial mood, laughing with the Bolton brothers as they left their new luxury surroundings to join their own class.

Geoff made a slight diversion to drop off the book in Miss. Weatherman's office but not before John Bolton had paid him a compliment. ‘It was well worth all the effort, Geoff. You're a clever bugger and no mistake.'

Geoff smiled at the remark. Yes! It had worked out just great, just as he had planned. He had his mates around him, his own little gang, and they accepted him as their leader, things couldn't be better.

That first night the lads could not sleep; having previously slept in a large noisy dormitory it took them several days to settle into their new quiet accommodation. Geoff's last thought before he eventually fell into a fitful slumber was one of the old tramp's sayings,

‘
As you make your bed so you must lie in it'.

Geoff's esteem in the school was raised to new heights as word spread of the acquisition of the highly prized four bunk room for himself and his three mates, at the expense of Dave Higgins and his close associates who much to their disgust had been returned to the main dormitory. Apart from the Bolton boys and Sooty, no one in the school apart from the principal knew quite how he had achieved it. That afternoon after tea in the canteen Geoff and the Bolton brothers, with Sooty in close attendance, took great delight in sauntering past a disgruntled Dave Higgins and Wilf Norton. The cat-calls and dirty remarks from the group of lads with them were met by two fingered gestures from Geoff and his small party.

Geoff's thoughts now started to centre on what he would do when he had to leave the school.

He had no practical skills like John Bolton or any of the computer skills like those Derek Bolton had acquired. Regarding Harry Sutton, he felt a sense of responsibility for the big lad, over their time together they had built up a friendly relationship. Sooty in turn for the first time in his life felt a sense of belonging. Left to his own devices Geoff knew he would just get used and abused, mainly because of his size, but also because of the stubborn streak in his character.

In the evenings Geoff would ponder and worry on how he would keep his little group together. He would take the brown paper bag that contained the silver spoon left by the old tramp Sir Reginald. He would handle the shiny piece of cutlery with the crest on the handle, hoping the piece of silver plate would give him some inspiration. He did this regularly when he had a problem to solve. Working the station was out of the question; there were too many hidden cameras and that's where he had been caught pilfering and put in the detention centre in the first place.

He concluded that there was no way his mates could be together by trying to work in a legal fashion, not with the stigma that came with their place of education. He had to come up with a scheme, whereby all the members of the group could contribute their joint efforts, making enough for them to live on. He made up his mind there and then to give the ideas he had been knocking around in his head, his best shot.

The group had settled in to their new sleeping quarters which were luxurious in comparison with the dormitories shared by the rest of the school inmates. The door to the small room did have a lock but there was no key available. John Bolton set about dismantling the lock then, at the next lesson in the metalwork class, made four keys; one for each of the boys.

Sooty was relaxed in the company of the Bolton brothers and was constantly by their side, which was possibly a good thing as it kept Dave Higgins and co. at a respectable distance.

It was one evening just before lights out that Derek Bolton rushed into their small room where the other three lads were getting ready for bed.

‘You'll never guess what I've just heard,' he blurted out at the three upturned faces.

‘Go on then, spill the beans our kid,' voiced his brother.

‘I was in the bogs, just about to leave, when Higgins and Norton came in. As all the doors to the bogs were open, or partially open, and I was hiding behind my open door they must have thought no one was in the cubicles. They're planning a con!'

Geoff was instantly alert.

‘What kind of con Derek?' queried Sooty.

‘Well! They've come across a big fancy box of chocolates. Apparently, they lifted them from the big store near the school. They intend to run a raffle and the chocolates will be the prize.'

‘Well we won't be buying any tickets from that crowd!' his brother sneered.

‘You don't understand,' persisted Derek. ‘They're going to fix it so that one of their cronies wins the draw.'

‘How are they going to do that, Derek?' asked a confused Sooty.

‘They're going to do the draw out of that silly hat that Norton always has on his head. The winning ticket will be tucked under the inside rim, that's what they were discussing in the loos.'

‘That's bloody typical of Higgins. I for one definitely won't be buying any tickets from them,' Sooty retorted. Further conversation was cut short by the lights in the room being extinguished, to the groans of Derek, who would now have to get changed in the dark.

It was a long time before Geoff Larkin eventually fell asleep, the conversation before lights out buzzing around in his brain, he was thinking how he could turn what he had learned to his little group's advantage.

But when he did eventually fall asleep, he had a large smile on his face!

The following morning Geoff outlined his plan to the rest of the group. It was decided that Sooty would purchase one of the raffle tickets for the large box of chocolates that were being sported around the school by Higgins and his gang.

*

The draw for the chocolates was not scheduled until the following lunchtime which gave Geoff time to slip out of the school and purchase the same coloured book of raffle tickets as the one Sooty had purchased from Higgins. It was then relatively easy to replace the ticket tucked in the inside rim of Norton's hat while it was in the cloakroom during the last lesson of the morning.

During the lunchtime break all the pupils who had purchased tickets, which amounted to nearly everyone in the school, were gathered at the far end of the school playing field. Dave Higgins made a big speech about honesty and fair play whilst allowing several different lads to help in folding and placing late purchases of raffle tickets in his cousin's hat.

Giving the hat a good shaking then holding it aloft, he offered it to one of his cronies to take the winning ticket. The lad, who was much shorter than Higgins, struggled to reach into the hat, which all helped to enforce the impression of fairness, he then unfolded and shouted out the number of the winning ticket drawn from the hat. ‘Number twenty-four green.' There was a bustle in the crowd of lads as those who had purchased raffle tickets checked their colour and number and curses as those with the same colour and numbers close to the one shouted out, expressing their disappointment.

Another member of Higgins gang pushed past Geoff and the Bolton brothers sneering, ‘Losers!' as he did so.

‘I've got the winning ticket here!' he shouted loudly, elbowing his way to the front. A big hand grabbed his collar, stopping his forward movement, then it proceeded to drag him backwards, partially choking him in the process.

‘No he's wrong! I've got the winning ticket here,' said the owner of the big hand. ‘Number twenty-four, green!' showing the ticket to the nearest of the crowd before giving a startled and confused Higgins the winning ticket with one hand and taking the box of chocolates with the other. Higgins looked around him for support, his cousin Wilf was there, but the rest of his gang had quickly faded away.

Sooty on his own was deterrent enough and, in this case, he would have been supported by most of the lads in the school. Geoff and the Bolton brothers quickly ushered Sooty away through the envious crowd, laughing to themselves at the thought of their feast to come, and the tables they had turned on a disgruntled Dave Higgins and co. ‘Higgins isn't going to forget this in a hurry Geoff,' voiced a nervous Derek as he looked around at Higgins and his cronies, standing in a group, watching the raffle prize winners hurriedly departing.

‘He won't like his nose being rubbed in the shit as often as we keep doing it,' he voiced, at the same time increasing his pace to keep up with his mates and get closer to Sooty.

*

As the date approached for pupils to leave the school, arrangements were made by social services for them to go for interviews, these were very few and far between as employers were reluctant to employ lads who had problems at such an early age, however, the nationalised utility companies under pressure from the government did take some of the lads on a six month work experience scheme before they left the school.

The youngest Bolton boy and Geoff were of the same age; John Bolton had been staying on at the school and would be leaving later with his younger brother as soon as the welfare department could find them accommodation.

Sooty was the same age as Geoff and so he had to leave at the same time, they were also waiting to be found lodgings. Luckily, the Bolton brothers had been fixed up on a six month government sponsored scheme by the social worker. John, the eldest, was helping in a small back street garage assisting the proprietor.

Their work consisted of minor mechanical and body repairs to older mostly clapped out vehicles, their owners trying to keep them on the road when, in reality, they should have been condemned and scrapped.

His brother, Derek, had impressed the owners of a small computer sales and repair shop with his technical knowledge so they had also taken him on a similar scheme.

An interview had been arranged for both Geoff and Sooty at one of the utility companies, namely the electricity board. The boys left the school together for their interviews; anything was better than the boredom and repetition of the classrooms.

The work experience at the electricity company consisted of working with an outside group of fitters who were replacing the overhead cables situated in the countryside on the outskirts of the town. The boys' tasks were quite simple; they stood on the bottom of the small ladder to keep it firm while one of the engineers went up the wooden pole to where the metal foot plates started, he then continued up these plates leaning on a thick leather strap that was fastened around the post and fitted to a harness around his waist, it would hold him in place if he slipped off the metal foot plates. When he reached the top of the pole he would then connect the new cable to the T section that carried the cable before cutting away the old lengths. The boys' other duties, which they did if the weather was exceptionally bad, were to make the tea, brush out and keep the wagon clean where the men had their lunch and fetch and carry any small tools that were required.

Geoff and Sooty kept very much to themselves, ignoring the occasional sarcastic remark that was directed towards them because of their previous background. They did not join in the conversation between the men, which was mainly about the town's football team or the next darts match at their local pub. One thing Geoff could not help but notice was the pile of old copper wire kept covered by an old tarpaulin that was increasing in size by the day.

The area that Geoff and Sooty were working with the gang from the electric company was in a small village about twenty minutes' drive from the town. Arrangements had been made for both lads to be collected in the mornings and then dropped off outside the school gates at the end of the day.

Geoff was racking his brain and had many sleepless nights working on a scheme to relieve the company of its old copper cable before it was collected and taken to the central depot. He knew that if the cart load of old iron could fetch pounds at the scrap yard, the copper wire would be worth a damn sight more. The problem was he had no transport to move the merchandise; as he called it. He was brushing out the rear of the large van when he overheard a conversation between the foreman in charge of the gang of workmen and a lorry driver delivering new wooden replacement poles from the depot.

‘Tell George at the yard to expect this old wire tomorrow. We'll load it onto your truck after you've brought the rest of the poles.' The lorry driver gave the foreman the thumbs up sign indicating that he had heard and that he would pass the message on.

This meant to Geoff that he and his friends had to act that night, or not at all. The time between lights out at the school and when he thought it was safe to move seemed like an eternity.

Eventually the four boys, in their stocking feet, walked down the dimly lit corridor between the dormitories, slowly making their way to the emergency exit that led onto the fire escape. This would not have been possible if the group had still been in the large shared dormitory.

Several of the live-in teachers had bicycles locked away for safety in a shed near the craft workshop. John Bolton had no difficulty picking the old padlock on the shed door. Taking the bicycles from the bike shed they were ready to set off when Sooty dropped a bombshell.

‘I can't ride a bike.'

‘Can't ride a bike?' repeated Derek Plant in amazement, while the other lads stood looking on, dumbfounded. ‘Why didn't you tell us before?' he continued in a raised voice.

This caused an aggravated, ‘SHHH! Keep it quiet or you'll wake the staff,' from a tense and very nervous Geoff.

‘Because you never asked me,' replied Sooty to Derek's previous outburst. The next half hour was spent a short distance down the road from the school showing Sooty the basic rudiments of riding a push bike, to the growing frustration of Geoff as they had a lot to do within the short time available.

They eventually set off, Sooty wandering from one side of the road to the other but managing to stay upright on the bike, but fortunately for the group they were keeping to the back roads in the town to avoid the little traffic that was around at one o'clock in the morning.

In no time at all they were in the country lanes and Sooty, after several near scrapes, seemed to have mastered riding the bike.

The area seemed so different and eerie to Geoff and the rest of the lads in the dark of the night, than when Sooty and him had travelled in the work's van in the early light of the mornings. The poor light from their bicycle lamps was insufficient to light their way properly and on several occasions one or the other would collide with the high banking at the side of the sunken lane near the entrance to the village church yard. ‘Shit!' shouted Derek. ‘That's the second time I've bloody run into the bank.'

‘SHHH!' whispered Geoff loudly, continuing, ‘It's enough to waken the dead.' This caused a peel of laughter from Sooty, who had mastered riding the bicycle quite well, and was the only one of the group not to hit the bank. At the bottom of the lane they arrived near to where they had been working that previous day. This was on the next but last stretch of the new overhead electric line that would finish on the outskirts of the village. They left their bicycles in the churchyard and walked the rest of the way up the lane on foot using the lights taken from their bikes to light their way. Taking the two wheelbarrows that were holding down the tarpaulin they loaded them with the copper wire then, taking it in turns, they pushed the heavily laden wheelbarrows down the lane towards the church situated on the edge of the village.