Fighting Back Read online

  Tess. The mention of that name sent shivers down my spine, and I knew at that moment who this woman was.

  The famous Ma Lafferty.

  ‘Mum!’ I called back into the flat. ‘There’s someone here to see you.’

  ‘Oh, your mother’s in then?’ As she spoke she was pushing past me into the hall. She placed a hand on my shoulder, ever so gently, and guided me towards the living-room.

  Mum was just coming out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a cloth. She wore a puzzled smile as she took in the woman, the hand on my shoulder, and didn’t know what to make of it.

  ‘Yes … can I help you?’

  ‘I’m just saying,’ Ma Lafferty said, still smiling, ‘what a pretty wee lass you’ve got here.’

  Mum began to thank her but Ma Lafferty continued. ‘Like her mother. Oh, I can see where she got her good looks from.’

  Why was she being so pleasant? And why did everything she say sound like a threat?

  ‘And you are … ?’ Mum asked, though by then I’m sure she knew exactly who the woman was.

  I answered the question. ‘It’s Ma … Mrs Lafferty, Mum.’

  ‘Och, you can call me Ma. Everybody does up here.’

  A sudden flush had come to Mum’s cheeks. ‘Can I do something for you?’

  ‘It’s this silly business about my Tess.’

  I felt Ma’s hand tighten ever so slightly on my shoulder.

  ‘That’s out of my hands, I’m afraid.’

  Ma Lafferty was shaking her head. ‘Not at all, dear. One word from you, and Ali will have to drop the charges. I’m sure you don’t want to get a wee girl into trouble for nothing.’

  Mum straightened. ‘I’d hardly call shoplifting nothing, Mrs Lafferty.’

  ‘It’ll never happen again. I’ve given her a good ticking off. And my Tess has never been in trouble before.’

  I didn’t dare remind her that the police had told us they had a file as thick as the telephone directory on Tess Lafferty. All charges dropped of course.

  ‘I’m sure if you had a word with the police …’ Mum began to say.

  For a moment the smile vanished. ‘We never bring the police into things up here. Of course, you’ve only just moved in. You wouldn’t know that. But you’ll soon learn.’ Then she said something that really scared me. ‘Sooner or later everybody learns up here.’

  She wasn’t just talking about the police. She was talking about herself, and her family. Mum knew it too. I saw that little streak of defiance rise to the surface.

  ‘I know what’s right and what’s wrong, Mrs Lafferty. And I won’t change my opinions just because I live here.’

  Again that horrible smile widened. ‘We’ll see about that, Mrs Graham. I’m sure you’ll change your mind at some point.’

  Suddenly, Mum reached out and pulled me from Ma Lafferty’s grasp. ‘Are you threatening me?’

  ‘God love you, no, dear. So, don’t bother going to the police and saying that I have. I was just in visiting my friend next door, Sandra – and I thought if I popped in here we might be able to solve a wee problem in a civilized manner.’

  She said it as if she really believed it was true. This woman knew every little trick in the book. She was threatening us all right, we all knew it. Yet, she hadn’t said a thing we could tell the police.

  ‘I just don’t believe in wasting police time. This will never stick, Mrs Graham … it never does.’ Mum took a deep breath. ‘I think you’d better go, Mrs Lafferty.’

  Ma Lafferty was already walking down the hall.

  ‘Oh, I’m going,’ she said. ‘I just wanted to try to settle things in a friendly way. But I can see you don’t want to be friendly.’

  ‘Friendly!’ Mum said loudly. ‘You’re trying to scare us. Don’t you think I don’t know that?’

  ‘Scare you?’ Ma Lafferty sounded almost innocent. ‘How could I possibly scare you?’

  ‘Oh, we’ve heard all about your family, Mrs Lafferty. But you won’t scare us. Will she, Kerry?’

  I couldn’t answer.

  Ma Lafferty opened the door. Her tone became kindly. ‘I just wanted to welcome you into the area.’ She spoke loudly, I was sure, so any neighbour who was listening, and I’d bet my pocket money they would all be listening, would hear and could testify to only these friendly words. Then she smiled widely.

  ‘This can be a bad area. A lot of nasty people. Just you be careful.’ She reached out and touched my cheek. ‘And you too dearie – you be careful too. You’ve got such a pretty face … ’

  Mum drew me from her and slammed the door. She was breathing heavily. And for one minute I was sure she was going to say that we would go to the police next day. Say we had seen nothing. Forget the whole thing.

  Too much to hope for. Instead she looked at me, and smiled. ‘Well, I think that showed her we can’t be threatened!’

  Chapter Nine

  ‘Was that a visitor you had yesterday?’ Ming was waiting by the lift as I came out of my front door next morning on my way to school. He was drawing on a cigarette end, and standing right by the NO SMOKING notice.

  ‘Can’t you read?’ I asked him at once. Then added, ‘Silly question. Of course you can’t.’

  He squashed the cigarette out with his fingers and flicked it away. ‘Never mind any of the insults,’ he said. ‘What did she say?’

  ‘I take it you mean Ma Lafferty?’

  ‘Well, she is the only visitor you’ve had – apart from the cops.’

  I was ready to insult him again. But what was the use? And I did want to tell someone. ‘She came to ask if we’d drop the whole thing about Tess.’

  He held up his hands dramatically. ‘Do it, Kerry. Tell your mum just to forget it. The Laffertys always win in the end anyway, and then they really would have it in for you.’

  I pushed the button for the lift. ‘I’m taking a chance going on this lift you know. I hope I don’t meet the Hippo Brigade again.’

  ‘The Hippo Brigade?’

  ‘Eight fat ladies who seem to spend their time going to bingo! And they don’t like redheads.’

  This doubled him with laughter. ‘The Hippo Brigade … I like that!’

  Where was the lift? I was going to miss my bus at this rate.

  ‘Why are you all so afraid of Ma Lafferty?’ I asked.

  He had been laughing but his face suddenly became deadly serious. ‘Everybody owes her up here.’

  ‘Not everybody,’ I reminded him. ‘We don’t. And there must be others.’

  ‘The people that don’t owe her keep well clear of her. Don’t give her any trouble, and she won’t bother you.’

  ‘Your mother? Does she owe her?’

  He didn’t answer me for a minute. Didn’t even look at me when he did. ‘See, you’ve got to understand, Kerry. People like my maw, they can’t get money any other way. Ma Lafferty gave her the money to get Sky TV.’ Ming shrugged. ‘My maw thinks she’s OK. A lot of people around here think she’s OK. She helps people. Gives them money when they need it.’

  ‘And then she makes them pay … and pay … and pay – that’s what the police told us. And if they can’t pay,’ I shivered, ‘their pretty faces aren’t so pretty any more.’

  Ming shrugged again. ‘My maw’s always been able to pay. I’ve seen her working three jobs so she’s always able to pay!’ He said it with a lot of pride. In that moment I decided I liked Ming, in spite of the fact that he was obnoxious and had stolen my chips. I like people who stick up for their mother.

  ‘So you don’t care what Ma Lafferty does to other people?’ I punched at the lift button this time. Where had that lift got to? I suddenly blurted out, ‘She’s scary, Ming. She didn’t say anything – in fact, she was as nice as anything, but I’ve never been so scared of anyone in my life!’

  ‘She wants everybody up here to be scared of her. But she’ll leave you be if you drop this. Tess Lafferty will only get a warning anyway.’

  I couldn’t believe what I was hear
ing! ‘Is that what you really think? That Tess Lafferty should be able to do anything she wants and get away with it, and no one should stand up to her mother?’

  ‘I’m only telling you what everybody is saying. You’ll deserve everything you get if you don’t drop it.’

  ‘Tess Lafferty was shoplifting, and she was caught. Some people might think she should take her medicine, and not get away with it.’

  He was fed up trying to persuade me. He waved me away in disgust. ‘See you! I’m trying to give you a bit of good advice here.’

  ‘Thank you very much!’ I snapped back at him. ‘But I think I can do without your advice!’

  He began striding away from the lift, heading for the stairs. ‘Oh well, since you don’t want my advice then – ’ he shouted back at me, pushing open the stair doors, ‘I’ll not tell you that the lift’s broke!’ And his face broke into a grin and he was gone.

  By the end of the day, Ma Lafferty, Tess Lafferty, everything about the estate seemed a million miles away. I boarded my two buses back to the jungle very reluctantly, and what I found there brought me back to horrible reality right away.

  There was a crowd gathered round Ali’s shop, broken glass scattered about on the ground. I pushed through the mob and found Ali with a bandage tied round his head, blood seeping through.

  ‘Oh, Ali, what happened?’

  He beamed as soon as he saw me. ‘What do you think happened? You think this is the first time they try to scare me?’

  ‘They?’ I asked.

  ‘The Laffertys.’

  ‘You don’t know it was them!’ someone shouted from the crowd. But no one really believed that. Except maybe me. Holding on to a little hope.

  ‘Are they really that bad, Ali?’

  Stupid question. The broken glass, Ali’s bandaged head. Of course they were really that bad.

  Ali put an arm around my shoulders. ‘They try to make us afraid. But we are not afraid, are we, Kerry?’

  I couldn’t answer him, my teeth had begun to chatter again. Ali looked all around the crowd and pulled me closer.

  ‘At last I have someone who isn’t afraid of the Laffertys. Who is willing to stand up to them.’

  And a voice from the crowd answered him. ‘At last you’ve got a blinkin’ idiot, Ali.’

  Ali beamed down at me. ‘Don’t listen to them, Kerry. You’ll be all right.’ I might have believed that if he hadn’t added, ‘But tonight … make sure you are all locked up tight, eh?’

  Chapter Ten

  For the next few days all was quiet, so quiet I could almost forget all about the Laffertys. I met another of our neighbours, Mr McCurley, who lived in the flat opposite. He came out of his door very quietly and gave me a very tiny smile. He was a big giant of a man who wore a cardigan and always carried a shopping bag. Mum said he looked weird and I was to keep well clear of him. Ming, however, assured me he was one of the nicest men on the estate. He did the shopping for all the old pensioners who couldn’t get out and if he didn’t talk to us it was only because he was shy.

  I saw Ma Lafferty once and almost fainted. She was coming out of Ming’s house, probably up for payment, and she hardly glanced my way. Perhaps they’d forgotten, decided it was better to leave things be.

  ‘Don’t you believe it!’ Ming said, when I said as much to him. ‘The Laffertys don’t forget anything. The dad’s in jail, for assault. He battered a man who had just come out of prison after three years. He waited all that time for him, and then he got him back. That’s the kind of people the Laffertys are.’

  ‘You know, I sometimes think it’s not like real life on this estate. It’s like living in a Western film.’

  ‘Just don’t hold your breath for Clint Eastwood to come and save you.’

  Ming and I would meet on our balconies. I think he wanted away from his mother’s soaps, and I wanted away from my mother’s tears. She was crying a lot. I could hear her at night when I was in bed. Then during the day she would act as if she was coping so well, and was so happy. I wanted to help her, but everything I said, or did, just seemed to make her angry, or make her cry even more. She hated Dad. That much was clear. She hated the neighbours. She didn’t even like me talking to Ming on the balcony.

  ‘He’s so common! I want you to keep away from people like him,’ she’d say, so loud I was sure Ming must be able to hear her. I knew my mum had never been a snob. But they didn’t know that. They didn’t know how much she was hurting inside, and that she didn’t mean what she said.

  ‘She’s not like that really, Ming,’ I told him. He had heard her, and so had his mother. Sandra had been ready to burst into our flat and throw my mum over the balcony. ‘She’s really nice. She just can’t get over Dad leaving us. Having to sell our house, and not having enough money to buy another. Having to move here – that was the last straw.’

  Ming couldn’t understand that. His mother had always been alone. He couldn’t even remember a father. What was the big deal? he said.

  Ming and I were becoming friendlier than I’d ever expected. He would wait for me at the lift every morning, and we would walk together to the bus stop. Usually quarrelling all the way.

  And on the way home from school I would usually meet him at Ali’s.

  ‘How is my little Kerry?’ Ali would say as soon as I pushed into the shop.

  ‘I’m fine,’ I’d answer. It was hard not to notice the helpers Ali had, brushing up, packing shelves. Helping him get his shop back to normal.

  ‘These are nice people,’ the policeman had said.

  They just weren’t nice to us.

  ‘I think Ali likes you,’ Ming said one day as we left the shop.

  ‘He’s just making sure we won’t change our minds.’

  ‘And your mother won’t, will she?’

  I shook my head. ‘No chance.’

  Suddenly, Ming stiffened beside me. ‘What’s wrong?’ I asked him. ‘You look as if you’ve just seen a ghost.’

  ‘Worse than that,’ he said softly. And he nodded in the direction of the children’s playground.

  Children’s playground! That was a laugh. Mothers wouldn’t let their children near it. It was always full of drunks and junkies, and goodness knows who else.

  Now, there were only two men there. One was sitting on a swing, bouncing a ball on the ground. The other was swinging a bat high, waiting for him to throw.

  ‘The Laffertys,’ Ming said, though I hardly needed to be told. He tried to pull me away in the opposite direction. Too late. One of the Laffertys looked up, the one on the swing. I would say he looked like a pit bull terrier, but I think I’d be insulting pit bull terriers.

  ‘Hey, it’s wee Ming.’ Was he smiling? I couldn’t be sure. It was a nasty-looking expression anyway. ‘Come on over. Bring your girlfriend.’

  Girlfriend! What a cheek! That alone almost made me march away. Almost, but not quite. Ming and I edged towards them. He was as scared as I was.

  Suddenly, it seemed to me there wasn’t a noise on the estate. Everything had gone quiet.

  All I could hear as we moved forward was my breathing and Ming’s.

  I couldn’t take my eyes off those two men. Suddenly, the one on the swing hurled the ball in my direction. I screamed and threw myself to the ground. It whizzed past my ear and landed somewhere behind me. Not close enough to hit me, but close enough to scare me to death.

  The one with the baseball bat came hurrying towards us.

  ‘Oh sorry, hen. That was close.’ He was actually helping me up! He looked back at the pit bull terrier. ‘That was your fault, Chopper. I told you to be careful.’

  Chopper! His brother was called Chopper! I almost laughed, but I was too scared.

  He turned back to me. ‘See that Chopper, he’s awful careless.’ At that, he swung his baseball bat high in the air and I jumped. I was glad Ming was there, grateful, and surprised that he had stood his ground beside me. ‘Lucky that didn’t hit you.’

  ‘Tell her I’m sorry,
Chas,’ Chopper called over. ‘Don’t want to give her any trouble. ’Cause that’s Kerry Graham, and we’ve been warned to keep back from her and her mother.’

  Chas tried to look surprised. And failed. So they had been waiting for us … for me. They couldn’t hide that.

  ‘Oh, sorry, are you wee Kerry?’ He moved aside quickly. ‘We don’t want any trouble.’

  It was Ming who pulled me on. Otherwise I don’t think I could have moved.

  ‘Just you be careful, Kerry,’ Chas called after us as we ran. ‘This estate can be a dangerous place.’

  We gave Chopper a wide berth on the swing.

  ‘Aye, there’s a lot of bad people up here. Look what happened to Ali. You have any trouble, Kerry … ’

  We were moving off, running faster, getting away as quickly as we could. But still I heard his words.

  ‘ … just don’t come to us for any help.’

  And their horrible cackling laughter followed us all the way into the flats.

  Chapter Eleven

  I arrived home to find a strange man in the flat.

  ‘Kerry, say hello to Mr Telfer,’ Mum said.

  Mr Telfer looked up at Mum. It was hard not to notice he had only one tooth, a discoloured one at that. ‘I told you, Jane, call me Tommy.’

  I fell back on the couch. He was on first name terms with my mum already?

  Mum handed him a mug of coffee. ‘Tommy,’ she said with a smile. Then to me she explained that Tommy was about to fix our television.

  I looked at Tommy. He was having trouble trying to figure out how to plug it in. He had a bag of tools with him and from it he extracted something that looked suspiciously like a toasting-fork. He stuck it inside the back and there was a sudden spark and a distinct smell of burning.

  ‘Ah-ha,’ he murmured.

  ‘Is that it fixed now, do you think?’ Mum asked hopefully.

  ‘Almost,’ he said. Then he added, ‘I think I’m going to have to get more tools for this one.’

  ‘Where did you find him?’ I laughed, as soon as he’d gone. ‘Yellow Pages? Or should I say,’ I giggled, ‘Yellow Tooth Pages.’