New Story – With new ideas and directions to hand. I’m writing this and posting it straight onto Steemit – You can’t get more exclusive than that! 11

Robin was just coming out of the hardware store as she strolled up.

He was surprised to see her, then he became annoyed.

“Why aren’t you at the house?” he said in hushed tones.

“Because I didn’t fancy getting my head kicked in by a junkie,” she said, matching his quiet, but annoyed voice.

She explained what had happened and he studied her for a moment.

“You’ve got some brains in that head then?” he said with a grin. “Come on, let’s see if we can sneak up on the junkie.”

They trotted off toward the house, keeping an eye out for that one Ash encountered that lunch-time.

“There he is,” she whispered, pulling Robin out of sight, into the slight alcove of a gateway leading to a front garden.

The gateway was set in by almost two feet because the hedge had, over the decades, spread onto the pavement. It made for difficult walking on the path, but an excellent hiding place for Ash and Robin.

The Junkie couldn’t see them because they were tucked behind the hedge and he looked left and right. If he came their way, there’d be no hiding unless they went into the garden. If he crossed the road and looked in their direction, he’d be able to see them then, too.

“Just our luck, he’s coming this way,” Robin said.

Ash unlatched the gate and they went inside the garden, to hide behind the hedge again.

As the junkie passed, they could hear him mumbling to himself. It reminded Ash of a character from a film and she had to suppress her giggles.

Robin cast her a filthy look to tell her to be quiet. She managed, but only just.

When the junkie was well-past their hiding place, Robin crept out through the gate and beckoned Ash to follow.

They ran to Justin’s house and only slowed when they were at the top of the steps and out of sight of the road.

“What was he mumbling?” Robin asked. “I couldn’t hear him, but it made you laugh.”

“I didn’t hear what he was saying, but it reminded me of that film. You know, The Hobbit. I just got the impression he was mumbling, ‘My precious…’ as he went past.”

Robin caught the imagery immediately and cracked up too.

Ash let them into the house using the front door and they were still laughing when they got to the living room. That was when they stopped laughing.

Justin slumped in his chair. He didn’t look like he was asleep, he looked… well he looked dead.

“Oh god, did the junkie get in?” Ash said as Robin ran to help Justin.

Justin sat up with a jerk and shouted at them. “You little fuckers! That’ll teach you!”

“You miserable old BASTARD!” Robin yelled. “I thought you were dead, you silly fucker!”

“Yeah, and so does the junkie! I heard him coming and he looked through the windows to see me, playing dead. I wish I could have seen his face. Made my day that has,” Justin looked livelier than he had since Ash had started coming to help.

She laughed as she went round to the piss bucket.

“Hang on, lad, you may as well wait, and take it all. I’ve got to go again; all this laughing isn’t good for my bladder.”

Ash hesitated, a little confused, but when Justin started leaning over the side of his chair, fiddling with his shorts, she realised and went out of the way, into the kitchen while Justin peed into the bucket.

She clicked the kettle on and busied herself preparing a cuppa for him.

Justin was still in a good mood when Robin and Ash prepared to leave.

“Are you changing the lock before you go? Brenda won’t be able to get in tomorrow and she doesn’t need much of an excuse to go home without doing anything,” Justin said.

“Yeah, but we’ll be here tomorrow morning…” Robin started saying. “Yeah, but I’d need to change it tomorrow morning and I’d be late for my bus.” He talked himself out of it and went to the kitchen to fetch the tools he’d need from under the sink.

“And you did promise to stick around in case they came back tonight.”

“Yeah, I did,” Robin said.

Ash walked out of the house, leaving Robin to his handy-man chores. She was on alert for the junkie as she went home but didn’t see him.

After tea, Ash went back around to Justin’s to hopefully catch Robin still there.

She walked up the path and looked in the window. Justin saw her and waved.

Ash went in and stood by the living room door. There was an older man sitting on the sofa next to Justin.

“Has Rob gone home?” she said, reluctant to go further into the living room.

“No, I’m still here,” Robin called from the front of the house.

“What’s up?” he said, arriving from the front room.

“I just thought of something. Brenda still won’t have the key to get in, cos you’ll have changed it.”

“That’s a good point,” Justin said. “Clever lad.”

The guy on the sofa turned to look at Ash then and she recognised him as one of her dad’s drinking buddies.

He studied her for a moment and she thought she saw the flicker of recognition in his eyes, but she ignored him.

“I’ll drop the key off,” the guy said. “I know where Brenda lives, it’s not far out of my way.”

“That’s OK, I’ll do it,” Robin said.

“Suit yerself,” the guy said. “Right, Justin, I’m off. I’ll catch up with you again soon. I’m glad the rumours aren’t true.”

Ash backed-up into the kitchen to allow him room to leave. She didn’t like the way he looked at her and she lowered her head, trying to hide her face as much as she could.

“Seeya, kid,” he said as he closed the door behind him.

Ash didn’t say anything when the guy had gone. She didn’t need to.

“I don’t fucking like him,” Robin said.

“Yeah, well him and me used to be big drinking buddies back in the day,” Justin said. “Not seen him for years, then he shows up out of the blue…”

“Yeah, you know why, don’t you?” Robin said.

Justin looked at him, expecting the explanation now he’d started a conversation about it.

“Well, he’s that junkie-kid’s dealer and he’d be wanting to know if the rumours that you’d died are true.”

“He’s a dealer? Get away!” Justin said. “Mind you, he was always a bit dodgy.”

“Yeah, so you’re probably going to get pestered by the junkies again,” Robin said.