New Story - With new ideas and directions to hand. I'm writing this and posting it straight onto Steemit - You can not get more exclusive than that! 45

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Please remember this story is being written and posted 'live' every day. I am writing today's episode and posting it here without benefit of a read-through, let alone an edit. I don't usually work this way and this experiment is exciting and different for me, not my normal work-ethic at all. To that end, please forgive me any typos, grammar errors and anything that you may think should have been picked up in an edit - it WILL be picked up in the edit.

I've already spoken with a publisher about getting this story published - possibly after Christmas, we'll see how it goes.

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Images from Google (licenced for reuse) and Pixabay

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“I think you’d be best to go to the hospital to get checked out, though,” Justin said.

Robin started nodding in agreement until Ash glared at him.

“I’m not going to the hospital. I’m not going to school for a while, at least until I grow some hair back on my head and I’m not going home until I really REALLY have to.”

Justin looked at Ash and opened his mouth to speak.

She put up her hand and interrupted him.

“I’m not going back there. Don’t ask me to and don’t even think about telling me to.”

“OK, I won’t. I wasn’t going to tell you to, anyway,” Justin said. “Gimme time to think.”

“And I don’t want to be asking for Mr Fitz-Stanley to be helping me out, either, just so’s you know.”

“No, not yet. Despite how he looked like he’d handled Nigel’s death, he’s gonna be cut-up about it once it sinks in,” Justin said. “Right. Go on, piss off out, I’ve some calls to make.”

Ash held out her hand. Robin gawked at her audacity and Justin glared at her for a moment.

“Yeah, OK, I owe you this week’s wages, I suppose.” Justin dug in his chair and found a battered old wallet and took out a couple of twenties.

“Don’t spend it all at once, will you?” he said.

Ash didn’t move. She looked at the two twenties in her hand and then at Justin and back to the money.

Justin looked at her hand and the money laid across her palm. “What?” he said.

“Fifty is what we agreed on, not forty,” she said. “Oh, and you could do with some food in the house, especially if I’m staying here. I need feeding up, allegedly.”

“Here’ take the fucking lot!” Justin said and lobbed the wallet at her. She caught it and laughed.

“Miserable old fucker! I only want some of it, not all of it.” She looked inside the wallet and gawked.

“I want groceries, not a fucking CAR!” she said.

“Just take what you need. Don’t be greedy though.”

Ash took out another tenner, showed Justin and she added that to the twenties and shoved it all in her pocket. Then she took out four more twenties and two tens. She showed Justin exactly what she’d taken out and handed the wallet back to Justin.

He took it, opened it up, removed the lion’s share of the wad and handed it to Robin.

“Go and hide that,” Justin said. Robin scampered off.

Ash busied herself by stashing the notes in various pockets and hiding places. Justin watched her squirrelling away the money until it had all disappeared.

“I’m going to put most of this in my stash upstairs, is that ok?”

Justin nodded and she ran up to her bedroom.

Robin was in the other bedroom hiding the wad of money Justin had given him. Ash didn’t want to know where it was hidden, she couldn’t be blamed if it went missing then.

Robin came to the bedroom and watched her replace the floorboard after stashing her money.

“What’s the plan?” he said.

“We’re going shopping for food. Then we’re coming back here, I’m gonna make something to eat for us all and you’re going to help. Tomorrow I’m going to clean up the whole house and make it look like someone is taking proper care of Justin. Then we’re going to find out about getting a stair-lift installed, or a lift, or something, so he can get up and down the stairs.”

“Ash, these are long-term plans,” Robin said in a gentle voice. “You need to speak to Justin about all this.”

Ash looked up at Robin and she knew what he was hinting at. She shook her head and closed her eyes against the tears threatening to spill again.

“I’ll tell you what he told me. Don’t get too attached, he doesn’t know how long he has left. His dad was dead before he got to Justin’s age.”

Ash nodded but she didn’t look up.

“He’s the only one that’s ever been nice to me… apart from you,” she said.

“Well that’s cos you’re a little bleeder,” Robin said. “And nobody likes you.” He ducked out of the bedroom to dodge the tatty trainer Ash chucked at him.

He ran down the stairs with Ash following him. He ducked again as he got to the bottom of the stairs. The twin to the tatty trainer she’d thrown bounced off the wall and followed Robin into the front room. It hit him in the head and Ash smiled as she heard him yell, “OW!”

Robin had stopped rubbing his head as Ash came back into the living room.

“You been picking on him?” Justin said.

“Yeah, why?” Ash said back, grinning.

“Good,” Justin said. “Go on, fuck off, I’ve got calls to make and I don’t want you two interrupting me.”

The scruffy-looking pair went up to the local shop and bought just about everything they needed to last a good few days at least.

“How much have you got left?” Robin asked.

“Enough,” Ash said and grinned.

They walked to the other end of the village and Ash went into a little shop on the corner of New Street and Main Street. Robin walked past because she hadn’t told him where she was headed.

Robin doubled-back and followed Ash, making the little bell above the door ring again.

The little old guy behind the counter looked up at Robin and squinted his eyes in suspicion.

“Can I take that, please, Mr Robinson?” Ash said in a polite voice.

Old Mr Robinson scrutinised Ash over the tops of his glasses.

“Do I know you, sonny?” he said.

“It’s me, Ash. I used to sweep your yard for you.”

“Ash? Oh yes. Skinny kid… well, you’ve not grown much,” he said.

Ash nodded and grinned. “I know. Can I have those too please?”

“Is that it?” Mr Robinson asked. “Thirty-five quid.”

“What about ‘mate’s rates’?” Ash said. “Thirty be enough? It’s all I’ve got.” She showed the crumpled notes and change in two hands.

“I think I’ve just been robbed,” Mr Robinson said, beckoning her to hand over the money.