The Child Of A Shelby (Peaky Blinders)

Making friends

(Oscar's P.O.V.)
I drag my feet across the snowy street of Small Heath. People ignore my as they walk past me, I don't even get a second glance from them. But someone does pay attention to me. A dog. He just follows me along the streets. I ignore him as I arrive at the church. I debate if I should go inside, it probably was warmer than being outside. I push the large wooden door open to go inside. The dog of course follows me. The inside of the church is beautiful, with its colourfull windows, paintings and sculptures. I slowly walk between the benches towards the candle altar where a woman was lighting a candle. She notices me and smiles before beckoning me over. I hesitate but move towards her eventually. With a kind smile she explains why she is lighting a candle. She turns to me and hands me the match. I take it in my hand and turn to the candles. My eyes search for an unlit candle. I find one and light it up. The flame warms my fingers slightly as it dances ontop of the candle. "For Mrs Gimlet" I tell her softly. By the look on her face, I knew she was trying to figure something out, but what I don't know. "Mrs. Gimlet? Appartment 404, on greenway lane?" she asks. I nodd "did you know her?". She hesitstes for a moment but eventually tells me "Just talked with her at church a couple of times". I never knew Mrs. Gimlet went to church? Eventhough my brain told me not to trust her statement I nodded none the less. The brown haired woman straightens her back "it was nice meeting you..". "Oscar. But everyone calls me Ozzy" I tell her and extend my hand. She smiles friendly after hearing my name and tells me hers before we shake hands. "What about your friend?" she asked looking towards the dog. I shrug my shoulder and tell her he isn't mine. She just chuckled and pats the dog. "Well goodnight boys" she tells us. "Goodnight to you too, Mrs Gray", "you can call me Polly" she tells me and gives a sly wink before turning around. I watch her leave the church. "Polly" I whisper as the door falls close behind her. I turn around and walk to a nearby bench. I climb onto it and lay down so I could get some sleep.

Suddenly someone shakes my shoulders. My eyes snap open and light from the church windows prick my eyes. I blink a view times so they can adjust. I see a man stand in front of me with an angry look. He pulls me to my feet "what do you think you're doing, boy?" he sneers as he roughly holds onto me. The dog, I was suprised that he was still here, start barking and snapping at the man. "You think we can give shelter to some street kids and strays, huh? We would be packed within a second if we did this" the man angrily explains as he pulls me towards the door to throw me out. The dog bited at his ankles angering him further "get that dog of yours!" he yells, "but he's not mine" I managed to say before I was tossed outside. My knees connect with the street and I hiss at the impact. I turn my head towards the church doors that are being closed by the man. I scoff and stand up. "what happened to the church welcomes all" I mumble in annoyence as I wipe my trousers. The bark of the dog attracts my attention and I turn to him. "You happy now?" I ask him as I start to walk, "should I say thank you?". The dog just eyes me as he trots beside me, "alright, thank you for biting and barking at that man" I tell the dog with a laugh. As I arrived at the market the dog left my side. I sheugged my shoulders, it probably went home anyway. I walk through the stalls with lots of different things. From cloth rolls, to cheese. From sausages to large ugly fish. I wait in line for some of the free food that they hand out instead of throwing away. Untill suddenly I hear commotion. I turn my head towards the sound and see boys a bit older than I throwing snowballs towards the dog that had followed me. "Hey!" I call out and abandon my spot to go help the dog out. I quickly arrive and hug the dog shielding it from the snowballs. "Throwing snowballs at something that can't throw them back. How sad!" I yell angrily at them. They just found it funny and three the snowballs harder at us. Eventually they stopped and found something else to do. I sigh in relief and let the dog go. "Seems like we are square now boy" I tell the dog who just waggs its tail, "you safed me from the church man and I safed you from those bastards" I laugh and the dogs barks in responce. "I might need to give you a name if you're going to keep me company".

Published: 25th of july 2022