Sunshine

Part 5

When everyone else realized that Alice had left, they were worried. "I hope she gets home alright." Ada said. She turned to Michael. "Did she say anything before she left?" Michael just shrugged his shoulders, not answering.

"Well we still need her to describe everyone that came in the bar today and tell us where the explosion came from." Tommy said, taking a drag from his cigarette, which was nearly gone now.

"I just feel bad the poor thing got caught in the middle of all of it, on her first day too." Arthur shook his head. John tilted his head.

"Hold on." Everyone turned to look at him. "What're the odds that the Garrison gets blown up on the girl's first day?" They all just stared at him. "I mean, what if this was about her, not the pub."

"What are you saying?" Polly widened her eyes. "You think someone was trying to hurt that poor girl?" They all starting arguing as usual at that point. Michael did not partake. He found it impossible that anyone would try to hurt Alice. No, this had to be about them.

"It's not about her." Michael finally spoke up. Most of them stopped arguing to listen to him, and Polly got the rest of them to shut up soon after.

"Why d'you say so?" Arthur asked, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.

"Did you even look at her? She's a nobody. It's way more likely someone is trying to get to us, not her." Tommy nodded his head, but John looked less sure.

"I only want people to stop blowing up my pub." Arthur sighed. Esme and Ada talked quietly amongst themselves, probably coming up with their own theories, Michael thought.

"Whether the girl had anything to do with it or not," Polly spoke up, "somebody needs to keep an eye on her." Michael didn't like the way his mother said 'had anything to do with it' like Alice would have blown up with pub with herself inside of it. The girl probably hadn't even used a knife to cut her own food until she was near grown.

After the discussion had died down, Tommy, Arthur, Michael, and John were left in the parlor. None of them spoke, they just puffed on the cigarettes and thought quietly. Michael wondered why John seemed so suspicious of Alice when she was literally a walking piece of sunshine.

Finally, Arthur spoke up. "Maybe John was right. Maybe we ought not've let the girl sit in on the meeting." Michael raised his eyebrows at him. "What? The posh girl just rolls into Small Heath lookin' for a job as a barmaid? Then on her first day, my pub gets blown up again!" Michael rolled his eyes.

"Told you." John muttered. "And she was awfully quiet too."

"Can you blame her? She nearly got blown up." Tommy pointed out, making John frown. "She was shook. Could barely even think straight by the looks of her."

"She got hurt." Michael corrected. "She didn't come out unscathed."

"Look," John clapped his little cousin on the back. "I'm not sayin' she blew up the Garrison. If she had, she wouldn't have been inside and gotten hurt."

"Unless she made a mistake." Arthur exclaimed, only to be shushed by Tommy.

Michael sent a hard look at Arthur, and let John keep talking. "I'm just sayin' that she might've been the target instead of the pub." Michael didn't want to tell them that he knew her. He was trying to forget his old life completely. But it was getting hard when they were accusing the perfect little angel of blowing up a bar. Even if they thought she was the victim, there was nobody in the world that would want to hurt her. "Why the fuck do you care, anyway?" John asked, pointing his cigarette at him.