Running with the Firm

chapter three~

When I say Sarah and I shared everything. We shared EVERYTHING. We even shared the exact same friends. Obviously majority of group contained a lot of boxers and gangsters. They were very lovely people, very lovely indeed. They did have some bad tendencies and naturally we did end up picking up some habits of those we interacted with (like we regularly got involved in small crimes like shoplifting or little things like that nothing too bad). But quickly we developed a nice friends group with a lot of them. Our favorite person to hang out with was “Mad” Teddy.

“Mad” Teddy was this amazing crazy young man that joined the Firm when he was down on his luck.  He was quickly welcomed like most people and became one of the loyalist members by far. But along with that loyalty came his crazy personality. I have never met someone who was so psychotic but so caring at the same time.

Once Teddy stabbed someone with a spoon because they insulted him behind his back. He didn't care this bloke was talking utter trash about him, no he cared that this bloke was saying it behind his back. He was always that type of person who couldn't care less if someone called him a bastard to his face but soon as you turn around and chat shit behind his back there would be serve problems. That's what made Sarah and I love him so much. He was a real person that never beat around the bush. We all became thick as thieves. 

The three of us always got into so much trouble but Ron was always there to clean things up for us before our dad found out. Teddy was always able to talk Ron into things and save us a lot. He was a very crazy boy but one of the nicest people you could ever meet. I remember once Teddy got into a fist fight because someone made Sarah and I uncomfortable… Yeah that guy that Teddy fought ended up in the hospital. Luckily Teddy didn’t get jail time because the brothers had connections within court and police stations. 

Another fond memory I have is once the four of us went down to the beach for the day. Teddy was told by our dad to get the three of us out of town for the night because of something that was happening. That day is one of my favorites. It was Les' first time at the beach and it was so adorable. Also that day we ended up renting a movie and watching it at a hotel room that Teddy booked. We spent the night laughing and having fun for the first time in a long time. We had become so wrapped up in our world that we forgot the outside existed. Being able to spend time with one of our favorite people was very refreshing.

Teddy thought of us as his little siblings and tended to stick his neck out for us a lot. We were very blessed to have him protecting us because literally no one would mess with someone named “mad Teddy.” They had to be begging to be hurt if they messed with him.

We also hung out with Leslie Holt, he was a small time crook that occasionally worked for the Firm. He always had the coolest things that he swiped from rich people. Dad didn't particularly like us hanging out with him but never told us not to. He didn't want us sneaking around his back and disobeying him. And in all fairness, Les did have a huge crush on the crook, if he was told not to be around him then Les would've sneaked around. So our father just kept a close eye on us whenever Holt was around. Later he and Les started dating, which our family did not support at first but again we let it happen. Les was his own man and could date anyone, even if that person was a rat.

On rare occasions we would "hangout" with Albert Donoghue but that was purely based on if we needed protection. Sarah and I particularly didn't like him because he was just a rat. But Reg trusted him a lot. So if we needed to be guarded (which was rare because dad was always with us) Reg would send Albie over to ease dad's mind. 

But like I said before, Albie was a rat. Sarah had done some extensive research on the guy because something about him was just off. We found out he has been in seven different gangs before ours and in each of those gangs he was the only member that got out free without a single scratch. And each of his bosses were behind bars because Albie grassed them out. It was just fishy to us but we kept that opinion to ourselves not wanting to rock the boat.

Violet obviously took care of us a lot and we practically all lived at her house at one point or another. She loved having us over because Sarah and I were like daughters she always wanted. She always showered us in love and affection each time we saw her.

And of course we spent a lot of time with Reg and Ron when our dad was away for some reason. Sarah and I always loved going over to Ron's trailer because it was out in the country, so it always had beautiful scenery.

Ron and us would go on lots of walks in the countryside just talking. It was very peaceful for all of us really. We always had a good laugh with Ronnie no matter what was happening. He was always such a funny person cracking jokes at the perfect times. It is one of my favorite memories with him. That's when he really could be himself away from everyone else and he was completely different. It was very enjoyable for me. Personally I enjoyed hanging out with Ron more than I did with Reg. Just because I got to be free out in the country.

I will say though that Reg's flat was very nice and very artistic. It was located in the heart of the East end which meant people were always walking on the streets. I found it kind of annoying which made me like the country more. But Reg's flat on all of the walls were paintings that Reg had made. He was really good at painting, one of the best. A lot of the time if he got started on a painting he literally would not move until the portrait was perfect. Sometimes it would take hours and other times it would take a couple of minutes. But either way the paintings always came out beautiful. The paintings were usually of places he had visited and occasionally there were some of him and Ron or him and Frances. We (Sarah Les and I) always took joy at admiring them. 

Once for my birthday Reg painted a beautiful landscape for me. It was really big and absolutely stunning. It used to hang right over my bed. That was one of my favorite gifts I ever received.

Overall the brothers were our favorite people to hangout with. They were very kind men that loved us like family. It was always so comforting to me. Made me feel less alone. They were also bloody funny. There was hardly ever a serious moment shared between us in private. Obviously we were very serious when it came to business stuff but soon as those doors were closed, we would be cracking jokes until no tomorrow. My face would ache so much from smiling a lot.

Looking back now, we never really had non Firm friends at all. It was usually people in the gang that we interacted with because we actually knew how to handle those blokes. I just couldn’t stand anyone else because usually they belittled us for struggling. They used to drive me crazy so I just stuck to my gang. 

There was one person who wasn’t a part of the Firm we hung out with a lot when we were younger. Her name is Shelle, she is a very kind girl. She was never a part of the gang world when we were younger. She actually disapproved of the gang and for a very long time she didn’t talk to us which was very sad. Very sad….