The Jack Hansard Series: Season Two

Episode 2.2

There's a huff from behind and Hansard finally joins us. 'A burger and a drink. That's it, right?' he says.

Sable sticks out her chin. 'Only if we don't owe you nothin' for it.'

Hansard is good at Empty Face – that expression which pretends there's nothin' goin' on behind the eyes – but I was watchin', and I saw the flicker there. What a thing, it said, for a child to have to make a deal out o' the right to receive food.

'It's free,' he says gruffly. I grins t'meself.

'In the car, then,' I says brightly. 'There's plenty room in the back.'

The lass is suspicious as we opens the door. 'What're these?'

'Crystal balls, very delicate. Please don't touch them,' Hansard replies. 'They make an awful noise when they're disturbed.'

'Are they to see the future?' She peers closer, eyes squinting. 'Or to speak to ghosts?'

'The latter. But they have nothing interesting to say, I assure you. It's mostly old folks asking for one more cup of tea.'

Sable gives 'im a Look, an' it's an impressive one. 'That's ridiculous,' she says, and climbs in.

The boy shuffles after her. Hansard reaches for their bags. 'Hand those over and I'll put them in the boot.'

'No!' the lad shrieks. 'No no no!' He wriggles backwards and stares at us with plain fear.

The lass spits. 'Don't touch our stuff.'

'Now, now,' I says as soothingly as I can. 'We won't. We ain't here t'take from ye. Yer possessions be safe in our corner. Me Partner were jus' bein' consid'rate to yer comfort. Keep it all with ye in your seats. But put the seatbelts on, mind.'

Hansard shares a brief nod wi' me as we climb into our own seats. I hear the click o' seatbelts behind. It were a new addition, Hansard's insistence on proper car safety. When I first met 'im he was as lackadaisical as I with wearing a belt, but ever since our journey through the Nether some months ago (for which I were gratefully unconscious) he's been adamant. 'Seventeen hundred people die every year in car accidents,' he told me. Seems a strange thing to be suddenly fixed on, but we all got our quirks.

I keeps an eye on the kiddies as Hansard swings the car out. Little Buck is near quivering in his seat, and jumps at every pop and rumble from the engine. Sable sits tall and straight in hers, though I catch her startling at a bright flash of lights by the window. For all the tough talk, there's still a flightiness about her.

'What's this place?' she says as Hansard pulls into a drive-through line.

'The best I can afford.'

'What food is it?'

'Nothing special. Burger and a drink, like I said.'

'One wi' a toy in,' I says sharply.

Hansard has the nerve to argue. 'They don't need a bloody–'

'Language.'

I can see it in 'is face, he wants to cuss me out too, an' I can barely hide me smile. I keeps it stern, though. 'Them's children back there. Yer the grownup. Act it.'

'Buck doesn't eat meat,' Sable pipes up primly.

Hansard gives me a withering glare. 'Doesn't he, now.'

'He won't eat the burger.'

'Then he can eat the bun instead.'

I nudges 'im hard in the ribs – which takes some effort, 'cuz of having to lean all the way over the gearstick. 'Get the boy some potatoes at least, or some greenery. 'Ave they got leeks on the menu?'

Hansard sighs. 'He can have a salad, then.'

'I would like salad,' Bucks says meekly from the back.

We pull up an' Hansard shouts our order into the metal pole. We pay in carefully counted coins and grubby notes.

'Have a great night,' intones the server passing our meals over.

Sable perks right up at the smell of food. She leans forward eagerly. 'Can we have it now?'

'Wait til we're parked. I prefer not to eat and drive,' says Hansard. He squints at road signs. 'Is there a train station round here? Usually good places for an overnight.'

She sniffs. 'You can park by our arch, I suppose. No one will care.'

'Someone might have stolen our bed,' Buck whispers.

I sees it, the crack in Hansard's face. I'll save 'im the embarrassment of offerin' another good deed.

'Ye can kip wi' us tonight, if ye likes,' I says. 'Them's comfy seats, an' we has plenty o' blankets.'

Buck looks like he wants to say yes. Sable considered it, maybe. 'No,' she says after a pause. 'We can look after ourselves.'

'Suit yourself,' Hansard says, though under his breath. I notice he's taken us back to the aqueduct, where the arches are now deep in dusk shadow. He parks right up where our pitch was – and next to where their cardboard mess is – and flips on the inside light. The kiddies blink in the yellow glow, but the eyes widen as Hansard passes over the little parcels of food. 'And here's the toy,' he mutters.

I'm already at mine. A burger ain't half as good as an oggie (that's a pasty filled wi' lamb, leeks, an' potatoes, for them as is unfortunate enough to have never heard of it) but it'll do on a bare stomach after selling nefarious goods on the streets all day.

Sable's a nibbler, I observes. She takes tiny bites with her front teeth and gnaws through her food like a rodent. Buck shoves handfuls of lettuce into his mouth and crunches noisily. He seems at peace, finally. With a bit of delight, I sneak glances as he fiddles the plastic toy out of its packet.

It's a garish thing, some monstrous imagined character all in yellow wi' rosy red cheeks. It has a tail, and a button that makes it wag clunkily with each press. Buck sits there pressing it, fascinated.

Sable leans over, stares intently. 'Is it an animal?'

Buck shrugs. 'It's my friend. I'm calling him Rocky.'

'That's a stupid name.'

'Is not.'

'Is too.'

'Is not.' Buck cradles it. 'We can ignore her, Rocky. I'll keep you safe.'

Sable's little mouth opens like she's about to bite him with a put-down. But she don't. She catches my eye and bites at me, instead. 'What are you looking at, goblin?'

My hairs bristle all over, pinpricks of fury raised on my skin.

'Not goblin, child,' I says calmly. 'Coblyn.'

Her eyes blaze like she wants a fight. 'What's the difference.' There ain't no question mark there.

I leans over between the seats. 'Ye wouldn't know if I were a goblin, child,' I says sweetly, 'because if I were, I would've already eaten ye, bones an' all.'

***

Author's Note

I'm really enjoying this episode - both for Ang's voice and the opportunity to look at Hansard through somebody else's eyes. I think I want to add in a little more inner monologue for Ang, though. We'll be learning more about her past life later in this story, too.