JOHNNIE

Time for a change of perspective I think. Mum means well but she doesn't half go on a bit, listening to that you'd think that she'd raised Danny single-handed with no help from my useless bum of a father. Now I'm not arguing with the useless bum part of it, Dad is nothing if not lazy and almost pathologically laid-back, but he's always been good with Danny. Come to think of it, he's better with Danny than I ever remember him being with me as a kid. I kicked myself when I got Mum's text. Well, actually I kicked myself about ten minutes after I got Mum's text when I'd managed to decode it. I do wish she'd use more vowels, I haven't got a clue what she's going on about half the time and as for the time she tried to say she could always count on me but left some of the vowels in. I honestly don't know which of us was more shocked.

Annoyingly enough I'd completely forgotten that I had said I'd go home that weekend. It's unusual for me, I normally make an effort, write it on the wall-planner but things had been pretty hectic for us. Trish, my girlfriend had just quit her job and not before time too if you ask me. She used to work as a secretary at one of the legal practices in the town, it seemed like a good job when she applied for it, flexible hours and good wages, better than anything I'm likely to end up with anyway. Trouble was her boss, he was a bit over-friendly if you catch my drift. It wasn't so much of a problem at first, just a bit of flirting on his part and a few funny comments. When he started pinching her butt in the lift and inviting her out for drinks after work she told him in no uncertain terms to get stuffed. If I remember rightly she actually threatened to kick him where it hurts with her stilettos. Of course that just made him worse and there were all sorts of ways he could make trouble for her.

In the end she got fed up of it and gave in her notice, hoping that he'd give her a reasonable reference. She's looking for another job now but until she gets one I've got to play the traditional role of masculine chief wage-earner. That sucks big time, I work as a barman in The Red Lion pub just down the road. It's alright as far as it goes, the hours are pretty inconvenient and the wages aren't great but I like chatting to the punters and the food they serve is good - we get freebies in the middle of a long shift. Mum doesn't know I work in a pub, luckily it's far enough away from home that she's unlikely to find out.

I don't like to lie to her, she'd be so disappointed if she found out. I told her I'd got an admin job working for one of the big companies on the business park near us. I don't know how she ever believed that, I mean I left school at 16 with a handful of crappy GCSE's, no-one was ever going to give me a decent office job. I didn't even apply for any in the end. I know Mum wishes I'd stayed on at school, maybe gone to sixth form college and then on to University. I'd never have hacked it though, they don't teach you anything useful and I never was much good on focusing on things that didn't interest me. That always bemused her, she never could understand how I'd memorise car specifications and braking distances or whatever my latest interest was but couldn't hold the names of the six wives of Henry the Eighth in my head - did he even have six wives? Maybe I'll go back to it one day, education I mean, study something that interests me, do a diploma perhaps but for now I'm better off earning some cash.

I didn't want to ask Kev, my boss, for extra shifts, he gives me everything he can anyway but I was desperate. The rent on our flat is quite steep. I don't mind paying it, Trish wanted to live in a nice area and the flat suits us both but with her unemployed it was always going to be a struggle to make the rent. We had an argument about that, I'd been cleaning whilst she went and spent a bomb in the supermarket doing our weekly shop and then came in and just dumped all the stuff everywhere which pleased me no end,

'You going to put that away then?'

'Yeh, I'll do it in a minute, I want to go and sit down for a bit first.'

'Well can you do it now and then sit down? Only I've just spent ages cleaning in here.'

'OK, OK I'll do it, alright?'

'Cheers babe.' I was fairly pissed off but decided to be gracious about it. 'How much did the shopping come to?'

'I dunno, about 70 quid maybe.'

'70 quid? What the bloody hell did you spend that on? In case you hadn't noticed, you're currently unemployed, I'm earning 5 quid an hour and the rent's due a week on Monday.'

'Look I'll get another job soon, don't worry about it. We've got to eat haven't we and you know I don't like intensively farmed meat.'

I had to take a deep breath at that point. Don't get me wrong, I really admire Trish for sticking to her principles, it's one of the things that attracted me to her in the first place, her sense of right and wrong and her need to stick to that gut instinct. Still, it doesn't always make for an easy life.

'Yeh I know that Trish but we could always have a few veggie meals along the way or something.' That drew a look of disgust, for all her high ideals Trish is very much a meat and two veg kind of girl when it comes to food, so I tried another tack. 'Look, why don't you go down to the Job Centre on Monday? You could sign on the dole then so at least we'll have a bit more cash coming in and they'll help you find another job.'

'Look, we're not having this discussion again. I'm not signing on the dole, and I don't need any help to find another job so bloody shut up about it.'

At that point she slammed upstairs, leaving me to unpack the shopping. She can be so stubborn sometimes, refusing to be pragmatic just to satisfy some illogical idea that she's got into her head. Still, I've enough faults of my own so I put up and shut up and evening saw me approaching Kev at the start of my shift. I didn't pick the best of moments, he had builders in fixing the pipes. When I say fixing I really mean that he's having half of them rerouted so they don't run through the brewery's beer meter. Kev rents the pub from the brewery you see and they charge rent based on how successful the business is so it's in his best interests to be seen to be selling less beer than he actually is. Still he's always irritable when he has to fiddle with arrangements so I normally keep my head down and get on with the jobs that need doing. That day, luckily for me things were going smoothly and Kev was in a jovial mood.

'Hey Johnnie, How's things?'

'Not bad ta Kev. You?'

'Good thanks, the builders are almost finished so we'll open up in about half an hour, OK?'

That was a good sign - Kev hates having to shut the pub when he's got contractors in, he can see lost pound signs flashing before his eyes.

'Can I ask you a favour Kev?'

'Course, what do you want?'

'More shifts if you've got them to give. I know you've given me loads already but things are tight at the moment and I could do with the extra cash to be honest.'

'I've haven't got a lot more shifts to hand out kid.'

'Yeh, I know, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked but, if anything does come up...'

'Hang on, I'll have a look at the rota, I know we could use more hands on a couple of the evening shifts this week. It'll be cash in hand though, OK?'

'No problem. Look I'm really grateful...'

'I know, I know, get on out back and get a broom would you? The builders have left a hell of a mess all over the floor.'

It was as easy as that. I'd expected him to say no, he's tight as anything but I was grateful for the work and the money. Unfortunately, one of the extra shifts was the evening I was supposed to be going home. That left me in a bit of a tricky situation, I couldn't tell Mum the truth but I didn't want her to think badly of me. I love Danny, I really do and I'd do anything for him but we had to make the rent, end of story. So I decided to head home as soon as the shift finished, at least then I'd be there when he woke up in the morning.