Free Cut To The Bone by Sally Spedding

somewhere. This was better stuff than Nick Weaver at school had palmed him off with. Pure and perfect.
    "Here they come," Jez whispered, almost falling over as the moorhen convoy appeared. It was too early for the swans, but these would do. Six in all.
    Ping… ping... ping…
    Louis had found a new, better forked branch, and Jez now had his own, his freckled face set in concentration. Two stunned, black-feathered bodies struggled ashore. One each, so Louis demanded the bigger one.
    Crack… crack...
    Idiots. 
    Jez then produced a small, plywood box from his saddlebag and slid its lid back. Inside lay an identical, sheathed knife with WALTON-ON-SEA burnt along its handle.
    "Cool," Louis stared at the blade which looked newer than his. 
    "For spare. OK?" Then Jez set to, starting on the moorhen's head skin first with less confidence than usual.
    "Fancy the feet?" he asked tentatively.
    "Nah. Nuffink's safe at 'ome no more." Louis said.  With no key, his Secrets’ box couldn’t be added to. He then ordered his eager friend to get twigs. "Dry ones mind, an' 'urry up.”
    In five minutes the fire was sending little licks of flame into the darkness. Louis turned the spit, careful to give each side of the bird equal time to roast. He thought of home. The Maggot and The Fawn both liked their steaks
bien cuit
, while he preferred blood under his chips. The sweetness of it.
    "Yum." Jez pulled off the pink flesh with his teeth. "Jip'd like this." He turned his greasy mouth towards Louis. "Ye ain't seen 'im ‘ave ye?"
    "Nope. Should I?" 
    Silence, save for sounds of chewing.
    "Your Dad still away, then?" Louis asked, changing the subject, knowing that whoever it was, hadn't showed since the kid was at Briar Bank.
    "Nah. Mum saw ‘im in Poundland the other day." The boy spat out a small bone. “Buyin’ jeans 'e was."
    Louis felt more than a twinge of envy. "Mine lives in Levi’s.” Then burped for effect. No way would he let on the smallest thing about his so-called parents. How The Maggot actually wore corduroy and wasn't his real Dad. Or let his disappointment show.
    "That Meadow Hill place of yours..." Jez mused. "Mum calls it Fort Knox."
    "I fuckin' hate it. There’s Nazis too. Some good stuff in their garage, mind, and it ain't alarmed yet." He was well pleased with his new voice. It made him and Jez sound like brothers, which in a way they were. "And they dance in the garden."
    "You're kiddin'?"
    "It's like two turtles shagging..." He stamped on the fire's remains. "Any drink?"
    "Forgot."
    "Next time, eh?" Louis checked his watch. Five minutes to spare talking about the Zellers like that had got him excited. So had the moorhens. He unzipped his trousers and made Jez do the same. This time Saturday's result would be different. It had to be. A thin trail of smoke reached them as they worked, snatching their breath, their eyes glazing over. They stood close for the verdict, but when Louis looked down he was mortified to see nothing had changed.
    He turned away to zip himself up while Jez finished off into the nettles.
    "Wot about tomorrow? You game on?" Jez wiped his hands on his pockets while
    Louis found the boy's new-found confidence irritating. With a proper Dad, too. No way would he take over. He prodded his arm. Hard.
    "I'll decide. OK?"
    "OK."
    Louis kept him waiting.
    "Wednesday three o'clock. I can skip off D&T. Probably some quiz or other now it's end of term."
    "We got Readin’ Hour. Big joke."
    "One thing, mate." Louis suddenly gripped the boy's ear. "Not a fuckin' peep to anyone 'bout what we do, eh?" He squeezed until Jez's face skewered in pain. "An' if you so much as mention where I bleedin' live, you'v 'ad yer last birthday."
    Jez whitened.
    "And I'll show yer noncy vicar and Molloy them photos you took."
    "Wot d'ye think I am?" Jez trembled.
    "I ain't sure." Louis let go, and the other boy sighed his relief.
    Then Jez hesitated.
    "How come ye don't speak like a poshy, livin' in Meadow Hill?"
    Louis