Free The Life of Lol by Andrew Birch Page A

evening, when the night was drawing in, Lol stuck to her plan to find somewhere warm for Groucho, and about the time she normally headed off for home, instead, she turned to go towards the 4 th street mission.  She told Groucho to wait in the alley, till later and everyone had gone to bed, and she would return.  He didn’t mind, he was used to sitting in the bus stops and watching the city buses coming to and fro.  Some of the drivers stopped and had a smoke with him, so well-known was Groucho, or Tinhat as they called him.  About eleven pm, he heard a noise
    “Psst”, came the noise.
    Groucho looked round, but nothing.
    “Psst”, came the voice, “are you deaf, idiot?”
    Then he jumped up.  He’d darned well forgot about the girl.  There she was, wrapped in a blanket in the side alley beckoning to him,
    “Well ya coulda just shouted, dumbass”, he grumbled.
    “yeah, an I could just go in and back to my nice warm bed” she replied curtly.
    The two friends crept inside through the side door that Lol had opened and sneaked up the two flights of dinghy stairs to the room they were letting Lol sleep in.  Years later, she would remember this as one of the happiest times of her life, the night she slept with Groucho.  It was nothing sinister or nasty, like you hear in the news nowadays.  They didn’t even take their clothes off.  He curled up on the bed, grateful for something warm for a change, then she climbed in beside him and he put his arms round her and they went quietly to sleep.  He must’ve been happy, Lol figures after, cos he was mumbling about his Tinkerbell in his sleep.  Lol figured that he must’ve thought she was his own lost daughter the way he held onto Lol all night.
    “Tinkerbell”, he murmured, “you’re not lost.  The sea didn’t take you.  My Tinkerbell.”
    “Shuddup Groucho” Lol grumbled.
    “I got you back, Tinkerbell”, he mumbled again and held onto her tighter.
    Lol went to sleep happy that night.  Whatever happened in the future, tonight was all right.
     
    Release looms
    Six years.  I’d been in prison six long years.  I wondered where the thoughts of Groucho had suddenly come from, and I shivered at the memory that was tinged with bitterness and sorrow.  The thoughts of that prisoner Marybeth were still sore in my mind, even though that incident had been a good while ago now.  Maybe the memory of old Groucho soothed me in a way, I dunno.  What would he have thought of the woman I’d become? 
    Marybeth.  The name still haunted me even now, six years into my sentence.  Not too much had changed since I’d toppled Diane as number one around here.  I had the confidence now to wear my hair as I damn well pleased.  It was shiny, long again and gorgeous.  Nobody even dared look at me.  I was the only supplier of drugs in here, and yeah, I was making plenty.  But there was still Marybeth.  That had happened a while ago.  I had sent Big D to talk to her, and tell her the score, and she just beat the shit of the huge dyke who had fast become my friend and protector.  Marybeth wasn’t huge, but she was athletic.  She’d won medals for some athletic competition or other, I didn’t know what, I hadn’t listened to any of the rumours.  She had a completely shaven head, which suited her ebony skin quite well.  Didn’t seem to have any interest in me for the few days she was on our wing.  Why take the risk, I’d thought at the time.  I was more comfortable here than I’d ever been.  I wasn’t about to lose it again.  And so I sacrificed a part of my humanity to survive on the top of the pile for a little longer.  With Big D saying she’d failed me and feeling wretched, I bribed one of the workshop girls with my entire stock of phone cards to make a shiv for me.  This had better not go wrong.  If it did I’d face twenty years. And as the earth is heaped on top
    With a mighty sigh she dies.                     ***
     
    Six