Free Human Conditioning by Louise Hirst Page A

headed home.
     

Chapter six
     
    Aiden’s visits to Lowe & Son motor garage had become
a regular occurrence for several months now, unbeknown to Steve Lowe.
    Steve had taken over the
family business in the heart of Hackney back in 1961 after the death of his
father, who had established Lowe & Son just after World War II. Now fifty-nine
years of age, Steve was looking to hand the lot over to his son, Alex.
    Steve, like his father before
him, was as straight as they came. He didn’t have a record, he paid his taxes
and every bit of business that had come through the garage doors since his
takeover had been legit. So he’d never have guessed in a million years that his
son altered the books twice a month to allow motors stolen by Aiden Foster to
be stripped down, repainted and sent back onto the street, as good as new,
within forty-eight hours.
    “You working late again, son?”
Steve asked proudly, one chilly Wednesday evening. Alex was head first inside
the bonnet of a Ford Transit when his father passed him with his coat on. “I’m
off out with your mum tonight. Some bloody works do. It’ll be filled with suits
and pen-pushers. I sometimes wonder why she picked me when she could have had
one of those accountants with soft skin and no dirt under their nails.”
    Alex hauled himself out from
the van’s bonnet and wiped his hands on a dirty rag he’d stuffed into his belt.
“Because they’re fucking poofters, that’s why... we’re real men who do a real
day’s work,” he responded flatly.
    Alex was a good-looking kid,
though a little skinny for his height, with dark, shaven hair and brown eyes. Though
forever in oil-stained jeans or jogging bottoms and a tatty vest that showed
off his many tattoos, the girls found his firm, inked body and general
ruggedness rather alluring. Alex didn’t spend too much time obsessing about the
opposite sex mind. He was more interested in making money.
    Steve smiled at his son. He
couldn’t be more proud of his only child. He and his wife had worked hard to
ensure the boy stayed on the straight and narrow. It wasn’t easy growing up
around council estates. Steve had grown up on one, but after a good few years’
hard work, he had made enough money to free his family from benefit housing and
buy a place they could call their own. But the influence was always there, the
allure to join those who wanted to earn a quick buck on the wrong side of the law.
Steve knew his son associated with a few petty criminals his age, but he had
prided himself on keeping his son out of any real trouble by giving him a job
at the garage.
    Leaving with a reminder for
his son to lock the doors when he was done, Steve headed to his car.
     
     
    Aiden hung back and waited for Mr Lowe to pull his Astra
out of his parking space and head off home. When the tail lights of the car
disappeared around the corner, Aiden swaggered down the dark road, lighting a
cigarette as he went. When he neared the doors that read ‘Lowe & Son’ in
large white letters, a white transit van reversed out and he watched as Alex
expertly swung the vehicle into a parking space opposite. He then jumped out of
the van and headed over to Aiden.
    “It’s ready, then?” Aiden
asked at his approach.
    “Yeah, just gotta go get it. There’s
beer in the fridge. I’ll be back in five,” Alex confirmed and headed off in the
same direction Aiden had come.
    When he arrived back at the
garage in a silver, once red, Astra, Aiden appeared from the garage office with
two cans of Stella in hand. Alex jumped out of the motor. “Alright, innit?” He
gestured to the car, running his hand up and down the new paint work.
    “Wouldn’t recognise it!” Aiden
replied enthusiastically, passing Alex his beer. He took it gratefully and threw
back a few large swigs. “How much should we get for it?” Aiden asked.
    “I reckon you’d flog it for
about eleven hundred...”
    “How much do I owe you?”
    “Three hundred...”
    Aiden nodded and