Barrytown 03 The Van by Roddy Doyle

Author:Roddy Doyle [Doyle, Roddy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-08-29T21:11:56+00:00

- Wha'?------ Fuck off ou' o' tha' or I'll -

Sharon started laughing.

- Do yeh not sell choc-ices? said the young fella.

Bimbo looked out at him. The poor little lad was only about ten.

Jimmy Sr leaned out and pointed.

- What's tha'? he asked the young fella.

He was pointing at the sign.

- A big burger, said the young fella.

- That's righ', said Jimmy Sr. - Wha' does it tell yeh?

- Bimbo's Burgers, the young fella read. - Today's chips today.

- That's righ', said Jimmy Sr. - It doesn't say annythin' abou' choc-ices, does it?

- No.

- No, it doesn't, sure it doesn't. So, fuck off.

Jimmy Sr went back to his burger. It was stuck to the hotplate.

- Shite on it!

Bimbo took over at the hatch.

- We've no fridge, he explained to the little young fella.

- Yeh can get choc-ices an' stuff in other chippers, Mister, the young fella told him.

- Yeah, said Bimbo; he was whispering - but we've no fridge, yeh see. We've no electricity.

He looked around at Jimmy Sr, He was trying to get some lard in under the burger so it would slide off the plate.

- Here, he said to the young fella.

He handed him down the rest of his Mars Bar, then shooed him off.

- Thanks very much, Mister. - Shhhh!

Jimmy Sr's neck was going to snap; that was how it felt. There were still little bits of the burger soldered to the hot- plate; the scraper kept sliding over them, the useless fuckin' thing! he'd get them off if it fuckin' killed him!

- Yeaahh!

Sharon and Bimbo kept well away from him. That wasn't easy in a space as big as two wardrobes. You couldn't go anywhere without someone getting out of your way first. Bimbo handed two milk bottles over Jimmy Sr's head to Sharon.

- We need more water, love, he told her.

Sharon was lost.

- Pop over the road an' she'll fill them for yeh, Bimbo told her. - Rita Fleming; Missis Fleming. D'yeh know which house she's in?

-- Yeah.

She didn't do anything yet though. She thought she'd been told to go over to the Flemings with two milk bottles and ask Missis Fleming to fill them for her, but she wasn't sure.

- I asked her earlier, said Bimbo. - There's no problem. So long as it's not too late.

- Can I not just run home -

- Do wha' you're told, said Jimmy Sr.

- Who rattled your cage? said Sharon.

- Customers! said Bimbo, - Quick, love; off yeh go.

He said it just when Jimmy Sr got the last lump of burger off the hotplate; his timing couldn't have been better.

- Great stuff, said Jimmy Sr.

Sharon looked out the back door, and there was a gang of women coming towards the van, getting their money out of their handbags.

- There's loads of them, she said, and she ran across the road to Flemings.

Jimmy Sr got the basket of chips - he'd been waiting all night to do this - and dropped it into the oil, and nearly fuckin' blinded himself.

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