A Family Affair by Janet Tanner Read Free Book Online Page B

only briefly beneath the little bridges which had been constructed to join the walkway on the Palais side to the road beyond. The girls walked towards the town centre and stopped outside Wiltons, a big grocery store which occupied the entire corner at the junction with the main road. They had ordered a taxi to pick them up here. Though they had known they would have plenty of offers of lifts home they had decided that both the lateness of the hour and the elaborate nature of their dresses would make it a more suitable option.
    There was no sign of the taxi. It should have been here and waiting, but it wasn’t. Heather and Julia stood back in the shop doorway, watching the other revellers drift past and looking up and down the street hopefully.
    â€˜It’s not like Jim Fisher to be late,’ Heather said. ‘You did remember to book him, didn’t you?’
    â€˜Of course I did! He’ll be here in a minute.’
    But he wasn’t. The stream of passers-by thinned to a trickle.
    â€˜I don’t think he’s coming,’ Heather said.
    â€˜It is peculiar,’ Julia agreed.
    â€˜What are we going to do? We can’t walk all the way home in these shoes!’
    â€˜If he doesn’t turn up we won’t have any choice.’
    â€˜We could ring and find out what’s happened to him.’ There was a phone box on the corner. ‘Have you got any money?’
    They both turned out their purses, but they had used the last of their change to pay the cloakroom dues. The pound and ten-shilling notes they had saved for the taxi fare would be no use in a phone box.
    It was twenty past one now and the streets were almost deserted.
    â€˜He’s not coming,’ Heather said. ‘Let’s go back and see if anybody is still at the dance hall who could give us a lift.’
    â€˜They’ll all be gone by now.’
    â€˜The organisers might still be there.’
    They started back up the street. Heather’s feet were already beginning to hurt in her high-heeled sandals and the thought of having to walk the three miles back to Hillsbridge was not a pleasant one.
    The doors of the Palais were still open. Light spilled out on to the pavement – and with it shouts and the sounds of a scuffle.
    â€˜Oh no – there’s a fight!’ Julia said.
    She backed swiftly away from the doorway, just in time. Two young men came tumbling out. They were back on their feet again almost as soon as they hit the ground, rushing at one another, punching and grabbing. Behind them the stairway was full of fighting youths. Frightened, Heather and Julia retreated into the doorway of the nearby Drill Hall. The two lads who had fallen out of the doorway were now struggling against the rails that guarded the river, others were spilling out around them.
    â€˜Oh my lord!’ Julia said. ‘We don’t want to get mixed up in this!’
    Heather had recognised several of the lads – Brian Jacobs amongst them.
    â€˜It’s the Purldown boys after the ones from South Compton. They’re mad their girl didn’t win.’
    â€˜Stupid fools!’
    â€˜You’d better not let them see you. After all, you came third. Their girl didn’t come anywhere.’
    A lone policeman on a bicycle came into their line of vision – PC Dark, stationed at South Compton. He waded into the mêlée but the lads were in no mood to have their fun spoiled. As Heather and Julia watched in horror one of the lads grabbed the bicycle and threw it into the river, then, as PC Dark turned on him furiously, several more grabbed him and threw him in after it. One minute he was bent backwards over the rails, arms and legs flailing, the next there was a great splash and a cheer from the watching crowd. Apart from a few scuffles on the outskirts the fighting had stopped, and as the policeman’s head appeared over the river bank the immediate crowd began to disperse, making a run for it