A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines Read Free Book Online

night.’
    ‘Not this house perhaps.’
    ‘And what’s that suppose to mean?’
    ‘Well you don’t come here every Saturday night, do you?’
    ‘Seen my shoes, Billy, love?’
    She looked round, under the chairs and table, then knelt down and felt under the settee. Jud slipped his suit jacket on and flexed his shoulders, smiling at himself in profile through the mirror.
    ‘Some bird’s goin’ to be lucky tonight.’
    He fluffed the bob at the front of his hair and walked out whistling.
    Mrs Casper turned her shoes over in her hands, licking her fingers and trying to erase the scuff marks on the heels,then she breathed all over them and rubbed them up on the edge of the tablecloth.
    ‘These could have done with a polish. Still, ne’er mind, it’ll soon be dark.’
    She stepped into them and looked round at the backs of her legs.
    ‘There’s no ladders in these stockings, is there, Billy?’
    Billy looked at her legs and shook his head.
    ‘I can’t see any.’
    ‘That’s summat anyway. What you going to do wi’ yourself tonight, love?’
    ‘Read my book.’
    ‘That’s nice. What’s it about?’
    ‘Falconry. I’m goin’ to get a young kestrel an’ train it.’
    ‘A kestrel, what’s that?’
    ‘A kestrel hawk, what do you think it is?’
    ‘I say, what time is it?’
    ‘I’ve cleaned t’bottom shed out ready, an’ I’ve built a little nesting box out of an orange box ’til…’
    ‘Ten to eight! Ee, I’m goin’ to be late as usual.’
    She ran into the hall and started to search through a heap of clothes draped over the bannister, peeling them off and throwing them down until she came to her coat.
    ‘Here, there’s two bob for you. Go and buy yourself some pop an’ some crisps or summat.’
    She slid the florin on to the mantelpiece and smiled at herself through the mirror.
    ‘And don’t be still up when I come in.’
    She hurried through the kitchen and banged the door, leaving the house quiet behind her. Billy opened his book, pointed to his place and began to lip the words as his finger crept under the lines.
    * * *
    At the first sound of footsteps on the stairs he slipped the book under the pillow and ran across to the light switch. The footsteps were heavy, their progress punctuated by halts that suggested each time that the climb had been abandoned.
    But eventually they reached the top, the light clicked on and Jud swayed into the bedroom, droning. He stopped at the foot of the bed, re-adjusting his feet continually, as though the floor was in motion.
    ‘Billy. Are tha shleep, Billy?’
    Billy lay still, his face hidden in the sheet. Jud drifted away and started to fumble at the top button of his shirt, grimacing and trying to squint down at it. His respiration appeared to be out of all proportion to the amount of energy required for this simple task, resembling more the exertions of a cross-country runner. He managed the top two buttons then tugged the shirt over his head, pulling it inside out as he wrenched his hands through the buttoned cuffs. He dropped his trousers and raised one foot. As soon as he leaned forward and looked down, he overbalanced, and had to break into a hop to remain upright. The wall stopped him. He grinned at a rose on the wallpaper, then turned round, covering the rose with his head.
    ‘Whoa you bugger, whoa.’
    He rested on the wall, grinning down at the trousers bunched round his ankles.
    ‘Billy! Wake up, Billy!’
    He set off across the room like a man in fetters.
    ‘Billy, wake up!’
    He stopped at the side of the bed and tried to haul the sheet in.
    Billy turned over and tried to hang on to it.
    ‘Gi’o’er, Jud, I’m asleep.’
    ‘Hel’ me ge’ undresh, Billy. Am pish. Am too pish to take my trousher off.’
    He flopped down on to the bed giggling. Billy wriggled out from underneath him and got out of bed. Jud curled up on his side and closed his eyes, a blind smile on his face.
    ‘Turn light osh, Billy, an’ ge’ to bed.’
    Billy