Shoes for Anthony by Emma Kennedy Read Free Book Online Page A

sits reading them.’ Emrys took a long drag of his cigarette. ‘What’s it about again, Ant?’
    â€˜It’s about a woman who’s up to no good with a man called Neff, who isn’t her husband,’ I said, passing a towel to Father.
    â€˜Oh,
duw
,’ mumbled Mam. ‘I don’t want to hear this already.’
    â€˜Keep going,’ said Alwyn, nodding. ‘This sounds like my sort of film.’
    â€˜She comes up with a scam to kill her husband so she can get double money, and Neff says he’ll help her do it after she kisses him.’
    â€˜So she has to kiss him to get his help?’ said Alwyn, with a wry smile. ‘I’d get on with this Neff. Smart fella.’
    â€˜Ade said this is how all boys get in trouble and we should all make a pact that we would never kiss a girl. So we did.’
    â€˜Smart lad is Ade.’ Emrys grinned.
    â€˜You’re never going to kiss a girl, Ant?’ said Bethan, from the kitchen. ‘You might regret that!’
    â€˜Anyway, it all went wrong. And Neff killed the husband, then pretended to be the husband. Then the lady kissed another man, and Neff’s boss, who was called Keyes and was, like, the detective boss at the insurance firm, smelled a rat, and that’s how the whole thing came undone. So at the end, the lady shot Neff and then Neff shot the lady and she died and then he died and that was it. Bozo and Ade were a bit bored, and Fez said it didn’t have enough shooting in it. I thought it was all right.’
    â€˜That woman sounds a right kettle of fish,’ said Mam, passing Father his clean shirt. ‘Kissing all sorts and going round shooting people. What a do. And pretending to be someone you’re not! The devil of it.’
    â€˜I’d never die for a woman,’ said Alwyn, climbing into the tin bath for his turn. ‘Especially not Gwennie Morgan.’
    â€˜Not since she knocked you back, anyhow,’ said Emrys, blowing a plume of smoke from the side of his mouth.
    â€˜That was only because her father doesn’t like me since I punched that lad from Tonypandy. Don’t know why, mind. Bastard had it coming.’
    â€˜You broke that boy’s jaw, Alwyn,’ said Father, in his sterner tone. ‘And that was after you already had him beat. If you learned to control that temper of yours, you’d present a better prospect.’
    Alwyn scowled into the darkening tub water and silence fell in the room. Emrys picked a speck of tobacco from his tongue while Mam set to work on the black spot on her son’s back. The burn in my hand was deepening, but it wasn’t too bad. I’d had worse. I unwrapped the cloth and had a look at it. Skin not broken. It would smart for a day and that would be that. I shifted the cloth so that a fresh, cold bit was lying against the welts.
    â€˜Bethan says there’ll be Americans at Porthcawl!’ I said, looking towards Father.
    â€˜Ant!’ she yelled, from the kitchen. ‘I told you that in secret!’
    â€˜Americans?’ said Mam, her eyes widening. ‘Is that true?’
    â€˜So we’ve been told. They’re arriving in two days. Something must be up, we reckon. But we don’t know what.’
    â€˜Getting ready to push into France. I’d put money on it,’ said Father. ‘But if Bethan has been told to keep it quiet, I want the rest of you to do the same. Once they’re here, that’s another matter. But not a word until they’ve come. Careless talk costs lives, remember.’
    â€˜Christ, I wish I could go to France,’ moaned Emrys. ‘Stuck down the bloody pit when we could be out fighting. We’ll see none of the war. It’s not fair.’
    â€˜I’d rather be underground than in it,’ said Alwyn.
    â€˜We get to see the Mosquitoes from RAF St Athan,’ I said. ‘That’s seeing the war.’
    â€˜I don’t want to sit on