Kay could easily have lost her rag with him right there andthen, but she forced herself to play it cool. She needed to hold onto her flatfor a couple more days, just long enough for her to take another trip or two.If all went according to plan, he could stick his flat after that.
“Forget it,” she said, resisting the temptation to tell himto shove the jumbo sausage up his arse, Kent-style. “I’m going upstairs.”
“Don’t forget I want that rent by tomorrow night,” he said.“Or the electricity goes off and you’ll be eating raw Bernard Matthews turkeyroll for your Christmas dinner.”
“Whatever,” said Kay, opening the door at the back of theshop and swiftly closing it again behind her. What a disgusting excuse for ahuman being McVie was. She may have to think of a way of sorting him out, too,once she had dealt with Alan.
She was tired out by her recent adventures and the long dayat work, so she decided to get her head down for an hour and have a power nap.It was an apt description. Never in her life had she had any real power, but nowshe had plenty. The gift the angel had given her was potentially more powerfulthan any position or amount of money if she used it wisely.
If she did manage to pull off her audacious plan, she maysoon be enjoying a siesta as opposed to a power nap. Technically that’s whatthis was, being a sleep in the afternoon, but she could hardly call an hour ina freezing cold flat in pitch darkness a siesta. It was a far cry from snoozingin the Spanish sun on a baking afternoon.
As she drifted off to sleep, she vowed to herself soon shewould be there, enjoying her time in the sun. As soon as all this was over, sheintended to get herself off to the Canaries for some much-needed winter warmth.Such a trip was completely out of the question in her current perilousfinancial position, but that situation was something she intended to change.
She awoke after an hour or so and began to prepare herselfto go out. Kent had promised to meet her in the pub to talk about the trip shehad just taken and she was feeling very excited about it.
She wasn’t going to hold back any information about her dayand she hoped he would do the same. It would be fascinating to see whatsimilarities and differences there had been between there two experiences.
Feeling refreshed and happy, she prepared to leave the flat,full of anticipation for the night ahead.
Chapter Twelve
December 2018
At 8.30pm she walked into the bar of The Red Lion to begreeted by an unholy cacophony of noise coming from the back of the pub. Somefat, dark-haired woman she didn’t recognise in her thirties was belting out atruly awful rendition of an old Abba song.
The pub was very busy for a Sunday, but then it was only twodays until Christmas. There was quite a crowd gathered around the DJ booth atthe far end of the dance floor where, despite the bad singing, it seemed thekaraoke was going down a storm. As the woman finished her song, she was met bya huge round of applause. The audience was clearly tone-deaf, drunk, or both.
“Wow, what a performance!” announced the DJ, a rotund man inhis late-forties with thickset glasses. “I don’t know how we’re going to topthat, but we’ll give it a go! Next up, please can we have The Three DrunkenTwats?”
Amid much laughing, three young lads headed up to the stage.There was plenty of festive spirit around tonight, it seemed.
Kay made her way over to the bar. Andy was there, talking tohis mate, Nobby, who as always was immaculately dressed and groomed. He was theonly person Kay had ever seen wearing a suit in the pub. There was no sign ofKent. When Kay got to the bar, Craig greeted her much more enthusiasticallythan usual. It made a welcome change. He had been a right miserable sodrecently.
“What do you think of the karaoke, then?” he asked. “I toldyou it would be a winner. I’m thinking of having it every Sunday.”
“I bloody hope not,” interrupted Nobby. “Because if you doI’ll be drinking elsewhere. That last woman was dreadful. Her voice was likesqueaky chalk on a blackboard. And now listen to this lot!”
The lads who had formed the impromptu group called The ThreeDrunken Twats had embarked on a rendition of “The Twelve Days of Christmas”. Itsounded more like it was being sung from the terraces at Old Trafford than overa microphone. Everyone watching was in hysterics, especially when one of themmade an obscene gesture in relation to the line “Five gold rings”.
“Well, I think it’s quite funny,” said Kay, who wasn’taverse to the odd spot of karaoke. “I may even have a go myself after a fewdrinks. Speaking of which…”
As she had been speaking, she had pulled a tenner out of herpurse and handed it to Craig who had already poured her a double vodka as soonas he had seen her heading towards the bar.
“You did want the usual, I take it?” he asked.
“Of course,” she said. She would have to resist thetemptation to knock it straight back. She would have to make it last. Thistenner was all the money she had left in the world for the time being.
“Can you fill it up to the top with Coke,” she asked. Thatwould make it last a bit longer.
“No problem,” replied Craig.
“Have you seen Richard tonight?” she asked him, trying tosay it quietly so that Andy wouldn’t hear.
“Who’s Richard?” replied Craig, turning back towards her,vodka and Coke in hand. It was the second time today she had received thatresponse. Was she the only person in the world who knew his first name? Why didpeople only ever refer to him by his surname? She thought it was rather rude.He deserved better.
“Sorry, I mean Kent,” said Kay.
“He hasn’t been in yet,” said Craig. “Listen, why don’t youput
