Faded Glory Read online

  “Sit down, champ, sit down,” Cohen said.

  There was a mixed atmosphere as Danny did as he was told. Warmth from the visitors, and a definite chill from Albert and Patsy.

  “Danny, we believe in you,” said Cohen, with his usual serious face.

  “A bit more than some others do,” chimed in Costa.

  “We think you’re ready for the big time, son,” said Cohen.

  “We know you are,” added Costa, his English peppered with the touch of a Greek accent.

  “We’ve been watching you,” said Cohen.

  Costa grinned. “Like a hawk with a telescope.”

  “You need representation, Danny,” Cohen continued. “People that can guide you to the top, where the pickings are rich. A professional career, with fame and a considerable fortune.”

  “Considerable, like he says,” agreed Costa, stroking his chin with a gold-ringed hand.

  Cohen laid a hand on Danny’s shoulder. “If we take you under our wing, Danny, the sky is the limit.”

  “You will fly like an eagle,” Costa added.

  Albert snorted. “That’s beautiful,” he said. “Fly like an eagle, you’d like that, Danny, wouldn’t you? Just think, you wouldn’t have to use public transport no more.”

  Danny felt worried. Costa and Cohen’s exciting proposition looked like it might be a dangerous path, to judge from Albert’s reaction.

  “Let me spell it out for you, Danny.”

  As Cohen launched into plans for Danny’s future boxing career, Albert left the office without a word.

  “He’s got work downstairs,” said Patsy, looking at Danny. “And I got training. I’ll leave you fellas alone. You know, to talk.”

  “Shut the door on your way out,” said Cohen as Patsy left, not taking his eyes off Danny. “We want to propel you into the world of professional boxing, Danny. We can line up a top fight, with a name fighter that’ll put you on the map.”

  “And what do you take in return?”

  “Fifty per cent of your earnings.”

  Danny frowned. “That sounds a lot.”

  “Fifty per cent of something is better than a hundred per cent of nothing,” Costa pointed out.

  Danny wasn’t too sure what that meant. “I’ll think about it,” he said. “Have a chat with Albert and Patsy and let you know.”

  Costa sucked his teeth. “Albert and Patsy are nice blokes but they are yesterday’s men, Danny. Faded glory.”

  “This is your career, Danny,” Cohen said, almost with sympathy. “Not theirs.”

  Danny found himself shaking hands with Cohen and being on the receiving end of another hug from Costa.

  “Call us,” Costa murmured in his ear. “You won’t regret it.”

  Danny weighed up his feelings as the men left. This could be the answer with a baby on the way. It could offer him security for the family. If what Cohen and Costa were offering was for real, his worries could be over.

  But he was troubled by Albert and Patsy’s reactions. It was plain to see they didn’t share his enthusiasm. “We believe in you,” Cohen had said. Did Albert and Patsy feel the same way?

  Training was already halfway through by the time Danny joined in. He watched Patsy for some kind of reaction as he punched the pads, but Patsy didn’t say a word. Danny sensed that Patsy didn’t want to talk about Cohen and Costa’s proposal. Was he jealous? Danny couldn’t see why. As far as he was concerned, Patsy and Albert would benefit from Cohen’s promised “rich pickings”.

  With training over, Danny said his goodnights and went downstairs to find Albert collecting glasses.

  “All right?” he said, in an attempt to test the water.

  “Quite a night,” said Albert.

  He seemed upbeat. Danny relaxed a little.

  “What do you reckon about Cohen and Costa then?” he asked.

  Albert’s lips thinned. “That’s for you to decide,” he said. “It’s your life.”

  Albert’s answer didn’t help Danny at all. Deciding that perhaps the discussion was best left for another day, Danny said goodnight and collected his bike from the back of the pub.

  Outside, the rain was pouring down. Even so, as Danny rode through the streets drenched from head to toe, there was a fire in his belly. He couldn’t wait to tell Wendy that the future was looking bright. Albert and Patsy would come round in time. They only wanted what was best for him.

  Wendy was confronted by a drowned rat with a broad smile on his face at the front door.

  “I’ve got some good news,” said Danny, dripping on the door step.

  “Look at you, you’re drenched!” Wendy exclaimed. “Come inside. I’ll fetch you a towel.”

  Danny dried himself quickly.

  “What is it then?” Wendy said as he laid the towel down. “Have you heard from the council about a flat? Is there work at the docks, are you starting there soon?”

  Danny grinned. “I’ve had an offer to turn pro,” he said.

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means when I fight, I get paid.”

  Wendy sat forward and listened as Danny told her all about Cohen and Costa and the earlier meeting.

  “It could mean security for us and the baby,” he said. “I could buy a car and everything.”

  Wendy clapped with excitement. “Danny, really?” Then her face fell. “You won’t get badly hurt, will you? If you turn pro?”

  “I’ll do my best not to,” Danny said. “Come on Wend. This could be the start of great things!”

  And he kissed Wendy’s bump to prove it.

  By the time he left for home at around midnight, the rain had stopped and the streets smelt clean and fresh. The house was quiet as he wheeled his bike through to the yard. Rosie had clearly gone to bed. Danny suspected she was alone for once, as there was just the clock to be heard, ticking in the hall, not the raucous sounds of intimacy that he had heard so often.

  Upstairs in his room, he peeled off his damp clothes and put on a pair of tracksuit bottoms. He could hear the dripping drainpipe outside his room. As he lay on his bed and looked at the damp and mildewed ceiling, he thought about how he was living, with just a few quid to his name and not much else. The work on the building sites was hard and the pay poor. He had witnessed older manual workers struggling, and did not want that to be his life. Not now.

  The proposal from Costa and Cohen could be the answer. Looking out of his bedroom window, Danny gazed up to the night sky.

  “A new beginning, Dad,” he whispered, and smiled, closing the bedroom window’s brown faded curtains and switching off the bedroom light. He turned in, his head full of good dreams.

  CHAPTER SIX

  THE next morning, Danny woke happy and got ready for his morning run.

  He was hoping to see Albert at the park, to put him straight on how his boxing family would be a part of his future, and talk the Cohen and Costa business through.

  Running through the cobbled streets, he practised in his head the words he would say to Albert. He wanted to reassure him, to let him know that whatever happened with Cohen and Costa, he wanted Albert and Patsy right there by his side.

  Turning into the park, he could see the familiar figure of Albert by the bandstand, with a less familiar companion on a lead beside him.

  “Monty,” Albert said when Danny raised his eyebrows at the Jack Russell sniffing his feet. “He belongs to Simon, my neighbour. I take him out sometimes, when Simon’s doing a house clearance.”

  “Nice,” said Danny.

  Albert looked glum. “He’s a nuisance and the ducks can’t stand ’im.”

  Danny got the feeling that Albert wasn’t wanting a deep discussion this morning. He sensed that as far as Albert was concerned, the meeting with Cohen and Costa had never happened. But Danny was determined to talk about it. He wanted to clear the air.

  “You know I’m not leaving you out in the cold, don’t you?” Danny said. “With Cohen and Costa? I want you and Patsy with me, Albert. But
I need to know what you think.”

  Albert shrugged. “I believe in keeping out of other people’s business. It’s your life and your decision, son.”

  “You and Patsy’d get a cut of the money I make,” Danny said.

  A cold look came across Albert’s face. “I didn’t get involved because of the money. I got involved to give you a purpose, son, to help you and to get you out of bad company. Make you and your late dad proud. That’s all.” He bent down to give Monty a treat and a pat. “See ya later, Danny.”

  Danny felt forlorn. “Yeah,” he said. “See you later.”

  He sat on the bandstand for a while after Albert and Monty left. He hoped he had persuaded Albert that a liaison with Cohen and Costa would be good for all, but he was not convinced. If Patsy and Albert were really against it at this point, Danny wasn’t sure what he would do. Should he give up the chance of financial security for his forthcoming wife and baby? Should loyalty to Albert and Patsy be above his material needs? It was times like this that he wished he could turn to his father for advice. How helpful that would be.

  He decided to pay Lenny a visit. Maybe Lenny would be more objective, more even-handed. After all, he was always brutally honest. “Call a spade a spade,” Lenny was fond of saying. “But don’t call me one.” The thought made Danny smile. Yes. He’d talk to Lenny.

  When he got to the arches, he saw Lenny in his usual position, underneath a car. Lenny was making the sounds he always made when working: a grunt here, a sigh there and that trademark hiss through the teeth.

  “Lenny, how you doing?” he said.

  “This motor is a bastard,” growled Lenny in response.

  Danny leaned against the garage doors. “Can we have a chat?”

  “Not now, man. Too busy.”

  “It’s about Albert,” said Danny, hoping for a more positive response.

  Lenny unfolded himself from under the car. “What about Albert?”

  Danny relayed the story, and Lenny nodded.

  “I already heard from Albert that Cohen and Costa had been to the gym,” he said. “Hadn’t been told the ins and outs though. So what’s your decision?”

  “Nothing has been agreed yet,” Danny admitted. “But if it means a secure future, some fame and some fortune, I reckon it’s something I should do. Albert and Patsy will still be my team. What do you reckon?”

  Lenny settled himself on an old beer crate in the corner and rolled a cigarette. “You gotta decide for yourself,” he said after a moment. “But before you do, remember this. Albert may not show it, but he thinks the world of you. I think he sees a bit of himself in you, back when he was a contender. Patsy believes in you too. Just remember that.” He picked up a spanner and got back to his feet. “I better get on, Danny. OK?”

  Danny left Lenny to it. The conversation did not totally solve his dilemma, but he did feel better. His thoughts were out in the open now. He was sure Lenny would speak to Albert, and fill him in on how Danny felt.

  *

  After a difficult few weeks, Danny went round to Wendy’s as usual. The baby bump now was beginning to show, and Mr and Mrs Bristow were getting more and more anxious to get the wedding over and done. With only two weeks to go till the big day, they couldn’t will the time away fast enough.

  The thought of their daughter walking down the aisle obviously with child was too terrible to even contemplate.

  Danny had told Mr Bristow about the offer to turn professional.

  “You could make some serious money, Danny,” had been his future father-in-law’s positive response. “Be good for your wife and baby, eh?”

  It felt good to be in Mr Bristow’s good books for a change, an unusual occurrence, and Danny tried to enjoy the feeling. But the black cloud of Albert’s reaction still hovered in his mind.

  The evening was spent going over the invites, trying to keep the attendance as low as possible for financial reasons, but trying not to leave anyone out. On Danny’s side there weren’t too many guests: Rosie plus one, an Aunt Ellen, an Uncle Bill, two cousins he hardly knew, Albert, Lenny and Patsy. Wendy’s side numbered twenty-two.

  “We ought to invite Cohen and Costa,” Wendy suggested. “For business reasons. Don’t you think?”

  Danny could see the sense in that, but he wasn’t sure how Albert would react. It was important to try to rebuild burnt bridges without fanning any new flames, but under pressure from Wendy and Mrs Bristow and with an eye to his future, he agreed – as long as they were seated as far from Albert, Patsy and Lenny as possible. Checking the address on their business card, the invites to Cohen and Costa were duly written and added to the pile.

  “Fingers crossed,” said Danny, more brightly than he felt.

  *

  Considerable progress was made in the logistics and arrangements for the big day. The wedding dress was chosen and the matching bridesmaid dresses, a little less spectacular than the bride’s of course, were fitted and ordered. Mr Bristow had funded most of Wendy’s wishes, even agreeing to an ornate carriage and two white horses to ferry his princess to the church in regal style. Lenny had offered to procure an Austin Princess from one of his richer clients, but Wendy had felt it would be too funereal.

  “Thank Gawd I’ve only got one daughter,” was Mr Bristow’s answer to the mounting cost.

  Wendy had made an appointment for Danny to be fitted for his wedding suit. An uncomfortable event as far as Danny was concerned, but he knew it would incur the wrath of his new in-laws if he turned up at the church in his customary tracksuit. So dressing up like a Victorian gent was agreed to keep the peace. However, no matter how much he loved Wendy, Danny had drawn the line at a top hat. Enough was enough.

  Before the Cohen and Costa business, Danny had asked Albert to be his best man. So Wendy had made a joint appointment for the two of them that afternoon.

  “To see both of you dressed up in smart tailcoats, waistcoats and cravats will certainly be a one-off,” Wendy said as she sent Danny to the hire shop. “And promise to think about the top hat?”

  Danny dutifully made his way to his three o’clock appointment.

  “Can I help you?” asked the rather effeminate man at the counter.

  Danny cleared his throat. “I have an appointment with someone named Cyril?”

  The man eyed him. “I’m Cyril,” he said. “Where is the second member of your party?”

  “Not here yet,” said Danny, feeling like he was stating the obvious.

  After ten minutes, there was still no sign of Albert. This worried Danny. Maybe their recent cooling relationship had led Albert to pull out. But just as Cyril was taking an uncomfortably long time over the measurement of Danny’s inside leg, Albert walked through the door.

  “Looks like your luck has changed, son,” Albert remarked.

  Danny was delighted to see his best man. He smiled with relief. “All right, Albert?” he said.

  Cyril swept disapproving eyes over Albert’s tramp-like appearance. He became a touch frosty and less effeminate.

  “Take a seat, sir,” he said. “I’ll be with you in a minute.”

  Albert waited as Danny was wrestled into various outfits. Every now and again he gave an approving wolf whistle.

  “So the black tailcoat, striped trousers and grey waistcoat?” said Cyril after Albert and Danny had debated the options.

  “Works for me,” said Albert.

  Albert proved to be a rather more difficult project than Danny. He had the habit of stretching out his arms, so that the sleeves of the tailcoats he tried climbed halfway up his forearms.

  “Please sir,” said Cyril irritably. “You won’t be walking around with your arms outstretched.”

  Albert shrugged his shoulders. “Monkey arms,” he said.

  At long last, a reasonable fit was found, identical to Danny’s. It had to be said, Albert looked transformed and rather dapper. Mission accomplished, Danny put a deposit down. The now giggling pair left a bemused Cyril in his top-hat-and-tails world.


  *

  “So Danny,” said Albert. “You want a stag night? It’s only right. Last night of freedom and all that.”

  Danny, with a little trepidation, agreed.

  “You leave the arrangements in the almost safe hands of me and Lenny,” Albert said soothingly. “Next Friday night? Seven o’clock kick-off at the Live and Let Live.” And he mock-punched Danny’s jaw.

  Walking to work at the pub that evening, Albert started to think about the entertainment for Danny’s stag night. A traditional stripper, maybe a night up the West End, perhaps a flutter in a casino.

  At the bar of the Live and Let Live, Lenny was knocking back a Guinness laced with a dash of Jamaican rum.

  “How about we organise a Caribbean night?” he suggested when Albert asked him for ideas. “You know, with straw hats, colourful shirts and plenty of rum chasers. We can have a limbo contest, you know: how low can you go. I’m a natural, years of practice, man.”

  “Yeah,” agreed Albert. “We could get one of those steel bands.” Ironically – Lenny hated steel bands: “They sound like a scrap yard.”

  Several others joined in the discussion. Ideas bounced off each other with a fury, some ridiculous like a bouncy castle in the pub, others quite inspired, like rum punch on tap. In the end, Albert suggested that they should give Danny a wedding present of fifty pounds and a trip to a casino in the West End.

  “Danny can have a little flutter,” he said. “And so can we.”

  So it was settled. Calypso, cash and a casino it would be.

  *

  “Did the outfit look nice then, was everything all right?” asked Wendy.

  “I think we looked the part,” Danny replied. “Even Albert looked dapper.”

  “Good,” said Wendy. “Now Dad’s checked and almost all of the invites have been answered and everyone’s coming.”

  “Cohen and Costa?”

  “Yes, they’re coming too.”

  As Wendy rattled on about bouquets, chicken or lamb and wedding gifts, Danny was silent. The realisation that Cohen and Costa were actually coming filled him with nervous misgivings. Only a short time ago, he’d been with his best man, laughing and joking at poor Cyril’s expense. Danny was now concerned that having Cohen and Costa at his wedding would upset Albert again, just when things had warmed up between them.