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The girl's name had been Amanda Mather, and she had really caught Howard's attention one spring afternoon, whilst he was walking home from school. The weather had turned ugly, and there was a sudden downpour of rain. Amanda had been walking just behind Howard, who was getting soaked, whilst she had the luxury of an umbrella. Amanda had tapped Howard on the shoulder.
"Haven't you got a hood on that coat? It's tipping down." She had said to him.
"Not on this coat, no. I've got one with a hood, but I left it at home, coz it was such a su
"Well, you'd better get under this brolly then, or you'll get absolutely drowned." Suggested Amanda. Howard had gladly taken her up on the kind offer.
"That's nice of you. Thanks." He said, scuttling under the umbrella.
"If I were you, I wouldn't go wearing summer jackets just yet… you know what they say about not 'casting a clout until May is out'." Advised Amanda, before laughing at Howard's 'drowned rat' appearance.
Following that afternoon, Howard would, very often, find himself walking home from school with Amanda Mather. They'd talk about this and that, but their main topics of conversation were music, and what had been showing on the television the previous night or at the weekend. Amanda saw Howard as nothing more than a friend. Howard, on the other hand, had romantic inclinations towards the pretty thirteen year old, but he could never quite find the courage to tell Amanda how he was feeling. Then, suddenly, it was all too late. Howard found out, through the school gossip network, that Amanda had started dating Alex Cre
***
My cousin Howard intensely disliked Alex Cre
A couple of years ago, one of my friends, Mike Norton - he’s a mechanic, and runs the only garage in Coldsleet - well, he had a bit of a run-in with Alex Cre
Not really wanting a confrontation, Mike tried to appeal to Alex’s better nature, asking him to just stop the name-calling, and leave, but the teenager just ignored him, and continued with the piss-taking. At some point, Mike snapped; he grabbed hold of Alex by his shirt collar, and threw him up against the wall that he’d been bouncing the ball off. As soon as things turned ugly, Alex’s companion did a ru
“Come on, man, I was only joking around.” He’d said to Mike, whilst suddenly looking like he was about to piss his pants.
“Well, I don’t find your jokes very fu
Alex, or took things any further, then the little blonde weasel would almost certainly go ru
I know that Alex used to snipe and get at Howard from time to time, during their school years… that much my cousin did tell me. But, from what I gather, it was all pretty low-level stuff, and Howard would generally just shrug it off. Knowing what I know about my cousin now, I often wonder why Howard didn’t lose it on those occasions, and really mess Alex up… he was certainly more than capable of doing just that… I think that there was a sentimental streak ru
***
Howard Trenton walked through the alleyway where he had earlier encountered the mugger, this time without incident. He emerged from the alleyway, then turned left, past a small row of bungalows. At the end of the bungalows was a low brick wall, with a small patch of wasteland behind it. As Howard walked past the wasteland, he heard somebody call his name.
“Howie! Howie! Hey, Howie… look lads, it’s Howie.” Said the male voice. Howard spun around. Three youths stood around on the wasteland, sharing a spliff between themselves. Two of the youths were dressed up in punk garb, with one of them sporting a long, blue mohican. His name was Gary Ackley, and was a couple of years older than Howard. The second punk, who wore unfashionable, John Le