The Carol Singers

'God rest ye merry gentlemen, let nuffink you dismay!' Kev's baritone voice rang out through the frosty December air as he stood with Charlie on the doorstep of the second to last house on Snowdrop Crescent.

There was a brief pause, then he hissed to his companion, 'Wot's the next line, Charlie?'

'I dunno,' Charlie shrugged.

'Not a lot of use, are you?'

A light came on, somewhere in the house. 'Quick,' Kev urged. 'Sing another carol!'

Charlie took a deep breath and launched into a new song. 'While shepherds washed their socks by night, all hanging on the line - the angel of the Lord came down and said the socks are mine.'

'Those ain't the words, you div.'

'That's wot we used to sing at school.'

Kev was about to tell Charlie again that he was useless, and next time, he'd find a new partner in crime, when the door opened and a tired looking woman in a dressing gown and slippers stood there, looking at them wearily. 'If you wouldn't mind, lads,' she said, 'I just got the baby to sleep, so here's a fiver. Please go away.'

Kev took the note she held out, wondering how easy it would be to overpower her and ransack the house, but only briefly, since at that moment, a man came out of the kitchen with a cup of coffee. Big, burly bloke, the father of the sleeping kid no doubt. In any case, the woman had had a clear view of them thanks to the bright security light over the front door. If they went for her, they'd have to kill her, and they weren't murderers. 'Fanks, Missus,' Kev said. 'Merry Christmas.'

Kev and Charlie swaggered off along the long driveway. They weren't the world's best carol singers, but it didn't matter, since carol singing was only their excuse for being here, a handy way to find out whether or not the residents of Snowdrop Crescent were at home. Should they find a house with nobody in, they'd break in and clean up. 

This time of year not only provided carol singing as a way to stake out potential properties, but small, valuable items were easy to find - piled up under the Christmas trees. All Kev had to do was peel off a little bit of the festive paper to be sure the parcel contained an ipad, laptop or games console, and not a pile of kiddies' books. Nobody would take any notice, either, as they strolled back up the High Street carrying piles of Christmas gifts.

So far, they'd not been lucky - there'd been someone in at each house so far; but they did have £50 in cash, which people had given them so that they'd stop singing and go away; so it wasn't a completely wasted evening.

There was one house left to try. Like all the homes on Snowdrop Crescent, it stood far apart from the others and was surrounded by a high hedge. People here liked their privacy; and the amount of land which went with every house meant they had to be affluent to live here.

The boys' boots crunched on the gravel driveway as they walked up to the front door. They took a moment to compose themselves, and launched into another enthusiastic, if not polished, performance.

'Silent night! 'Oly night! All is calm, All is bright!'

The house was in darkness, and they reached 'Sleep in 'eavenly peace' without seeing any lights come on or detecting any movement from within at all.

They nodded to each other, and set off in opposite directions to circumnavigate the house, looking for any open windows or rickety doors which would give them an easy way in. Failing that, a window which could be easily broken.

They were in luck. A window at the back hadn't been closed properly. It would be no problem at all to jimmy it open and clamber in.

That done, they crept through the silent kitchen. Kev noticed a bottle of whiskey on the table, which he slipped into his ample coat pocket. That was another great thing about Christmas. People had usually been buying booze.

In the lounge, as expected, there was a Christmas tree with a pile of wrapped presents around it. Kev rubbed his hands together, wondering which one to investigate first, while Charlie scanned the room for any valuables left lying around.

Kev selected a promising parcel which looked about the right size to be an ipad, and peeled off a strip of the wrapping paper. It was a book, but there was something odd about it.

'Funny sort of book this,' he commented. 'It ain't got no writing, nor any pictures, neither.'

Charlie ambled over and peered at it. 'It's Braille, innit? Like they has on cashpoints so that the blind people can use 'em.'

'Oh,' Kev said, putting the parcel down. 'Don't reckon it's worth much, then.'

Charlie went back to inspecting the room. He reached out to pick up a photo in a frame which could be silver and therefore worth taking. He looked at the picture it held. It had been taken in the room they were in - the family were sitting on the sofa behind them, with the same picture of a mountain landscape on the wall behind them. The little girl sat between her parents, her sightless eyes looking in the direction of the camera, calipers on her legs. 

'Hey, I seen this kid in town,' Charlie said, showing the picture to Kev.

'Yeah. I seen her, too.' 

He had indeed seen her; in fact, she'd made a lasting impression on him. He'd noticed her making her way slowly down the High Street behind her parents, wincing with pain at every halting step. He'd seen the determination on the girl's face, the way she'd resolved to walk all the way down that street by herself, no matter what. She wasn't going to give up and let her father push her in the buggy. 

They'd been going to see the Christmas lights turned on. The child had stood next to her parents, frowning a little as everyone in the crowd had gasped, 'Oooh!' as the lights came on. She alone had not been able to see them.

'We can't rob from here, can we?' Kev said.

'We can't steal from a blind, crippled kid,' Charlie agreed.

'Let's go.' Kev put down the parcel he was about to unwrap. 'We'll call it a night.'

They crept back through the kitchen. Just before he let himself out of the back door, Kev put the bottle of whiskey back onto the kitchen table. He paused for a moment. He put his hands in his pockets and emptied them of the carol singing proceeds, leaving £50 in cash beside the bottle.

************

My Christmas Novella!

A Very Variant Christmas

Last year, Jade and Gloria were embroiled in a bitter conflict to win back their throne and their ancestral home. This year, Queen Jade and Princess Gloria want to host the biggest and best Christmas party ever in their palace. They invite all their friends to come and bring guests. Not even the birth of Jade's heir just before Christmas will stop them.

The guest list includes most of Britain's complement of super-powered crime-fighters, their families and friends. What could possibly go wrong?

Gatecrashers, unexpected arrivals, exploding Christmas crackers and a kidnapping, for starters.

Far away in space, the Constellations, a cosmic peacekeeping force, have suffered a tragic loss. They need to recruit a new member to replace their dead colleague. The two top candidates are both at Jade and Gloria's party. The arrival of the recruitment delegation on Christmas Eve is a surprise for everyone; but their visit means one guest now faces a life-changing decision.

Meanwhile, an alliance of the enemies of various guests at the party has infiltrated the palace; they hide in the dungeon, plotting how best to get rid of the crime-fighters and the royal family once and for all. Problem is, they all have their own agendas and differences of opinion on how to achieve their aims.

Not to mention that this year, the ghosts who walk the corridors of the palace on Christmas Eve will be as surprised by the living as the living are by them.

Available from Createspace, Amazon and Amazon Kindle

New!

Secrets and Skies

Jack Ward, President of Innovia, owes his life twice over to the enigmatic superhero, dubbed Power Blaster by the press. No-one knows who Power Blaster is or where he comes from - and he wants it to stay that way.

Scientist Desi Troyes has developed a nuclear bomb to counter the ever present threat of an asteroid hitting the planet. When Ward signs the order giving the go ahead for a nuclear test on the remote Bird Island, he has no inkling of Troyes' real agenda, and that he has signed the death warrants of millions of people.

Although the island should have been evacuated, there are people still there: some from the distant continent of Classica; protesters opposed to the bomb test; and Innovians who will not, or cannot, use their communication devices.

Power Blaster knows he must stop the bomb from hitting the island. He also knows it may be the last thing he ever does.

Meanwhile in Innovia, Ward and his staff gather to watch the broadcast of the test. Nobody, not even Troyes himself, has any idea what is about to happen.

Part One of The Raiders Trilogy.

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