Chapter 5: To Fill His Condom

Jade went and collected her meal and was soon back with them. As they chatted, Jade asked Luke the question Cliff had told her to ask. ‘How do you two know each other?’ Luke smiled at her, ‘We’re both volunteers on the railway project,’ Luke told her.

Jade looked surprised, Cliff had told her what to ask then had said, ‘You’re on your own after that.’ ‘Not the one by the linear park?’ Jade asked. ‘Yes, that’s the one.’ Luke agreed. ‘I was a volunteer there ages ago.’ Jade told him, ‘Then I lost interest.’

‘But I’ve often thought of trying it again.’ ‘You should,’ Luke told her, ‘You meet a lot of lovely people.’ He grinned at Cliff as he said it. As Luke and Jade started chatting, Cliff watched and listened happily. Without them seeing him, Cliff fiddled with his phone under the table.

He found the button which made it give a couple of rings, then pretended to answer it. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘Really, that’s bad. Ok, I’ll come over right away.’ ‘I’m sorry,’ he said to the two of them, ‘I’m needed elsewhere. We’ll catch up again.’ he said to Luke.

‘It’s lovely to see you, Jade.’ he said giving her a hug and a kiss. ‘I’m sure Luke will look after you.’ As he got to the door he looked back. They had already forgotten he existed, the two of them were looking at each other and chatting away. Cliff smiled to himself and set off home.

TUESDAY - OFFICE - CLIFF, JADE, MR HOLDSWORTH, O’RILEY & GREGSON.

After school on Tuesday, Cliff went to Jades office, following a request from Jade. When he knocked, Jade opened the door and gave him a lovely smile as she invited him in. Mr Holdsworth was there and two other men. Cliff was introduced to Mr O’Riley and Mr Gregson.

When they were all seated, everyone looked at Mr Holdsworth. He nodded to Jade. ‘Emily and I opened all the envelopes,’ she told Cliff. ‘We cut off the corners with the franking mark on and saved them. Then we shredded everything else.’

‘When we had finished, we had three boxes of corners from each office. After counting all the corners, there was a total of three thousand nine hundred and ninety pounds worth of postage for each office. On Friday the inspector called from the post office.’

‘We told him what had happened and showed him one letter that we’d saved from each office. He checked the contents of one box and then told us he had spoken to the police who had confirmed that Stephen had been charged and sent to prison.’

‘He reset our machine to credit us for the full amount. I helped him carry the boxes down to his car.’ ‘Then he came over to my office and credited my machine too.’ Mr O’Riley said. ‘Following that, he came to me and did the same to mine.’ Mr Gregson added.

‘Now Cliff,’ Mr Holdsworth told him, ‘Thanks to you, we have all been saved losing almost four thousand pounds. But far more than that, you have saved our very survival as businesses, and the jobs of all our staff. The three of us have discussed it and decided on a way to say thank you.’

‘No, please hear me out,’ he said as Cliff started to object. ‘You’re still at school and I’m sure that like all youngsters you are short of cash. In this envelope,’ he said holding it up, ‘Is a cheque from us all. It is just a small token of our gratitude.’

‘We will be very offended if you do not accept it.’ Mr Gregson added. ‘Thank you, gentlemen, you didn’t need to do that, but I appreciate it and accept it with thanks.’ Cliff told them. ‘I’m saving up for driving lessons once I’m seventeen, so I’ll put it towards that.’

‘All three shook his hand once more and thanked him again.’ As Jade went to show him out, Mr Holdsworth said, ‘You get off now Jade, thank you for staying late.’ As Cliff walked Jade home, she told him, Mr Holdsworth said to tell you that if you ever need a reference, he’d be happy to give you one.’

‘Please thank him for me,’ Cliff told her. ‘Do you know what’s in here?’ he asked patting the envelope. ‘I think so,’ she said, ‘But don’t open it until you get home.’ ‘So how did things go last night?’ Cliff asked. ‘Lukes lovely isn’t he, we chatted for ages after you’d had to leave.’

‘Then he walked me home. He offered me his arm which was lovely. At mine we stood talking at the door and he asked me to go out with him this Friday night. I’m also returning to the railway with him at the weekend. As we parted, I gave him a quick hug and a kiss on his cheek, then thanked him for looking after me.’