Shooting in the Dark

house, and it’s planted in the middle of York. I reckon it’d fetch a hundred and fifty grand, maybe two.’
    ‘No,’ said Geordie. ‘Sam’s gonna give it away. He’s just gotta decide who to give it to.’
    ‘Why’n’t he give it to you?’
    ‘No, he’ll give it to a charity,’ Geordie said. ‘Some organization that’ll use it right. Homeless people or kids, something like that.’
    Ralph looked at the table. Geordie had set the balls up to play another game, but he hadn’t cued off. He picked up his glass and drank all but the last couple of inches. ‘Listen,’ he said. ‘If you told him you wanted to start a charity for homeless types, would he give you the house?’ Geordie laughed. ‘I don’t wanna start a charity, Ralph. I’m in the detective business. Me and Sam work together.’
    ‘I know you don’t wanna start a charity,’ Ralph said. ‘But if you changed your mind about detectives and wanted to start a charity, would he give you the house?’
    ‘I don’t wanna...’
    ‘I know you don’t wanna do it,’ said Ralph with a sudden edge to his voice. ‘What I’m saying is, if you did? If? OK? Would the guy give you the house?’
    Geordie picked up his cue and examined the tip. ‘Sam would know I couldn’t do it,’ he said. ‘Run a charity, something like that. I wouldn’t know where to start.’
    ‘OK,’ said Ralph. ‘So you’d have a manager. Someone who knows how to handle money, someone what could give you advice, show you the ropes. Kind of administrator.’
    ‘Like Celia?’
    ‘Yeah, you could say like Celia. But I was thinking of a guy. Would he give you the house?’
    ‘Yeah, I expect he would,’ Geordie said. ‘Sam likes me. If I wanted something and he could help, he’d do it. That’s how he is. An’ I’d do the same for him.’
    It was as if Ralph couldn’t help it. Slowly a big smile lit up his face. ‘Y’know what I’m gonna do?’ he said. Geordie shook his head.
    ‘I’m gonna buy my little brother another pint of lager.’
     
    ‘OK, what about this question?’ said Ralph. Geordie watched him hit the white ball and send it round the table. It didn’t connect with any of the reds, but glanced off the green and went into one of the baulk pockets. ‘Fuckin’ stupid game.’
    Geordie took the white out of the pocket and placed it in the D. ‘Four to me,’ he said. ‘What question?’
    ‘I was on this ship, once, and we had a guy who fell into the hold. He was normal as you and me when he went down, but when they brought him up he was a cabbage.’
    ‘Poor guy.’
    ‘Yeah, poor guy. And you know what happened to him? He went out on the streets begging, that’s what. There was this charity, there. This was in Portsmouth, and there was this charity there that specialized in head cases, guys falling off ships or cranes, and into holds like this guy had done. But they was full up. The charity was sitting there, and could’ve cured the man, but they couldn’t take him because they was full up. So he went begging. Last I heard he was dead. That was Christmas, couple of years back.’
    ‘This is life,’ said Geordie, coming over philosophical. Barney was peering out at him from under the table.
    ‘But it doesn’t have to be like that,’ said Ralph. ‘If someone wants to do something about it, really do something. That could save a lot of misery in the world. If I had a place, I could do it.’
    ‘You?’
    ‘Yeah,’ said Ralph defensively. ‘Something wrong with that?’
    ‘You really mean it?’ Geordie asked. ‘You’re not putting me on?’
    ‘Hey, Geordie. I’m your brother, right? I’m not likely to set you up with a cock-and-bull story. Today I’ve had a few beers, and I’m not so hot on explaining myself. But if this mate of yours is so keen to give his house to a charity, then I’ll be happy to help any way I can.’
    ‘You want me to talk to Sam about it?’
    ‘Hold it there for a couple of days, bro. Don’t let’s go tearing away at it without thinking it through. We’ll talk round it for a while, just the two of us, see what it looks like when it’s matured.’
     
    ‘OK, time to go,’ Ralph said. He downed the rest of his pint and swept his cue through the balls remaining on the table. Geordie rubbed his hand over the long chalk mark on the cloth, glanced around guiltily, as though it was he who had done it rather than his brother.
    ‘Where to now?’ he asked. ‘I’d better be getting home.