Clive and me always planned on retiring to Spain or Majorca someday. Someplace warm, anyway.
Maybe planned is too strong a word.
More like wished, since the pay of a London cabbie don’t go as far as it once did.
All this changed when he come back to the flat after work with an expression on his face I’d not seen before.
Sort of a mix of triumph and fear.
He was holding a black leather Gucci satchel that probably cost more than a month’s rent.
“What’s this, then?” I asked. “Been shoplifitng?”
“Fare to Gatwick,” he said. “Couple South American blokes having a row in Spanish. Almost come to blows, they did. Left this on the floor. My next passenger put his feet right on top of it.”
He set the bag on the coffee table. “Open it.”
I was afraid, then. That look on his face.
“Go on,” he said. “Open it.”
You’ve found an excellent voice, and the plot swings along. I like the cliff-hanger ending!
Thanks, Penny!
Great title, too!
This bodes very ill – haven’t they ever watched any movies? The kind of guys who carry that kind of cash will stop at nothing to get it back. Let’s hope they skedaddle, quick. Great little story, Jos. Just wondering if they get away with it
I think they will. Maybe.
Really like the character voice in this one, and the cliffhanger too. I can see why Clive would be both excited and scared, if he’s planning to keep this money. No doubt the men who left it there are going to want it back! So perhaps Spain is a great place to be – preferably under a different name, although I doubt these two know enough about hiding from bad guys to pull that off. All that makes the title seem ominous, if it refers to the likelihood that they’ll get caught and pay the consequences.
Thanks. I think the ur story of this sort of thing was throughly explored in Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men, but this scenario is a bit more likely to allow the couple to escape. It’s fun to think about, anyway. Thanks for stopping by.