Mr Dibbs Fixes Bikes

26

The incident at the playing fields had played on Frederick's mind, along with everything else. So much stuff had happened that he could hardly keep any of it straight in his head. If he continued to hang out with Jeanie, it could end up with her on the receiving end of abuse she did not deserve, all because of him. If he didn't come clean to Mister Dibbs, then it could make living next door to him difficult. If he couldn't find a way to help his mum, she could get worse and he didn't doubt everything that had happened because of him had made her moods worse.

Yeah, she seemed fine today, but what about tomorrow? What about the next time Micky did something? What if the next time, it was something really bad and Mum got hurt? He wished he'd never been born and then everyone else's life would be so much easier. Even now, when his mum should be at work, she had taken time off for him, to spend money on him that they couldn't afford. Things were easier back home in London. At least there, there were others like him that understood what he went through. Not all of it, of course, but some.

There were bullies back home, but he had his bruvs to back him up. He had people he could turn to. People he could depend on. The boys that he could rely on. Maybe not in a fight, they were all useless at that, but someone he could spit words around about the bullies without fear of someone grassing on him to those self-same bullies. He missed that. Talking. Hanging out. Jeanie was nice, but she wasn't a bruv and he didn't know whether she told Micky anything. They sure seemed to know each other.

"Right. Best behaviour, you." Before they reached the shop, his mum crouched down, brushing his shoulders and trying to straighten his hoody. "This is your first uniform for this school. Show them how sweet you are."

It was just a uniform, but his mum treated it like an interview for a place at school. If it was, he'd fail it on purpose. As it was, school started in a couple of weeks time and he felt that it loomed far too close for his liking. He wanted to spend more time helping Mister Dibbs, fixing bicycles, going fishing and working the allotment, but he'd ruined that and he didn't think what he had planned would make up for it.

"I don't know why you didn't just order it from the internet. It's probably cheaper." He had shambled the entire way, head lowered, and only now did he look around. "What if someone sees me."

"No-one knows you, sweetheart. And so what?" She licked her thumb, wiping at a mark on his cheek only she could see. "You're my beautiful boy. Everyone will be envious about how good you look in your new uniform."

"No, they won't. They're all the same. That's the point." He shrugged his shoulders, forcing his hoody to hang the way he liked it. "I don't want to be seen."

He worried it would only give people like Micky an excuse to have a go at him. Or someone else. Things had started out rubbish, up here, got a little better after getting to know Mister Dibbs, and then come crashing down after he had decided to try and do something, as though some invisible being had realised he had become too happy.

The door for the shop had an actual bell that jingled and rang as his mum opened it. He looked up to see the bell bouncing, the hammer inside still quivering. He thought that sort of thing had gone out in the last century, but here one was, tinkling to inform anyone within that they had customers gullible enough to overspend on stuff that wouldn't cost near as much online. He half-expected some overweight bloke with a powdered wig to greet them.

When a young woman, younger than Frederick's mum, if he were to judge, emerged through a dangling curtain, he felt surprised. She greeted them with a smile and Frederick could tell she immediately appraised his size before even reaching for a tape measure. She leaned on the counter, resting her jaw on a hand, tapping her lips with her fingers as she scowled at him.