Tea, sympathy and a need to fix things

A need for tea, and a robbery

He stood trembling as the tall man in a mask raised his gun.  Protecting the store was what he did, a security officer for fifteen years he wasn’t giving into this thug. Concentrating on happier times he tried not to look at the scared faces around him. As the manager arrived, shouting, he willed him to shut up.

As the gun shot reverberated, pain ran through him and the world went black. He didn’t hear the screams, and was not aware of the paramedics as they worked on him to save his life.

Tea and sympathy

Sitting digesting the news, this was too much, bad news was never easy to take.  Lou put the kettle on, tea was always the answer. The magic solution, it’s always what people say, “Do you want a cup of tea?” Or rather “I’ll make tea.”

Face wet with tears, friends never liked Luke, but I love him. He might have been an idiot but he was mine and didn’t deserve to be lying in a hospital bed.  Annoyed that he had put the damned supermarket ahead of his life, I sipped on my tea. Feeling it running down my throat, I felt calmer.

Lou put her arm around me, trying to make me feel better.  All I could think about was Luke lying in hospital.  Finishing my tea, it was time,

“Come on, let’s go and see him.”

“Sure you’re ready?”

“Mug of tea down, and now I want see Luke”

Hospital

Coming around to another man in a mask, this time one with kind eyes, dressed in blue. He started shaking,

“Luke, it’s okay, this is St Mark’s, you’re safe.”

“What happened?”

“You were involved in a robbery, you were shot and the bullet has now been removed from your chest”.

Luke tried to touch his front, then winced as fire went through him.

“If you need morphine just push this button”.

Luke nodded and smiled with gratitude as the nurse passed it to him.

Closing his eyes again, exhaustion took over, he thought of Julie and thanked God that he was alive.

Thomas

It had been a week since the shoot down at Lichfields. Thomas sat head on his hands, his colleague had managed to steal the cash as he shot the security guard. Running and jumping on motorbikes as the police and ambulance arrived, they had got away with it. Problem was Thomas knew Julie and the heartache it would cause her.  Reaching for his steaming tea, he appreciated it’s calming sickly sweetness as it warmed his stomach.  A shooter with a conscience does not work, especially as mad Kenny was wanting him to do another job this evening. How could he get out of this? He had to do the job or he would be in hospital bed too.

Thomas thought of the little blonde girl, the girl he had a crush on all through school.  Now he had shot her partner, how the hell did he get here?

Luke

I sat stroking Luke’s hand.  Relieved to see his chest going up and down, hoping for better times ahead.  From all the mental taunts from my friends and now he’s been shot, was the universe trying to tell me something? Lou said it was, but I was happy.  This had to be right, all that was missing was a church and a ring. He would get better, he had come this far, he had too.

My stomach felt fuzzy as he opened his eyes.  I realised this man wasn’t an idiot, he was honourable.  He had done what he had to do, many wouldn’t have risked their life for a supermarket.  He saw me and his face lit up.

“Hi you”.

“Hey Luke”.

“Julie, this shouldn’t have happened.”

“No, a cup of tea won’t heal you, but time will.”

“Imagine if tea really did solve everything.”

“You wouldn’t have a fantastic scar across your chest”.

“Tea is a good medicine for a lot of things but unfortunately it can’t eject a bullet from my chest.”

“No, but it’s great when you need a warm pick me up.”

Thomas

He knew this was it, shooting Luke had been a step too far.  As the doorbell rang his heart sank, how could he get out of this? Attaching a silencer to his gun, he had only one option.

“You ready mate.”

“I need to show you something Ken.”

“Right, but we have to go.”

“Okay, after this.”

Leading him into the garden, he was shaking, this had to be done.  Opening the shed Thomas motioned him in, completely unexpecting.  Pointing to a cobweb ahead of him, he pulled out his gun.  Sticking it into the back of his head, he pulled the trigger, bang.

No store was getting robbed tonight!  He now just had to dispose of Kenny and then this will be over.

Written for Blog battle – Tea

For more see, A life in a sad wretched mess