All are Punished

When the time came, Victoria had twins successfully. She was, however, reluctant to give up either one of them, "They're so beautiful," she exclaimed. But Mary produced the agreement they had made and Victoria gave way with the words, "Go on then, choose one, but do not tell me which." So Mary chose one, the one that she thought looked the most like her husband, thus attempting to deceive him and make him think the baby was his. Mary pretended to all her friends that she has been pregnant since Ian left; when he got back he wasn't hard to convince either. So one of Victoria's babies became Mary's baby and she named him Edward. Victoria named the remaining baby Mickey.

Everyday Victoria cleaned Mary and Ian's home and everyday she would fuss over Edward as though he were her own, which of course he was. This troubled Mary very much and she became unsettled. She tried to stop Victoria fussing over "her" little boy and gave her extra work to do around the house. When this failed she tried to tell Victoria to go, to leave the house and never come back. In the end she told Victoria that she had to go and gave her fifty pounds to try and persuade her. But this still was futile and in vain. Victoria refused to go and Mary insisted, saying she would tell someone about the twins. This made Mary stop in her tracks, "No! You can't!" She said, "We made a pact." So Victoria lamented and went home saddened.

Victoria and her children's situation became worse and worse because they became poorer and poorer because of Victoria's lack of employment. Edward and Mickey grew up and went to separate schools. They eventually met up when they were both out playing at the age of eight. They became best friends and Mickey taught Edward all the "naughty words." They even became blood brothers using Mickey's brother Sammy's penknife. One day, Victoria came outside to call Mickey for his tea and saw them together. She instantly recognised Edward and asked him what he was doing down "this end of the street" and "What would your mother say?" She told him to run along home and that Mickey would be out tomorrow. When Edward got home his mother had been very worried. She scolded him and asked him where he'd been. Being an innocent eight year old, Edward couldn't lie and told his mother. She told him never to go there again and that he wasn't to be friends with Mickey. He swore at her using the new words he had learnt from Mickey and she was taken aback. She sent him to his room. Mary decided that if she was going to keep "her son" away from Mickey then she would have to convince Ian to move house to the countryside; Ian, however, was strongly opposed to the idea because his job was in that area. With many persuasive arguments from Mary, Ian eventually agreed and they moved to a nice countryside home. It was a beautiful area, the grass was much greener than in the city. There were trees and the whole area smelt as though it had never been polluted by the presence of humanity. All the sound they could hear was made by nature and nature alone. The nearest main road was ten miles away. The nearest house was at least one mile away. At this Mary's mood brightened. At first Edward was very unhappy at having to move to the country, but eventually he settled down and began to attend boarding school.

By the time Mickey was fourteen, their house was beginning to fall apart. A new commercial estate has been built in the countryside and Victoria and her family were re-housed; Victoria was thrilled not only with her new home but more so with the chance of making a new life away from the slums of Liverpool. Their new house was beautiful. It was on a new council estate so it had never been lived in up until now. The smell of newness was wonderful. The children were amazed at the amount of space they had to frolic and play in. They settled in quickly.

Later that year Mickey met up with Edward again. They didn't recognise each other first, but when they did they couldn't contain their joy. They embraced warmly. They decided to go to the cinema together to celebrate. After going to see "Young Swedish nymphs" they met up with some girls outside. They wouldn't admit to having seen "Young Swedish nymphs" but the girls would as they had seen it too. They chatted for a while before one of the girls got bored and went home. The other girl, Linda stayed because she fancied Mickey.

The three of them became very good friends and grew up together but by the time they were seventeen Mickey still hadn't plucked up the courage to ask Linda out, so Edward encouraged him. Edward was to be going off to Cambridge to go to University the next morning on the train. Mickey eventually gave way to Edward's intelligent persuasion and asked Linda out. This enthralled Edward and he left them in a happy mood with the words, "I'll see you in four months."

Mickey and Linda were still only seventeen but they were foolish and in love. Linda became pregnant and Mickey went to his mother for help. She told him to marry her if he loved her. So he married her the next week and she managed to get them a council house of their own. Edward was delighted when he heard the news.

Sometime later Sammy, Mickey's elder brother came and asked him for help in a bank robbery. Mickey was out of work but still only agreed after hours of persuasive talking and the promise of £50 for ten minutes work. But the bank robbery failed and the teller behind the counter didn't cooperate despite the gun being held at his head. He pressed the alarm and so Sammy shot and killed him. The police came and arrested both Sammy and Mickey. Sammy was imprisoned for life for murder one. Mickey managed to get away with only five years inside, although this was still too much for him. He became depressed and withdrawn. When Linda visited him, he hardly talked to her at all and easily became upset. He got out of prison three years later, two years early for good behaviour. But this didn't help his depression.

While he had been in prison Linda had been having an affair with Edward. When he got out Edwards mother found him at their home and told him of Linda and Edward's affair. This was too much; Mickey found a gun and went in search of Edward. He eventually found him with Linda, but they were just talking. When accused of the affair, both Edward and Linda burst into tears and said they were sorry. But there was no stopping the crazed Mickey and he threatened to shoot Edward. The police arrived by this time, but this only agitated Mickey more and he raised the pistol. Then after a warning from the police of "trained marksman," he lowered the gun. Mickey's mother then arrived and was so astounded by the whole thing that she told them outright that they were brothers and had been separated at birth. This was the wrong thing to do. Whether by fate or just sheer madness Mickey got all worked up again, so much so that he shot Edward. Immediately afterwards the police marksman shot Mickey. They were both dead. Everyone was taken aback as they took in the bereavement. Mickey's mother cried, "say it's just pretend, say it's not the end!" But, unfortunately, it was.

Andrew Dawson 4U 14/5/01