Indestructible

 

Indestructible             

The price had been his mistake. Nobody sells the Boss Audio BV9351B Double DIN car stereo for just €100. He had done the usual checks: no short hair, no clean shaven, no leather shoes, no six foot or taller, cash only, no time wasters. But this guy could have been his brother, couldn’t he? He was that rough looking, like someone homeless. He had the ganga smell on his vintage Thin Lizzy  t shirt and his converse were scuffed and worn. Jaden even wondered if he was good for the cash or was about to pull a stanley knife on him.

Then the bracelets slapped down on his wrists as he was handing over the stereo, while he was standing right there handing it over and Jaden spotted the white earbuds, sending and receiving, recording and storing evidence. There it was. Game over. The mock buyer stood up straight, no longer slouched and pathetic looking.His voice grew stronger as his eyes took on an evil gloating gleam. “You're’ caught Jaden!” Christ, the guy even knew his name.

Two days earlier he had stormed out slamming the door. Moira (he refused to ever call her Mam again after she moved Tomo in with them) was hanging out of him crying and begging him to stay but Tomo just stood there leering at him, with the blurred tattoos on his muscular forearms flexing and unclenching. He didn’t have to say anything because the muscle display said it all. Tomo was bigger, stronger, older and could beat the sh*t out of him any time he wanted. The die was cast and Moira had made her bed. Let her lie in it so and regret at her leisure.

The cash he had scrounged singing on South William Street was gone. The cardboard shoebox slowly melted in the sleeting rain. He felt the flat head screwdriver in his pocket digging into his leg. It was as good as a knife, better even for getting into premises to rob them at night or to sleep in them out of the weather. He could even cut up food with it. He didn’t think it qualified as a concealed weapon. He only took it out when no one was looking or when someone dodgy looked at him funny. “The fuck you looking at..ya bollix.” Flash the screwdriver and it was Oxo.

He wanted to, needed to, had to... GET OFF THE STREETS. That meant money. He wouldn’t wait for a fairy godfather to make him an offer he couldn’t refuse. There was a small park behind the Corpo offices near the Four Courts. Lads would go drinking there after office hours. The lovely smell of Burdocks’ fish and chips would destroy you while your stomach rumbled and you even chewed the grass the dogs had probably pissed on.

There was a multistorey tucked away below Burdocks. Hundreds of cars with some dopey security lad from the indian subcontinent, Lahore or Dum Dum. Empty cars just sat there all day waiting. A screwdriver might open the boot and once in the boot, sure the backseat was no obstacle. There could be cash lying around. He thought of Tomo’s HiAce van. There would be valuable stuff like a phone or a camera. Maybe even a laptop or a Tablet...yeah or tablets like. People kept tablets in their cars for headaches and stuff. Maybe even a dealer might keep a stash in a glove compartment or under a seat.

The security guy finally got off his backside to go to the loo and then he was in like Flynn. He found a red Honda Civic with a spoiler on the second storey. When the boot swung open he cursed. It was a bird’s car with handbags and ..get this.. shoes. WTF was he going to do with slingbacks and a Gucci knockoff? He crawled through into the body of the car. It was clean and tidy with a lemony smell from a dangling yellow cardboard tree air freshener. He could see tissues, lipstick, hand sanitiser but no devices, no phone or camera or purse or drugs. Was he in Mother Teresa’s car or what? Then he saw it, the Boss Audio BV9351B Double DIN car stereo..6.2 inches of Liquid Crystal Display. It had touchscreen , Bluetooth, CD,DVD and USB input. Mother Teresa had come through for him with her bitchin’ sound system. He knew from a conversation between Tomo and a buddy on the phone this was worth more than a hundred and fifty smackers. It was reliable. Indestructible.

Soon he was barrelling down the emergency stairs and kicking his way out of the emergency exit. His Dublin hoodie bulged and some wires may have been hanging but he was well covered up from the security cameras. Then it was up the road to the lane behind the Focus Ireland Headquarters, past the couple melting a bubbling teaspoon and into the park below Adam and Eve’s. 

How to fence it? There was only one way. Online. Put an ad in Buy and Sell. He could do that on his Samsung easy! Time and place? ASAP. Where though? Somewhere in the open with lots of people but where someone would think twice about  ripping him off. He knew the place and chuckled to himself. The fancy Museum and Library in the grounds of Dublin Castle. Right under the guard’s noses. Yeah, that was it, in front of the Chester Beatty. Even old Chester would have gotten a laugh out of that one, millionaire that he had been, with his old Bibles and pictures from China. Breaking the law beside the puzzle palace, GHQ.

Moira looked through the pane of glass. The rain was streaking the window as tears were running down her face. The door opened and Tomo glared out at him. “What was it this time?”  “Stealing car radios, Tom. You’d want to sort him out.” (It was only one bloody radio!) 

“Could you not arrest him yourself Seamus and save us all the bother. We’re sick of the shitehawk.”The grungy guard shoved him across the threshold before answering, “No Tom, sure he’s only thirteen.”