Chapter 1 Flagged Down
Roland knew instinctively that he had done something that he shouldn’t as he clung to the flagpole that was protruding from the side of the building. There was no flag, but that didn’t matter to Roland. He was hanging on for dear life after being thrown out of his flat window. He had been entertaining friends when he and his guests were interrupted. There were five of them, they just barged the door down and slung all of his guests out in the lobby and then chucked Roland out of the window. Lucky for him the window was open and he thought at the time that they hadn’t checked to see whether it was or not.
Roland had often seen cartoons on television where a cat and mouse tried to outdo each other and in one episode he remembered that the cat had landed on a flagpole, and he was trying to think what the cat did to get out of its predicament, but then he reminded himself that the cartoons were not real life situations which could be brushed aside with a rubber.
So! He had taken this lady out to dinner and dance at an exclusive venue in Soho club land – but how was he supposed to know that the lady in question belonged to the boss of, the dreaded Mafia? She had kissed Roland and told him that she had had a wonderful time and that he had behaved like a true gentleman, and she wished she could have more of this freedom in her life. Roland wondered at the time, what she meant by this statement. Now he knew what she meant as he clung with renewed energy thinking of that long, lingering kiss he had last night.
He invited a group of friends round one evening and informed them that he had fallen in love with someone he had met by chance a month ago and told them the whole story. It was a flashback as he searched his mind on where to begin.
* * *
‘I was out doing my weekly shop for groceries, and you know how I hate shopping when I saw this beautiful girl pushing her trolley round the store in front of me and all of a sudden a man passed me knocking my shoulder and pushed the girl into a pile of tins of baked beans that were on display for promotional sale and on the placard it read: ‘Buy Two Tins of Baked Beans and get Two Free Tins of any other Product.’ She had fallen to the ground spark out because the top row of cans of stew had somehow hit her on the head. I naturally rushed to her aid and at the same time pushed the man who was standing and looking down at her, who collided with another pile of tins with a similar placard and this time some tins had nudged a fixed shelf full of larger tins. Roland took his jacket off and rolled it up into a ball and gently eased it under her head, and while attending to her he managed to turn where the man was laying and very quickly got his gun from the holster.’
A large tin of Baked Beans was rolling around and then it fell off the shelf and hit the man on the nose and blood spurted everywhere. Two shop assistants ran to the man who was now covered in blood and two others came to the lady. Roland retrieved his jacket as two medics came and placed Joanna on the stretcher and carried her to the waiting ambulance. The jacket was warm where she had laid her head, and the warmth from her sleeping body had given out a waft of perfume that beckoned flirtation. The man pushed away his helpers and half staggered out of the store holding his bloodied nose.
* * *
The memory of her perfume almost made Roland forget where he was. The wind had awakened and a strong breeze was beginning to play havoc with the flagpole and jolted him back to reality. He decided instead of hanging down like a sacrifice for a Pygmy Head Hunters meal, he was going to try and sit astride the pole, which he eventually did after much grunting and swearing. He looked down and his stomach turned over when realized that he was at a guess two floors up from the ground. It was a real struggle trying to keep upright. He needed to concentrate on balancing his body so he wouldn’t end upside down again, because his arms had begun to come numb and weak just hanging there for half an hour. The wind was getting stronger and stronger and it was then that Roland decided to inch backwards to the base of the pole. He managed to get to the base even though it had taken him an hour to do so and it was pleasant to lean back against a brick wall.
He reckoned it was a stupid place for a flagpole in the first place, but now that it had saved his life. He was glad it was there and yet where it was situated was going to be a trial to get to the window. He would have to stand on the flagpole itself and climb up to the window and being a modern block of flats it was not going to be easy as the windows were built higher than the usual design. Roland had judged the project as impossible for him in his present state of weakness, and he would have to build up his strength to tackle this problem.
Looking up, he estimated that he had fallen one floor level and he saw that his curtains were still flapping about and that meant an open window and should it rain, and should it rain the flat will get wet and so will I.
It was eleven o’clock as he looked at the smashed dial of his watch that must have hit something solid as he was falling; his flailing arms and legs were desperately trying to find somewhere to grab hold of before hitting the ground, and there it was that ridiculous flagpole he had often complained about to the owners of the flat. Everything else had been hung on that pole and once a row of different coloured see-through knickers, but never a flag! Roland’s mind wandered off and it dawned on him that he could have been that person who was supposed to have been the girl’s bodyguard, he wasn’t a twin look alike, but certain features at a glance or in the shadows, he could have been mistaken for him and probably that is why he had ended up on the flag pole.
