Page 5 of Kicks
BILLY
Billy Webster ran down the pathway as though his life depended on it.
“Come on, old man,” his sister, Crystal, called over her shoulder.
She was running backwards in the distance. They had a special elm tree that they were aiming for. Crystal was in reach.
Bugger.
He sprinted but too late. Crystal slapped her hand against the bark just as he got close.
“Well done,” he said, bending over.
Crystal pulled her rucksack off. As usual, the ever-present football was inside.
“Should I do some keepy-uppies while you catch your breath?”
He would have loved to argue with her. The fact was, he couldn’t speak at that moment. Instead, he nodded and sat on the ground. The elm tree provided support while he let his body recover.
Crystal was hardly bothered by the run.
Oh, to be fifteen again.
At twenty-nine, Billy was hardly ready for the old folks’ home. Even so, constantly trying to play catch-up to his sister demonstrated his advancing years.
He rested his head against the tree and closed his eyes.
“Still feeling guilty?” Crystal asked.
Billy opened his eyes to find her watching him with a worried expression on her face.
“Yeah,” he replied. “Letting go of Jack was shit.”
He rubbed the bridge of his nose. A tension headache was threatening to take control.
“What did he say?”
“He bloody cried.”
She sat next to him and rested her hand on his knee. “That’s rough.”
“I know,” Billy replied. “All he could say was he’d given the shop fifteen years of his life.”
Crystal was rolling the ball between her feet.
“That’s a bit crap,” she said. “He did get paid for it.”
Billy laughed. “You are cold as ice, little sister.”
She kicked the ball back toward her and grabbed it.
“It’s not like he couldn’t see it coming,” she said.
That was true. Jack had been worried ever since Billy took over the family business four years ago. He had good reason to be. In four years, Billy had had to close two shops when their leases ran out.
Luckily, they owned the building of the final souvenir shop. No matter how much he lost, no one could take that property from them.
“Even so,” Billy replied. “I like Jack. I just can’t afford to pay him.”
