The Lost Boy and The Gardener's Daughter Read Online Free

day ae the summer holidays and Skull should’ve been at hame, getting ready fur gaun back tae school the next day.   Skull’s da, who wis saft in the heid, due tae hivving been gied a severe hiding by a bunch ae basturts called the Murphy brothers years earlier, always locked the door at nine o’clock every night.  Unless Skull and his sister Betty wur in by nine, they goat shut oot, as his ma wis too scared ae his da tae get up and let them in.  Paul and his pals, Tony Gucci, Joe McManus and Johnboy Taylor, hid always assumed that it hid been the local polis who’d burned doon the dookit, o’er some dispute they’d hid wae Pat Molloy, The Big Man and his henchmen, the Murphy brothers.  When the boys hid found oot that wan ae the Murphy brothers, Mick, alang wae Horsey John and a wee midget called Tiny, who ran the local stables fur The Big Man, hid actually started the fire, they’d decided tae make a comeback and sort the basturts oot.  It hid taken them o’er three years tae discover that it wis they pricks that hid been responsible.  Though difficult tae believe, it hid only come tae light when Johnboy Taylor hid hid a dream or some sort ae a vision, where he’d spoken wae Skull doon in the cells ae the Central Polis Court.  Johnboy claimed that as he wis lying there efter being sentenced tae approved school, Skull, though hivving been deid fur three years, hid appeared and telt him who hid set the dookit oan fire wae him and poor auld Elvis in it.  Johnboy hid sworn that Skull hidnae appeared like Casper, The Friendly Ghost, floating aboot and leaving a white trail behind him, bit as Skull, staunin there as large as life, talking tae Johnboy, in the flesh.  The freaky thing aboot it hid been that Johnboy hid aged three years while Skull hid still looked only ten years auld.  There hid been some reaction fae the rest ae the boys when Johnboy hid turned up at Thistle Park Approved School in Paisley wae that tale.  The only way the boys hid been able tae tell if whit Johnboy hid said wis a heap ae shite or no, hid been tae break oot, go oan the run and find oot fur themsels.  A few things hid changed since Skull hid goat frizzled.  Horsey John wis oot ae the game because he’d died in an accident oan Parly Road when him and Skull’s favourite cart horse, Jessie, hid goat killed by an artic lorry jack-knifing beside the traffic lights oan St James Road and Dobbie’s Loan.  Oan the basis ae whit Skull hid supposedly telt Johnboy, this meant they hid tae try and get a haud ae Tiny, Horsey John’s side-kick, oan his ain, withoot The Big Man or any ae the Murphy brothers finding oot.  Luck hid been oan their side and within a week or so, they’d caught up wae Tiny, who’d goat trapped in a big water tower that he’d been stripping lead oot ae, beside the railway line, o’er in Pinkston, beside the briquette plant.  The stupid wee basturt hid climbed doon intae the tank, dangling oan the end ae a rope tae reach the lead lining near the bottom.  His rope hid accidently goat cut through by a sharp jagged edge ae lead that hid been sticking oot.  He’d never stood a chance wance that rope hid been sliced through.  Paul thought aboot the day they’d come across Tiny in the invisible water tank tower, which hid been used tae supply the steam trains wae water as they passed through the railway sidings, heiding towards Queen Street station during the war.  Paul wisnae sure how deep the tank itsel wis, bit when they’d come across Tiny, floating like a cork, bobbing oan the surface, he’d been so relieved tae see them…at first.  Paul, and his pals, who everywan called The Mankys, hid managed tae get the information they needed oot ae Tiny oan the pretence that if he telt them the truth, they’d help him oot ae his watery grave.  Paul shook his heid, thinking back tae the shock they’d aw felt when Tiny blurted oot that it wis himsel and Horsey John that hid doused the cabin wae petrol and