Chapters

1. Banstead Hall

2.John E Currey

3. Medical Inspection

4. Home Leave

5. Sunday

6. East Lane

7. Dirty Old Man

8. Fighting

9. Scarpering

10. Wormwood Scrubs

Borstal Boy

By Michael J Freeman

Banstead Hall

Chapter 1        

 When I was finally arrested the magistrate heard about my absconding from St Benedict’s and going to France where I told him that I had worked in a bar. The court looked at me smiling seemingly impressed by my adventures and not knowing that I had been charged with robbery and spent time in La Prison de La Santé in Paris they sent me to a short term approved school Banstead House in Surrey

 Banstead House was run by a kind old man and his wife Mr and Mrs Gould and the first night there they played a game called Twenty Questions. I had often watched this game on television and would watch it at home with my parents and sisters to see who could guess the answer before the players on the screen; I was quite good at it and often got one right.

  Mr Gould sat smoking his pipe and I as I easily got the first boy’s question in three he asked me to choose and I stood in front of all the other boys.

  “Is it animal, vegetable or mineral?”

 “Vegetables," I replied.

 “Can you eat it?” another boy asked.

 “No you can’t eat it” I replied smiling looking at all the other boys’ who looked back at me with puzzled faces. Some of the boys were physically mature with muscular bodies unlike me who was skinny at nine stone.

 “Can you drink it then?” another boy asked.

 “No you can’t drink it” I replied looking at the stupid expressions of bewilderment on the player’s faces.

 When they had all their twenty questions Mr Gould looked at me and smiled. “They haven’t got it, are you going to tell them what is it Muldoon?”

  “No, I am going to give them another twenty. It's a vegetable, you can’t eat it, you can’t drink it” I said knowing that they would never get it.

 They had another twenty questions and they still didn’t get it and I stood in front of them relishing the experience and my superior intelligence thinking that most of them were morons.

  “All right Muldoon I think that you had better tell them what it is” Mr Gould the headmaster said puffing on his pipe.

 “A cigarette” I answered.

 There was pandemonium and angry faces were shouting at me. “That’s not fair, a cigarette isn't a vegetable...He’s cheating...”

  “Yes it is, tobacco is a plant, rice paper is made from a vegetable cereal and the gum the adhesive is vegetable too,” I explained.

  “He’s cheating Sir, tell him he’s a cheat Sir” an angry looking boy with big muscles complained.

  “No Muldoon is not a cheat and he is perfectly correct a cigarette is a vegetable” Mr Gould said.

  Later an angry looking Greek looking boy accused me of being a know-all. “I’ll biff you next time," he said.

John E Currey

Chapter 2

 I didn’t have many friends after that as the Greek boy Savva who came from Cyprus was the school daddy and he threatened that he would hit anyone who spoke to me. I was surprised when this skinny boy came up to me at playtime and spoke to me. “Hello my name’s Johnny, what's yours? He asked.

   “Mick” I replied looking at the skinny boy who had a freckled face and a mop of curly black hair.

  “What you in for?” he asked.

  “Possession of a firearm” I replied. “What you in for?” I countered.

  “Nicking motors, I love driving see” John explained.

  “Here ain’t you afraid of the daddy?” I asked.

  “If he touches me we will do him together. He’s a right flash cunt his old man, one of them Cypriot cunts. He’s fucking bully, I hate bullies” he said then he pulled out a stone. See this if he comes near me I’ll smash him in the face with this. Bullies you got to stop ‘em hurt ‘em bad then they don’t come near you no more” he explained grinning.  

  “Okay I’ll remember that John” I said.

  “Here it’s nude inspection tomorrow night after tea,” John said, giggling.

  “What’s that then?”I asked.

  “You ain’t heard about it then?”

  “Mrs Gould plays with your dick” John replied, breaking out into giggles.

  “Don’t be stupid John do you honestly think I believe that?

  “Okay you will find out tomorrow John” replied giggling like a maniac.  

  “Muldoon for a haircut” one of the boys shouted.

  “Who me?” I asked.

  “Yeah you Muldoon, I been told to tell you, the barber is in the front room.

  “I hate fucking haircuts, see you later Johnny” I said walking off reluctantly to the front room where a barber from outside was cutting a boy’s hair. I noticed that he didn’t use the scissors at all, just an electric pair of clippers and a comb and he was soon finished with the boy in the chair.

  “Next one” he said looking at me.

 I sat down while he shook out a towel and placed it around my neck and I could feel the hairs that were still on it irritating my neck. Then I felt the clippers go up the back of my neck then the sides and watched as all my lovely long hair that I hadn’t had cut for ages fall on the ground where it lay in a thick pile. Then the barber brushed the back of my neck and I got up and went to the shower room, took a shower and got dressed but I still felt itchy because of the little hairs in my shirt collar so I took it off and brushed them out with a nail brush. I looked in the mirror at the haircut that I had just been given. He had given me a short back and sides but left the long hair on top and I felt really stupid.  

Medical Inspection

Chapter 3

 I lined up outside the medical room with a couple of other boys who were giggling and each time Mr Gould called “Come in" they went into the room for about five or ten minutes then came out with big smiles on their faces. I wondered what was going on in there and if there was any truth in what Currey had told me yesterday and decided that he was just kidding then another boy came out grinning and my name was called and I entered the medical room.

  “Okay Muldoon take all your clothes off, put them over the chair and stand on the towel” Mr Gould said.

 I blushed and started to undress but when I got down to my underpants I stopped.

  “Come on take off your pants boy” Mrs Gould ordered.

 I took off my underpants and put them over the chair and covered my genitals with my hands then Mrs Gould picked up my underpants and looked inside.

  “You must wipe your bottom properly until it’s clean,” she said.

 I felt the blood rush to my face and I went a beetroot red. I did wipe myself but sometimes my pants rode up in between my buttocks and I got what the other boys called “skid marks” on my underpants. I resolved to wash myself in future after wiping myself like the French people did with their bidets but then there were no bidets in England.

  “Hold out your hands and show me your nails. Yes, very good. Where did you learn to manicure them like that?” Mrs Gould asked.

  “I was a ladies hairdressing apprentice when I left school” I explained.

 Mrs Gould turned to look at her husband who puffed on his pipe and smiled. “Open your mouth wide” Mrs Gould ordered and when I did she shone a torch inside. “Mm yes remarkably clean teeth” she observed.

  I smiled at this praise but still felt exposed standing in front of this matronly woman in the nude.

  “Now pull back your foreskin” she ordered.

 I blushed a bright red and pulled my foreskin back...

  “Yes some smegma there, you must learn to wash behind your foreskin” Mrs Gould advised me. “Right, you can get dressed now," she said.

 I pulled on my clothes quickly, my face burning with embarrassment and hurried out of the room.

Home Leave

Chapter 4    

  “If you were allowed to go on weekend home leave could I trust you to return?” Mr Gould asked.

  “Yes Mr Gould I can be trusted” I replied. I liked Mr Gould because he was like a friendly uncle.

  “I trust you not to let me down Muldoon and you will be allowed home this weekend. I have had a chat with your parents on the telephone and I will tell them that you will be home this weekend. You will leave early Saturday morning and return Monday” Mr Gould said.

  “Who is taking me?” I asked.

  “No-one and I am sure that if you can travel to Paris on your own that you will find your way to London” Mr Gould said smiling in an avuncular way.

 That week a tailor arrived and measured me and Friday evening I was given a green Harris Tweed jacket, grey flannel trousers, a straw hat with a band around it, a shirt with a stiff collar, a school tie, thick grey woollen socks and a brown pair of leather brogues. After breakfast on Saturday morning I was given a small map of bus routes into Sutton, a sum of money and told to go home. I felt stupid dressed in these strange clothes and not my Teddy Boy suit with the velvet collar and my feet shod in thick soled black suede brothel creepers that I used to bounce along in and made my way self consciously to the bus stop where I caught a bus to Sutton Station in Surrey and then a train to London. I wanted to buy Elvis Presley’s new record Heartbreak Hotel that I had heard on the radio and I found a record shop and bought it and another one that I hadn’t heard Houndog then I took the Tube to Clapham Common where I caught a 137 bus to Thornbury Road. I got off the bus feeling stupid in these posh boy clothes hoping none of the neighbours would see me as I walked down Thornbury Road and took the first right into Kingswood Road where I had been brought up since the Second World War and knocked on the door of number four. I heard my mother coming down the stairs and shouted through the letterbox. “It’s me Mum Michael I’m home.”

 My mother opened the door and gave me a big hug and kissed me on the cheek. “It’s Michael he’s home" she shouted then my sisters Maureen and Kath appeared and rushed up and kissed me.

  “Where’s Dad?” I asked.

  “Dad oh he went up the Telegraph for a drink” my mother said and I remembered that my father always went for a drink before dinner at the weekends and sometimes he would come home merry laughing, joking and singing Irish songs even though he had never been to the land of his father.

  “Look Mum, I feel stupid in these clothes. I'm going to my room to get some of my old clobber on” I said.

 “Oh Michael wait until your father has seen you, you look lovely just like a proper toff” my mother said.

  “Well I feel like a real idiot” I said and my two sisters tittered.        

   “I’ll make you a nice cup of tea Michael,” my mother replied.

 I sat at the kitchen table while my mother poured out four cups of tea.

  “Mm lovely cup of tea Mum” I commented.

  “Yes made with Tetley’s, well what do they give you in there then?”

  “I dunno but it’s made in a big urn with a tap on it and tastes a bit stewed” I replied.

  “Urrgh sounds horrible how can you drink it?” my sister Maureen asked making a face.

  “Well you have to if you’re thirsty and there’s nothing else, don’t you” I replied.

  “I would just drink lemonade then,” my sister Kathleen said.

  “You are so stupid Kath, how did you ever get to a grammar school when I had to go to a secondary modern?” I asked.

  “Mum, he called me stupid” Kathleen complained to my mother.

  “Sticks and stones may hurt my bones but words can never hurt me” my mother chanted. “Come on Michael is only here for the weekend, stop arguing. By the way, what's it like in there?”

  “Most of them are morons and bully boys but there’s one boy John that’s my mate. Here the first day there we played twenty questions and I got them with the cigarette one remember and none of the could guess it so I gave then another twenty and they still couldn’t guess it so when told them the answer they started shouting and things saying it wasn’t vegetable then Mr Gould, he’s the headmaster a kind old boy, told them it was right and afterwards this bully boy threatened me and told the other boys not to talk to me. He’s the daddy and beats you up if you don’t do what he says. That’s when I met Johnny, he’s not afraid of the daddy and he carries a big stone around in his pocket to smash bullies in the face with, like I’m gonna do when I get back” I boasted.

  “No you won’t Michael, why don’t you tell the headmaster?” my mother asked.

  “Because that would be a snitch and no-one likes a snitch. I don’t tell tales” I replied.

  “Why do they call him the bully daddy?” Maureen asked.

  “Because he tells everyone what to do I suppose” replied.

 I heard the front door opening “Here’s your father” my mother said opening the oven door and spooning some fat over the meat and roast potatoes.

 My father walked in the room and kissed me on the cheek and I smelt the beer on his breath. “The return of the prodigal son, it’s good to see you sitting at the table again Michael” he said.

  “Hello Dad, nice to be home again” I replied.

  “My, doesn’t he look smart Glad, like a proper little toff” my father said.

  “Yes that’s exactly what I was saying Bill” my mother said.

  “Yes, much smarter than those loutish Teddy boy clothes” my father agreed.

  “Yes, isn't it just” my mother agreed, opening the oven. “Yes it's ready now Bill will you get it out and do the carving” my mother asked giving my father a pair of oven gloves.  

 My father carved up the roast beef and put some slices on everyone’s plate while my mother made the gravy in the roasting tin then poured it over the meat then dished out the roasted potatoes and boiled cabbage.

 I looked at the heaped plate in front of me piled up with lots of potatoes and slices of meat with little pipes in it and didn’t feel hungry.

 My father sat down at the head of the table while my mother sat at the other end then he formed his hands into a praying position and closed his eyes as did my mother and two sisters. “For what we are about to receive may the Lord make us truly thankful Amen” he intoned then everyone picked up their knives and forks and started to eat their dinner.

 I started to cut all the little pipes and gristle off my meat before dipping it in mustard and eating it. Then I ate a few roast potatoes but none of the boiled cabbage. “Can I leave the table please?” I asked.

  “But you haven’t finished your dinner Michael,” my mother observed looked at my half eaten dinner.

  “My stomach has shrunk Mum and I can’t eat anymore” I complained.

  “I bet that you could eat some apple crumble and custard?”my mother said with a smile.

  “Yes please Mum I love apple crumble” I replied.

  “You shouldn’t give him his sweet until he has eaten his dinner Glad. My father always made us eat everything up, then we turned our plates over and had our pudding on the other side” my father said, giving me a look of disapproval.

  “Well he’s got to go back Monday Bill” my mother replied.

  “I can’t finish mine either Mum. Can I have my sweet too” Kathleen said.

  “See what you have done now no-one wants to eat their dinner” my father commented looking at me as if it was my fault.

 “I can’t help it if I’m not hungry, Dad,” I said.

 My father didn’t answer but just forked a huge piece of roast beef into his mouth and chomped on it, his cheeks bulging.

  “Anyway Moggie will eat all the leftovers” my mother said, scraping the remains of the meal into the cats bowl then she opened the oven and took out a big pyrex dish of apple crumble out and put loads on my plate before pouring a generous amount of custard over it.

  “Thanks Mum, I love your apple crumble,” I said, putting a huge spoonful into my mouth.    

  “Funny you can eat that and not your dinner my father” commented.

  “Yeah I don’t know why, it’s different I said. I scoffed the lot.

  “Do you want seconds Michael?” my mother asked.

  “Yes please Mum it’s delicious” I said.

  My father had finished his dinner and my mother heaped a generous portion of the apple crumble onto a big plate and poured custard over, then put more on mine and two bowls for my sisters after which she put the kettle on and made a cup of tea. We drank tea with every meal and I could feel my taste buds responding as I picked up my cup and drank some.

 “Can I leave the table please?” I asked.

  “Yes you may,” my father replied.

 I went downstairs and went into my small bedroom and took off all the posh clothes and flung them on the bed then putting a towel around my waist I went into the bathroom next door and opened the cabinet to find my old barber’s scissors still there because my Dad used them to trim his moustache then I cropped all the long hair that remained on the top of my head washed and dried it in the sink then went back into my bedroom. I pulled on my drainpipe trousers, black shirt with the white buttons then put on a white tie, a blue silk waistcoat, my Teddy Boy jacket with the velvet collar then my black suede brothel creepers. I looked at my reflection in the wardrobe mirror and thought that I looked great. I was going to see my girlfriend Betty who lived in Camberwell. Before going out I went into the bathroom and put some of my Dad’s Brylcreem on my hair and combed it back the cropped hair sticking up. I had seen some American actor in a film with this style and I thought that it looked alright. I would have preferred my old DA back.

  “Going out to see Betty over Camberwell” I shouted up the stairs not wanting my parents to see that I had changed my clothes.

  “Alright Michael but don’t stay out late, I want you home before ten” my father shouted.

  “Alright Dad” I shouted as I ran down the stairs. Outside the house I walked around to Kings Avenue and caught a bus to Clapham Common where I caught a 35 to Camberwell. Then I got off the bus in Camberwell Road and walked into the council flats where Betty lived then up the stairs to the third floor then along the landing to her door and rang the bell.   Her mother opened the door with a cigarette dangling from her lips, gave me a disapproving look and shouted “Betty it’s for you” then the door opened and Betty stood there.

   “Hello Betty,” I said.

  “Mickey, I haven't seen you for ages,” she said pushing the door closed behind her.

  “I couldn’t because I was locked up and I am at an approved school in Surrey and I get weekend leaves and came straight away” I explained looking at the swell of her big breasts pushing out under her white blouse and at the dress she wore with voluminous petticoats, her white ankle socks and flat slip on shoes that all the girls were wearing. I pulled her to me feeling pressing my body into hers. “I love you Betty” I said and kissed her, tasting the lipstick that she always wore. Then I tried to feel her breasts and she pushed my hand away.

  “Don’t, I told you after we are married” she said.

 I kissed her again and pressed my body into hers.

  “I’ve got to go in” she said come and see me again and we will go up the Locarno” she said.

  “Okay next Saturday about eight” I agreed.

  I walked back to the bus stop and got a bus to Brixton. There was this illegal club called Bishops I knew and I stood by the bus stop and a black guy with dreads came up and stood behind me. “Ganga” he whispered. “Yeah fiver deal” I whispered back.

  “Give me fiver”

  “No you give me ganga then I give you money” I replied.

  “Okay you wait here” he said then he disappeared down the stairs of the club and a couple of minutes later returned with a small plastic bag.

  “Good ganga from Jamaica, quick give me money.”

 I looked at the bag and saw the little seeds and gave him the fiver then walked back the way I came and bought a packet of Rizlas and a box of matches in the first shop I came to. Then I continued up Coldharbour Lane and sat down outside the library and made a joint, lit it and walked up Brixton Hill smoking it, the seeds popping and cracking as I inhaled. As I passed people, especially the blacks, they laughed and looked at this young boy smoking weed. As soon as the smoke hit my brain I felt full of energy and decided to walk home up Brixton Hill until I reached Jebb Avenue then down past the big gates of Brixton Prison and out through the little gate at the end and into Lyam Road, along Thornbury Road to Kingwood Road then to my house at number 4. I put my hand through the letter box and pulled the string and opened the door then walked upstairs where everyone was watching tele in the front room. I popped my head in the door “Hello everyone I’m back” I announced. “I’m going in my room now to play some records,” I said.

  “I’m glad you are back early Michael” my mother replied.

  “Did you see Betty?” my father asked.

  “Yes, I made a date to go dancing next week. Goodnight everyone” I replied wanting to get back in my bedroom to smoke some more weed and listen to music.

 “Goodnight” everyone said then turned back to watching TV.

I went to my bedroom stuck three papers together and rolled another joint put on Heartbreak Hotel on my record player and Elvis came on “Well since my baby left me I found a place to dwell its down the end of lonely street at Heartbreak Hotel” and as he sung I sang along with him and when the record was finished I put it on again then again and played it six times before I put the other Elvis record on that I had never heard before Hound Dog. “You ain’t nothing but a hound dog, nothing but a hound dog and you ain’t no friend of mine...”

 Suddenly there was a knocking on the door and my sister’s voice. “Dad said to tell you to turn it down, we can't hear the television” she said.

  “Tell him to fuck off” I shouted but I got up and turned down the volume and lay on the bed listening to Elvis but I liked it loud and it wasn’t the same. I felt horny and looked on top of the wardrobe and found the magazines that I had left there some nude books. The girls were not nude and their vaginas had been removed but I had painted in some pubic hair and a slit to represent what I thought a vagina with pubic hair would look like. I studied the pictures for a while then I turned out the light and masturbated until I dropped off to sleep.

Sunday

Chapter 5  

“Michael your breakfast is ready” my father’s voice woke me up and I realized that I was back home again in my old bedroom. I still felt sleepy and I would go back to bed again after breakfast and toss off again I thought. I went into the bathroom and splashed some water over my face and then went upstairs where my mother was cooking eggs, bacon and fried bread. “Cup of tea Michael?” my mother asked.

“Yes please Mum” I replied and mother poured some milk from a pint bottle into a cup then filled it up with tea. “Thanks Mum” I said, digging a teaspoon into the sugar bowl, putting in two spoonfuls of sugar and stirring it. The spoon making a funny noise as it hit the sides of the cup.

 My father was engrossed in reading the News of the World; I would get it when he went up the pub and tossed off over the sex stories and pin ups of women. He had got up early and gone round Woodley’s newsagents to buy it as he did every Sunday. My sisters were giggling and whispering to each other. “What’s the joke?” I asked.

  “Oh nothing by the way what was that music you were playing last night?” Kathleen asked.

 “Elvis Presley, he’s super,” I replied.

 My father lowered the paper “Well you wouldn’t believe it but he’s here in the paper today and they are complaining about him in America” my father said looking disapprovingly over his glasses.

 “Is there a picture of him, Dad? Oh Dad can I see it please, oh please Dad” I begged desperate to see the picture.

  “I will show you the picture but don’t read any of the words” he said turning the paper around to show a picture of a handsome looking guy all dressed in black with his hair swept back from his forehead and smiling broadly showing a row of pure white even teeth. I read the words “audience shocked by suggestive movements” before my father turned the paper round again. “Can you cut the picture out for me Dad after you have finished reading it?” I asked.

  “No, I will take to work for the other lads to read,” he said.

was never there. My father had forbidden us to look a I read some of the other papers he read down in the outside toilet where we wiped ourselves on old newspapers like the Daily Mirror but the News of the World was never there. My mother didn’t use newspaper and saved up the soft paper from the oranges that she bought in Brixton Market.

 My mother put our breakfast down on the table in front of us and my father put his elbows on the table and formed his hands in a praying position looking around the table to see that we were all doing the same then he began to say Grace. “For what we are about to receive may the Lord make us truly grateful Amen” and as they all chanted with their eyes closed I kept mine open and studied their faces wondering if they believed that God was really listening.  

  “We are all going down East Lane after breakfast Michael, are you coming?” my Dad asked.

  “Yes alright Dad” I replied.

East Lane

Chapter 6  

 “We will walk down to Clapham Park Road and get a bus,” my father said.

 Kathleen made a moaning noise but never said anything.

  “Do you the world of good a walk on a Sunday morning, come on it’s only a couple of hundred yards” my father said striding ahead no smog in the day time but they have just passed a clean air act in Parliament and I believe that we won’t be able to burn coal this winter my father said.

 “Well what are we going to do then Bill” my mother asked.

  “I’ll get one of the new gas fires from work or we can use coke” my father replied.

  “What’s coke like?” Kathleen asked.

  “It's smokeless fuel,” my father replied.

 Suddenly a bus roared past and we all stared at it and before we reached the bottom another passed us.

 When we reached Clapham Park Road we crossed to the other side and caught a 37 to East Lane. The bus was crowded and soon full up as people going to the market got on at every stop then the bus roared past all the bus stops until it reached East Street and everyone got off. East Lane was crowded with the road completely full of people who walked in the road. We passed a stall selling candy floss and my father stopped and bought three of the pink floss on sticks and gave one each to my sisters and I. As we walked past the stalls my mother stopped and bought fruit and vegetables and gave them to my father to carry.

  “Let’s stop at the whelk stall” my father said and we all stopped. “What do you want Glad?” my father asked my mother.

  “I’ll have a plate of cockles and the same for Maureen and Kath” my mother replied.

  “You having whelks or jellied eels Mickey?” my father asked.

  “Jellied eels please Dad” I replied.

  “Two jellied eels and three plates of cockles, '' my father said, picking up a bottle of vinegar with red peppercorns floating around inside and liberally dowsing all the seafood. “Who wants pepper? '' he asked, shaking the pepper pot over his whelks.

  “I’ll have some Bill,” my mother agreed. “Maureen, Kath?”

  “No thanks," my two sisters replied.

  We all stood there in the market street eating. I loved jellied eels and sucked the fish off the bone and careful not to swallow it.

 After eating the seafood we walked the length of the lane but I noticed my father getting further ahead.

  “Where’s Dad?” my mother asked a scowl on her usually serene face.

  “I can see him he’s up ahead,” I replied.

  “Go and get him back Michael” my mother ordered.

  “Okay Mum” I replied and pushed through the crowds with difficulty until I was behind him, then I noticed him brushing his hand against a young woman’s buttocks and saw her look round a disapproving look on her face and my father moving away an innocent look on his face. “Dirty bastard” I thought, catching up with him. “Dad Mum told me to tell you that you are getting too far ahead” I said.

  “Oh I didn’t realize,” he replied, standing still letting the crowds overtake him until my mother and sisters caught up.

  “I didn’t realize” he said to my mother but I knew by the expression on her face that she didn’t believe him.

  “Let’s make our way back now Glad and have a drink in the pub Lenny and Peter might be in there” my father suggested.

  “Okay Bill” my mother agreed and we all walked back to the pub where my parents went in for a drink while my sisters and I waited outside.

 My father came out with three big glasses of fizzy lemonade with ice floating around and gave us one each. “Here you are kids, won’t be long; look after your sisters Michael” he said going back inside.

Dirty Old Man

Chapter 7          

 When we got back home and had eaten our Sunday dinner my father turned to me. “Michael it’s a nice sunny day so why don’t you take your sisters out for a walk?” he said.

 “Okay Dad” I agreed.

 “Can we have some pocket money to get some sweets?” Kathleen asked.

 “Alright, cheeky here’s half-a-Crown” he said.

 “Come on let’s go” I said, getting up and going down to my bedroom to get my Bowie knife that I would use to protect my sisters if necessary.

  “Where we going then?” my sister Maureen who was fifteen asked.

 “Let’s go up to Streatham Common and buy some tea and cakes in the cafe” I said.

  “Oh yes goody” my younger sister Kathleen of eleven said.

  “Come on then let’s get a bus” I said and we all walked around the corner to Thorncliffe Road. When we nearly got to the end I sprinted up to the end of the road to Kings Avenue and looked to see if a bus was coming but it wasn’t. We waited about ten minutes until I saw the red colour of a bus as it turned into Kings Avenue.``There’s one coming I said.

  “Well I can’t see one,” Maureen said.

  “That’s why they call me Hawkeye in the Army Cadets and why I won my marksman’s badge” I boasted.

  “I see it now,” Kathleen said as the bus stopped outside the Territorial Army barracks about three hundred yards away.

  “Well anyone can see it now, can’t they” I remarked.

The bus came roaring up Kings Avenue and stopped at the bus stop and we all got on and rushed up to the front seat where we could see out of the window.

 “Hold tight now” the conductor said, pressing the bell. “Fares please” he said.

  “Three to Streatham Common” I replied and he gave us three tickets.

 The bus went up Kings Avenue right to the top then up Leigham Court Road where it climbed a steep hill, its engine labouring under the stain until it reached the top. I got up before the stop and stood on the open back holding onto the upright bar before it stopped at Streatham Common and we all got off and walked up to the top of the road and crossed over to the common. As we entered the common there was an old man hanging about.

  “Hey you two naughty girls I’ll give you five shillings to spank your bottoms” he called.

  “Seven and six, half-a-crown each just spanking and nothing else” I replied.

 “You’re not going to let him smack our bottoms Michael are you?” Maureen asked a look of disgust on her face.

  “Think of all the cream cakes we can get for seven and sixpence,” I reasoned.

  “Okay and not too hard and give me the money first” I said walking up to the man.

  “Seven and six, okay” he agreed, giving me three half Crowns.

  “Go on” I said to my sisters and they walked over to the old man who took them behind a bush and pulled down their knickers.

As he slapped their bums they gave little cries of pain but I could see that he wasn’t really doing it hard. My father had beaten Maureen and I with his army belt once for swearing until we were screaming for him to stop and that was really hard. Then the man went red in the face and the smacking stopped and he walked off quickly and disappeared in the woods. “Come on, let’s go down the cafe” I said and we made our way down the path to the little cafe that was situated in the woods. Inside I gave my sisters a half-Crown each and we filed past the glass cabinet pointing at the cakes inside. Two cream slices and a cream horn and a cup of tea please” I ordered and when we had all ordered we carried our purchases outside and sat down at one of the wooden tables to eat them. Soon all our faces were covered with cream and we all started laughing. “It was funny that dirty old man, wasn’t it and don’t say anything about it to Mum and Dad” I said.

  “No it wasn’t funny and he touched my fanny” Maureen said a look of disgust on her face.

 “Yes, mine too,” Kathleen said.

  “If I had known I would have charged him fifteen bob. Mm these cream cakes are delicious” I said laughing and the girls started to laugh too.

 After we had eaten lots of cream cakes, drank tea and Kath had an orange juice we walked down to the swings and enjoyed ourselves for a couple hours until it was time to go home then we walked back to the bus stop and started on our journey home. We sat at the back of the bus this time on the seats facing each other laughing and giggling until an old man with a long raincoat sat opposite and then when the conductor wasn’t looking he exposed himself leering at my two young sisters. We all got up and moved further up the bus where other passengers were sitting.

  “Urrgh did you see his thing, it was horrible, all hairy with big blue veins sticking out?” Maureen said.

  “Yes disgusting dirty old man” Kathleen replied.

  “Like a chicken with its neck rung” I said, making a joke of it and giggling.

  “It’s not funny, it's disgusting,” Maureen replied.

 I glanced back down the bus and the flasher leered at me and I knew that he was waiting until we got off to show my sister's his penis again and a plan entered my head. So when it was nearly our stop I stood up.  “Come on” I said to my sisters and we all got up and walked to the back of the bus and sure enough the dirty old man opened his long coat and showed his erect penis a leer on his face then quick as a flash I took out my Bowie know and cut his penis...

 He screamed as we jumped off the bus and ran down Thorncliffe Road into Kingswood Road and up to our house. “Don’t tell Dad” I said, putting my hand through the letter box and pulling the string that released the latch.

  “Did you kill him?” Kathleen asked.

  “No, just slashed his cock” I replied giggling.

  “I bet that must have hurt,” Maureen said.

  “Yeah and he can’t go to hospital and say someone tried to cut my dick off” I said exploding into a fit of giggles and we all started laughing.

 “I see that you have all had a good time” my mother said standing at the top of the stairs.

  “Yes we went hunting and I cut a chicken’s neck Mum” I said giggling and we all burst out laughing.

  “Don’t be silly Michael” my mother said. “Your father went out and bought some cockles, shrimps and whelks.

  “What no wrinkles?” I asked looking at my sisters and with this we all started laughing again.

  “Yes Dad got some wrinkles too” my mother replied and we all started laughing again until the tears ran down our faces while my mother stood there grinning.

  “Silly buggers,” she said.

 When my father came home we had tea and picked out the wrinkles with pins and ate cockles, shrimps and whelks. After tea the others watched television while I went to my bedroom, smoked some ganga and listened to Elvis Presley singing Heartbreak Hotel and Hound Dog and I played them over and over again while singing along in front of the mirror and I knew the words off by heart. Then I went to sleep the words going through my head. I was awoken in the morning  by my father who was off to work at the Gaslight and Coke Company. “Come on Mickey you got to be back before twelve, your mother has your breakfast ready.

  “Okay Dad,” I said reluctantly, getting up.

Fighting

Chapter 8

 I was peeling potatoes while talking to my mate Johnny Currey when Savva entered with a couple of other boys who were members of his little gang. “Here know all you shouldn’t have come back because I’m gonna close that big mouth of yours” he threatened. I hated fighting and was a bit of a coward really and that’s why my father sent me to boxing lessons at the Ivy Leaf Club in Brixton when I was fourteen. Savva swung a right hand at my jaw and I leaned back and retaliated with a straight left that connected with his neck.

  “Right you wanna fight eh, I’m gonna kill you now” Savva said, shrugging off my blow as if it didn’t hurt him.

 But I saw that it did and he twisted his head tensing his big muscular neck where the blow had landed and swung a right hook which I easily dodged and hit back with a straight left to the top of his head.

  “Go one Mick you’re winning” Johnny shouted.

  “I’ll fucking get you too you skinny cunt” Savva threatened and sparred up to me again but I noticed that he was careful to keep his guard up now whereas before he didn’t expect me to fight. Suddenly he charged like a wrestler and knocked me to the ground a move that would have disqualified him in the boxing ring but there was no referee here in the scullery and as I went to get up he hit me a hard blow on the mouth that drove my lower teeth through my face just under my lower lip. The blood squirted out all over the scullery floor and I put my hand over the wound to try to stem the flow.

  “See told you cunt” Savva said laughing and walking away quickly with his two mates.

  “Better go to the medical room. I’ll go and get Mr Gould” Johnny said.

 I held a handkerchief to my mouth that quickly turned red with blood and sat down outside the medical room.

 “Who did this?” Mr Gould asked taking the handkerchief away from my face and inspecting the wound.

  “I don’t know Mr Gould” I replied.

 Mr Gould took me into the medical room and put some iodine on a dressing and fixed it to my face with sticking plaster.

  Later I sat brooding in the playground and Johnny came up. “How are Micky?” he asked.

  “I’m alright but I have had enough of this place. I'm going to scarper; fancy coming with me?” I asked.

  “No Mickey because I’ll be out soon but I know a kid who will go with you Charlie Cattell” he replied.

  “Look that’s him over there” he said pointing to a boy who was sitting on his own over the other side of the yard. “I’ll go and ask him if he still wants to go” he said standing up and walking over to Cattell and talking to him.

 Cattell walked over and sat down next to me with Johnny on the other side. “I heard that you want to fuck off out of this shithouse” he said his long black hair falling down over his eyes so that he looked at me through it.

  “Yeah I’ve had enough of it” I replied.

  “When you going then?” Cattell asked.

  “Tonight” I replied, always impetuous and wanting to get away from Savva as quickly as possible.

  “You got a plan then?”

  “Yeah it's easy we will get up after everyone in the dorm is fast asleep, creep downstairs to the clothes room, do the lock, I’ll need a big screwdriver or a crowbar or something...” I said.

  “I’ll get you one, I’m on the works and I will put it in the sand bucket on the landing outside the clothes room door...” Johnny promised.          

Scarpering

Chapter 9  

 That night we all went to bed at eight. I stayed awake until everyone was asleep, got out of bed and went along to Cattell’s bed to find him asleep. “Charlie wake up, it’s time to go” I whispered.

  “I feel asleep,” he whispered, rubbing his eyes and getting out of bed.

  “Come on get dressed” I whispered, pulling on my shorts and shirt and socks and a pair of plimsolls.

 “No put your plimsolls on” I said in a low voice to Cattell who was just about to put his leather shoes on. I put my forefinger up to my lips and crept silently out of the dormitory with Cattell following down the stairs to the clothes room hoping that John had kept his word then putting my hand inside the sand bucket outside the room my hand closed around a crowbar. “It’s here” I whispered and worked the top into the door next to the lock and gently exerted pressure then it cracked open making a loud noise in that silent hall. I waited a moment my heart thumping in my chest but evidently no-one had heard it. I crept into the clothes room that was pitch dark but instead of turning on the lights I lit a match and soon found the clothes I had been arrested in a hound’s tooth jacket and black barathea trousers, a shirt and underneath a pair of my brothel creepers.        “Have you found your clobber yet Charlie” I whispered, pulling on my clothes in the dark and getting quickly dressed.

  “No I can’t find my gear” Charlie whispered.

  “Here you are then” I said, lighting another match so that he could see.

  “Found ’em” he whispered as the match burnt down and I lit another. Then I saw a flashlight illuminate the window from outside and I realised that the night watchman must have seen the match flames from outside. “Fucking hell” I uttered quickly pushing the door closed. Then I heard the night watchman coming up the stairs and his footsteps coming towards the clothes room. I put my foot against the door so that it couldn’t be opened.

  “Who is in there?” the night watchman asked, knocking on the door with his knuckles.

 We didn’t answer then I heard him walking up the stairs and silently pushed open the door then I saw the lights go on in the dormitory through the hall window as they shone through the glass skylight in the dormitory roof with that we ran down the stairs to the boot room where there was a back door and feverishly slid back the bolts as I heard the night watch man running down the stairs and as the I opened the doors we ran out into a field at the back of the school with the night watchman’s shouts echoing in our ears.

  “Come back you fools, come back you little bastards.

As we reached the main road I saw that it was still quite early and the buses were still running but I wanted to nick a car and I had brought some tin foil from a chocolate bar with me for the purpose. It wasn’t long before I saw a Morris Minor outside a house parked on the driveway and I opened the door, took off the handbrake. “Give us a push Charlie” I whispered and I steered the car out of the driveway onto the road. Then releasing the bonnet I pushed the silver foil over the fuses and pressed the solenoid and revved the engine using the carburettor. I was an expert at wiring up cars because me and my mates had nicked lots to go joyriding in, then I drove onto the Brighton Road and joined the stream of traffic going to London.

  “Where we going?” Charlie asked.

  “To London” I replied.

  “What we gonna do, where we gonna stay?” Charlie asked.

  “We will have to do a job to get money so that we can get a room or something” I replied when actually all I had thought about was getting out of Banstead House but I knew that we needed money.

  “How are we going to get a job? Where we gonna sleep tonight?” Cattell asked.

  “Don’t fucking worry about it we will find somewhere, a bombed house or something there’s loads round my way” I replied. I was getting tired of Cattell because he seemed a bit stupid and I wished I had gone on my own.

  “Well I’m going home to Walthamstow” he said.

    “Don’t go home stupid because the cops will be there,” I said.

  “No, I'll go round a mate of mine’s house,” he replied.

  “Can you drive?”

  “Yeah of course,” he replied.

  “That’s good I’m going to see a girlfriend of mine but you can have the motor after” I said. We were just coming into South London now on the Brighton Road and I turned off when I got to Brixton and headed for Camberwell where I drove into Betty’s flats. “She lives here, you can take the motor now” I said.

  “Alright Mick see you around” Cattell said driving off.

 I rang Betty’s doorbell and I heard her footsteps approaching and she opened the door.“Hello Betty” I said you coming out.

  “Hello Mickey, I wasn't expecting you,” Betty said.

  “You coming out then?” I asked.

  “Hold on a minute I’ll get my coat. Mum and Dad  have gone to bed” she said.

  I held her hand as we walked down to the ground floor where we would often kiss and cuddle. I pressed my body against her and kissed her lips but just at that moment a police car, its light flashing, drove into the courtyard. “Sorry Betty” I gasped and ran for my life towards a big metal fence because once I got over it I knew that the police would not be able to follow. I was just near the top when a copper grabbed Betty.

  “Come down Muldoon or we will arrest your girlfriend” he threatened.

 I couldn’t let them arrest Betty because I was in love with her. “Let her go” I said, climbing down and the police officer released her and she ran off crying.

  “Come on Muldoon” the policeman said and two of them bundled me towards the police car and pushed me into the back seat with Cattell who had obviously told them where I was.

  “I gave myself up,” he explained, looking sheepish.

  “Yeah and grassed me up you stupid cunt” I said.

 The coppers laughed and drove us to Camberwell Green police station where we were locked in separate cells.

 The next morning we drove to Camberwell Green Magistrates Court and charged with taking and driving away a motor vehicle.

 To my surprise Mr Gould was in the court and when the prosecuting solicitor asked that I be sent to Borstal he spoke against it. “I want Muldoon back, he’s an intelligent boy and was bullied that’s why he ran away. He went on home leave at the weekend and returned of his own accord and is doing well at Banstead Hall”

 As My Gould spoke I was overcome with emotion and I started to cry.

 The woman prosecutor got up and addressed the court. “Yes he is intelligent and that’s why he was given another chance after absconding from Saint Benedict’s Approved School and fleeing beyond British jurisdiction to France. He was sent to Banstead hall a short term approved school but now he has absconded from there and stole a motor car and driven to London after persuading Charles Cattell to come with him and I am asking the court to send him to a secure Borstal for a period of nine months to three years according to his behaviour” she said looking at me a severe expression on her face.

 The Magistrate looked at me and spoke with her colleagues then she passed sentence. I sentence you Michael John Muldoon to be detained in Her Majesty’s Borstal for a period of no less than nine months but no longer than three years” she said.

 I started to cry and wondering what Borstal was going to be like but what I did know it was going to be a lot worse than Banstead Hall.

  “Mr Gould, do you want Charles Cattell to return to Banstead Hall” she asked.

  “No I do not” he replied tersely.

  “So be it then so I think that a Borstal order is appropriate for him too” the magistrate said.

Wormwood Scrubs

Chapter 10

 We were pushed inside a police van and driven across London to White City and down Du Cane Road and as we neared the old Victorian prison I remembered being sent here when I was fourteen after I had run away from St Benedict’s and being in the papers as the youngest prisoner in the UK and now I was back again in 1956 still only seventeen years old. “They will never keep me in Borstal, I will escape again” I vowed as the big gates of the prison opened and the police van drove in but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to escape from this place.

  “Two bodies on Sir”

 The van drove into the prison grounds and stopped outside one of the grim looking cell blocks and the police escort order Cattell and I out and handed us over to a screw.

  “Right what’s your name lad?” the screw shouted his face an inch from my ear.

  “Muldoon,” I replied.

  “Muldoon what lad?” the screw shouted.

  “Muldoon Sir” I replied.

  “That’s it laddie and while you are here you will address all officers as Sir or be placed on report for disrespect to an officer. Is that clear Muldoon?”

  “Yes Sir” I replied.

  “And you lad, what’s your name?” he asked.

  “Cattell Sir”  

  “Okay lads fall in one behind the other. Quick march, keep in step, swing those arms, left right.”

  I knew how to march because I had been in the Army Cadets and I swung my arms up to level and marched like a soldier.

  “Cattell get in step lad and swing those arms like Muldoon is doing. Muldoon, where did you learn to march?” the screw asked.

  “In the Army Cadet Force Sir” I replied.

  “Good lad now see that building over there head towards it. Right squad, squad halt” he commanded and I came smartly to a halt.                

  The screw unlocked an iron gate. “Right inside you two” then he locked it behind him then opened another gate with the crashing and banging of steel on steel. “Right Sir Muldoon and Cattell for reception” the screw said to the reception screw then he was gone the way he came with a banging and crashing and jangling of keys.

 “Right get undressed and fold all your civvies up and put them in the cardboard box, right chop, chop” the screw said. A borstal boy orderly with a red band around his arm was spreading two towels out on the floor.  

 I took all my clothes putting my big brothel creepers in first then folding up the rest of my clothes.

   “Stand on the towel, Muldoon, lift up your arms, open your mouth. bend over, spread your cheeks, stand up, show me the soles of your feet. Okay lad, get dressed” he ordered. The orderly had placed a pile of grey clothes made out of blanket-like material on the towel and I put them on one by one, vest, pants, blue striped shirt, blue tie, grey trousers, grey jacket, grey socks with a red band round the top then thick soled leather shoes.

  “Chop, chop lad we haven’t got all day Cattell” the reception screw was shouting.

 When we were dressed the orderly gave us a pillowslip each without talking which I assumed was forbidden and I stood there awaiting the next order.

  “Right pick up a bedroll each, chop, chop” the screw ordered.

 I picked up a roll of two blankets covered in a red and green bedcover and tucked it under my arm holding the pillowslip in my other hand.  

Then another screw arrived with a banging and crashing of gates and shouted at us. “Fall in behind on another and keep in step, quick march, halt” he said unlocking a set of iron gates. “Quick march, halt” then once through the gates into a long tunnel like corridor. “Quick march, left right left right squad halt. Then he unlocked another gate and led us into an enormous prison wing that was locked down. “Right, quick march over to that office and halt outside, and no talking”

 I marched over to the office and halted outside.

  “Two on Sir, Muldoon and Cattell” the screw said then he marched off swinging his arms like a soldier in the army and I had noticed that he wore some of the same campaign ribbons as my father when he came out of the army.

 A screw sat in the office writing out forms. “Right Muldoon in here lad” and I walked into the office still holding the bedroll under my arm and carrying the pillowslip.

  “Religion” the screw asked.

  “Roman Catholic,” I replied.

 “Roman Catholic what” the screw asked, giving me a nasty look.

  “Roman Catholic Sir” I replied.

  “Right, how do you spell your name?”

  “M,U,L double O, N Sir” I replied.

  “Initials?”

  “M, J, Sir” I replied.

  “Right Muldoon you are allocated at 5/37” he said writing on a red door card and giving it to me. “Put this in your kit, now up to your cell, put your door card outside and scrub out, the fives cleaner will issue with cleaning materials. After you have scrubbed out, get your water and bang up, is that clear lad?”

  “Yes Sir” I replied staggering out of the office and stopping for a moment to put the red door card in my pillowslip, then my arms aching I climbed the iron staircase my heavy leather shoes clattering on the steps up and up, past the big numbers that were painted on the wall at the top of each landing until I arrived puffing and blowing to the top the Fives landing. There was arrows painted on the wall and I followed the one on that said 1-50 walking along the black slate landing until I came to cell number 5/37 and waited outside then I noticed Cattell struggling up the stairs and a screw emerge from an office that was built on a bridge spanning the landing marching along the landing towards me. The screw halted outside my cell door and taking a key that he wore on a chain he unlocked the big iron and wood door.

  “What’s your name lad?”

  “Muldoon Sir”

  “Right Muldoon put your door card in the door; the landing cleaner will bring you a bucket and scrubber and you will scrub out empty the bucket in the recess, fill your water jug, make-up your kit then bang up, is that clear?”

  “Yes Sir” I said and as the screw went along to Cattell who was allocated several cells down from me I walked into the cell and put the pillowslip and blanket roll on the iron frame bed that was about six inches off the floor and sat down on the thick unvarnished wooden chair that had been scrubbed white as had everything in the cell, table and washstand including the wooden floor boards. As I looked at the spotlessly clean cell and the scrubbed floor and furniture I wondered why it needed to be scrubbed again.

 “Hey here’s your bucket and scrubber mate” a con said in a very low voice. “I’m Roy the landing cleaner, any snout” he asked.

 “No sorry Roy, my name’s Mick” I replied in an equally low voice.

 “When you have finished slop out, rinse and bring it down to my cell at the end, you can keep the soap. See you later Mick I got to take another bucket down to your mate” Roy said.

  “He’s not my mate, he grassed me up” I said angrily forgetting to keep my voice down.

 Roy held his forefinger up to his lips “Ssh you’ll get nicked for talking, stupid ain’t it cos how am I going to tell you what to do like. But what did you say this other geezers a fucking grass?” he whispered.

 “Yeah he grassed me up to Old Bill” I confirmed.

 “You’re a Londoner ain’t yer and we are the hardest boys in the nick. What you gotta do Mick is when you come up the stairs with your dinner watch him come up the stairs and as soon as he sits down at the little table to eat it, steam in quick like and kick fuck out of him, alright son”

  “Yeah alright Roy I’ll fucking do him” I promised.

 I scrubbed out my cell including all the furniture then went up to the recess and emptied the dirty water and swilled out the metal bucket, rinsed the scrubbing brush then held the cleaning cloth under the tap and wrung it out then I put it in the bucket with the scrubber and walked along down the landing past the office where the landing screw sat reading a magazine with a pin-up on the cover and took the bucket back to Roy the cleaner’s cell and placed it outside.

  “Make up your kit like this blanket, sheet, blanket sheet when you get back to your peter but bang your door up before as soon as you get there, the screw Williams is a Scouse an evil cunt and he don’t like Londoners and give that cunt Cattell a fucking kicking” he whispered as he made as show of inspecting the bucket, scrubbing brush and cloth.

  I walked briskly along the slate landing my clumsy shoes echoing through the wing and entering my cell I banged the door then started to fold up my blankets and sheets folding them neatly, blanket sheet, blanket sheet, then wrapped them in the green and red bed cover so that you could see the neatly folded bed clothes inside from the front.

  Then I sat on the chair behind the door resting my arms on the table that was recessed into the corner of the wall behind the door planning my attack on Cattell. “I will rush in without warning and smash fuck out of him” I thought psyching myself up to do it. I closed my eyes and visualized myself doing it then I heard the screws unlocking for dinner and felt the butterflies of fear in my stomach and when the screw unlocked my door I was waiting and rushed out and made my way down the iron stairs that was swaying from side to side with the weight of lots of other Borstal boys going down the stairs. I picked up a metal tray and passed along the hotplate where boys in white jackets put food into the compartments of the tray, a cob of bread, a ladle of stew, boiled potatoes, yellow cabbage a ladle of gravy, spotted dog a ladle of custard and a mug of tea a kitchen screw standing behind them in a white jacket and blue kitchen trousers making sure that there was no favouritism. I hurried up the stairs and along to my cell leaving a gap in my cell waiting for Cattell to walk past my heart beating faster. He passed holding his tray and as soon as he went into his cell I swiftly darted along the landing and caught him just putting his dinner tray on the table. I saw the horror on his face as I snatched his tray, threw the hot contents in his face then beat him with it until the red blood squirted out and hit the white-washed walls then he slumped to the floor screaming and covering his head as I kept hitting his head with the side of the metal tray and kicking it with my big black shoes. He lay lifeless on the floor as I left his cell and walked swiftly along the landing into my own cell and banged the door.      

  The End  (vo.1 )                          

I hope that you have enjoyed this true short story and will read Borstal Boy Two: also check out “I Pornographer” a story of a pornographer who was forced to pay Scotland Yards Porn Squad, paedophile rings and corruption in high places    

Copyright© Michael J Freeman May 2013

Read Free my books on i pornographer  at Eroticartist.co.uk