Mangetout by Guy Portman
About Mangetout:
Trouble has a habit of finding some people.
Kitchenhand Deron is in for a surprise when a routine delivery of vegetables ends up being anything but. Now he faces tough decisions, or dire consequences.
Everything financier Hamish touches turns to gold. However, he’s made the kind of enemy no mummy’s boy needs. The kind who stops at nothing to get revenge.
Ken’s fed up with the nine-to-five. A new venture with girlfriend Laura brings excitement, but also criminal attention. This could all go horribly wrong.
These dark, acerbic tales explore crime, class and cupidity.
Excerpt:
‘Morning, Ken here. Can you make me a sausage sandwich, please? Be over in ten.’
The café is located in a single-storey building on the edge of the road, two minutes’ drive from his place of work. Ken parks up and goes inside. There is the sound of sizzling and the smell of fried food. A solitary trucker type is sitting in the corner. A voice calls from the kitchen area, ‘Won’t be a minute, Ken. What’re you drinking?’
‘Tea please.’
There is a television attached to one of the walls; it is playing the regional news. He takes a seat at a table and twirls a plastic spoon in his fingertips. On the television he hears, ‘Over the course of the last ten years or so we have witnessed the proliferation of Vietnamese-run marijuana operations.’ Ken looks up at the screen. A uniformed policeman is speaking. ‘These organised crime groups’ activities were traditionally people smuggling, prostitution and gambling. However, it is the illegal, billion-pound, domestic marijuana-growing industry that has become their primary source of income … What we have seen change in the last eighteen months is the level of violence, as these gangs seek to eliminate their rivals and take complete control over the domestically grown marijuana market.’ Ken’s Adam’s apple moves up and down. ‘This year alone we have had five murders here in the county linked to these gangs …’
Ken makes a ‘Ffff’ noise through pursed lips.
The camera cuts to a studio. A female presenter says, ‘Chief Constable Taylor was speaking following the discovery, in a ditch by the A419 near Swindon, of two headless bodies identified as local marijuana farmers.’
‘Fffff.’
On the way back, Ken frequently checks his rear-view and side mirrors. At the grow, he prunes any yellow-tinged leaves that he comes across and shoves them in a sack. As he toils, he bites on his lower lip. A knock on the metal door sends him toppling backwards, knocking over a plant in the process.
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About Guy Portman:
Throughout a childhood in London spent watching cold war propaganda gems such as He Man, an adolescence confined in various institutions, and a career that has encompassed stints in academic research and the sports industry, Guy has been a keen if somewhat cynical social observer. Humour of the sardonic variety is a recurring theme in Guy’s writing.
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