The Jump by Martina Cole

face, the scraping of his stubble loud in the silent cell.
    ‘I’m fucking warning you, Georgio. I know you’re a heavyweight, I respect that. But at the end of the day, we’re all hard nuts in here, one way or another, even the nancies. A few years A-Grade soon sorts out the men from the boys, and let’s face it, you ain’t ever,done any bird before. So you keep me informed of what’s going on. If you go down the pan, boy, you ain’t taking me with you. Got that?’
    Georgio turned over on his side. Tucking his hands under his head he said casually, ‘Loud and clear. Goodnight, Timmy.’
    Timmy sat for a few seconds longer before returning to his bunk. Georgio heard the springs groan as the man’s huge bulk lay down above him.
    Closing his eyes, he shuddered inwardly. He hadn’t slept properly in a month. The thought of Lewis scared him shitless. But tomorrow, if he played his cards right, everything could be hunky-dory.
    For the first time in years, Georgio actually prayed.

    Donna awoke to weak sunshine and a lifting of her spirits. If someone had told her a few months ago that she would enjoy doing Georgio’s job she would have laughed in their face. Yet, as she was his wife, and as everyone expected her to ‘see to’ things for him, she had felt pressured into taking everything on. Now she was glad she had. Even the paperwork for the building business was beginning to make sense to her. She needed guidance, she knew, but the day-to-day running was not as difficult as she had feared. In fact, once she had managed to sort through the offices, and had thrown out the rubbish, it was surprisingly straightforward.
    When Georgio came home he would be so proud of her. She hugged this thought to herself.
    Big Paddy had seen to it that she was given more than ‘her due’. Now on the sites she was treated with respect, even with awe. But that could be due to Paddy’s watchful presence, she admitted to herself.
    Getting out of bed, she saw her reflection in the mirrored wardrobes. Holding her thick chestnut hair back from her face, she surveyed herself. She was thinner than ever since the trial, her
    ribcage visible through her skin. Pulling back her narrow shoulders she sighed heavily. No amount of thrusting out would ever make her breasts look full. She was still a thirty AA cup, the same as she had been when she was fourteen. All her friends had blossomed, but not Donna. She had hoped that the advent of children would have given her at least a small cleavage. But it wasn’t to be. She liked her legs though, she had always liked them. They were long, slim, and nicely shaped. She looked good in shorts, though she rarely wore them. Georgio always said her breasts were lovely, juicy he had called them, and she had always blushed at this. His rough words had embarrassed her even as she had loved hearing them.
    She wrapped her arms around herself in despair. If only things were as they had been … Georgio would be getting up now, coughing and spluttering his way to the bathroom, his long muscly body naked. She had always watched him dress, even when she was really tired she had watched him, drinking him in with her eyes. She had never once, in all the years with him, grown bored of looking at him. In fact, she had loved him more as the years had gone on.
    She admitted to herself that he had taken her for granted, but that was men, apparently. Dolly said that her husband wouldn’t have noticed if she had fandangoed across the front room in the nude. Unless she had stood in front of the TV, then there would have been hell to pay.
    Georgio, though, had always treated Donna with respect, had respected her feelings. Had never let her know when he was unfaithful. Though with the intuition of women, she had known, she had known immediately. It hadn’t happened that often over the years, but when it had it had grieved her. Hurt her deeply. Yet, in a funny way, she had understood why Georgio had done it. He was a man who