The Plight Of Esmeralda.

LITTLE ESMERALDA

LITTLE ESMERALDA
There was a little girl,
who had a little curl,
right in the middle of her forehead,
When she was good she was very very good,
but when she was bad she was horrid!

Neither she nor Johnny said anything while he was driving but She decided to break the silence.....Esmeralda looked at Johnny, then quietly said, why, why Johnny? He paused @ her question  & precariously replied  , why what, " why are you with The Peaky Blinders, I cannot believe after what you must witness  happening that you still do their or rather Tommy's bidding, you're disposable just like everyone is to him Johnny, just like my father, my brother, even his own brother John, & she added, I miss Esme, I wished she'd never married John Shelby, I cannot believe our Louise was mad that she was overlooked & was not considered to be John's bride. "Well Esme was getting into all sorts of bother, the likes of the wrong people, those friends of hers were bad for her, gypsies yes , but not our kind, they would toss her to the wind as much as throw her in the cut, she needed a husband, your Louise is much more sound minded. It's a good thing Tommy came along when he did. C'mon , you know as much as I do Johnny the real reason is that Tommy needed an alliance with the Lees that was why, he also didn't want his younger brother marrying his prized whore, everything's his property you should know that by now. "Oh now Mellie don't you go saying that, after all he did marry Lizzie, HE FUCKIN' WHAT, EXCLAIMED Esmeralda, HE MARRIED THAT TRAMP, now I've heard everything, that bloody bastard. Oh watch what you say Mellie please, replied Johnny ; Lizzie was pregnant with his child, he did the honorable thing; nothing he does is honorable she replied back, there's method in his madness with everything he does. Well, your dad fell in love with Polly Gray, Tommy's aunt, oh yes I know said Esmeralda, that woman was always after my dad, he loved my mam & would just ignore her subtle advances , it's just after mum died  he was lonely that's all. Fuck em all, the long and the short and the tall,
Look at what I found said Johnny changing the subject, he handed her an envelope, inside was a photo of her with her mam when she was 4 years old, you were a pretty little thing Mellie he said, blonde just like your father was when he was a young boy, I can see both of them in you he continued . Hmmm, well Polly never thought I was lovely she replied, well you are your father's daughter he snickered, you were a bit of a bugger, it reminded him of something Polly said when reminiscing about Esmeralda when she was around 6 years old.

Our Ada had a mouth on her said Polly after she heard that Esmeralda had gone to Newcastle, but that Esmeralda Gold was a cheeky little sod when she was a young un. She tied our Arthur's bootlaces together while her sweet youngest sister Josephine distracted him with her cooing, he fell flat on his face he did, needed 20 stitches , he always had a soft spot for babies. She used to stick her tongue out at our Tommy too when he wasn't looking, her father should of taken her in hand but the little Jezebel got away with everything. Louise was better behaved than she was, she used to get her in trouble too. Our Tommy made a bet with Aberama ( God rest his soul ) in a coin toss that if it was tails he'd have Esmeralda in his bed, Polly cackled, now that would be the day, she'd cut him as soon as look at him sighed Polly, or at least try. She was a bonny little lass but she even blossomed more when she got older, our Tommy would always hear how pretty she was but her mam took her to her hometown of Newcastle a lot to keep her away from boys her age and older , I don't think he ever saw her in person. I told him when they were all kids she used to stick her tongue out at him when he wasn't looking, but he laughed and said , so she's got a bit of an ornary side to her huh, I like a woman her feistiness , I think I could tame her if I caught her he chuckled, and what put her in a fucking cage Tommy, Polly exclaimed, Clip her bloody wings so she doesn't fly away like a bat out of hell because with that one you'd have to my boy. Tommy laughed it off, it was before the war, and he laughed  so much in those days, he later fell in love with an Italian girl called Greta DeRossi which he too lost to illness, he never mentioned Esmeralda again until he came back from the Trenches. She recalled the conversation vividly as if it were yesterday. I saw this beautiful waitress in a quaint little cafe in France he said, what a stunning girl she was. Barney  Thompson one of my officers fell head over heels for er but............
you got her didn't you replied Polly, yes I did, but all credit to Barney i think he had er first, oh she was a beauty, then Arthur said something really strange when he saw er, , oh replied Polly, he said she looked a lot like Aberama Gold's daughter, his eldest girl, Esmeralda. All I know is she was the best thing that happened to me in France. I knew she couldn't be Esmeralda Gold because she was French least I think she was, oh well what else would she be said Polly, I don't know but I coulda sworn I detected a little Brummie dialect in her voice, oh was it "Brummiere" laughed Polly, very bloody funny Pol, but, said Tommy, it had me wondering a little back then. French women are very demure but I missed Small Heath so it was probably just wishful thinking on my behalf, that I heard . The only other time Esmeralda's name came up was at Charley Strong's yard when Tommy came up with the idea to place a bet on Esmeralda, said if Aberama lost, he would fuck her , fuckin hell you shoulda seen the look on Golds stupid face Pol , exclaimed Arthur, if looks could kill. Polly thought that was low of Tommy to use those words or even suggest that, she never understood her nephew's reasoning sometimes, he always chose the fuck word , it was the connotation of the suggestion as much as the act itself, he also had a tendency to throw women over his desk & take them from behind, not just whores, Lizzie had told Polly this, even women that meant more to him, he was very cold to them, except in his relationship with Grace, though Polly never cared for her never mind trust her. Of course later on she too  fell in love,  with Aberama Gold of all suitors , and he with her, he called her his Gypsy Queen.
JUST THEN, interrupting Johnny's thoughts, Esmeralda said, while they were a couple of minutes away from the house, would you be a love and help me in with the bags, I need to ask you something.