Southend U3A

Writing for Fun

April 2017

Pennies From Heaven - Bob Wendelkin

Location: Drawing room of a large House in Essex

The father of the pianist sits in a chair listening to his daughter.

Father: 'You are playing better than ever. I'm no Judge I'm certain that you'll be grabbed by the Academy. Now play the bit I always ask for.'

Daughter: 'You mean Pennies from Heaven. Why do you always ask for that?'

Father: 'Come over here and I'll tell you. You are a big girl now so I hope you'll understand. Why I've never told you before.'

Daughter: 'You seem so serious you didn't kill any one did you?'

Father: 'No, nothing like that (said with a chuckle). But when I was your age I was living in care and then at the age of 18 they just kicked me out to fend for myself.'

Daughter: 'Well you seem to have done well looking at this big house and the grounds. You gave me and my brother the best education money could buy and we never wanted for anything.'

Father: 'When I was chucked out I had few skills to look after myself so I ended up sleeping rough under the railway arches. For food we just used to go to where the Supermarkets threw out the out of date food. Occasionally, I could get a bed in one of the Salvation Army Hostels and they would feed us and give us a shower.'

Daughter: 'So that's why you support the Salvation Army, I often wondered.'

Father: 'They try but there are just too many rough sleepers. Some are no hopers who hit the Bottle to blot out the pain and the Junkies. Others like me just down on our luck and not really knowing how to cope. Your Mother was also in the same boat and that is where we meet. Like the song 'Underneath the Arches'.'

Daughter: 'I've never heard that song.'

Father: 'You wouldn't, you're far too young. One night it changed life. This beautiful young girl came into my life. She, like me, had reached that certain age and out she went into the cold. She became my soul mate, it was like magic.'

Daughter: 'I didn't know that Mum lived on the streets.'

Father: 'You wouldn't it's nothing we talk about in our usual company. I'm certain the Major would be shocked, and his wife would enjoy spreading the story. So we don't talk about it and you mustn't.'

Daughter: 'Don't worry Dad your secret's safe with me.'

Father: 'Well one night a drug dealer called Sawn Off came round pushing drugs. He came up to me and your mother and asked if we wanted some. We told him to push off. He took hold of your Mother's arm and pulled her up. Saying she was a good looking girl and he could put her in a way of earning a good living just on her back. Well you know what he meant. I got up and told Sawn Off to make love elsewhere, or words to that effect, and grabbed back your Mum's arm.'

Daughter: 'Why was he called Sawn Off?'

Father: 'Because he used to carry a sawn off shot gun to threaten people. Anyway he just laughed saying 'You're not ready yet, but you will.' With that he took out of his pocket a couple of packets of Cocaine saying, 'Here, this will help you through the night, next time you want some you'll have to pay.' With that he just laughed at us. I wanted to bash him but your mother held my arm, saying, 'You know what he is, he'll kill you.'

Daughter: 'It must have been so frightening for you and Mum, I didn't realise such people existed.'

Father: 'Oh they do, the back streets are not safe places. But this is where our luck changed. When Sawn Off got the packets of cocaine out of his pocket a very large roll of notes fell on the pavement and he didn't notice. I managed to put my foot over them. He got back in his car just laughing at us.'

Daughter: 'Was there a lot of money?'

Father: 'About twenty thousand in fifty pound notes.'

Daughter: 'Did you run after him, he may have given you a few for your honesty.'

Father: 'No I just put them in my pocket, it was like the song says, Pennies from Heaven. I told your mother that we will be okay now. I also said that we will stay here for a few weeks so that Sawn Off doesn't suspect that we have his money.'

Daughter: 'Why was that?'

Father: 'Sawn Off would have killed us, he would have tracked us down and blown us away. So we stayed put. The next night Sawn Off turned up and we could see that he wasn't a happy man. He came up to us, he had a large plastic bag wrapped around what was obviously a Sawn Off shotgun. Waving the bag under our noses he asked, 'Have you losers got my money?' 'What you talking about?' I asked. He said that he had lost a wodge of money. I told him if we had it, do you think we would still be under the Arches. Your mum and me stayed like that for about three months. We didn't touch any of the money, we still used to go to the supermarket dump for food. It was there that I met Bill Franklin. He was the manager of the supermarket, then one night when we were on the scrounge he jumped out on us. Daughter: 'What did he do?'

Father: 'He said he wanted to help us, he didn't like people scrounging around in trash cans. He told us to come into the back of the store where he had laid out food just before it went out of date. He told us to help ourselves. Your Mum and me did just that and took some back to the others under the arches.'

Daughter: 'So that's how you met Bill through an act of kindness.'

Father: 'He wasn't only very thoughtful and kind but he was also a good business man. He had built up the business for that Supermarket.'

Daughter: 'How did you come to Essex?'

Father: 'Well I born just outside Chelmsford in a place called Writtle. So I thought I wanted to come back home as I'm an Essex man, and your Mum just wanted to be with me.'

Daughter: 'So you came back but that doesn't put you in this big house does it?'

Father: 'Well I had twenty thousand of Sawn Off's money so I wondered how I could put it work. I had missed out on education I didn't have any certificates. So I had to go it on my own.'

Daughter: 'Where does Bill come into it?'

Father: 'I was very Lucky there. Bill had done so well in his Supermarket that they promoted him to a very large store in Southend. I made contact with him as I could see a business opportunity in selling those foods that were close to their sell by date, and I thought Bill in his position as Manager could put some food my way. I knew there was a lot of poor people who are just living on their benefit money and I thought I could help them as well as making some money.'

Daughter: 'Is this where the twenty thousand pounds comes in?'

Father: 'First we needed a roof over our head for me and you Mum. Secondly, I needed a van. I started to get the food from Bill's Supermarket and some other places and I managed to get a stall in Romford Market. I managed to sell most of it and what was left over I gave to charity. I then expanded I ran the Romford Stall and your Mum God bless her ran our stall in Chelmsford Market.'

Daughter: 'How long did you do this for?'

Father: 'We did this for a few years longer than we needed as I could see that I was doing some good for some of our customers, others just wanted a bargain. Then in the town centre a large shop became vacant. I now had spare money so with your Mum's agreement we took the lease on the shop. I let the stalls go to another man from under the arches.'

Daughter: 'Did you know what you were going to sell?'

Father: 'Well I was going to run a Bargain Shop where nothing would cost more than a pound. Bill and I had become good friends by then and as I said he was is a good business man and he put me in touch with some of the importers for low cost stuff. The business just took off and within a couple of years I had shops in most of the big towns in Essex, Suffolk and down into Kent and Outer London. Soon I was a multi-millionaire. I made Bill a Director of the Company and with his talent the business just grew. People liked to go into my shops and buy something they need, then they spent more money on other bargains.'

Daughter: 'But you sold the shops.'

Father: 'Your mum and me are getting older, and you and your brother didn't want to run the business. You wanted to go into Music and your brother wanted to become a doctor. So I thought it was time to get rid of the business. It became known I wanted to get out and an offer, I just couldn't refuse, came in from China. They offered me half a billion pounds. Five hundred million to a boy who a few years before had been living under the arches was an incredible amount. I just thought what I could do with that money.'

Daughter: 'What about Bill Franklin?'

Father: 'Don't worry about Bill, he is now a very wealthy man. Just before I sold up I made Bill a shareholder and gave him 20% of the business, so he got a hundred million pounds out of the sale.'

Daughter: 'What did you do for the rough sleepers? I know you put some money in buying a big house where they can sleep, and a bus that goes around and provided food, clothes and washing facilities.'

Father: 'Some people like me and your Mum just need a little help the few pennies from heaven can change their lives.'

Daughter: 'You seem to like repaying your debts did you ever give Sawn Off his money back?'

Father: 'Well I did in way.' (said with a chuckle)

Daughter: 'What do you mean in a way?'

Father: 'Well there is a story there. Sawn Off was a nasty piece of work, with his drug pushing and his grabbing girls for the trade. I thought it would be a nice idea for him to suffer the same way. Using some of my lesser contacts I said they could have twenty thousand to spend on Sawn Off. I wanted him to see what it was like to be a down and out. Well I understand some of his rivals took up the challenge and grabbed him and kept feeding him drugs until he was a hopeless junky. His drug pushing business became a thing of the past and eventually he ended up sleeping under the arches, just like me and your Mum.'

Daughter: 'Did you try to do anything to help him?'

Father: 'One night I took the van down to the old place to give out some food and spread a little money around and to look for any young person who I could help. When who should I see sleeping on the pavement, although I hardly recognised him, was Sawn Off.'

Daughter: 'What did you do, did you help him?'

Father: 'I must admit I did feel only slightly sorry for him, I had chosen an honest route to success he had become a criminal all a matter of choice and circumstances in life. Who knows I could have gone the same way as him, although your mother made sure I didn't.'

Daughter: 'Well did you help him?'

Father: 'I did go up to him and asked him if he was okay and asked him if he was on drugs.'

Daughter: 'Was he?'

Father: 'He was. I asked him if he wanted to come off and get clean. He said he would. So I put him in the van and took him off to one of our safe houses. I understand that he is now clean and in some way my conscience is clear. Now come on play Pennies From Heaven for me.'

Daughter: 'For you, Dad, anything.'

Fade out to a recording of the song 'Pennies From Heaven'.