Follow Bill, Learn Evils Will (part one)


Polly was sitting in a chair pulled up to a desk. There were two other men in the room; she was sat next to an ageing man with straggly hair in a suit. Sat opposite her behind the desk was a man she recognised immediately. Mr Picking was bald, piercing grey-eyed and chubby. Mr Picking and straggly hair were talking amongst themselves and not paying attention to Polly.


After inspecting the room Polly stared down at her dre- No dress, why was she not wearing a dress? Polly tugged at the cotton fabric of a man's trouser leg. Her hands were as white and pale as the bald man in front. She was not Polly Alexander at all but instead a man, an associate of the boss. She let out a small gasp.


Mr Picking stared at her, "Everything alright, Bill?"


Polly nodded, "Yes, I'm fi-" she stopped. Her voice sounded manly and rough.


"So your muscle does talk?" Asked straggly hair rhetorically.


"From time to time. Still not a suitable dinner guest though," Mr Picking replied.


I'm in Bill's body, Polly thought. How did you manage this, Father?


"Can we get on with this, please?" Asked straggly hair abruptly.


"Of course," Mr Picking replied. "Keep to yourself, Bill."


"I have over fifteen of the little buggers. Just like you asked for. Five guineas for each."


"I told you I won't pay more than four."


Straggly hair raised a bushy eyebrow. He pulled a cigarette out of a packet and offered one to Polly, or Bill, of which she declined. "And I told you Mr Picking that you do not want me returning these children to their mamas and snitching you to the constable. Five guineas."


"Five guineas," Mr Picking replied with a disapproving hump. "You play a hard game Mallory, but you always deliver."


Straggly hair Mallory leaned forward while puffing from his smoke, "I keep to my word as long as the word to me is kept."


Mr Picking lit his own pipe, "Can I inspect them now?"


"I have six children nearby you can certainly take a look at," Mallory smiled.


"Children?" Polly asked in her new rough voice.


Mallory glared at Polly with his thick eyebrow severely raised. She was beginning to feel uneasy until Mallory turned back to Mr Picking. "Is young Bill here going to be a problem for this... Delicate transaction?"


"No, no, he will not interrupt again. Shut up, Bill!"


Polly looked down at her trousers again feeling uneasy. Mr Picking continued, "Bill will be working the boys down the yard, making sure they put a real shift in."


"That's why I'm here," replied Polly as Bill.


Mallory glared at them both before standing. "Follow me," he beckoned. "I can get them as young as five, but the first juvies have already had plenty of experience with a walloping."


"Good, disciplined and ready to work," Mr Picking grinned.


Mallory ignored the businessman and headed for the door. He reached for the handle and as he pulled it open a man on the other side fell into the room, almost knocking Mallory to the ground.


"Father," Polly said quietly.


"Mr Alexander, what an unexpected surprise," Mr Picking said casually.


Mallory, however, was angry. "What is the negro doing here?"


Geoff stepped into the room, "I can't let you take those children!" He exclaimed as he held up a piece of wood and struck Mallory in the side.


"Do something you measly worm!" Mallory screamed at Polly in pain.


Mr Picking put an arm on Polly's back, "You know what to do, Bill. Get it done."


At that moment Polly lost all control over Bill. She became a mere spectator to Bill's actions. She tried to say something, scream something, but nothing came out.


Bill grabbed hold of Geoff, ignoring the blows coming from the much smaller man. It was only now that Polly could grasp just how big Bill was compared to every other man in the room. Bill forced Geoff back out of the room and pushed him towards the balcony overlooking the machinery room. The work day had already finished and everyone else had gone home.


Geoff looked Bill in the eyes, looked into Polly's eyes, "Remember this, Poll. Save the children."


Bill returned him a puzzling look and shrugged his shoulders. He lifted Geoff up and threw him over the edge. Polly could only silently scream in her head as she watched her father fall and meet his end.


Mr Picking walked up to Bill and patted him on the back. "We do what we need to. Clean that mess up and then come out the back to meet your first class," Mr Picking grinned the whole time as he slowly walked down the steps and under the balcony out of view, without a single glance at his dead employee.


***


Follow Bill, Learn Evils Will (part two)


Whether through distress or her father's will, Polly did not witness the immediate aftermath of Bill's fatal attack. She had the feeling of waking up as the next thing she saw after opening her eyes were Mallory and Mr Picking stood near a carriage with, at a guess, the children inside Mallory spoke of.


Finding she had control over Bill's body again, Polly walked over to the carriage and peered inside. Sure enough six young boys were inside with their hands bound. She reached for the handle but it was locked. She wondered if Bill could rip the door of its hinges and was about to try until, "Oh get away from there you great lump!" Came Mallory's voice.


Bill let go of the handle while still looking into the carriage. The small pale faces stared back at him with frightful terror, daring not to speak. They were obviously very scared of Bill and that pained Polly. She wished she could help them.


A woman's head appeared through the glass on the other side of the carriage. A young blonde woman of maybe early twenties. When she spotted Bill, she quickly dived downwards out of view. "Hey," said Polly as she walked around to the rear of the carriage to find her. The woman was not there as she reached the other side. Clearly also moving parallel to Bill's movements.


"Stop that menace at once!" Came a cry from Mr Picking now also spotting the woman. She ran off before Polly could catch up to her.


"Who was that?" Polly asked.


"A wretch, a bad omen for business. Luca her name is," replied Mallory begrudgingly.


"Looser?" Replied Polly.


"Luca, but yes but for Bill's brains, looser," Mr Picking remarked.


Mallory moved away from them to check on his horses, "We better get moving before she comes back with lawmen."


"I will see to it that you are paid," replied Mr Picking. "Bill you are to go with Mallory now. Report back to me if things go south."


Polly nodded uneasily.


"Go on then," ushered the short bald man half pointing to the carriage.


Polly gulped silently and followed Mallory onto the front of the carriage.


"Thank you, Smith," Mallory said to a middle aged man who passed him the reigns.


Someone else Polly was disgusted to learn was part of the criminal activity, "Where to then, Boss?" She asked in Bill's rough voice.


Mallory smiled, but said no more. He whipped up the reigns and called, "Get up!" The carriage pulled forward at a steady trot and they left the district.


"I don't like that tiny man you call boss," Mallory said to Bill.


"He is completely motivated by money," Replied Polly.


"That can be a man's downfall," Mallory said as he gave side glances to various beggars, vagabonds, and the general riff-raff that tried to approach them for hand outs along the poorest routes of Fulham. Mallory set the horses into a gallop to force the street rats out of the way.


"Where are we dumping these low labourers?" Polly asked in an attempt to say it the way Bill would.


Mallory raised a bushy eyebrow, "You really are as slow as snails." Polly groaned in response. Mallory continued, "To the work yard, by the docks. Children make good labourers in the tight hulls."


"Thank you," replied Polly.


"For what? Don't be such an idiot you fool," Mallory shrugged off his companion with the intent to ignore him for a while. "Thank you indeed," he muttered to himself.


Now what, father? She pondered nervously.


Let me help you here, came a voice.


"Excuse me?" Polly asked Mallory.


Mallory looked confusingly at Bill, "What now?"


"You can help me?" Polly asked the straggly haired man.


"I doubt it," Mallory replied dryly.


Not him. Me, I can help you, said the voice again.


Polly realised the voice was a woman's voice, and it was in her head.


You found out what I needed to know. Tell the scientist.


Polly shuffled uneasily in Bill's seat, This is getting stranger by the minute.


Perhaps, but all will be explained soon. Save the children.


"How?" Polly stood up on the carriage and shouted into the air.


***