Suddenly, Harry was hoisted bodily by Mick from the O'Grady's basement cellar and threw out onto the street. It was cold and he had no idea why he was released so urgently as the house door was slung shut. He picked himself up and worked out that it was either late or morning. Hard to tell during those winter nights. His watch had been taken and he was penniless. The only way to get back to the apartment and Saskia was to walk across town in the freezing clear night. His thoughts were on Saskia and what Shaun would have done to her. He had hoped that she had carried out her plans to visit relatives or something.
It took him hours to reach the block of apartments. One thing he had hidden on him was the slash card to get in. The cold was biting into his skin, even below his clothing and it was not doing his mouth injury to good either. Although an atheist, he thanked God that Mick had not hit him again.
He reached the apartment door and opened it. Shock or surprise, it did not matter, the place was totally empty. No furnishings, carpets and every room stripped to its bare emptiness. "Saskia?" he shouted repeatedly as he searched each room. She had gone. The smell of cleaning fluids lingered in the cold air. "What the fuck happened here?" he asked himself. He searched his jacket for his mobile phone, but even that had been taken off him by the mad Chinese Mick. He searched for notes or a letter and there was none to be found. He realised there and then Hoffman's free offer was definitely not going the way he thought it would.
Saskia had given up her home weeks previously, so there was no point in searching for her there. Thankfully he knew a friend somewhere that he could go to and left the apartment in disarray.
Two weeks passed by and Harry had put past events into the back of his mind regarding the O'Grady's, Hoffman and Saskia. Although he worried about Saskia and where she had gone so mysteriously, even though things grew stale between them. He found somewhere to live. His old pal was atleast accommodating him with shelter and he was back on the retail markets, earning honest money again, selling old movies and games to any willing customer.
It was snowing at last. The days following the Christmas vacation where bitterly cold and atleast snow tended to warm things up a little. He was having his usual breakfast in the cafe he visited. A good old English breakfast, with all the trimmings and a mug of hot tea. There was a tap on the window which drew his attention. When he looked there was Helen, wrapped up warm against the snow falling around outside. She gave him a smile and entered the cafe. She ordered a coffee and sat opposite him at his table. "Nice to see you again." She said, removing her gloves and waiting for one of the staff to deliver her beverage.
"Is it? Thought you had floated out of my life for good." He replied. Though deep inside of him he was pleased, despite his cold greeting. He looked at her over his mug of tea, took a sip and then rested it beside his empty plate.
"Don't be like that. You know you're glad to see me again."
"Well, let me say I'm sorry for making a mess of things." He replied.
"All sorted." She smiled. He melted at her beauty that was always irresistible. "So, come on, tell me how things are with you. I'm curious, I need to know."
"I'm doing fine. Bad Christmas, but you don't need to know. Let's just say I'm on my feet again."
"Good." The staff member delivered her coffee and she thanked her. "Then life is good?" Harry waved his hand signifying so so. "I kind of missed you." She admitted, which surprised him under the past circumstances. "We had fun."
"Yeah, we did. Anyhow, I'm changing my life. Going celibate. Missing a girl friend I shacked up with. She just vaporised out of my life." Helen began to listen sympathetically to his story as he explained more or less everything she needed to know.
"How's your frog boyfriend? Are you two together?" He asked. Helen laughed at the derogatory term 'frog' meaning French. A word used by the English for a while now, which made reference to the French delicacy of eating frog's legs.