The harder they fall

Mr Hardywike stared at his Medal in its red box
The Citation recording his bravery had stated that…
"Disregarding his own safety, he had taken on two armed robbers in the close confines of the Bank"

He constantly relived the scene in his head, the robber pointing the shotgun at his rotund girth and that terrible loss of consciousness through sheer terror.

The security video pictures had shown the gunman turning slightly and shouting that the 'big fat one would be first' then those pictures of him, hands in the air, collapsing forwards like a sack of potatoes, pinning the gunman to the marble floor, the loud bangs as both barrels were fired and the sight of the other robber being thrown backwards by the blasts. He shook his head to clear the memory. His wife looked up smiled and carried on knitting.

The sooner they sold the house he thought and moved away the better, these days fifteen years meant he could be out in seven and with all that publicity it wouldn't take long before they found him, then there was the possibility that the dead mans friends wouldn't wait seven years.

Bognor sounded good, surely no one would come looking there and if he dropped the 'e' off the end of his surname they would never find him…..