–There now.
Two shillings.
–One each, he said.—Make sure now.
–Thanks, Da.
Sinbad had come back.
–Da gave us a shilling for each of us, I told him.
–Will Mam be better when we come home? he said.
–Probably, said Da.—Maybe not; probably.
–Crisp sandwiches, I told Sinbad.
I showed him the two shillings. I got out my hankie, put the two shillings in and stuffed the hankie right down, down into a corner of my pocket, the two shillings locked under it.
I took my time getting home, on purpose. I put my bag between Aidan and Liam’s hedge and the wall and we went looking for the Weirdy Fella. The Weirdy Fella lived in the fields. There were hardly any fields left but he was still out there. I’d seen him once. He jumped into a ditch just when I was looking. He had a big black coat on him and a cap. He was all dirty and his back was crooked. He had no teeth, just two black stumps, like Tootsie’s. I didn’t see his teeth—he was too far away—but that was what they were like. I just saw his shape. We’d all seen him that day. We ran after him but he got away. We were going to kill him for all the things he did. He ate birds and rats and anything good he could get out of bins. My da always put the bin outside our gate on Wednesday night because the binmen came round on Thursday morning and he was in too much of a hurry in the mornings. One Thursday the lid was off the bin and there was stuff all over the path, bags and bones and tins and all the things that had been in the top half of the bin, the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday stuff. I went back in and told my ma about it.
–Cats, she said.—Fizz it.
I went out again; I was going to school. I looked. There was a bit missing off a piece of bread. It was round, heel-shaped. I kicked the bread away; the shape stayed stuck to the ground. The weirdy Fella.
No one owned him. A girl in Baldoyle had had to be brought into hospital in Jervis Street after she fainted when she got home after the Weirdy Fella’d jumped up in front of her out from behind a pillar and had shown her his mickey. The guards never found him. He knew when you were on your own.
–He was in the army during the war, said Aidan.
There was just me and Aidan and Liam. Kevin had had to go somewhere with his ma and da; his granny was sick and he had to wear his good clothes. He had a note to let him out of school early. I was glad that Kevin wasn’t coming, but I didn’t say anything.
–How d’you know? I said.
I didn’t say it the way I would’ve if Kevin had been with us.
–He got shot in the head and they couldn’t get the bullet out properly so that’s why he’s mad.
–We should still kill him.
–Yeah.
–I’d say Kevin’s granny is dying, said Liam.—We had to wear our good clothes when Ma died. D’you remember?
–No, said Aidan.—Yeah. There was a party after.
–A party?
–Yeah, said Aidan.
–Yeah, said Liam as well.—Kind of. Sandwiches and the grownups had drinks.
–So did we.
–Some of them sang songs.
I wanted to go home.
–I don’t think we’ll find him, I said.—It’s too bright.
They agreed. No Chicken or Scaredy cat or anything like that. I got my bag and slowed myself, made myself walk normal. I got a leaf off Hanley’s tree and folded and watched the crease getting darker and where the leaf broke. I got to the gate.
She was still in her dressing gown. That was all.
–Hello, she said.
–Hi, I said.
Sinbad was already home with his shoes off. There was nothing wrong with her to see.
–Are you still sick?
–Not really, she said.—I’m fine.
–Do you want me to go to the shops?
–I don’t think so, she said.—Francis was singing his new song for me.
–We had crisp sandwiches for our lunch, I told her.
–So I believe, she said.—Will you finish it for me, love?
–TALLYHO HOUNDS AWAY—
Sinbad looked sideways at the lino.
–TALLYHO HOUNDS AWAY—
TALLYHO HOUNDS AWAY
ME BOYS AWAY–
Ma started clapping.
She was in her dressing gown the next day as well but that was only because she hadn’t got dressed yet. She was better. She looked straighter. She moved quicker.
I’d stayed awake all night, as long as I could, most of the night. There was nothing. I woke up early—half bright. I got out of bed. I didn’t make noise when my feet got to the floor. I got to their door, over the creak just on front of it. I listened. Nothing. Asleep. My da’s noise. My ma’s noise under it. I went back. Bed was nice when you got back in after you got out for a bit when it was still warm. I kept my feet up near me. I didn’t mind being awake. I was the only one. I looked across at Sinbad. His head was where his legs were supposed to be. His feet were somewhere. I could see the back of his head. I looked. I saw his breathing. There were birds outside, loads of them; three different kinds. I knew: they were getting at the milk. There used to be a bit of a roof slate beside the step for the milkman to put on top of the bottles to stop the birds from getting at them but it was gone now. Then there was a biscuit tin lid and a big stone to put on top of it but they were gone as well; the lid was, I didn’t look for the stone. I didn’t know why everyone tried to stop the birds from drinking the milk. They only took the top bit, hardly any. I heard the alarm going off in their bedroom. I could hear the clock on the wood of the cabinet on my da’s side. I heard the alarm being stopped. I waited. I heard her coming to the door. I’d shut it properly after me. I pretended I was asleep.
–Good morning, boys.
I still pretended. I didn’t have to look; I knew it from her voice. She was better.
–Wakey wakey!
Sinbad laughed. She was tickling him. He was whinging as well, funny and annoyed. I waited for my turn.
That didn’t mean that there was nothing wrong, that nothing had happened. All it meant was that if something had happened between them, if they’d had a fight, she was better now. It was the first time she hadn’t got up, except for two days after she came home from the hospital after having Deirdre. She was in bed when we got home from our auntie’s; that was where we’d been when she was in the hospital. Our Auntie Nuala. She was my ma’s big sister. I didn’t like it there. I knew what was happening but Sinbad didn’t really, not really.
–My main’s in the hopsital.
He didn’t talk like that now. He was better at it.
She was in bed when we came home. We came home on the bus, two buses, with our uncle.
I kept watch. I listened.
–They had a party, I told Kevin.—After the funeral. In the house. Singing and all.
I went to the shops for Henno to get him two cakes for his lunch.
–A packet of Mikado if she’s no cakes left.
He said I could have a ha’penny out of the change for doing the message so I got a gobstopper with it. I showed it to Kevin under the desk. I wished I’d bought something different now, something I could have shared with Kevin.
When Henno told us to go asleep Kevin dared me to eat the gobstopper without being caught. If I took it out of my mouth because Henno could hear noises or he was coming down to check our copies, if I chickened, I’d have to give the rest of the gobstopper to Kevin. All he’d have to do was run cold water from the tap over it.
Henno went out to talk to James O’Keefe’s ma just after I put the gobstopper into my mouth. Missis O’Keefe was shouting. Henno warned us and shut the door. We could still hear her. James O’Keefe wasn’t in school. I sucked like mad. She said that Henno was always picking on James O’Keefe. I made the gobstopper go round and round, rubbing it off my cheeks but mostly the roof of my mouth and my tongue. It got smoother. I couldn’t take it out of my mouth. I got Ian McEvoy to look; I opened my mouth: the gobstopper was white. I’d licked the outside off it. He was every bit as intelligent as the other boys, she told Henno. She knew some of them and they were nothing to write home about. Henno opened the door and warned us again. Calm down now, Missis O’Keefe, we heard him saying. Then he was gone. There were no more voices outside. He’d gone somewhere with Missis O’Keefe. We started laughing because everybody was watching me trying to eat the gobstopper. They kept saying He’s coming and pretending that he was but I didn’t fall for it. He was gone for ages. When he opened the door the gobstopper was small enough to swallow if I had to. I’d won. I looked at Henno’s face and swallowed it. I had to push hard; my throat was sore for ages after it. Henno was real nice for the rest of the day. He brought us out to the pitch and showed us how to solo the ball. My tongue was pink.