Dance Lessons by Aine Greaney

Author:Aine Greaney [Greaney, Aine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

26

THEIR PASTA AND SALAD DINNERS FINISHED, the Fitzgerald children have grown fidgety. Eyes start to shift and elbows are straying across the patio table for brother-and-sister jabs.

Riona and Lorcan Fitzgerald are hybrids of their mother and father, the doctor and his wife. Riona has Ruth’s blue eyes. Lorcan has his mother’s dark hair but his father’s pale, freckled complexion. Riona is thirteen. Lorcan is eleven.

Across the candlelit table, Ruth Fitzgerald says, “You know our friend Ellen here is a teacher in America. She teaches French. Riona’s taking French this year, aren’t you, pet?”

Ruth is obviously a little younger than her husband. Thirty-five, Ellen calculates, across their candlelit dinner table. Thirty-five, slim, and very pretty with her thick, dark hair clipped into a high, bobbing ponytail.

Lorcan says, “I’m not going to like French. Not next year, when I move up to the community school on the hill. I mean, at the moment, I absolutely hate Irish, and like, that can’t be that much different, can it? All that grammar and stuff?”

“Lorcan,” Tom scolds. “That’s not very polite.”

“So what is your favorite?” Ellen asks Lorcan. “Your most favorite?”

“Maths. I love maths. I’m the best in my class.”

“Lorca-an,” Tom Fitzgerald pleads again. “It’s not nice to boast.”

“Are you?” Ellen laughs. “You know, I bet you are. The very first day in my class, I can always tell which of my students will be good at things. Teachers can just tell.”

Lorcan sets his chin in his upturned hand, fixes his gaze on his parents’ American dinner guest.

Ellen knows this young boy’s dreamy look. At Coventry Academy, there’s always some young freshman, some sophomore boy who falls slightly in love with Mademoiselle Boisvert.

Riona elbows her brother again. Ruth says, “All right, you two, upstairs. I rented you that DVD. You can have an hour before bed, then watch the rest tomorrow night.”

The kids cross the slate patio to the French doors. Lorcan opens the door, then peers back out across the candlelit patio at Ellen.

“Lorca-an! You’ll let the midges into the house!” Tom commands. The boy slaps the glassy door behind him, then thumps across the kitchen, giggling.

Tom Fitzgerald shakes his head, crosses himself. “Jesus deliver us all from now on. The awkward age and all that. Sex ’n’ drugs ’n’ rock ’n’ roll.”

It’s a Sunday evening. Two days ago, Friday, Tom came up the hill to Knockduff on his usual check. In Jo’s kitchen, he insisted that Ellen come for some dinner, wine, some company besides the nurse and Ned and Jo. He wanted her to meet his family.

Now, with the kids gone, Tom’s and Ruth’s and Ellen’s forks and pasta spoons clink too loudly; the candles and the table and wine are too cozy, too pent up and intimate.

Ruth says, “Well, speaking of drugs, we might as well finish this bottle. Ellen?” She offers the bottle of California cabernet.

Earlier, when the per-diem nurse arrived at the house in Knockduff, Ellen drove down the avenue, following Tom’s directions to turn left on the Gowna

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.