Kelegeen by Eileen O'Finlan

Author:Eileen O'Finlan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: irish potato famine, catholic and protestant relationships and genocide in ireland, fever black leg disease typhus, premonitions and communication with the dead, priests and the power of forgiveness, starvation and relief efforts in the nineteenth century, survival of natural disasters and emigration
Publisher: BWL Publishing Inc.

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Father O’Malley’s mind was reeling as he left the scalpeen. He was horrified at what he’d learned about the Dooley family. What they had endured over the years must have been truly awful. And what of their future? Two lasses mute from trauma were hardly marriageable. Heaven only knew where Kevin was going or what he was doing. Was he really in town begging or was he up to something dangerous, perhaps even sinister? He did not like the way Noreen talked about Kevin becoming like his da. The fact that he’d been drinking was especially concerning. Where was he getting it? If he had money to buy whiskey, it should instead be spent on food. Was he buying it at all or was he stealing?

“Damn this famine!” Father O’Malley said aloud as he walked towards the O’Connor cottage. He had made an inroad, or so he’d thought, with Kevin, but had become so consumed with the effects of the famine on all his parishioners that he’d had no time to follow through. He should have made the Dooleys a higher priority, especially after Colin abandoned the family, though he was now more sure than ever that they were better off without him. But if Kevin became too much like him, would they simply be replacing Colin with a younger version of the same nightmare? Why did I not spend more time with him? How could I let it come to this? And those lasses! Why had I never inquired before as to their condition? Had Colin done more than beat them? What will become of them? How can I help them? How can I change the course Kevin has set himself on? Why haven’t I paid more attention to this family from the beginning?

Father O’Malley continued alternating between silently berating himself and trying to think of a way to help until he reached the O’Connors’ cottage. His feet had kept pace with the rapidity of his thoughts. Now, as he knocked at the door, his breath smoked in the winter air. He had not realized until this moment how much of a toll the famine was taking on him. Somehow he’d felt himself set apart from it. He had little enough to eat, but still more than most of his parishioners. Since the Church paid for his cottage, he had no fear of eviction. The slight dizziness he felt, the emptiness of his cramping belly and the sudden, intense exhaustion impressed upon him the first inkling that he might be physically affected as well.

When the door opened he was hit with a wave of heat.

“Come in, Father,” Deirdre said, ushering him into the crowded cottage.

The Quinn family had not built a scalpeen as expected. Instead, Denis, feeling guilty at removing his name from the letter sent to the landlord, insisted that the Quinns move in with them despite the risk. They could be evicted for it, but Denis was adamant that, at least for the winter, the Quinns would stay with them.

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