The Ballroom on Magnolia Street by Sharon Owens

Author:Sharon Owens
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: General, Fiction
ISBN: 9780141921228
Publisher: Penguin UK
Published: 2005-07-06T23:00:00+00:00

19. Kidnapped

It was the first week of February and the citizens of Belfast were feeling the pinch of winter winds and post-Christmas pockets. The city walls and windows were looking very drab now that all the decorations and lights had been put away for another year. Johnny was feeling pretty flat and colourless himself, and had been ever since Marion had told him that she did love Eddy Greenwood. Truly loved him, on a deep and profound level that went beyond looks and superficial things. Johnny had harboured some vague notion that Marion was only punishing him with her long marriage to Eddy, and that when she was ready, she would come back to him. Marion was afraid when she heard Johnny talk like that. She thought he might be unstable in some way. After all, it was twelve hours before they found Johnny Hogan in the rubble and the darkness, lying in the cradle that James had made for him. Did he suffer so much trauma, in that dark cradle, that he had grown up with his thinking pattern distorted, she wondered. Was that why he liked to be in the middle of all the fun and the music and the crowds? Because he had lain in the dark all night, cold and hungry, and afraid that no one would come? She was gentle with him, holding his hand, and saying that she would always care for him as a dear friend, but that friends was all they could ever be.

Johnny worried that he might back out and not go to America on his big trip after all. What would everyone think of him then? That he was just a big baby, that’s what. With a heavy heart, he decided to leave Ireland at the end of April.

The very day Johnny booked his flight to Florida, a tourist was attacked by a crocodile there. The man survived, but needed two hundred stitches in his legs. It was the main story on the local news stations all day. Lots of Ulster people were going to Florida on their holidays; and even though they lived their lives under the constant threat of sectarian murder, and no-warning bombs going off in the town centres, they were scared stiff of stray crocodiles lurking in suburban swimming pools. Johnny thought it was a bad omen. He slipped the ticket into his wallet and half-hoped he would never use it.

The disco was packed to the doors every night with people eager to visit the famous nightspot before it closed down for good. Sunny Jim and the recently returned Standing Stone were very depressed. Working in the ballroom was the best job they had ever had. They would miss the sense of importance they felt, standing with their backs to the crowd before the doors were opened each night. DJ Toni was already scouting for another gig, but he doubted he would find one where he got half-price cocktails and all the free fish suppers he could eat.

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.