The Sackville Street Caper by Alan Nolan

Author:Alan Nolan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The O'Brien Press
Published: 2022-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Most Zoological, Captain

In which Billy the Pan and Shep visit the Phoenix Park in search of an unreal avian.

‘I can’t wait to join the Brotherhood of Beggarmen too, Billy,’ said Shep as they trudged up to the big stone monument at the centre of the Phoenix Park. Billy took the saucepan off his head and wiped his brow with a sweaty handkerchief. ‘Don’t worry,’ he said. ‘You’ll be old enough in a couple of years, and you’ll get your turn then.’

Beside him, Shep raised up his curly head to gaze at the tall column in front of them and wiped his runny nose with his sleeve. Standing on the column’s wide base they could just about see the statue of a bird with long plumage perched on the stone plinth on top. ‘Well,’ said Shep, ‘there’s your phoenix, but he’s made out of stone. I don’t think you’re going to get a feather off of him, unless you’ve got a chisel.’

Billy scratched his head and put his saucepan hat back on. ‘This place is called the Phoenix Park,’ he said looking around. ‘There must be a phoenix bird in here somewhere.’ Shep put his hand up to shield his eyes and scanned the wide green fields and pastures that surrounded them. In the distance some deer roamed slowly from one lush green field to another, grazing as they went. There was a faraway noise and the deer suddenly bolted, running as a group to the safety of some trees.

‘What was that noise,’ said Billy, listening intently.

‘I didn’t hear anything,’ said Shep.

‘SSSHHHHH…’ said Billy, ‘There it is again! It’s coming from the Zoo!’

The two boys, one lanky and one short, ran to the gates of the Dublin Zoological Gardens.

‘Listen!’ said Billy, holding out his arm to stop Shep in his tracks. They listened again; there was definitely a SHRIEEEKing SCREEECHing noise coming from inside the Gardens.

‘And what manner of a hat is that?’ asked a uniformed man sitting beside a metal turnstile at the gate. He wore a tall, peaked cap and spoke with a country accent. Billy thought the accent might have been from Cork, but as he had never travelled further from Dublin City than Donnybrook, he couldn’t be sure.

‘It’s a helmet,’ he said, rapping on the saucepan with his knuckle. ‘Me da got it off a Frenchman when he was fightin’ in the war with Napoleon. They’re all the fashion in Dublin now. You should trade in that stupid yoke you have on your head and get yourself one of these beauties.’

Shep snickered; he loved it when Billy was cheeky to adults.

‘Go on out of that,’ said the man, annoyed now. ‘Go on, clear off. It’s tuppence in and you two don’t look like you have two pennies to rub together.’ Shep, his tongue out, blew a loud, wet raspberry noise, and the man jumped up waving his fist. The two lads ran off, laughing.

The fence around the Zoological Gardens was high – much taller than a

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