A Mad and Wonderful Thing by Mark Mulholland

Author:Mark Mulholland
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC000000
Publisher: Scribe Publications
Published: 2014-02-25T16:00:00+00:00

Samhain

I AM AT HOME WITH THE DONNELLYS. LAST NIGHT, I WENT TO THE OAK tree and I sat on the low wall. This morning, I walked through the town. The Sunday gathering has convened, and in my distraction I have missed my exit, and I now sit among them at the kitchen table as the soup is served.

‘Did you see the head on Rose Hamill this morning?’ Mam asks, throwing the question across the table like a hopeful gambler rolling the dice. ‘First up to communion, she was, brazen as anything.’

‘Aye, himself wasn’t far behind,’ Dad responds, pulled from a daydream. ‘No shame at all. Came over and shook my hand on the way out.’

‘They’re not coddin’ anyone but themselves, them two,’ Mam continues. ‘And those young ones moping about on the steps again? Can they not go in and sit down like civilised beings? Outside like a bunch of dopes with the whole town gawking at them. God Almighty, is it too much to ask?’

‘I see that Joanne has the new place opened,’ Dad says across the table to Shauna, speaking of her sister who has opened a clothes store. ‘It must be exciting for her.’

‘She was always a great one for the fashion, that one,’ Mam adds.

‘Four years in college is a long time to waste to work in a shop,’ Shauna replies.

I look up, provoked by the pouring of bitter water on the enterprise.

‘She’d be better off going out and getting a job like the rest of us,’ Declan joins the pouring. ‘She’ll never make anything out of that caper.’

‘And you know who else I met on the way out?’ Dad asks, before continuing without waiting for an answer. ‘The bould Sam McComish. He says his youngest has got a start above in the brewery.’

‘That was some stroke to get him into the brewery,’ Mam says. ‘The bould Sam, he’s deadly.’

‘They had pull there,’ Shauna interjects. ‘Herself has a brother above.’

‘Well, that’s them finished,’ Dad says. ‘That’s the last one settled. And you won’t believe this, but Sam’s after taking the redundancy bundle from the job, and they are moving out to Lanzarote for six months every year. Lanzarote? Wherever the hell that is. The world’s gone mad.’

‘She was always shifty, that one,’ Mam says. ‘That’ll be her idea. She always had notions. Where is Lanzarote, Johnny?’

‘Spain,’ I tell them. ‘Well, it’s an African island that belongs to Spain.’ And Mam and Dad shake their heads in astonishment as if I have confirmed that the bould Sam McComish and the shifty one are moving to the Amazon jungle or Mars.

‘And Father Woods is putting together a trip to Knock,’ Dad tells, moving on from the Lanzarote news. ‘I said we’ll go. It’ll help fill the bus.’

‘I’ll let Hannah and Eddie know,’ Mam says. ‘Put the four of us down for it. It’ll be a day out. Will you come with us, Johnny?’

‘Will I come on a trip to Knock?’ I ask. ‘Are you mad? No thanks.’ And everyone laughs.

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