Keeping It In the Family by Sinéad Moriarty

Author:Sinéad Moriarty [Moriarty, Sinéad]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780141959016
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2013-01-09T00:00:00+00:00

24

The garage door swung open and a red-faced Siobhan glared out. ‘What the hell are you doing?’ she fumed. ‘Are you crazy, waking me up in the middle of the night? This had better be an emergency.’

I decided not to point out that it was only ten thirty-five and most normal people would still be up. ‘It is an emergency. I need your help.’

‘What’s wrong?’

‘Sarah’s plastered and I can’t let her go home. I need to sober her up, but I don’t know how to.’

‘Oh, for God’s sake, bring her in. Where is she?’

‘I left her in the hedge, in case Mum and Dad saw her out the window. I’ll go and get her,’ I said, running down the path to extract Sarah from the hedge, where she had fallen asleep again.

‘Look at the state of her,’ said Siobhan, shocked at how bad Sarah was. ‘What did she drink?’

‘A lethal cocktail of everything you can think of with a splash of orange juice.’

‘Did you have it too?’

I shook my head. ‘No, it tasted disgusting. I couldn’t swallow it.’

‘You’re lucky you couldn’t. How come you got lumped with looking after her? I thought she had a boyfriend.’

‘Had,’ I whispered. ‘He found someone else after she puked on his shoes, but she doesn’t know yet.’

‘Typical men,’ said my sister, as if she’d had vast experience of being dumped and cheated on, instead of having a boyfriend who’d stood by her, married her, then put up with her foul moods and mad crying fits.

Sarah began to slip out of my grasp. I plonked her on the couch where she began to groan.

‘She’d better not be sick in here,’ said Siobhan, seemingly oblivious to the pungent smell of baby vomit and dirty nappies that permeated her apartment.

‘She won’t.’

‘If she does, you’re dead. Now, come on, let’s get some coffee into her and see if we can sober her up.’

‘What about Mum and Dad?’ I asked.

‘It’s OK, they’re watching TV. I’ll go and make some coffee for Sarah now. Just keep her quiet so they don’t hear you.’

‘Siobhan.’

‘What?’ she snapped.

‘Sarah doesn’t like coffee.’

She sighed. ‘All right, then, I’ll make some toast. That should soak up some of the booze. In the meantime, get her to drink as much water as you can. There’s a glass in the bathroom.’

‘Siobhan.’

‘What is it now?’ she hissed.

‘Thanks.’

My sister came back five minutes later with a big plate of warm buttered toast and a bucket. She helped me prop up the sleeping Sarah. After several futile attempts to wake her by shaking her, Siobhan slapped her across the face.

‘Ouch,’ said Sarah, coming out of her semi-coma. ‘That hurt.’

‘You need to wake up, eat this and drink the water,’ ordered Siobhan, shoving the plate into my friend’s lap.

Sarah looked at the toast. ‘I think I’m going to be sick,’ she said, as Siobhan produced the bucket for her to throw up in. She’d thought of everything. I was impressed.

Being sick again seemed to sober Sarah up. Now that most of the

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