The Butchers by Ruth Gilligan

Author:Ruth Gilligan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atlantic Books

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‘About bloody time!’

The camp was only around a ten-minute walk – their feet moved in sync; they didn’t say a word – though something about it felt a bit like stepping into another world. Davey smelled the bonfire long before he saw it, the same smoky tang as his tongue from the barbeque crisps.

Dusk was falling, but still Davey could make out the carts hitched side by side at the edge of the clearing; the makeshift tents that seemed nothing more than off-white sheets draped like a child’s attempt at a ‘fort’; the horses tethered to the trunks of trees, chewing gobfuls of hay from a low and golden pile, their coats so glossy they looked as if they were soaking wet.

‘I thought we’d die of thirst.’ On a stump to the right, one of the Butchers sat with a knife and a stone in either hand.

Con ignored him. ‘This is Davey.’ He took the whiskey from his pockets, but he didn’t hand it over just yet.

‘Ah, so you’re the one to blame for him taking so bloody long?’

Davey looked the man in the face, trying to remember him from the house last week; trying not to glance down at the sharpened blade. ‘If you were so desperate, you should have just come to the pub yourself.’

The chorus of laughs and whoops arrived from all directions as the outlines of the other men emerged. Davey hadn’t meant to be rude. The Butcher clearly disagreed. ‘As if we’d be welcome. Everyone’s all smiles when things are going well, but as soon as they start to turn—’

‘Don’t mind Mik – he’s a grumpy git.’ For some reason Davey could remember that the man talking now was called Cúch. ‘Anyway, the grub is much better here.’ He smiled. ‘Take a seat, lads, and I’ll bring you both a plate.’

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