The Callaghans Part Four. The Maiden's Prayer. Chapter 4

 ©2025 Chris Sullivan

The Callaghans

Part Four.

The Maiden's Prayer.

Chapter 4

There were lots of things Finbar did, whilst in Birmingham. He looked up Daniel, who had left the scouts and he looked at his little office come place to dump things, since he'd been in Dublin, and as he was still officially resident there, Carmel and Patrick were offered a maisonette, on a new estate being built in Sparkhill. One evening they went for a walk around there to Alfred Road, which is where it was located, and they didn't fancy it. There are many kinds of maisonettes and the ones in Alfred Road were like houses on top of houses. They didn't like the place much and turned it down. Patrick said he wouldn't like to be under people walking about over his head, when he was trying to get some sleep.

The Birmingham Council told them they would be demoted down the list but they decided to decline the offer.

Before going over to Birmingham, Finbar packed his granda, Joe, off to his brother in Cork. It made him feel secure if he knew he was being looked after and he was with someone as Joe was not as strong as he used to be. That's age, of course, but being gassed at The Somme didn't help.

He took Sofia out to a few places. He felt a bit strange taking her on the number eight bus to the Bristol Picture House on Bristol Road, once, by not being able to sit next to her. She up front and he at the back. He kept looking at her in case the person next to her got up and got off but it wasn't to be. So when the bus got to Moseley Road he waited on the platform for her and they walked off hand in hand.

When they stopped for a moment to peek down his little lane they let go of their hands and when they started off again, she put her hand into his arm like a husband and wife might do.

They walked up to Brighton Road and before she went in to the house, they stood at the end of the tiny front garden with a privet growing above the little three foot wall, where they kissed and cuddled for a while.

Inside, Mr. and Mrs. Taboné knew where they were and knew what they were doing and as the 1960s had only just begun, and hadn't started swinging yet, they really did know what they were doing and if they didn't, that was then and we won't pry.

He waited till she had closed the door before he set off. They had just been to see G.I. Blues, with Elvis Presley, and in the opening scene he, Elvis, is sitting in a tank, and when they finish their task he says 'Home James, through the park.' and the audience loved it. There was Elvis being a soldier and driving a tank and they laughed again and when Finbar stood in the doorway, as she closed it, and said 'Home James, through the park' in his best Elvis, she laughed too.

Around that time lots of youth clubs, church halls turned into dance halls and over in Weoley Castle, where his father had worked in construction when he came over to England, there was some kind of club of local kids which he took Sofia to. They caught the number eight bus, again, and this time they sat next to each other and he said 'I'm going to write that book.'

'What book?' she said.

'Around the World on a number eight bus.'

When they got to Bristol Road they caught a number sixty one bus to Weoley Castle and asked for a club called The Stonehouse Gang and when they got there they heard, coming from inside, Apache by The Shadows. It cost Finbar a few pence to get in, as they were not members, and when they got inside they found there was a group on the stage playing it. He wondered for a moment if they were The Shadows but could see they were local musicians who had formed the group. Once in a while a singer sang a couple of Cliff Richard songs and then he sang 'Mean Woman Blues' which was terrific.

When the group took a break a deejay puts some records on and when The Shape I'm In by Johnny Restivo, came on, Sofia grabbed Finbar onto the dance floor. She heard the intro, which was a boogie woogie piano, then a couple of treble chords on the guitar and she was dancing. She danced around Finbar, using his hand to twist around and jump. Those few chords seemed to grab everybody in the room and as soon as the song came on there was a big cheer, even though they had loved the live group. When it ended people shouted 'again' and the deejay played it again. Finbar had never felt so much rhythm and, in the vernacular of the time, was on cloud nine.

'We could do that' she said, as they sat down for coffee back at her Brighton Road house, 'We could get togther and play that.'

Her parents were in bed so they didn't play any music 'but not now, not even on your whistle' she said, pointing to the woodman's whistle on his top pocket 'what is that anyway?'

'Ah, I just have it.'

'What for?'

'I just do – my granda always carries a dog whistle, in his pocket. He never sees a dog just likes the look of it – it's a silver colour, with a chain.'

'That's just a piece of . . . . what is it?'

'Sycamore.'

Another day at Sofia's house Finbar found that she was a wonderful guitarist. She had said she only played chords but she had a great ear for finding chords not necessarily major chords but diminished ones with a seventh here and there. Theory of music was beyond him he just knew how to play most instruments but not the piano. He thought he had let Mr. Ferris down, his piano teacher.

Suddenly she played the chords to Peggy Sue, a song by Buddy Holly where the guitar break was played with chords and not solo strings. Finbar knew the song, and heard it played when they went to the Stonehouse Gang at Weoley Castle, but the guitarist, even though he played it well, didn't play it like Buddy Holly; Sofia did.

Finbar knew the rhythm, and the fast various areas was chic-chic, chic-chic, chic-chic chic-chic, ching - which is what Sofia played but at the Stonehouse Gang it chic-a-chic, chic chic.

The harmonica might have spent a lot of time on the piano in Dublin but he had packed it in his case when he came over so one day he brought it to Sofia's and as he played, Sofia played along with him. Not just pop and rock'n'roll but classics and she picked chords with her fingers too and accompanied Finbar with great dexterity which enabled her to play more variations and complicated chords. Sometimes a chord was played before he varied a tune and he listened to it very quickly and it led him on to something else, something beautiful and they both realised they were writing music; composing.

He told Daniel about her and the three of the met up and Daniel joined in singing. He had a wide tenor range which wasn't restricted to forming words classically and he could do a good Elvis type voice, which led to a Mario Lanza type and then onto a rock'n'roller like Little Richard.

Mr. and Mrs. Taboné were astounded at the sound coming from their parlour and came in and Mr. Taboné sang a pop song of the time Poppa Piccolino and Mrs. Taboné joined in:

All over Italy they know his concertina
Poppa Piccolino, Poppa Piccolino,
He plays so prettily to every signorina

Poppa Piccolino from sunny Italy.

They sang and for the words they didn't know they sang la.

It was a wonderful moment as the Tabonés were not performers.

Nobody knew what to do with this talent, they knew they had to do something but Finbar didn't want to move back to Birmingham, there was a lot he liked about the place but loved Dublin. In Dublin he was a different man, and he was almost a man. He was seventeen, Sofia sixteen and Daniel seventeen.

When it was time for Finbar to go back to Dublin he was broken hearted and as the train pulled out of New Street Station he felt tears welling up inside him. His chest had very strange sensation and he could see Sofia was upset too.

How could they get the three of them together, Daniel was happy where he lived and he had a girl friend called Nualla, he didn't want to leave but they were teenagers; what could they do?

That was between Sofia and Finbar, not the fact that they harmonised together which he got great satisfaction from. He asked himself where was he needed and that was with Granda Joe.

The Callaghans Part Four. The Maiden's Prayer. Chapter 3.

The Callaghans

Part Four.

The Maiden's Prayer.

Chapter 3

When his parents returned to Birmingham Finbar managed to get more work at Moor Street Market. He was of legal working age but he didn't have any leaving certificate from school so he never bothered and in any case he didn't know how to go about registering. If he'd have stayed in Birmingham and left school, he would have been issued with a National Insurance Number and a National Insurance Card. The employers filled the card with National Insurance stamps which would made him eligible for, what was called, the old age pension and other benefits.

He had visited Moore Street market many times with Joe and he liked listening to the traders trying to sell their wares. He chanted with the woman selling the oranges 'odengeeez' he shouted and he got a few laughs from everybody. They liked it so much they gave him the job. From there he carried bags of potatoes to and from other stalls and eventually became a general help or, as Joe called him, a general nuisance.

Carmel and Patrick returned to Dublin again, for St. Patrick's Day, which they didn't normally do but because Finbar was there it was an excuse to see him. Joe had collected shamrock for them from St. Stephen's Green, which he kept in a little bowl of water, and the four of them wore the shamrock on their chests as they walked to where the shamrock was picked.

Finbar liked St. Stephen's Green too and afterwards they went to the pictures in O'Connell Street, next to the Gresham Hotel. The film was about the sinking of the ship Titanic and was called A Night to Remember.

The four of them loved it and they likened it to their travels across The Irish Sea. Afterwards they talked about it in The Gresham Hotel, where they each had a glass of uisce beatha, , or Irish whiskey, and Finbar drank fruit juice.

Carmel discovered a Nelson type inhaler, which she got for Joe and Patrick told Finbar to make sure he used it. All he had to do was fill it with boiling water. It was a bit like a long cup or mug and Joe had to breath in through a spout at the top; it seemed to work well.

It was ironic to Carmel and Patrick that they were in England, for financial reasons, the work, where they didn't have a bathroom, or indeed hot running water, and back home, in dear old Dublin they had a bathroom and all the hot water they ever needed all heated up with a good fire of turf.

Finbar continued writing to Sofia in Birmingham and also to Carmel and Patrick, so he became a dab hand at putting words together. With Sofia he, with her, discussed meeting with her when he returned to Birmingham, and they also hinted at Sofia visiting him in Dublin but . . . . . they were children, not even at the age of consent so why it might have been okay for Finbar to stay with his folks, Sofia didn't know anybody in Dublin.

He was happy at the market and, now and the went with Joe to Old Mother Red Caps. Joe joined in with the singing and strummed his banjo but did nothing solo and Finbar started playing the harmonica. Patrick had bought a new one and sent it over in the mail. Finbar gave it a good look, a little play, not too much just a little scale, then he took the old one from the top of the piano and played that. He compared the two and decided to play the old one.

Another thing he did was to play Joe's tin whistle; Joe handed it to him when he stood up to play, he put it to his lips and Deedle ap a doodle de doodle ap a doodee. Deedle ap a doodle de doodle ap! eedle ap a doodle de doodle ap a doodee. Deedle ap a doodle de doodle ap! And improvised a tune after that.

Joe joined in with the banjo and a fella with a bodhrán played along: bucka bucka bucka bucka bucka bucka bum: bucka bucka bucka bucka bum. Then the crowd started clapping and a singer from the stage, joined in, with what they might call a portaireacht bhéil – a kind of Irish scat singing.

Every time Finbar went to the place he did something new.

One day in summer, Finbar was in Moore Street and who should he see arriving but Joe. When others noticed who Finbar was talking to, they gathered around as Joe was a well known character around the streets. People knew him from the times he sang in many of the pubs and played the banjo and Finbar felt so proud and Mrs. Duffy who sold the oranges said 'now we know where you get it from.'

They never recognised that Finbar and Joe had been regulars at the market; it was the music which made the penny drop just who he was.

Joe's breathing got a little better, as the warm breeze turned into a light soft movement of air, and as Joe felt the warmth of it from his ankles to his nose he said 'people often wonder why I never wear socks and I just think of this day – let's go and get a nice cream cake.' and off the two of them went to Bewleys.

Finbar never went anywhere near the official place he needed to register as an inhabitant of Dublin, he was born there so he must be a citizen but what harm was he doing, he was buying things in the shops and they'd pay tax on it.

Carmel and Patrick came over for the following Christmas and Saint Patrick's Day and it became evident that Joe was relying on Finbar. He nursed him through two other winters and sometimes when he went out he was pushed in a wheel chair by Finbar. He got the chair from Mrs. Boyle's son when his mother died and, like The Atomic Flyer, Finbar decorated it with stickers from a bicycle shop but he couldn't find one with Atomic Flyer on it so settled for Zarkow 1 which was Flash Gordon's rocket ship.

One day a letter came from Sofia and she told him she was going out with some fella from Great Barr, over the other side of Birmingham. She said she usually met him at the Kardomah Cafe on the corner of Navigation Street; usually met him, he thought.

Brighton Road, Balsall Heath, in Birmingham, is almost the southern most point on Moseley Road before it gets to Moseley. Beyond that, Moseley Road becomes Alcester Road. The word Alcester is a very familiar word to the neighbourhood as the number fifty bus displayed its destination as Alcester Lanes End, which hardly anyone had ever been there, or even knew where it was. The correct pronunciation was Ulsster, a bit like the Provence in Ireland, but the people of Birmingham would say Allssester so if anybody mentioned it you knew which were the Brummies.

Back to Brighton Road, which is off the east side of Moseley Road, and the first thing to see in the distance was a railway bridge, maybe a hundred yards down. One of the houses on the right hand side had a porch over the front door, and that was the house Finbar used to look at to as he rode the Dynamic Flyer on the way to school.

Not long after Finbar received the letter from Sofia he knocked that door and stood on the step. After a minute or so he could see a tall figure through the diamond leaded glass door approaching. The door opened and it was Sofia's dad; when he saw Finbar he stopped for a moment; he knew who it was:

'Yes, young man?' he said.

'Is Sofia in?' said Finbar.

'Yes she is' said Mr. Taboné, 'who shall I say is calling.'

Finbar knew full well, that Mr. Taboné knew who it was and stopped saying anything for a moment, then said 'Finbar John Timothy Joseph Callaghan.'

'Oh' said Taboné 'Mr Callaghan of Meet Mr. Callaghan, fame?'

A feature film of the time.

'More than likely' said Finbar,

Taboné tapped him gently on the shoulder and said 'How are you Finbar – Sabbinirica.' 

'Okay' said Finbar and Mr. Taboné gestured him in and opened the door, off the hall, into the parlour.

Finbar went inside, also called the 'front' room and sat down on the sofa which had its back to the bay window so that when he waited for Sofia he saw the whole room. At the back was a piano and on the right, above the fire place was a huge picture of a family. Finbar presumed it was the Tabonés back in Sicily in the olden days, before Italy was at war with Britain. At least he did wonder if Sicily was in Italy and if Sicilians were also Italians. In fact he wondered, as he was sitting there, if the Scottish and Welsh people were also English; he knew the Irish were only Irish but – then he remembered the name British. Yes they were Scottish and British and . . .

The door opened and in stepped Sofia; sixteen year old Sofia looking radiant and beautiful. She wore a pair of slacks and a polo necked pullover, and a huge smile on her face.

'Hello' she said.

'Hello.' said Finbar, and he stood up.

She didn't move. He didn't move.

He smiled 'When did you come back?' she said.

'Yesterday. Yesterday morning.' he kind of mumbled.

'Oh' she said 'I can hear your accent.'

He smiled.

I came on the bus, from the station and forgot the Brummy accent. It sounded, it sounded . . . . '

'What?'

'Strange.' he said 'as if they were all putting it on. You sound the same.'

'The same as people on the bus, or . .'

'No – the same as you used to – must be the art school.'

'Oh yes – I forgot I told you about the art school.'

'Is it the one on Moseley Road? Is that Moseley Art School?'

'Yes' she said 'how's your mom and dad?'

'They're okay.'

'You didn't tell me you were coming.'

'No, I had to come over suddenly' he said 'I had to thank Syd for a picture.'

'You came all the way to thank him for a - a picture?'

'Yes.'

'Syd?'

'Our neighbour. I can only be a minute. I, er – do you want to meet up?'

'I don't mind.' she said 'when?'

'Tomorrow.'

'Yes – okay.'

'I have to be in, er, in we Hurst Street tomorrow to er, to meet Don – Don from the scouts.'

'Okay – what time?'

'I don't know, can I meet you about four – at the number fifty bus outside the Hipp?'

'The Hipp?'

'The Hippodrome.'

'I think so – I'll come straight from school – no let's say four thirty and I can get changed.'

'Okay.' he said.

He didn't have any business to meet Don and he didn't know how Syd was but he looked in at Syd when he got home. He looked older than he remembered him but he was okay. Elsie wasn't getting around too well and had a walking frame. A zimmer they called it. In the evening Camel and Patrick introduced him to Calista and Mateus who had opened an Indian Restaurant on Moseley Road. It was the first Indian meal Finbar had tried and he wasn't quite used to it so didn't eat it all.

But they loved Finbar, it was the first time they met. They had a nice conversation at the table then they returned to their little cottage with the cold water and outside lavatory. At dinner they talked about the points system and how many they needed to get a council house.

'How low do you have to go when no hot water doesn't give you enough points for a house this day and age?' said Mateus.

The next day Finbar met Sofia outside The Birmingham Hippodrome; of course it was her smile he saw first.

'How'i ye?'

'Hi' she said.

They walked up Hill Street, away from the railway station and Sofia said 'Where are you taking me?'

'Aha' said Finbar.

As they walked they came to Jack Woodruff's Guitar Shop. She stopped. 'I've been having guitar lessons there.' she said.

'How are you getting on?'

'Okay now.' she said 'but when I first started not so good. On the second week the teacher didn't turn up. Then he came the third week and not the fourth.'

'What did you do?'

'I told them in the shop so they recommended a woman guitar teacher. She was great – a girl from Yardley.'

'You'll have to play something for me.'

'I only play chords.' she said.

They walked on 'where are we going?' she said again, then they turned the corner into Navigation Street and the Kardomah Cafe.

'Oh?' she said.

They went in and he ordered two drip coffees. Two cups with a plastic thing on top which allows coffee to drip through into the cup.

As he sat down he said 'now where's this bloke from Great Barr?'

She laughed.

'Still in Great Barr?' he said.

'And how's Sydney?'

©2025 Chris Sullivan

The Callaghans Part Four. The Maiden's Prayer. Chapter 2.

 

Chapter 2

Carmel and Patrick arrived at the Liberties house early the next morning, having caught the evening boat-train at New Street Station, and the boat across from Holyhead. 'What ship were you on?' asked Finbar.

'The Hibernia' said Carmel and Finbar asked them a lot of questions about the restaurant in case they saw the waiter who fed him on the trip across. He told them he would have asked Phyllis for money but didn't think. They both loved his stories but they didn't always believe them as he was a born story teller. The big news Carmel had was that her father had died. Joe gave his condolences 'So sorry' he said 'When's the funeral?'

'There isn't one' said Carmel 'he died a year ago. Aisling wrote and told me.'

'A year!!' said Joe.

'Maybe more.' said Patrick.

'What about the quare one?' said Joe.

'Not a word' said Carmel.

Joe served breakfast: eggs, rashers and sausages with both black and white pudding, washed down with strong tea.

'Calista wrote and told us they are opening a restaurant in Birmingham.' said Patrick 'next door to the bike shop on Moseley Road, Finbar.'

Finbar hadn't met them but he heard about Calista and . . 'What was the husband's name?'

'Mateus.' said Patrick 'they'll be able to live at the back of the restaurant.'

'That's game ball' said Joe 'is it far from you?'

'About a hundred yards' said Patrick. 'Do you know what I miss living over there Da?'

'Me, I hope' said Joe.

'Of course, you' said Patrick 'but white pudding. Can't get it over there at all.'

'Someone has to bring it over.' said Carmel.

'Who's going to buying Indian food in Bermyham?'

'I think people will.' said Carmel.

'When did you friend tell you about your Da?'

'A few weeks ago, Joe. I don't suppose you heard anything?'

'Not a word' said Joe 'but it's bad bollix all the same.'

Finbar knew of his granny and grandad Wilde and often wondered why he had never met them.

'Did you call your mother?' said Joe.

'Yes, and she put the phone down again.'

'So it's no good inviting her here for Christmas dinner?'

They laughed, it was pathetic; but they laughed.

Carmel had a little present for Finbar from Sydney and she gave it to him. It was a large envelope which Finbar opened. A picture of Gary Cooper in High Noon and as soon as Finbar opened it he was delighted. To Finbar with all our love from Elsie and Syd' was on the back of the picture, and there were a couple of kisses under each name: Finbar could see that they had each put them under their names and he could see Sydney's blind scrawl.

'I'm putting it on the wall' he said and went to the chest of drawers by the piano to get some pins and went into the bedroom.

When breakfast was over Carmel and Patrick unpacked their luggage in the bedroom, that used to be Patrick's, and was used by Finbar. Carmel saw on the walls Finbar's pictures. Then she saw the Gary Cooper High Noon photo, next to ones of the films The Day the Earth stood Still and Genevieve – and then over the bed he had put up the picture that Sydney had sent over. Not a word about the duplication, no 'I've already got this'' not a whisper. She could see the older picture, without Elsie and Sydney's signature, it had been replaced by the new one.

Most of the bedrooms in Dublin had a crucifix above the bed but not this one; Patrick noticed.

Elsie and Sydney really missed Finbar, missed him terribly; he was almost an adoptive son.

On Christmas day Joe cooked a turkey with all the trimmings and Patrick went to mass. Ever since the incident with Tommy Bull after the scout camp, Finbar hadn't been to any church. Carmel wasn't about to make him go and Patrick kind of knew that the right thing to do would be to ignore it.

Finbar was delighted when Carmel told him she was going to work at his old school teaching music and history. As she was sitting with Finbar she noticed his harmonica on top of the piano.

She was told by Joe that he had picked it up, that day, but it was strange that he went from carrying it with him, everywhere he went, to ignoring it; maybe there was something more about the time he'd been poisoned, and the trouble with Tommy Bull that meets the eye; she intended to give it some thought.

Saint Stephen's Day followed Christmas and Joe said he would like to take Finbar out.

'Oh!' said Carmel 'I thought we'd take him to Trinity College, to see my alma mater – if they're open. What did you have in mind?'

'Dún Laoghaire.' said Finbar.

Carmel didn't say anything, at first, but then Patrick piped up with 'what does he want to see there?'

'He could see the ship you came on – or its sister.'

'Or Haigh Terrace?' said Finbar.

'Or Haigh Terrace' said Joe 'and why not?'

Patrick got up and cleared the breakfast things away from the table: remnants of egg, a tiny bit of rasher and maybe a crust from the fried bread, but no white pudding. That was all gone and in fact, as Finbar didn't like it much, his share had been eaten by Patrick. As far as breakfast was concerned more and more white pudding was bought together with Hafner Sausages and more rashers. The rashers must have been the best in the world but at least, better than the bacon Patrick ate in Birmingham. Each time he visited Dublin it took a long time to get used to the Birmingham bacon, which is what the English called rashers.

'What's he going to learn at Haigh Terrace?' said Patrick as he put the delf into the sink.

'What's he going to learn at Trinity?' said Joe.

'I don't mind at all' said Carmel 'it's all the same to me, but he's been here, with you, since October so why leave it till now.'

'We don't have to go' said Joe 'I just waited till yiz were here; I didn't want you to think I was sneaking him anywhere.'

'No such thing' she said 'but I don't like the fact of you going out at all.'

'I go out every day.'

'Maybe you should wait for the air to get warmer – this is bad for your chest; why don't I take him?'

That's what happened.

Carmel took Finbar on the train and Patrick took his father around to the Brazen Head pub as it was the closest. They had a slow walk around there and Patrick could tell Joe was puffing and blowing.

'How's the singing?'

'Can't get my breath any more' said Joe 'takes me all my time to walk. Young Finbar sang a few times at Mother Red Caps; he's very good.'

'He never sang at home – played the mouth organ all right, but never sang.'

'He played the tin whistle there too – very good.'

'What about the woodman's whistle?' said Patrick 'I see he still carries it?'

Patrick ordered two pints and sat down with Joe.

'Did youz two ever get married?'

'No' said Patrick 'I think I might have told ya if we did. We didn't think it important in the finishing up. Took so much trouble over here we couldn't be bothered.'

'Finbar hasn't been anywhere near a church since he's been here.'

'What?' said Patrick.

'Said he doesn't believe in it any more – won't go near the place. Won't bless himself when he passes a church - has no time for it.'

'Dear oh dear' said Patrick 'what does he do when you go?'

'I don't go any more.'

'Why not?'

'It's a long story. I never went near a church since the night Finbar was born. There was no god there to help us then – do you know Carmel nearly died that night – nearly died, she did: and when I was praying – well not praying - I just said mother of God, please help us and she said stop that bloody nonsense and kind of went into a coma.'

'And that's what turned you off?'

'I don't want to talk about it.'

'Why not?' said Patrick.

'I don't' he said and picked up his drink 'Sláinte' he said and took a gulp of the Guinness.

'Sláinte' said Partick and took his gulp but not another word was spoken on the subject.

On the train to Dún Laoghaire, as they headed inexorably to Haigh Terrace, Finbar cuddled up to his mother the way he'd done all his life. On the days, long after the initial introduction on that first school day, when Carmel dropped him off at school, Finbar made sure to kiss her, right up to the day they split up on Ladypool Road when he doubled back and went back home. He noticed that other boys shied away from kissing their parents in case other boys laughed at them. Finbar figured he liked to show the world that he and his parents loved each other, and that the boys who were scared to show their love didn't have any to show.

Nobody on the train paid him any mind the fifteen year old boy with his mammy. Carmel had missed him too and she saw by him that he was nearly back to the happy go lucky little fella.

'Do you like it over here?' she said.

'I love it' said Finbar.

Carmel noticed that a lot of his Dublin accent had returned.

'I noticed that your harmonica is gathering dust on that piano.'

'I suppose so' said Finbar. 'Granda told you I played The Maiden's Prayer on it.'

'How do you know?' she said.

'He told me he would; he did didn't he?'

'Yes – but he told you . . . beforehand?'

He nodded and smiled.

'Why did you stop carrying it?'

'No reason, really: I got to thinking it got to be an obsession with me.'

'And what about your woodman's whistle?'

'What about it?' he said.

'Are you not obsessed with that?'

'I might be; who knows? I suppose it's like my blanket or clothe – when I was lost in that 'land of unbelievability' it was like my hot water bottle.'

'Unbelievability? That's a long word for you – where did you get the whistle from?'

He smiled, as if she knew in any case 'The Land of Unbelievability.'

She smiled back and he looked through the window.

'Here we are' he said 'Dún Laoghaire.'

Joe and Patrick only had a couple of drinks before heading home. It was fairly cold as they sauntered along the street. Patrick took his scarf off and wrapped it around Joe.

'I'm all right.' he said.

'You're not' said Patrick 'just keep that chest warm' he pulled the scarf over Joe's mouth 'and this cold air is not good for you.'

'Okay son. There we go with you molly coddling me.'

'I'm not molly coddling you, you auld galoot' said Patrick 'you need to keep warm.'

'I took him out to Finglas, one of Sundays, and when we made our way down to Mellowes Road, we got the end of the street when a huge crowd came walking past – huge crowd, it was, and young Finbar said is there a football match, Granda? and then we saw a priest walking the other way – against the crowd, if you know what I mean.'

'Yes' said Patrick.

'And the priest was roaring and shouting, saying Where were all these people at eight-o-clock this morning over and over again. Finbar stopped. He had never seen anything like it and said well I'm not going and he hasn't been anywhere near mass ever since.

When they got in they sat by the big fire and drank some hot tea with a drop of the uisce beatha in it to give it warmth. Patrick had noticed, as Carmel had, the lack of any holy pictures or crucifixes on the wall and asked Joe about it.

'Finbar wanted his pictures up and I asked myself why not? They’re only craven images after all.'

'I've heard that before' said Patrick.

'I know, I know' said Joe 'it's what the protestants said about Catholicism but they are only . . . I don't know, craven images, is what they called them, and craven images they are. People seem to treat the last supper as a photograph.'

'What . . the last supper?'

'The painting' said Joe 'by Leonardo da Vinci. We were sitting here one day and Finbar asked me where God is and that he'd been looking for him and – I started to think about it and I said he's the author of everything, everything that happens. I said when you read a book, you don't look for the author, do you, and he looked at me as if he'd figured everything out and said, so we're in a book.'

Patrick was mystified 'In a book?' he said.

'That's right' said Joe, 'but you know, and you'll know yourself, he's always walking around as if he's in a story. I thought he'd be an actor, or something, he seems to see things that aren't really here and fantasises about them. He writes to a girl I Bermeyham.'

'Sofia Taboné?'

'Yes' said Joe 'They get on like a house on fire.'

'You know something: they hardly know each other. They kind of, what can I say? Have some kind of nodding acquaintance. I wonder how he'll get on today with his grandmother?'

'He's been before.'

'What?'

'Only to the house' said Joe 'I showed him where Carmel used to live; that's all.'

When Carmel and Finbar got to Haigh Terrace, Finbar pointed to the house 'there it is.' he said.

'You know?'

'We walked past it, when we came to meet you at the boat ; me and Granda Joe' said Finbar.

When they got to the house they stood by the wall looking at it.

'What are we going to do now?' said Finbar.

'I'm going to knock the front door.'

She walked up the path and stopped at the steps. She looked back at Finbar who was standing by the gate, and gestured for him to come, but he shook his head. She climbed the few steps and knocked the door hard and loud.

Not a movement. Finbar took his woodman's whistle from his top pocket and twiddled with it in his hand.

Carmel knocked the door again. Finbar blew the whistle softly.

Inside Nora Wilde could see Finbar through the window even though she was at the back of the room; she was lying on a bed which had been lifted so she could see out but so far back that she couldn't be seen. As she moved her head, she saw Finbar where two parts of the glass met and it looked like two Finbars. She stayed there as she liked looking at him like that, but when she moved her head again she could still see two Finbars.

Round the back the door was locked and when Carmel looked through the window, she could see sheets over the furniture and the whole place in darkness.

At the front gate Joseph was with Finbar, Joseph, from The Lickey Hills, the boy he met there who gave him the whistle. Carmel hadn't looked back when she went to the back of the house.

'I heard you.' said Joseph 'bet you thought you would never see me again.'

Finbar blew on the whistle and fell to the floor and started fitting.

Nora Wilde, in the house, saw this and came out of the front door. She was in a night gown and was putting a dressing gown on, to try to keep keep warm, as she approached. She was walking very slowly and could see Joseph too and was holding a walking stick which she clung to like death.

Finbar was on his back, as Nora went to him, but when she looked up again, Joseph was gone. She turned Finbar on his side till the fit subsided and she stroked his brow with her hand.

Carmel came back around the house and went to them.

'He's had a fit' said Nora 'I didn't know he was epileptic.'

'I didn't - it's never happened before – as far as I know.' stammered Carmel.

'He's okay now.' said Nora.

The fast walking straight to business woman that Carmel knew as her mother, was now a frail little old lady. She looked very rough and could hardly get up. She put her hand to the wall to hoist herself and Carmel helped her: 'Get away' she said as she swung at Carmel; not a blow but a 'get away gesture.

She struggled to her feet and wobbled when she was up 'Nothing has changed' she said 'you had your child and went away – and that's it.'

Carmel didn't want to argue with a woman she never knew. 'Thank you for looking after him; his name is Finbar.'

'I know' she said 'I know. I dealt with epilepsy – or fits – in England when we went to see the troops that time. He'll be all right.'

She struggled her way to the steps 'Take him to the doctor to get him checked out; probably a petit mal.'

'Where are you going?' said Carmel.

Nora, with her hand on the door, turned and said 'You made your bed, young lady; lie in it.'

Finbar was still on the ground with the woodman's whistle next to him. Carmel gave it to him as he sat up and as she helped him stand, Nora returned with a glass of water in her shaking hand, spilling small drops as she unsteadily walked. She gave it to Finbar who took it from her without looking up and she went back to the house.

Carmel remembered Finbar fitted at the hospital when he was found at The Lickey Hills and the doctors deduced it may have been caused by the scratches on his face from the berries or something indeterminate in the undergrowth.

'I feel okay' he said 'don't worry.'

He looked towards the house and the closed door.

'She's gone.'

'There we go.' said Finbar 'I managed so far without her.'

'She looks very ill' said Carmel.

In fact Nora Wilde had been ill for few months. A nurse visited her every day to see to her needs but the incident with Finbar was too much for her. She got back into bed and fell asleep. Carmel and Finbar didn't have any choice. They went back to the train remembering what her mother called Finbar even before he was born.

Finbar didn't want to go to the doctors, he said he was all right and it was decided that Finbar stayed with Joe. Patrick knew that Joe needed the company and as Finbar liked Dublin, what was the harm?

©2025 Chris Sullivan