Novel 2

 

Chapter 2

School and The Life Boys

There came a time when Finbar was seven. When he got up that morning his father, Patrick, asked him if he felt any older.

He thought for a moment and said, yes. He said that he had a spring in his step, that day, but that might mean because of his birthday.

The junior school was more, or less, the same as the infants apart that he was in the 'A' stream – one, one. There were forty five children in the class, because it was the age of the 'baby boomer' and the schools couldn't afford teaching assistants and of the forty five, Finbar finished the year forty third; not his finest moment.

In the second year, when he was eight, during the term, he was dropped down to the 'B' stream to two, 'B' – two two.

No specialist teachers just a regular teacher – a generalist. Mr. Hennessey's class. His first name was Fred; he was five feet three inches tall, a Yorkshire man and a Communist.

The first thing he showed the children, the class of eight year olds, in fact not quite eight was his cane; it was a short cane with a knob on one end; he said “don't worry I won't be hitting you with the knob end; that's for me to hold.'

Then he swished it.

The kids could feel the sting of it as the little fella swung it through the air; he was in his element; he was in charge of some people smaller than he was – although there was one girl, Lavinia Smith, who was taller and she pushed him one day and he nearly fell over.

'If I give you the stick' he said “there's no good complaining to your moms and dads and trying to take me to court – it won't work; it's been tried before. The courts always come down on the side of the school master.'

He did give the cane on occasions to the eight year olds and it was not pleasant to watch. Some of the kids, even at eight, just sneered at him after the smack.

A shock came over the whole class room followed by silence when somebody got the stick, rather like an execution; the little man had won again!!

One day in the art class he told everybody to draw a picture; Finbar drew a house – two windows downstairs and two windows up; with a door in the middle.

Walking up the path he drew the postman who was at he garden gate delivering letters to the house and he had a broad smile on his face.

Hennessey hovered close by then picked up Finbar's picture and took it out front; he thought it was because it was good - but no!

'Put your brushes down' he said “look at this!'

He held up the painting for all to see.

'What does this say?' he said pointing at the mail bag of the postman, “US Mail! US Mail!!! This is not America, young man – it should say Royal Mail – or the GPO – not US Mail. We're not Americans, you know, and we never will be – you'll see!! You'll see when the Russians come, you'll see then; then we'll see about the US Mail.' And he really articulated the US Mail and because of his Yorkshire accent it sound like a US Meal!!

Then he tore up the painting, took it over to the waste paper basket, which was right by his stick, screwed it up and dumped it. Then he picked up the stick, rolled it around his hand and put it down again.

They looked at that stick and so did he,

They were eight years old and he was five feet three'.

Finbar didn't like Mr. Hennessey, he thought he was a bully and he didn't believe he would get the better of his daddy, Patrick, so he was never scared. He liked the expression 'US Mail' but if there was one thing Mr. Hennessey was good at it was telling a story. Lots of times he would tell the class a story, the same story, and he would sit, or stand, at the front of the class, without a book or paper to read from, and tell the tale.

Finbar often thought he must be a writer till he found that the tale he was relaying was by Tolkien, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.

He had a chatty way of telling the story and he said that he had met Tolkien who told him that 'middle earth' was in The Lickey Hills. 'Not far from here, you know' he said one day, and he pronounced the word dwarf as dwarve.

One day Finbar saw a boy wearing some kind of sailor's uniform who told him he was a member of The Life Boys.

The Life Boys, in those days, was the junior version of The Boys Brigade; he was too young to join those, but he didn't like their uniforms in any case.

However, he did like the uniform of The Life Boys.

He noticed the way the sleeve went down to a cuff, neatly fitting close to the hand. So grown up and fashionable, and there was also a sailors' hat and when he got home he told his parents that he wanted to join.

The boy had told where he could join and  off he went to where their meetings were held and arranged to meet the boy there which was at the local Methodist Church on the corner of Lime Grove and Moseley Road.

Finbar was a little late getting there, so the boy had already gone in. He heard them inside and knocked the door.

He waited but nobody heard his knock.

He stood outside for a few minutes, then, very gently, tried the door and eased it open. As he did so the noise of the boys, inside, subsided and when the door was wide open, he was greeted by all the boys, and a woman.

“Hello.' he said.

They all laughed; he liked this.

“Hello' said the woman.

“I've come . . “

“You're Finbar?' said the woman.

“Yes.'

He was welcomed and observed the games they played and they talked about The Boys Brigade and the activites the boys would be doing once they became members.

One or two of the boys were going off to join, and they talked about camping and kayaking - whatever that was - and that The Queen was their patron.

At the end of their session he was given all the details he needed, and the place where he could buy the uniform, which consisted of navy blue jumper, sailors' hat and a 'Sam Brown' belt.

Before leaving they had to pray and, as they were methodists

he had to pray the Protestant way. 

Like the Protestant school, he attended, he had to say 'The Lord's Prayer' with an extended ending.

The Catholic way of ending the prayer is 'and deliver us from evil, amen.'

But the Protestants added 'for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever amen.'

Like school, they pronounced the 'amen' differently.

They said 'are men' and he was used to saying 'Ay-men.'

The Protestants started off 'Our Father, which art in Heaven . . .' and the Catholics said 'Who art in Heaven.'

He could never understand why the Protestants called Jesus a thing - which – as opposed to the Catholics personifying him as Who.

All this stuff going around his young mind, disturbed him a little and he kept the fact that he was a Catholic from everybody.

At his first attendance, in uniform, the woman he had met, was standing out in front, calling out the names of the boys to register their attendance.

She was called Miss Gabb, and when she called out the names, they answered, 'one, Miss Gabb,' or 'two, Miss Gabb' or even 'three Miss Gabb.'

'Finbar' said Miss Gabb, when she came to his name.

“erm – er hello' they all laughed!

He liked making them laugh.

“I'm sorry, Finbar.' said Miss Gabb “you should say “two Miss Gabb.'

“Two Miss Gabb?'

“Yes.'

“okay Miss Gabb – Two Miss Gabb.'

They laughed again.

“You've already said it.'

“When – er Miss Gabb.'

“Just then.'

“oh! Okay Miss Gabb.'

Another laugh; they were loving it.

“You say one, because you are here, two, if you are wearing your uniform and three if you attended church last Sunday. When attending church, you get one of the wardens to sign your membership card.'

By church, she meant the Methodist Church of which the hall was an annex. ‘The Archers’

But he went to St Anne's Roman Catholic Church on Sunday mornings, with his mam and dad and he wasn't going to change that.

Finbar already knew about the addendum to the Lord's Prayer and as he was attending a Protestant School, to account for this his parents sent him to St John's Convent, every Saturday morning.

This when the other boys were out playing might have been good for Finbar, as he was an only child and might have got to know his school pals a bit better, which was, maybe, why he joined the Life Boys in the first place - apart from the uniform.

“Do you go to church, Finbar,' said Miss Gab.

He didn't answer and didn't go to the Life Boys again.

He didn't tell his parents the reason he didn't go any more, but as his mother, who was well trained from her time at Kylemore Abbey School for girls, in Galway, was very handy with the needle and thread, altered the pullover for him to wear to school.

He liked that – he liked the way the sleeve went down to a cuff, neatly fitting close to the hand.

Chapter 3

                                              Genevieve.