the air and the fish in the stream but he’s not a fool. I light the candle, I kneel at his statue and beg him to get me out of fifth class where I’m stuck with my brother, who is probably going around the lane now bragging that his big brother was kept back. St. Francis doesn’t say a word but I know he’s listening and I know he’ll get me out of that class. It’s the least he could do after all my trouble coming to his statue, sit- ting on steps,holding on to walls,when I could have gone to St.Joseph’s Church and lit a candle to the Little Flower or the Sacred Heart of Jesus Himself.What’s the use of being named after him if he’s going to desert me in my hour of need? I have to sit in Mr. O’Dea’s class listening to the catechism and all the other stuff he taught last year. I’d like to raise my hand and give the answers but he says, Be quiet, let your brother answer. He gives them tests in arithmetic and makes me sit there and correct them. He dictates to them in Irish and makes me correct what they’ve written.Then he gives me special compositions to write and makes me read them to the class because of all I learned from him last year. He tells the class, Frank McCourt is going to show you how well he learned to write in this class last year. He’s going to write a composition on Our Lord, aren’t you, McCourt? He’s going to tell us what it would be like if Our Lord had grown up in Limerick which has the Arch Confraternity of the Holy Family and is the holiest city in Ireland.We know that if Our Lord had grown up in Limerick He would never have been crucified because the people of Limerick were always good Catholics and not given to cru- cifixion. So, McCourt, you are to go home and write that composition and bring it in tomorrow. Dad says Mr. O’Dea has a great imagination but didn’t Our Lord suffer enough on the cross without sticking Him in Limerick on top of it with the damp from the River Shannon. He puts on his cap and goes for a long walk and I have to think about Our Lord by myself and won- der what I’m going to write tomorrow. The next day Mr. O’Dea says,All right, McCourt, read your com- position to the class. The name of my composition is— The title, McCourt, the title. The title of my composition is,“Jesus and the Weather.” What? “Jesus and the Weather.” 205