Peter, don’t forget to be takin’ the medicine for your weak chest, God help us. Larry, mind them bloody bombs. Christy, don’t be talkin’ to them Englishwomen.They’re full of diseases. Jackie, come back. Sure we’ll manage somehow. Don’t go, Jack-e-e, Jack-e-e, oh, Jesus, don’t go. Dad pats our heads. He tells us remember our religious duties but, above  all,  obey  our  mother.  He  stands  before  her.  She  has  the  baby Alphie in her arms. She says, Mind yourself. He drops the bag and puts his arms around her.They stay that way a moment till the baby yelps between them.He nods,picks up his bag,climbs the steps to the station, turns to wave and he’s gone. Back at home Mam says, I don’t care. I know it sounds extravagant but I’m going to light the fire and make more tea for it isn’t every day your father goes to England. We sit around the fire and drink our tea and cry because we have no father, till Mam says, Don’t cry, don’t cry. Now that your father is gone to England surely our troubles will be over. Surely. Mam  and  Bridey  Hannon  sit  by  the  fire  upstairs  in  Italy  smoking Woodbines,  drinking  tea,  and  I  sit  on  the  stairs  listening. We  have  a father in England so that we can get all we want from Kathleen O’Con- nell’s shop and pay when he starts sending the money in a fortnight. Mam tells Bridey she can’t wait to get out of this bloody lane to a place with a decent lavatory that we don’t have to share with half the world. We’ll all have new boots and coats to keep off the rain so we won’t be coming home from school famished. We’ll have eggs and rashers on Sunday  for  breakfast  and  ham  and  cabbage  and  potatoes  for  dinner. We’ll  have  electric  light  and  why  shouldn’t  we? Weren’t  Frank  and Malachy born to it in America where everyone has it? All we have to do now is wait for two weeks till the telegram boy knocks at the door. Dad will have to settle into his job in England, buy work clothes and get a place to stay, so the first money order won’t be big, three pounds or three pounds ten, but soon we’ll be like other fam- ilies  in  the  lane,  five  pounds  a  week,  paying  off  debts,  buying  new 221