out of Kathleen, Malachy can. Mam says he has the charm, and she tells me,There’s no use sending you with your long puss and your father’s odd manner. When  the  bleeding  stops  and  Mam’s  gums  heal  she  goes  to  the clinic for her false teeth. She says she’ll give up the smoking when her new teeth are in but she never does.The new teeth rub on her gums and  make  them  sore  and  the  smoke  of  the Woodbines  eases  them. She and Dad sit by the fire when we have one and smoke their ciga- rettes and when they talk their teeth clack.They try to stop the clack- ing by moving their jaws back and forth but that only makes it worse and they curse the dentists and the people above in Dublin who made the teeth and while they curse they clack. Dad claims these teeth were made for rich people in Dublin and didn’t fit so they were passed on to the poor of Limerick who don’t care because you don’t have much to chew when you’re poor anyway and you’re grateful you have any class of a tooth in your head. If they talk too long their gums get sore and the teeth have to come out.Then they sit talking by the fire with their faces collapsed. Every night they leave the teeth in the kitchen in jam jars filled with water. Malachy wants to know why and Dad tells him it cleans them. Mam says, No, you can’t have teeth in your head while you’re sleeping for they’ll slip and choke you to death entirely. The teeth are the cause of Malachy going to Barrington’s Hospital and me having an operation. Malachy whispers to me in the middle of the night, Do you want to go downstairs and see if we can wear the teeth? The teeth are so big we have trouble getting them into our mouths but Malachy won’t give up. He forces Dad’s upper teeth into his mouth and can’t get them out again.His lips are drawn back and the teeth make a big grin. He looks like a monster in a film and it makes me laugh but he pulls at them and grunts, Uck, uck, and tears come to his eyes.The more he goes Uck, uck, the harder I laugh till Dad calls from upstairs, What are you boys doing? Malachy runs from me,up the stairs,and now I hear Dad and Mam laughing till they see he can choke on the teeth. They both stick their fingers in to pull out the teeth but Malachy gets frightened and makes desperate uck uck sounds. Mam says,We’ll have to take him to the hospital, and Dad says he’ll take him. He makes me go in case the doctor has questions because I’m older than Malachy and that means I must have started all the trouble. Dad rushes through the streets with Malachy in his arms and I try to keep up. I feel sorry for 139