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Mam says she cant spend another minute in that room on Hart-
stonge Street. She sees Eugene morning, noon and night. She sees him
climbing the bed to look out at the street for Oliver and sometimes she
sees Oliver outside and Eugene inside, the two of them chatting away.
Shes happy theyre chatting like that but she doesnt want to be seeing
and hearing them the rest of her life. Its a shame to move when were
so near Leamys National School but if she doesnt move soon shell go
out of her mind and wind up in the lunatic asylum.
We move to Roden Lane on top of a place called Barrack Hill.
There are six houses on one side of the lane, one on the opposite side.
The houses are called two up, two down, two rooms on top, two on the
bottom. Our house is at the end of the lane, the last of the six. Next to
our door is a small shed, a lavatory, and next to that a stable.
Mam goes to the St.Vincent de Paul Society to see if theres any
chance of getting furniture.The man says hell give us a docket for a
table, two chairs, and two beds. He says well have to go to a second-
hand furniture shop down in the Irishtown and haul the furniture
home ourselves. Mam says we can use the pram she had for the twins
and when she says that she cries. She wipes her eyes on her sleeves and
asks the man if the beds were getting are secondhand.He says of course
they are, and she says shes very worried about sleeping in beds some-
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