Communion day,you make the rounds of lanes and back streets and you
get cakes and sweets and money,The Collection.
Thats where poor Peter Dooley comes in.We call him Quasimodo
because he has a hump on his back like the one on the hunchback of
Notre Dame, whose real name we know is Charles Laughton.
Quasimodo has nine sisters and it is said his mother never wanted
him but that was what the angel brought her and its a sin to question
whats sent. Quasimodo is old, hes fifteen. His red hair sticks up in all
directions. He has green eyes and one rolls around in his head so much
hes constantly tapping his temple to keep it where its supposed to be.
His right leg is short and twisted and when he walks he does a little
twirly dance and you never know when hell fall.Thats when youre
surprised.He curses his leg,he curses the world,but he curses in a lovely
English accent which he got from the radio, the BBC. Before he leaves
his house he always sticks his head out the door and tells the lane, Heres
me head, me arse is coming.When he was twelve Quasimodo decided
that with the way he looked and the way the world looked at him the
best thing would be to prepare for a job where he could be heard and
not seen and what better than sitting behind a microphone at the BBC
in London reading the news?
But you cant get to London without money and thats why he
hobbles up to us that Friday, the day before Confirmation. He has an
idea for Billy and me. He knows the next day well be getting Confir-
mation money and if we promise to pay him a shilling each hell let us
climb up the rainspout behind his house this very night to look in the
window and see his sisters naked bodies when they take their weekly
wash. I sign right away. Billy says, I have my own sister.Why should I
pay to see your naked sisters?
Quasimodo says that looking at your own sisters naked body is the
worst sin of all and hes not sure if theres a priest in the world can for-
give you, that you might have to go to the bishop, who everyone knows
is a holy terror.
Billy signs.
Friday night we climb the wall of Quasimodos backyard. Its a
lovely night with the June moon floating high over Limerick and you
can feel a warm breeze off the Shannon River. Quasimodo is about to
let Billy up the spout and who comes clambering over the wall but
Mikey Molloy the Fit himself hissing at Quasimodo, Heres a shilling,
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