I finish, flush and go outside. She takes my hand and leads me into a bedroom, puts down her glass, locks the door, pushes me down on the bed. She’s fumbling at my fly. Damn buttons. Don’t you have zippers in Ireland? She pulls out my excitement climbs up on me slides up and down up and down Jesus I’m in heaven and there’s a knock on the door the priest Frank are you in there Frieda putting her finger to her lips and her eyes rolling to heaven Frank are you in there Father would you ever take a good running jump for yourself and oh God oh Theresa do you see what’s happening to me at long last I don’t give a fiddler’s fart if the Pope himself knocked on this door and the College of Cardinals gathered gawking at the windows oh God the whole inside of me is gone into her and she collapses on me and tells me I’m wonderful and would I ever consider settling in Poughkeepsie. Frieda tells the priest I had a bit of a dizziness after going to the bathroom, that’s what happens when you travel and you’re drinking a strange beer like Rheingold, which she believes they don’t have in Ire- land. I can see the priest doesn’t believe her and I can’t stop the way the heat  is  coming  and  going  in  my  face.  He  already  wrote  down  my mother’s name and address and now I’m afraid he’ll write and say your fine son spent his first night in America in a bedroom in Poughkeepsie romping with a woman whose husband was away shooting deer for a bit of relaxation after doing his bit for America in the war and isn’t this a fine way to treat the men who fought for their country. The First Officer and the Wireless Officer return from their tours of  the  house  and  the  garden  and  they  don’t  look  at  the  priest. The women tell us we must be starving and they go into the kitchen.We sit in the living room saying nothing to each other and listening to the women whispering and laughing in the kitchen.The priest whispers to me again, Bad women, bad women, occasion of sin, and I don’t know what to say to him. The bad women bring out sandwiches and pour more beer and when we finish eating they put on Frank Sinatra records and ask if any- one would like to dance. No one says yes because you’d never get up and dance with bad women in the presence of a priest, so the women dance with each other and laugh as if they all had little secrets. Tim Boyle drinks whiskey and falls asleep in a corner till Frieda wakes him and tells him take us back to the ship.When we’re leaving Frieda leans toward me as if she might kiss my cheek but the priest says good night in a very sharp way and no one shakes hands. As we walk down the 361