I dont.
And youd like to help your mother?
I would.
Well, now, that very chamber pot is full since this morning. I want
you to climb up and get it and take it to the lavatory and rinse it under
the tap abroad and climb back up with it.
I dont want to empty his chamber pot but I dream of cycling miles
on the road to Killaloe, fields and sky far from this house, a swim in the
Shannon,a night sleeping in a barn.I pull the table and chair to the wall.
I climb up and under the bed theres the plain white chamber pot
streaked brown and yellow, brimming with piss and shit. I lay it gently
at the edge of the loft so that it wont spill, climb down to the chair,
reach for the chamber pot, bring it down, turn my face away, hold it
while I step down to the table, place it on the chair, step to the floor,
take the chamber pot to the lavatory, empty it, and get sick behind the
lavatory till I get used to this job.
Laman says Im a good boy and the bike is mine anytime I want it
as long as the chamber pot is empty and Im there to run to the shop
for his cigarettes, go to the library for books and do whatever else he
wants. He says,You have a great way with a chamber pot. He laughs and
Mam stares into the dead ashes in the fireplace.
Its raining so hard one day, Miss ORiordan the librarian says, Dont go
out in that or youll ruin the books youre carrying. Sit down over there
and behave yourself. You can read all about the saints while youre
waiting.
There are four big books, Butlers Lives of the Saints. I dont want to
spend my life reading about saints but when I start I wish the rain would
last forever.Whenever you see pictures of saints, men or women, theyre
always looking up to heaven where there are clouds filled with little fat
angels carrying flowers or harps giving praise. Uncle Pa Keating says he
cant think of a single saint in heaven hed want to sit down and have a
pint with.The saints in these books are different.There are stories about
virgins, martyrs, virgin martyrs and theyre worse than any horror film
at the Lyric Cinema.
I have to look in the dictionary to find out what a virgin is. I know
the Mother of God is the Virgin Mary and they call her that because she
didnt have a proper husband, only poor old St. Joseph. In the Lives of
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