this tower for a week I wouldn’t be able to eat it. Sure it’s not hard work looking at lights and pulling on the odd lever. He takes the top off a flask and pours cocoa into a mug. Here, he says to me, put yourself outside that cocoa. He hands Mam half a sandwich. Ah, no, she says, surely you could take that home to your children. I have two sons, missus, and they’re off there fighting in the forces of His Majesty, the King of England. One did his bit with Montgomery in Africa  and  the  other  is  over  in  Burma  or  some  other  bloody  place, excuse the language. We get our freedom from England and then we fight her wars. So here, missus, take the bit of sandwich. Lights on the board are clicking and the man says,Your train is com- ing, missus. Thank you very much and Happy Christmas. Happy Christmas to yourself, missus, and a Happy New Year, too. Mind yourself on that ladder, young fella. Help your mother. Thank you very much, sir. We wait again on the platform while the train rumbles into the station. Carriage doors open and a few men with suitcases step to the platform and hurry toward the gate. There is a clanking of milk cans dropped to the platform. A man and two boys are unloading newspa- pers and magazines. There is no sign of my father. Mam says he might be asleep in one of the carriages but we know he hardly sleeps even in his own bed. She says the boat from Holyhead might have been late and that would make him miss the train.The Irish Sea is desperate at this time of the year. He’s not coming, Mam. He doesn’t care about us. He’s just drunk over there in England. Don’t talk about your father like that. I say no more to her. I don’t tell her I wish I had a father like the man in the signal tower who gives you sandwiches and cocoa. Next  day  Dad  walks  in  the  door. His  top  teeth  are  missing  and there’s a bruise under his left eye. He says the Irish Sea was rough and when  he  leaned  over  the  side  his  teeth  dropped  out.  Mam  says,  It wouldn’t be the drink, would it? It wouldn’t be a fight? Och, no, Angela. Michael says,You said you’d have something for us, Dad. Oh, I do. He takes a box of chocolates from his suitcase and hands it to Mam. 269