I know theyre twins.That child looks starved.Have ye any porridge
here?
Whats porridge? says Malachy.
Jesus, Mary and Holy St. Joseph! Whats porridge! Porridge is por-
ridge.Thats what porridge is.Ye are the most ignorant bunch o Yanks
I ever seen. Come on, put on yeer clothes and well go across the street
to your aunt Aggie. Shes there with the husband, Pa Keating, and shell
give ye some porridge.
She picks up Eugene,wraps him in her shawl and we cross the street
to Aunt Aggies. Shes living with Uncle Pa again because he said she
wasnt a fat cow after all.
Do you have any porridge? Grandma says to Aunt Aggie.
Porridge? Am I supposed to be feeding porridge to a crowd of
Yanks?
Pity about you, says Grandma. It wont kill you to give them a lit-
tle porridge.
And I suppose theyll be wanting sugar and milk on top of every-
thing or they might be banging on my door looking for an egg if you
dont mind. I dont know why we have to pay for Angelas mistakes.
Jesus, says Grandma, tis a good thing you didnt own that stable in
Bethlehem or the Holy Family would still be wanderin the world
crumblin with the hunger.
Grandma pushes her way past Aunt Aggie, puts Eugene on a chair
near the fire and makes the porridge. A man comes in from another
room. He has black curly hair and his skin is black and I like his eyes
because theyre very blue and ready to smile.Hes Aunt Aggies husband,
the man who stopped the night we were attacking the fleas and told us
all about fleas and snakes, the man with the cough he got from swal-
lowing gas in the war.
Malachy says,Why are you all black? and Uncle Pa Keating laughs
and coughs so hard he has to ease himself with a cigarette. Oh, the lit-
tle Yanks, he says.Theyre not a bit shy. Im black because I work at the
Limerick Gas Works shoveling coal and coke into the furnaces. Gassed
in France and back to Limerick to work in the gas works.When you
grow up youll laugh.
Malachy and I have to leave the table so the big people can sit and
have tea.They have their tea but Uncle Pa Keating, who is my uncle
because hes married to my aunt Aggie, picks up Eugene and takes him
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