takes us upstairs and kneels with us while we say our prayers.We say the
Our Father, three Hail Marys, God bless the Pope. God bless Mam, God
bless our dead sister and brothers, God bless Ireland, God bless De
Valera, and God bless anyone who gives Dad a job. He says, Go to sleep,
boys, because holy God is watching you and He always knows if youre
not good.
I think my father is like the Holy Trinity with three people in him,
the one in the morning with the paper, the one at night with the sto-
ries and the prayers, and then the one who does the bad thing and
comes home with the smell of whiskey and wants us to die for Ireland.
I feel sad over the bad thing but I cant back away from him because
the one in the morning is my real father and if I were in America I
could say, I love you, Dad, the way they do in the films, but you cant
say that in Limerick for fear you might be laughed at.Youre allowed to
say you love God and babies and horses that win but anything else is a
softness in the head.
Day and night were tormented in that kitchen with people emptying
their buckets. Mam says its not the River Shannon that will kill us but
the stink from that lavatory outside our door. Its bad enough in the
winter when everything flows over and seeps under our door but worse
in the warm weather when there are flies and bluebottles and rats.
There is a stable next to the lavatory where they keep the big horse
from Gabbetts coal yard. His name is Finn the Horse and we all love
him but the stable man from the coal yard doesnt take proper care of
the stable and the stink travels to our house.The stink from the lavatory
and the stable attracts rats and we have to chase them with our new dog,
Lucky. He loves to corner the rats and then we smash them to bits with
rocks or sticks or stab them with the hay fork in the stable.The horse
himself is frightened by the rats and we have to be careful when he rears
up. He knows were not rats because we bring him apples when we rob
an orchard out the country.
Sometimes the rats escape and run into our house and into the coal
hole under the stairs where its pitch dark and you cant see them. Even
when we bring in a candle we cant find them because they dig holes
everywhere and we dont know where to look. If we have a fire we can
boil water and pour it slowly in from the kettle spot and that will drive
them out of the hole between our legs and out the door again unless
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