himself. I hear for a fact that places that have snakes galore have no fleas.
Arizona,for instance.Youre forever hearing about the snakes of Arizona
but when did you ever hear of fleas in Arizona? Good luck to you. I
have to be careful standin here for if one of them gets on my clothes I
might as well invite his whole family home.They multiply faster than
Hindus.
Dad said,You wouldnt by any chance have a cigarette, would you?
A cigarette? Oh, sure, of course. Here you are. Arent I nearly
destroyed from the fags myself.The oul hacking cough, you know. So
powerful it nearly knocks me off the bicycle. I can feel that cough stir-
ring in me solar plexus an workin its way up through me entrails till
the next thing it takes off the top o me head.
He struck a match on a box, lit a cigarette for himself and held out
the match for Dad. Of course, he said, youre bound to have the cough
when you live in Limerick because this is the capital city of the weak
chest and the weak chest leads to the consumption. If all the people that
has consumption in Limerick were to die this would be a ghost town,
though I dont have consumption meself. No, this cough was a present
from the Germans. He paused, puffed on his cigarette, and struggled
with a cough. Bejesus, excuse the language, but the fagsll get me in the
end.Well, Ill leave you now to the mattress an remember what I told
you, confuse the little buggers.
He wobbled away on his bicycle, the cigarette dangling from his
mouth, the cough racking his body. Dad said, Limerickmen talk too
much. Come on, well put this mattress back and see if theres any sleep
in this night.
Mam sat by the fireplace with the twins asleep on her lap, and
Malachy lay curled up on the floor by her feet. She said,Who was that
you were talking to? It sounded very like Pa Keating, Aggies husband.
I could tell by the cough. He got that cough in France in the war when
he swallowed the gas.
We slept the rest of that night, and in the morning we saw where
the fleas had feasted, our flesh pink with flea welts and bright with the
blood of our scratches.
Mam made tea and fried bread, and once more Dad dabbed at our
bites with the salty water. He hauled the mattress outside again to the
backyard. On a cold day like this the fleas would surely freeze to death
and wed all have a good nights sleep.
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