I can’t. He’ll kill me. If he says bring your mother you have to bring your mother or out comes the stick. She comes to see him and he talks to her in the hallway. He tells her that her son Frank must continue school.He must not fall into the mes- senger  boy  trap. That  leads  nowhere. Take  him  up  to  the  Christian Brothers, tell them I sent you, tell them he is a bright boy and ought to be going to secondary school and beyond that, university. He tells her he did not become headmaster of Leamy’s National School to preside over an academy of messenger boys. Mam says,Thank you, Mr. O’Halloran. I wish Mr. O’Halloran would mind his own business. I don’t want to go to the Christian Brothers. I want to quit school forever and get a job, get my wages every Friday, go to the pictures on Saturday nights like everyone. A few days later Mam tells me give my face and hands a good wash, we’re going to the Christian Brothers. I tell her I don’t want to go, I want to work, I want to be a man. She tells me stop the whining, I’m going to secondary school and we’ll all manage somehow. I’m going to school if she has to scrub floors and she’ll practice on my face. She knocks on the door at the Christian Brothers and says she wants to see the superior, Brother Murray. He comes to the door, looks at my mother and me and says,What? Mam says,This is my son,Frank.Mr.O’Halloran at Leamy’s says he’s bright and would there be any chance of getting him in here for sec- ondary school? We don’t have room for him, says Brother Murray and closes the door in our faces. Mam turns away from the door and it’s a long silent walk home.She takes off her coat, makes tea, sits by the fire. Listen to me, she says.Are you listening? I am. That’s the second time a door was slammed in your face by the Church. Is it? I don’t remember. Stephen Carey told you and your father you couldn’t be an altar boy and closed the door in your face. Do you remember that? I do. And now Brother Murray slams the door in your face. I don’t mind. I want to get a job. 289