She opens the box and shows us the inside where half the chocolates
are gone.
Could you spare it? she says.
She shuts the box and puts it on the mantelpiece.Well have choco-
lates after our Christmas dinner tomorrow.
Mam asks him if he brought any money. He tells her times are
hard, jobs are scarce, and she says, Is it coddin me you are? Theres a war
on and theres nothing but jobs in England. You drank the money,
didnt you?
You drank the money, Dad.
You drank the money, Dad.
You drank the money, Dad.
Were shouting so loud Alphie begins to cry. Dad says, Och, boys,
now boys. Respect for your father.
He puts on his cap.He has to see a man.Mam says,Go see your man
but dont come drunk to this house tonight singing Roddy McCorley
or anything else.
He comes home drunk but hes quiet and passes out on the floor
next to Mams bed.
We have a Christmas dinner next day because of the food voucher
Mam got from the St.Vincent de Paul Society.We have sheeps head,
cabbage, floury white potatoes, and a bottle of cider because its Christ-
mas. Dad says hes not hungry, hell have tea, borrows a cigarette from
Mam. She says, Eat something. Its Christmas.
He tells her again hes not hungry but if no one else wants them
hell eat the sheeps eyes. He says theres great nourishment in the eye
and we all make sounds of disgust. He washes them down with his tea
and smokes the rest of his Woodbine. He puts on his cap and goes
upstairs for his suitcase.
Mam says,Where are you going?
London.
On this day of Our Lord? Christmas Day?
Its the best day for travel. People in motor cars will always give the
workingman a lift to Dublin.They think of the hard times of the Holy
Family.
And how will you get on the boat to Holyhead without a penny in
your pocket?
The way I came.Theres always a time when theyre not looking.
He kisses each of us on the forehead, tells us be good boys, obey
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