Cleeves’  toffee  and  a  sign,  TWO  PIECES  FOR  A  PENNY.  I  know  I’m doomed but the water is running along the sides of my tongue and when I put my penny on the counter for Miss Counihan I promise the Virgin Mary the next penny I get I’ll be lighting a candle and would she please talk to her Son and delay the doom for awhile. A  penn’orth  of  Cleeves’  toffee  doesn’t  last  forever  and  when  it’s gone I have to think of going home to a mother who let my father push his excitement into her so that I could be born in half the time and grow up to be a bastard. If she ever says a word about the red dress or anything  I’ll  tell  her  I  know  all  about  the  excitement  and  she’ll  be shocked. Saturday morning I meet The Red Hearts of Limerick and we wan- der  out  the  road  looking  for  a  football  challenge. The  boys  are  still grousing that the bits of red dress don’t look like hearts till Billy tells them if they don’t want to play football go home and play with their sisters’ dolls. There are boys playing football in a field in Ballinacurra and Billy challenges them.They have eight players and we have only seven but we don’t mind because one of them has one eye and Billy tells us stay on his blind side. Besides, he says, Frankie McCourt is nearly blind with his two bad eyes and that’s worse.They’re all togged out in blue and white jerseys and white shorts and proper football boots. One of them says we look like something the cat brought in and Malachy has to be held back from fighting them. We agree to play half an hour because the Balli- nacurra boys say they have to go to lunch. Lunch.The whole world has dinner in the middle of the day but they have lunch. If no one scores in half an hour it’s a draw.We play back and forth till Billy gets the ball and goes speeding and dancing up the sideline so fast no one can catch him and in goes the ball for a goal.The half hour is nearly up but the Balli- nacurra boys want another half hour and they manage to score well into the second half hour.Then the ball goes over the line for touch. It’s our ball. Billy stands on the touch line with the ball over his head. He pre- tends to look at Malachy but throws the ball to me. It comes to me as if it’s the only thing that exists in the whole world. It comes straight to my foot and all I have to do is swivel to the left and swing that ball straight into the goal.There’s a whiteness in my head and I feel like a boy in heaven. I’m floating over the whole field till The Red Hearts of Limerick clap me on the back and tell me that was a great goal, Frankie, you too, Billy. 256