know she was up to no good with the Englishmen dirty horny bastards that they are. The  train  hoots  into  the  station  and  Gerry  waves  and  points  to Rose coming toward us from the far end of the train,Rose smiling away with her white teeth and lovely in a green dress.Gerry stops waving and mutters under his breath, Look at the walk on her, bitch, hoor, street- walker, flaghopper, trollop, and runs from the station. Rose walks up to me,Was that Gerry Halvey you were standing with? ’Twas. Where is he? Oh, he went out. I know he went out.Where did he go? I don’t know. He didn’t tell me. He just ran out. Didn’t say anything? I didn’t hear him say anything. Do you work with him? I do. I’m taking over the bike. What bike? The messenger bike. Is he on a messenger bike? He is. He told me he worked in Easons office, clerk, inside job? I feel desperate. I don’t want to make a liar of Gerry Halvey, to get him into trouble with the lovely Rose. Oh, we all take turns on the messenger bike. An hour in the office, an hour on the bike.The man- ager says ’tis good to get out in the fresh air. Well, I’ll just go home and put my suitcase down and go to his house. I thought he’d carry this for me. I have the bike here and you can stick the case in the basket and I’ll walk you home. We walk up to her house in Carey’s Road and she tells me she’s so excited about Gerry. She saved her money in England and now she wants to go back with him and get married even if he’s only nineteen and she’s only seventeen.What matter when you’re in love. I lived like a nun in England and dreamt of him every night and thank you very much for carrying my case. I turn away to jump on the bike and cycle back to Easons when Gerry comes at me from behind. His face is red and he’s snorting like a  bull. What  were  you  doing  with  my  girl,  you  little  shite?  Eh? 346