to sleep for his little brother, Oliver, would be home soon and they’d be playing again there on the floor. But he kept looking out the window. She told Malachy and me we could sit on the floor and play but to be quiet because she was going to say her prayers. Malachy went to the bed and sat by Eugene and I sat on a chair at the table making out words on the newspaper that was our tablecloth. All you could hear in the room was Malachy whispering to make Eugene happy and Grandma mumbling to the click of her rosary beads. It was so quiet I put my head on the table and fell asleep. Dad is touching my shoulder. Come on, Francis, you have to take care of your little brothers. Mam  is  slumped  on  the  edge  of  the  bed,  making  small  crying sounds like a bird. Grandma is pulling on her shawl. She says, I’ll go down to Thompson the undertaker about the coffin and the carriage. The St.Vincent de Paul Society will surely pay for that, God knows. She goes out the door.Dad stands facing the wall over the fire,beat- ing on his thighs with his fists, sighing, Och, och, och. Dad frightens me with his och, och, och, and Mam frightens me with her small bird sounds and I don’t know what to do though I won- der if anyone will light the fire in the grate so that we can have tea and bread because it’s a long time since we had the porridge. If Dad would move away from the fireplace I could light the fire myself.All you need is paper, a few bits of coal or turf, and a match. He won’t move so I try to go around his legs while he’s beating on his thighs but he notices me and wants to know why I’m trying to light the fire. I tell him we’re all hungry and he lets out a crazy laugh. Hungry? he says. Och, Francis, your wee brother Oliver is dead.Your wee sister is dead and your wee brother is dead. He picks me up and hugs me so hard I cry out.Then Malachy cries, my mother cries,Dad cries,I cry,but Eugene stays quiet.Then Dad snif- fles,We’ll have a feast. Come on, Francis. He tells my mother we’ll be back in awhile but she has Malachy and Eugene on her lap in the bed and she doesn’t look up. He carries me through the streets of Limerick and we go from shop to shop with him asking for food or anything they can give to a family that has two chil- 74