When he sings he marches around the table, Mam cries and the twins howl with her. She says, Go out, Frankie, go out, Malachy.You shouldn’t see your father like this. Stay in the playground. We don’t mind going to the playground.We can play with the leaves piling up on the ground and we can push each other on the swings but then winter comes to Classon Avenue and the swings are frozen and won’t even move. Minnie MacAdorey says, God help these poor wee boys. They  don’t  have  a  glove  between  them. That  makes  me  laugh because I know Malachy and I have four hands between us and one glove would be silly. Malachy doesn’t know what I’m laughing at: He won’t know anything till he’s four going on five. Minnie brings us in and gives us tea and porridge with jam in it. Mr. MacAdorey sits in an armchair with their new baby, Maisie. He holds her bottle and sings, Clap hands, clap hands, Till Daddy comes home, With buns in his pocket For Maisie alone. Clap hands, clap hands, Till Daddy comes home, For Daddy has money And Mammy has none. Malachy tries to sing that song but I tell him stop, it’s Maisie’s song. He starts to cry and Minnie says,There, there.You can sing the song. That’s a song for all the children. Mr. MacAdorey smiles at Malachy and I wonder what kind of world is it where anyone can sing anyone else’s song. Minnie says, Don’t frown, Frankie. It makes your face dark and God knows it’s dark enough. Some day you’ll have a little sister and you can sing that song to her. Och, aye.You’ll have a little sister, surely. Minnie is right and Mam gets her wish.There’s a new baby soon, a lit- tle girl, and they call her Margaret.We all love Margaret. She has black curly hair and blue eyes like Mam and she waves her little hands and chirps like any little bird in the trees along Classon Avenue. Minnie says  there was a holiday in heaven the day this child was made. Mrs. 29