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.We’ll 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? There’s a war on  and  there’s  nothing  but  jobs  in  England. You  drank  the  money, didn’t you? You drank the money, Dad. You drank the money, Dad. You drank the money, Dad. We’re 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 don’t come drunk to this house tonight singing Roddy McCorley or anything else. He comes home drunk but he’s quiet and passes out on the floor next to Mam’s bed. We have a Christmas dinner next day because of the food voucher Mam got from the St.Vincent de Paul Society.We have sheep’s head, cabbage, floury white potatoes, and a bottle of cider because it’s Christ- mas. Dad says he’s not hungry, he’ll have tea, borrows a cigarette from Mam. She says, Eat something. It’s Christmas. He tells her again he’s not hungry but if no one else wants them he’ll eat the sheep’s eyes. He says there’s 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? It’s 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.There’s always a time when they’re not looking. He kisses each of us on the forehead, tells us be good boys, obey 270