we slept there with the bicycle. Dad stayed on a chair in the kitchen,
took us to the lavatory in the backyard when we needed it, and in the
night hushed the twins when they cried from the cold.
In the morning,Aunt Aggie came for her bicycle telling us,Will ye
mind yeerselves, will ye? Will ye get out of my way?
When she left, Malachy kept saying, Will ye mind yeerselves, will
ye? Will ye get out of the way, will ye? and I could hear Dad laughing
out in the kitchen till Grandma came down the stairs and he had to tell
Malachy be quiet.
That day Grandma and Mam went out and found a furnished room
on Windmill Street where Aunt Aggie had a flat with her husband, Pa
Keating. Grandma paid the rent, ten shillings for two weeks. She gave
Mam money for food, loaned us a kettle, a pot, a frying pan, knives and
spoons, jam jars to be used for mugs, a blanket and a pillow. She said that
was all she could afford anymore, that Dad would have to get up off his
arse, get a job, go on the dole, go for the charity at the St.Vincent de
Paul Society or go on the relief.
The room had a fireplace where we could boil water for our tea or
an egg in case we ever came into money.We had a table and three chairs
and a bed, which Mam said was the biggest she had ever seen.We were
glad of the bed that night, worn out after nights on floors in Dublin and
in Grandmas. It didnt matter that there were six of us in the bed, we
were together, away from grandmothers and guards, Malachy could say
ye ye ye and we could laugh as much as we liked.
Dad and Mam lay at the head of the bed, Malachy and I at the bot-
tom, the twins wherever they could find comfort. Malachy made us
laugh again.Ye, ye, ye, he said, and oy oy oy, and then fell asleep. Mam
made the little hink hink snore sound that told us she was sleeping. In
the moonlight I could look up the length of the bed and see Dad still
awake and when Oliver cried in his sleep Dad reached for him and held
him.Whisht, he said.Whisht.
Then Eugene sat up, screaming, tearing at himself.Ah, ah, Mommy,
Mommy. Dad sat up.What? Whats up, son? Eugene went on crying and
when Dad leaped from the bed and turned on the gaslight we saw the
fleas, leaping, jumping, fastened to our flesh. We slapped at them and
slapped but they hopped from body to body, hopping, biting.We tore at
the bites till they bled.We jumped from the bed, the twins crying, Mam
moaning,Oh,Jesus,will we have no rest! Dad poured water and salt into
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