Och, he would, son, he would.That’s the job of an angel, even the one on the seventh step. Dad  goes  for  a  long  walk,  Mam  takes  Michael  and  goes  to  see Grandma, Malachy plays in the lane, and I have the house to myself so that I can sit on the seventh step and talk to the angel. I know he’s there because the seventh step feels warmer than the other steps and there’s a light in my head. I tell him my troubles and I hear a voice. Fear not, says the voice. He’s talking backward and I tell him I don’t know what he’s talking about. Do not fear, says the voice.Tell the priest your sin and you’ll be forgiven. Next morning I’m up early and drinking tea with Dad and telling him about the Angel on the Seventh Step. He places his hand on my forehead to see if I’m feeling all right. He asks if I’m sure I had a light in my head and heard a voice and what did the voice say? I tell him the voice said Fear not and that means Do not fear. Dad tells me the angel is right, I shouldn’t be afraid, and I tell him what Mikey Molloy did to me. I tell him all about Great Bladdered Emer and I even use the piss word because the angel said, Fear not. Dad puts down his jam jar of tea and pats the back of my hand. Och, och, och, he says, and I wonder if he’s going demented like Mrs. Molloy, in and out of the lunatic asylum, but he says, Is that what you were wor- ried about last night? I tell him it is and he says it’s not a sin and I don’t have to tell the priest. But the Angel on the Seventh Step said I should. All right. Tell the priest if you like but the Angel on the Seventh Step said that only because you didn’t tell me first. Isn’t it better to be able to tell your father your troubles rather than an angel who is a light and a voice in your head? ’Tis, Dad. The day before First Communion the master leads us to St. Joseph’s Church for First Confession.We march in pairs and if we so much as move a lip on the streets of Limerick he’ll kill us on the spot and send us to hell bloated with sin.That doesn’t stop the bragging about the big 125