Leibowitz says the world never saw such eyes, such a smile, such happi-
ness. She makes me dance, says Mrs. Leibowitz.
When Dad comes home from looking for a job he holds Margaret
and sings to her:
In a shady nook one moonlit night
A leprechaun I spied.
With scarlet cap and coat of green
A cruiskeen by his side.
Twas tick tock tick his hammer went
Upon a tiny shoe.
Oh, I laugh to think he was caught at last,
But the fairy was laughing, too.
He walks around the kitchen with her and talks to her. He tells her
how lovely she is with her curly black hair and the blue eyes of her
mother. He tells her hell take her to Ireland and theyll walk the Glens
of Antrim and swim in Lough Neagh. Hell get a job soon, so he will,
and shell have dresses of silk and shoes with silver buckles.
The more Dad sings to Margaret the less she cries and as the days
pass she even begins to laugh. Mam says, Look at him trying to dance
with that child in his arms, him with his two left feet. She laughs and
we all laugh.
The twins cried when they were small and Dad and Mam would
say Whisht and Hush and feed them and theyd go back to sleep. But
when Margaret cries theres a high lonely feeling in the air and Dad is
out of bed in a second, holding her to him, doing a slow dance around
the table, singing to her, making sounds like a mother.When he passes
the window where the streetlight shines in you can see tears on his
cheeks and thats strange because he never cries for anyone unless he has
the drink taken and he sings the Kevin Barry song and the Roddy
McCorley song. Now he cries over Margaret and he has no smell of
drink on him.
Mam tells Minnie MacAdorey, Hes in heaven over that child. He
hasnt touched a drop since she was born. I shouldve had a little girl a
long time ago.
Och, theyre lovely, arent they? says Minnie. The little boys are
grand, too, but you need a little girl for yourself.
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