What’s hell? says Malachy.You’ll know soon enough, says Delia. The big women sit at the table with Mrs. Leibowitz and Minnie MacAdorey. Philomena says it’s terrible what happened to Angela’s lit- tle baby.They heard all about it and you’d wonder, wouldn’t you, what they did with the little body.You might wonder and I might wonder but Tommy Flynn didn’t wonder.Tommy said that Malachy from the North got money for that baby. Money? says Mrs. Leibowitz.That’s right, says Philomena. Money.They take bodies any age and do experiments on them and there’s not much left to give back nor would you want back bits of baby when they can’t be buried in consecrated ground in that condition. That’s terrible, says Mrs. Leibowitz.A father or mother would never give the baby for something like that. They would, says Delia, when they have the craving for the drink. They’d give their own mothers when they have the craving so what’s a baby that’s dead and gone in the first place? Mrs. Leibowitz shakes her head and rocks in her chair. Oy, she says, oy, oy, oy.The poor baby.The poor mother. I thank God my husband don’have no what you call it? Craving? Right,craving.It’s the Irish have the craving. Not  my  husband, says  Philomena. I’d  break  his  face  if  he  came home with the craving. Of course, Delia’s Jimmy has the craving. Every Friday night you see him slipping into the saloon. You  needn’t  start  insulting  my  Jimmy, says  Delia. He  works. He brings home his wages. You’d want to keep an eye on him, says Philomena. The craving could get the better of him and you’d have another Malachy from the North on your hands. Mind your own bloody business, says Delia.At least Jimmy is Irish, not born in Brooklyn like your Tommy. And Philomena has no answer for that. Minnie is holding her baby and the big women say she’s a lovely baby, clean, not like this pack of Angela’s running around this place. Philomena says she doesn’t know where Angela got her dirty habits because Angela’s mother was spotless, so clean you could eat your din- ner off her floor. I wonder why you’d want to eat your dinner off the floor when you had a table and a chair. Delia says something has to be done about Angela and these chil- 44