. . .
Its very handy to have Mikey Molloy living around the corner from me.
Hes eleven, he has fits and behind his back we call him Molloy the Fit.
People in the lane say the fit is an affliction and now I know what afflic-
tion means.Mikey knows everything because he has visions in his fits and
he reads books. Hes the expert in the lane on Girls Bodies and Dirty
Things in General and he promises,Ill tell you everything,Frankie,when
youre eleven like me and youre not so thick and ignorant.
Its a good thing he says Frankie so Ill know hes talking to me
because he has crossed eyes and you never know who hes looking at. If
hes talking to Malachy and I think hes talking to me he might go into
a rage and have a fit that will carry him off. He says its a gift to have
crossed eyes because youre like a god looking two ways at once and if
you had crossed eyes in the ancient Roman times you had no problem
getting a good job. If you look at pictures of Roman emperors youll
see theres always a great hint of crossed eyes.When hes not having the
fit he sits on the ground at the top of the lane reading the books his
father brings home from the Carnegie Library. His mother says books
books books, hes ruining his eyes with the reading, he needs an opera-
tion to straighten them but wholl pay for it. She tells him if he keeps
on straining his eyes theyll float together till he has one eye in the mid-
dle of his head. Ever after his father calls him Cyclops,who is in a Greek
story.
Nora Molloy knows my mother from the queues at the St.Vincent
de Paul Society. She tells Mam that Mikey has more sense than twelve
men drinking pints in a pub. He knows the names of all the Popes from
St.Peter to Pius the Eleventh.Hes only eleven but hes a man,oh,a man
indeed. Many a week he saves the family from pure starvation. He bor-
rows a handcart from Aidan Farrell and knocks on doors all over Lim-
erick to see if there are people who want coal or turf delivered, and
down the Dock Road hell go to haul back great bags a hundredweight
or more. Hell run messages for old people who cant walk and if they
dont have a penny to give him a prayer will do.
If he earns a little money he hands it over to his mother, who loves
her Mikey. He is her world, her hearts blood, her pulse, and if anything
ever happened to him they might as well stick her in the lunatic asylum
and throw away the key.
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