the floor over there by the range. She puts the old coats from the pram
on the floor and Alphie lies there with his sugary water and says Goo
goo and smiles. She tells us take off every scrap of our clothes, get out
to the tap in the backyard and scrub every inch of our bodies.We are
not to come back into this house till were spotless. I want to tell her its
the middle of February,its freezing outside,we could all die,but I know
if I open my mouth I might die right here on the kitchen floor.
Were out in the yard naked dousing ourselves with icy water from
the tap. She opens the kitchen window and throws out a scrub brush
and a big bar of brown soap like the one they used on Finn the Horse.
She orders us to scrub each others backs and dont stop till she tells us.
Michael says his hands and feet are falling off with the cold but she
doesnt care. She keeps telling us were still dirty and if she has to come
out to scrub us well rue the day.Another rue. I scrub myself harder.We
all scrub till were pink and our jaws chatter. Its not enough for Aunt
Aggie. She comes out with a bucket and sloshes cold water all over us.
Now, she says, get inside and dry yeerselves.We stand in the little shed
next to her kitchen drying ourselves with one towel. We stand and
shiver and wait because you cant go marching into her kitchen till she
tells you.We hear her inside starting the fire, rattling the poker in the
range, then yelling at us,Are ye goin to stand in there all day? Come in
here and put on yeer clothes.
She gives us mugs of tea and cuts of fried bread and we sit at the
table eating quietly because youre not supposed to say a word unless
she tells you. Michael asks her for a second cut of fried bread and we
expect her to knock him off the chair for his cheek but she just grum-
bles, Tis far from two cuts of fried bread ye were brought up, and gives
each of us another cut. She tries to feed Alphie bread soaked in tea but
he wont eat it till she sprinkles it with sugar and when hes finished he
smiles and pees all over her lap and were delighted. She runs out to the
shed to dab at herself with a towel and were able to grin at each other
at the table and tell Alphie hes the champion baby in the world. Uncle
Pa Keating comes in the door all black from his job at the gas works.
Oh, bejay, he says, whats this?
Michael says, My mother is in the hospital, Uncle Pa.
Is that so? Whats up with her?
Pneumonia, says Malachy.
Well, now, thats better than oldmonia.
We dont know what hes laughing at and Aunt Aggie comes in
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