.    .    . The horse clop-clopped through the streets of Limerick. Malachy said, Are we going to see Oliver? and Dad said, No, Oliver is in heaven and don’t ask me what heaven is because I don’t know. Mam said, Heaven is a place where Oliver and Eugene and Mar- garet are happy and warm and we’ll see them there some day. Malachy said,The horse did his doodoo on the street and there was a smell, and Mam and Dad had to smile. At the graveyard the driver climbs down and opens the door of the car- riage. Gimme that coffin, he says, an’ I’ll carry it up to the grave. He yanks at the coffin and stumbles.Mam says,You’re not carrying my child in the condition you’re in. She turns to Dad.You carry him, she says. Do what you like,says the driver.Do what you bloody well like,and he climbs up to his seat. It’s getting dark now and the coffin seems whiter than ever in Dad’s arms. Mam takes our hands and we follow Dad through the graves.The jackdaws are quiet in the trees because their day is nearly over and they have to rest so that they can get up early in the morning and feed their babies. Two men with shovels are waiting by a small open grave. One man says,Ye are very late. Good thing this is a small job or we’d be gone. He climbs into the grave. Hand it to me, he says, and Dad hands him the coffin. The man sprinkles some straw and grass on the coffin and as he climbs out the other man shovels in the earth. Mam lets out a long cry, Oh, Jesus, Jesus, and a jackdaw croaks in a tree. I wish I had a rock to hit that jackdaw. When the men finish shoveling in the earth they wipe their foreheads and wait. One says,Ah, well, now, there’s usually a little something for the thirst that’s in it. Dad says, Oh, yes, yes, and gives them money. They say, Sorry for your troubles, and they leave. We make our way back to the carriage at the graveyard gate but the carriage  is  gone. Dad  looks  around  in  the  darkness  and  comes  back shaking  his  head.  Mam  says, That  driver  is  nothing  but  a  dirty  old drunkard, God forgive me. 89