noises  and  we  laughed,  everyone  except  Grandma,  who  pulled  her shawl over her head. Dad stopped and put the twins down so that they could be closer to the flowers. He said, Flowers, and they ran back and forth, pointing, trying to say Flowers. One of the boys with the trunk said, God, are they Americans? and Mam said,They are.They were born in New York.All the boys were born in New York.The boy said to the other boy, God, they’re Americans.They put the trunk down and stared at us and we stared back at them till Grandma said,Are ye goin’ to stand here all day lookin’ at flowers an’ gawkin’ at each other? And we all moved on again, out of the park, down a narrow lane and into another lane to Grandma’s house. There is a row of small houses on each side of the lane and Grandma lives in one of the small houses. Her kitchen has a shiny polished black iron range with a fire glowing in the grate.There is a table along the wall under the window and a press opposite with cups and saucers and vases. This press is always locked and she keeps the key in her purse because you’re not supposed to use anything in there unless someone dies or returns from foreign parts or there’s a visit by a priest. There is a picture on the wall by the range of a man with long brown hair and sad eyes. He is pointing to his chest where there is a big heart with flames coming out of it.Mam tells us,That’s the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and I want to know why the man’s heart is on fire and why doesn’t He throw water on it? Grandma says,Don’t these children know anything about their religion? and Mam tells her it’s different in Amer- ica. Grandma says the Sacred Heart is everywhere and there’s no excuse for that kind of ignorance. Under the picture of the man with the burning heart there is a shelf with a red glass holding a flickering candle and next to it a small statue. Mam tells us,That’s the Baby Jesus, the Infant of Prague, and if ye ever need anything pray to Him. Malachy says,Mam,could I tell Him I’m hungry,and Mam puts her finger to her lips. Grandma grumbles around the kitchen making tea and telling Mam to cut the loaf of bread and don’t make the cuts too thick. Mam sits by the table with her breath coming hard and says she’ll cut the bread in a minute. Dad takes the knife and starts slicing the bread and you can see Grandma doesn’t like that. She frowns at him but says nothing even though he makes thick slices. There aren’t enough chairs for everyone so I sit on the stairs with 57