gers and stuff it up their noses. A young woman sneezes and the red- haired woman laughs. Ah, sure, Biddy, you’re not able for that snuff. Come here, little Yankee boys, have a pinch. She plants the brown stuff in our nostrils and we sneeze so hard the women stop crying and laugh till they have to wipe their eyes with their shawls. Mam tells us,That’s good for ye, ’twill clear yeer heads. The young woman, Biddy, tells Mam we’re two lovely boys. She points at Malachy.That little fella with the goldy ringlet, isn’t he gor- geous? He could be a film star with Shirley Temple. And Malachy smiles and warms up the queue. The woman with the snuff says to Mam, Missus, I don’t want to be forward but I think you should be sitting down for we heard about your loss. Another woman worries,Ah, no, they don’t like that. Who don’t like what? Ah, sure, Nora Molloy, the Society don’t like us sittin’ on the steps. They want us to be standin’ respectful against the wall. They can kiss my arse, says Nora, the red-haired woman. Sit down there, missus, on that step an’ I’ll sit next to you an’ if there’s one word out of the St.Vincent de Paul Society I’ll take the face off ’em, so I will. Do you smoke, missus? I do, says Mam, but I don’t have them. Nora takes a cigarette from a pocket in her apron, breaks it, and offers half to Mam. The worried woman says,They don’t like that either.They say every fag you smoke is taking food from the mouth of your child. Mr. Quin- livan inside is dead against it. He says if you have money for the fags you have money for food. Quinlivan can kiss my arse, too, the grinny oul’ bastard. Is he going to begrudge us a puff of a fag, the only comfort we have in the world? A door opens at the end of the hall and a man appears.Are any of ye waiting for children’s boots? Women raise their hands, I am. I am. Well, the boots are all gone.Ye’ll have to come back next month. But my Mikey needs boots for school. They’re all gone, I told you. But ’tis freezin’ abroad, Mr. Quinlivan. The  boots  are  all  gone.  Nothing  I  can  do. What’s  this? Who’s smoking? 64