state of grace, returning to their seats with God in their mouths, peace- ful, easy, ready to die at any moment and go straight to heaven or go home to their rashers and eggs without a worry in the world. I’m worn out from being the worst sinner in Limerick. I want to get rid of this sin and have rashers and eggs and no guilt, no torment. I want to be ordinary. The priests tell us all the time that God’s mercy is infinite but how can  any  priest  give  absolution  to  someone  like  me  who  delivers telegrams and winds up in a state of excitement on a green sofa with a girl dying of the galloping consumption. I cycle all around Limerick with telegrams and stop at every church. I ride from Redemptorists to Jesuits to Augustinians to Dominicans to Franciscans. I kneel before the statue of St. Francis of Assisi and beg him to help me but I think he’s too disgusted with me. I kneel with people in  the  pews  next  to  confessionals  but  when  my  turn  comes  I  can’t breathe,my heart pounds,my forehead turns cold and clammy and I run from the church. I swear I’ll go to confession at Christmas. I can’t. Easter. I can’t. Weeks and months pass and it’s a year since Theresa died. I’ll go on her anniversary but I can’t. I’m fifteen now and I pass churches without stopping. I’ll have to wait till I go to America where there are priests like Bing Crosby in Going My Way who won’t kick me out of the con- fessional like Limerick priests. I still have the sin in me, the abscess, and I hope it doesn’t kill me entirely before I see the American priest. There’s a telegram for an old woman, Mrs. Brigid Finucane. She says, How old are you, by? Fifteen and a half, Mrs. Finucane. Young enough to make a fool of yourself and ould enough to know better.Are you shmart, by? Are you anyway intelligent? I can read and write, Mrs. Finucane. Arrah, there are people above in the lunatic asylum can read and write. Can you write a letter? I can. She wants me to write letters to her customers. If you need a suit or dress for your child you can go to her. She gives you a ticket to a shop and they give you the clothes. She gets a discount and charges you the 330