“I’m sorry for your trouble Master,” he said. It’s a strange country we live in when people call it having trouble when someone dies. Granny Coffey used to say a person was in trouble if somebody belonging to them died. Funny word trouble. Hold on, I’ll be with you in a minute, I’m having trouble with this shoelace here. Excuse me but could I trouble you for a light? I hear your man Doherty got that wee one Majella whatdoyoucallher from Rosemount in trouble. Did you not see her? Size of a bus already. Somebody was telling me there’s a bit of trouble at the bottom of William Street, petrol bombs flying everywhere. Ah yes, and then there’s the Troubles. I’m sorry for your Troubles. The capital letter at the start and the s at the end make the difference, not one wake but thousands of them, thousands butchered for a free Ireland or a British state in the northern bit. The head of the body politic severed from the rest. Now that’s severe. Capital punishment for being Ireland.
“Thanks Willie.”
“I didn’t even know she was sick so I didn’t. When did she die?”
“She died today. The doctor was attending her but I don’t think anybody expected her to die. It was sudden all right.”
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The Wake - Table of contents
HumorTHE YEAR is 1968 and the Swinging Sixties are still swinging - though not in Ireland. But wait! An old woman dies in a northern Irish town and her wake becomes a rendezvous for lesbians, bisexuals and political revolutionaries. And in there among t...
