When I came back from the scullery Jim Loughery and Seamus White were sitting beside Willie Henry and he was telling them about what happened. They shook hands with me and I smelt the drink off them too. They were laughing and trying to keep straight faces at the same time. Seeing I’d the whiskey in my hand I offered them a drink too.
“I wouldn’t say no,” said Jim. Plump and happy by nature, eyes like a friendly ferret, looking a bit guilty now because he hadn’t even gone to the coffin I’d say.
“Thanks Robert. I’ll have a wee one,” said Seamus. Always well-cut suit, good tweed too. Some people are like that. Sunday best the seven days. Must be a family thing. Goes back to childhood probably. We used to always wear our best clothes to mass and then change out of them after our breakfast. I looked to see who else was there now. Just Margie McConville. The other women had gone out to the hall with Mammy. I was embarrassed nobody got tea. I was never at a wake where there was no tea. Probably about ten people sitting there in the front room with their tongues hanging out and not one to see to them.
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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...
