“God have mercy on her soul,” they said, one starting on her own, then slowing down so the sister could catch up and they were together on the last three words, heads going like two sparrows.
The street was grey with mist. I looked in the direction she went and saw something shapeless coming towards me. Her coming back? I’m not sleeping, she said. It had been good to see her humble herself and know I could still have her if I wanted. Share her. What was so bad about what she was doing? Was it so bad? Yes it was. Deviant and devious and what’s the other thing, promiscuous. Better shot of all that. It would be good to be in the state of grace again anyway, I should never have been out of it. I’d get confession tomorrow before half seven mass after Maud was taken to the cathedral, get confession and clean the slate. The swings and slides in Bull Park dizzied as I turned my head from whoever was coming and tried to think of something to say to the Quinns. Why couldn’t they go? I looked down at them and waited for the shape to clear and Aisling to say: “Can I have a word with you in private?”
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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...
