This struck Cassie as a slightly unsystematic way of doing a personality test, based almost entirely on guesswork and goodwill, but was she complaining? Not on your life.
‘Now, I’m going to start with the bog obvious, if you’ll forgive the expression. Have you thought of children’s entertainer, clowning, that sort of thing?’
Cassie didn’t even have time to reply before he raised his hand in an almost biblical gesture. ‘No need to utter a word, your face says it all.’
‘Sorry, I .?.?.’ To her mortification, Cassie realised she was going to cry.
‘There, there,’ Phil soothed as he dug a tissue out from somewhere.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she wailed. ‘I’d no idea that was such a big deal for me.’
‘That’s all right, sometimes these things come at us from heaven knows where. Happens all the time.’
Cassie was sure it didn’t, but was grateful to him for saying it anyway. She struggled to compose herself but the last thing she wanted was to look unprofessional, or worse, unstable.
‘In my experience,’ he said, ‘we should all cry a bit more. The world would be a much better place. Now, I’m going to say something very obvious, but what about working in a school? Do you speak fluent Irish?’
She weighed it up for a moment then shook her head.
‘Pity. I’ve a well-paid job here in an Irish-speaking school if you could, but moving on .?.?.’
Damn, she thought, so much for teenage bullshit opinions about Irish being boring when you were trying to start a new career in your thirties.
‘Oh, we might have something,’ he exclaimed. ‘It’s a school, part-time.’
Cassie nodded enthusiastically; after all, she’d a score of ninety-five per cent agreeableness to live up to.
‘It’s a primary school, and it’s not a widely known fact, but you don’t need to be qualified to be a substitute teacher. Once you get in the door, you never know, you might get to enjoy it.’
‘Brilliant, Phil. Please put me forward for it.’
‘And .?.?. away it goes,’ he said with the air of a children’s magician.
She felt like hugging him.
Cassie skipped back along the quays, feeling a surge of enthusiasm she hadn’t felt for a long time.
She couldn’t wait to share the news with Finn.
* * *
‘Teaching? Are you sure that’s really you?’
Her heart sank like an undercooked sponge cake.
‘Well, it hasn’t been, up to now, but the idea of teaching actually appeals to me.’
He shrugged. ‘Then go ahead.’
‘Well, thanks.’ She paused. ‘I was just hoping for a bit more encouragement.’
‘Sorry, I’m not sure what else you want me to say.’
‘Well done, that’s great, good for you .?.?. Any of those to show you’re happy for me.’
He put his arm around her and kissed her cheek.
‘All I want is what’s best for you.’
