‘The protest… listen…’
‘Tabitha, I’ve explained everything. It’s not personal. It’s just something we have to do. We are compelled to do it. I don’t know why we have to fall out about it. You know I don’t believe in falling out with anyone…’
‘But it feels personal, like you are targeting me.Andit’s embarrassing.’
‘But that doesn’t matter, does it? That kind of thing, worrying about what people think of you, doesn’t matter. Not in the grand scheme of things.’ She stood there, naked from the waist up while she found her bra and shirt.
‘Well, what is the grand scheme of things?’ It was so simple for Nora. Life was in black and white, us and them, capitalists and socialists, swimmers and non-swimmers. Rarelydid other people’s points of view entered her consciousness, which made her navigation of the world easier for her but far more complicated for those around her.
‘The trees. The wildlife. The principle.’
‘Principle?’
‘Yes, if none of us had principles, then we’d be in a very sorry state.’
‘Mum, just stop it will you? Stop the protest…’
‘Will you stop the development?’ She waved to someoneelse. ‘Morning, Gordon… yes, so beautiful. We are lucky, are we not?’ She turned back to me, expectantly. ‘The school should retain control over that land. Our greatest resources are being used as collateral in an exchange for money. This is the kind of struggle that we indigenous people need to make a stand about. I shouldn’t have to explain this to you. You are my daughter after all.’
‘Indigenous?’I laughed. ‘You’re not a Native American.’
‘Maybe not, but as a proud Irish woman I know how precious land can be taken from us. Trees and oxygen and wildlife and nature can’t be measured and sold like a piece of silk. I think Dalkey deserves better than that. Have you not thought about other ways of using the land?’
I paused, thinking back to the day when Red and the children came down. Thatwas good use of the land. But no, we needed the money. It would be better for the long-term gain of the school. Nora was just using emotion to win. ‘Mum, I told you. It’s full of nettles and brambles.’
‘And what’s wrong with them? Your grandmother used both of them. Nettle soup, do you remember. And bramble jelly.’ She was pulling on her trousers now, buckling her belt.
She paused. ‘Can we justforget about it? I’ll carry on and you’ll carry on and no hard feelings? Hello, Fiona, yes, lovely day.’
‘Well, wouldyoujust stop? Nellie and Arthur and the others, they can carry on. But you, would you retire gracefully?’
‘I can’t, Tabitha,’ she said, as we began to walk to my car. ‘I wish I could, but I can’t. I am an environmentalist. That’s what I do, have always done. I can’t give upnow.’
‘Why can’t you?’
‘Principle.’ She shrugged. ‘Bloody-mindedness.’ She laughed. ‘That’s what Rosaleen used to say about me. She used to say I was my own woman. And I think she might say the same about you.’ She smiled at me.
‘Bloody-minded?’ I tried to look outraged but I quite liked the idea that I was a little bit bloody-minded. She’d won me over, as she always did.
‘Tell me about Rosie,the poor loveen. I phoned her yesterday, did she tell you?’
‘I don’t really know. She seems better.’
‘I’ll get her swimming again, that’s what I’ll do. It’ll do her the power of good.’ She looked at me. ‘And we’ll go to West Cork. I’ll get the two of you down there if it’s the last thing I do. It’ll be fun. When was the last time you had fun?’
I tried to think.
‘See!’ she said triumphantly.
She looked at me as we stopped at the car. ‘Tabitha…’ Finally, she was going to say sorry.
‘Yes?’ I would be gracious and accept her apology, but I would also say how much she had hurt me and that it was not acceptable.
‘Could you give me a lift home? Puncture. I had to walk this morning.’
She smiled at me. That was the problem with Nora, she was charm personified. She never let anyone be annoyedwith her for too long.
‘In you get.’
