‘Oh God, really?’
A key in the door. ‘Yoo-hoo! I’m home!’
‘That’s Michael,’ I said to Red. ‘I thought he was in Brussels.’
‘Mammy! Mammy?’
Red was looking puzzled. ‘You?’
I nodded, helplessly, as Michael walked straight into the kitchen. ‘Ah, there you are Mammy…’ And then he spotted Red who stood up and held out his hand.
‘Hello,’ he said. ‘Red Power, a friend of Tab’s.’
‘Michael Fogarty, MEP. And what brings you here on a Sunday morning?’
‘Just had to drop something off,’ he said.
‘Red works at the school,’ I explained. ‘Whatbrings you home?’
‘I wanted to see Rosie,’ he said. ‘I’ve managed to organise an internship for the summer in Brussels. Now, these are not easy to acquire even for one’s offspring. You can imagine how many of the MEPs and the thousands of people who work in the parliament want to organise them for their children, so I feel very lucky to have one for Rosie. This would be the making of her.’ Heturned to Red. ‘She’s off to Trinity to do Law in September so a stint in Europe would be extremely beneficial. You see, she’ll eventually go into politics, just like her dear old dad.’ He smiled, happily, at us both.
‘Michael,’ I said, ‘we can talk about this later, ‘but Rosie is taking the summer off. She’s got a few things planned with her friends and I think she deserves a break.’
‘Nonsense!’he said. ‘She’ll be fine. Stop fussing Mammy. What have I told you? Now, this is too good an opportunity to miss. Now, Richard…’ Michael’s famous never forgetting a name trick had failed him with Red, I noticed. Or probably deliberate dismissive tactic. ‘Do you like milk?’
Red nodded. ‘Yes…’
‘Drink it every day?’
‘In tea... coffee …’
‘But when was the last time you had a big glass of it?’
‘When I was about eight years old?’
‘Aha! You see?’ He looked up in triumph.
Red was puzzled. ‘You see what?’
‘It’s just a theory I’m working on… why masculinity, in fact, is in crisis.’
‘It is? It seems quite healthy to me,’ said Red.
‘No, it’s in crisis,’ said Michael definitely. ‘All the big thinkers are saying it. And I have developed a little theory which suggests that the crisis beganwhen we stopped drinking milk.’
‘Right…’ Red looked utterly bewildered. ‘I don’t think milk has anything to do with anything…’
‘How can you say such a thing?’ said Michael. ‘Vitamins, minerals, protein… our country is built on the back of dairy cows… if we drank milk, Ireland would be an economic powerhouse… and that’s my plan. More milk, more money, more milk, more masculinity.’
‘Catchy.’
Michael ignored me. ‘So what do you think, Richard?’
‘I will have to think about it,’ said Red. ‘I’m not sure yet.’ He turned to me. ‘I’d better go. Thanks for the tea, Tab. I’ll see you in school in the morning.’
‘And I’ll go up and tell Rosie the good news about the internship,’ said Michael. ‘She is one lucky girl.’
*
