Chapter Twenty-Three
Clodagh had been right, she made all the front pages in the morning, leaked no doubt by Bridget, because there was a picture of Clodagh, looking slightly worse for wear, taken the night of her party, shoes in one hand, hanging onto Lucinda. Caption: ‘Clodagh given the boot’. And next to it, in an evil kind of compare and contrast quiz, they had a picture of Bridget, the whitesof her eyes and teeth glinting with youth and vitality and the caption ‘TV’s new girl’.
The paper was on the seat beside me as I headed into school. Christy, Arthur, Robbo, Nellie and Leaf all gave me a wave as I drove past. Nora flagged me down.
‘How’s Rosie?’ she said.
‘She’s… okay. I mean, I think she will be okay.’
‘Of course she will!’ said Nora confidently. ‘Us Thomases…’
‘Michael saysUs Fogartys in the same way’ I told her. ‘Us Fogartys never surrender!’
‘He always did sound like a cut-price Winston Churchill,’ she said, dismissing him. ‘But us Thomases actually don’t.’
‘That sounds ominous,’ I said. ‘You at the battle of Little Bighorn. Me as General Custer.’
‘You see, Tabitha,’ she said. ‘That’s where you’re wrong. You’re one of us. You thought you could be on the sideof the bluecoats and soldiers. But really you’re an Indian just like us. Us Thomases…’
Can we drop the Us Thomas thing, please?’ I was growing weary of sides and stands and everyone jostling for their place in history.
She grinned at me. ‘Now, is Rosie decided on not doing her exams?’
I nodded. ‘I think so.’
‘Good. Because I have just the thing for her. A trip. To West Cork. It’s Finty. Nothinghas got him so far. Cancer, pneumonia, malaria, falling off scaffolding, knocked over by a Hell’s Angel on the road into Glengarriff, only one kidney. But it’s his liver, now.’
From one of the pockets in her Barbour, she pulled out an envelope. ‘Here it is…’ she scrunched up her eyes, squinting at the words.‘I would like the chance to sayslán go fóillbefore I slip off to the green fields ofeternity,’ she read. ‘We spent some good times here and I wouldn’t like to go without saying goodbye to myNora…’
Would Rosie come? I wasn’t sure spending hours in a car with just me and her grandmother was a good idea. It would tip the Dalai Lama over the edge. But I suddenly fancied a trip away, getting away from the protest, Red and it might do Rosie some good. A break from her bedroom.
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Let’s go. Saturday morning. But only if Rosie comes.’
‘I’ll call her, said Nora. ‘Tell her an old man’s dying wish depends upon it. We will have a great time. It’ll be a road trip, isn’t that what they are called. Like Bonnie and Clyde.’
‘No, please not like Bonnie and Clyde.’
‘Who do I mean then?’
‘Thelma and Louise?’
‘Thelma and Louise, those are the ones.’
‘You do knowwhat happened to them at the end, don’t you?’
‘They lived happily ever after? And Rosie needs a bit of West Cork, I think. It will weave its healing magic on her, it never fails.’
*
I had hoped to hear from Mary, just to let me know if she was all right. She had left the office and the school well prepared for her absence but it wasn’t as enjoyable without her calm, pleasant presence. At lunchtime,I walked passed the staff room and hovered for a moment, as I heard laughing coming from inside. Red and the other staff members were having their break. I hadn’t heard from Red since he had left me on the bench, but I took a breath and walked in and sat down with them, as Fidelma Fahy scooted up to make room. Red nodded hello, no smile, just polite, perfunctory.
‘Good to see you here Tabitha,’said Fidelma. ‘Redmond is planning the staff night out for the end of term. He’s suggested karaoke but I think he might be joking.’
‘What about just a nice meal,’ another voice said. ‘When did a nice meal and a drink go out of fashion?’
‘We need Mary to organise it,’ said Angela Leahy. ‘She always makes sure it’s a nice place. Remember when we went to the talk in the National Gallery and thenfor a special dinner afterwards. That was nice. None of this karaoke nonsense.’ She nudged Red and laughed. ‘Actually Tabitha, any news from her? When is the family crisis going to be over?’
I shrugged, catching Red’s eye briefly. ‘I don’t know. She said she was hoping to be back for the end of term so make sure she is on the list for karaoke or whatever.’
