‘I’ve been praying to St Joseph,’ I said spontaneously and then felt embarrassed when everyone looked at me.
‘Because he’s the patron saint of pilots,’ I said, ‘and I somehow thought Joseph would be good because of Ronan’s speed of progress, you know how we say here in the north, ah sure he’s flying!’’
Everyone chuckled.
‘Aye, he was indeed flying,’ said Mr McCoy. ‘We could even pray to St Thomas Cruise.’
Dad laughed and I looked at him.
‘Top Gun,’ he said.
I knew it was a film but I’d never seen it.
‘Sure just keep St Joseph on the case, Brendan, he’ll do rightly,’ said Mr McCoy.
‘And isn’t Brendan the patron saint of something like that too?’ said Mrs McCoy.
‘Sailors,’ said Dad, ‘as far as I remember.’
‘What about Christopher?’ said Mr McCoy. ‘Patron saint of drivers and travellers, get him to join the gang too, with your driving test coming up.’
‘OK,’ said Mrs McCoy, ‘so we’ve covered air, sea and land.’
‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles,’ said Mr McCoy.
Dad laughed and I looked at him again.
‘A film,’ he said to me. ‘Great film. Steve Martin and John Candy.’
‘Comedy duo made in heaven,’ said Mr McCoy.
‘I think you two should start a movie club,’ said Mrs McCoy.
‘Well, I’ll just pray to them all anyway and see how we go,’ I said. ‘And can I visit while Ronan’s still here?’
‘Of course, there’s set visitor times, we’ll get those to you but please visit as much as you like and we’ll keep you updated every day on the phone too – promise,’ said Mrs McCoy.
‘It’s actually just past visiting time now,’ said Mr McCoy, ‘there’s this matron-type who takes no nonsense, she’ll be here any second, wait’ll you see.’
‘We’d better head anyway,’ said Dad. ‘Are yous not heading home yourselves?’
‘We’ve been taking it in shifts, making these plastic chairs our snoozers. Is it your turn tonight, Emma?’
‘I thought it was you,’ Mrs McCoy gently jibed back. ‘Actually, neither of us have felt like going home, but we’ve had doctor’s orders. I think I’ll stay tonight.’
‘Grand, I’ll head home and stick the football on,’ Mr McCoy said with a wink. ‘No, only joking, you go home, love, run a bath and get the head down for a few hours, there’s all those scans tomorrow.’
‘I know, you’re right, maybe I will.’
They shared a little kiss.
‘Yous do need to be looking after yourselves,’ said Dad. ‘Soanything you need brought in, food or anything, we’ll get it for you.’
‘Just give us the list,’ I said.
With a few goodbyes under the presence of the matron lurking in the doorway and one last look at Ronan, Dad and me left.
The smell of food when we got home was welcoming but it was hard to swallow, despite the extra special effort Mum had gone to in making my favourite chicken korma. I ate most of the huge portion she’d piled on for me, spoke the few words I could manage and then went up to my room.
