‘But sure I’ve only started back, Mr Feeney.’
‘Aye I know, I’m talkin’ long-term. Sure even I’m takin’ a few days to myself over the summer and I’m the first to admit I’m a workaholic, no other choice in this business. Between you and me, it’s the wife’s idea. If I didn’t have her in my ear I’d be non-stop and you know what? I’m lucky to have her. We need people to tell us to stop for a second and gather ourselves back to ourselves again.’
‘Gather ourselves back to ourselves again,’ I repeated. ‘I like that.’
‘Aye, it sounds like an actual saying, doesn’t it? Still a bit’a diesel in the aowl brain yet, Brendan, eh?’
‘Gerry!’ his wife called from the doorway. ‘Phone!’
‘You see,’ said Mr Feeney, ‘she can tell me to take a break but she can also whip me into work mode like no other force on earth. I suppose that’s why I married her.’
‘Gerry!’ she called again.
‘Ah, voice like an angel,’ he said as he ran off into the house.
I’d only been polishing for a minute before Mr Feeney came out again pulling on a pair of tracksuit bottoms and an old Gaelic football jersey.
‘Brendan, that was your da, I’m goin’ to drive you to the hospital, your wee friend has taken a bad turn.’
My breath stopped.
‘Your da says he’s headin’ there now, hop in the BM.’
Mr Feeney’s BMW became something like a time portal.One minute I was at the funeral home, the next I was running up to the automatic doors of the hospital. I think Mr Feeney said something to me as I flew off but it didn’t register. I sped through the reception, past blurs of people to the lift, repeatedly pressing the button, rushing inside when the doors opened, quietly cursing the amount of stops it made on the way; people coming on and off. When I eventually got to Intensive Care I ran down the corridor to see Dad in the distance.
‘Dad!’
‘Brendan.’
‘What’s wrong? Is Ronan OK?’
‘Take a second, Brendan, take a second, it’s OK, he’s alright.’
Dad was blocking the door.
‘Am I not allowed in?’
‘You are, I just want you to catch your breath first, alright?’
‘Alright.’ I took a big breath in and calmly let it out. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘He had another seizure and it’s taken a lot out of him, so when you see him you’ll see that his colour’s a bit off but they have him stabilised.’
‘Right,’ I said, sensing there was something more.
‘We can’t go in just yet because the doctor’s in there with Aaron and Emma, so we’ll get an update shortly. Why don’t we take a seat here and we’ll go in when the doctor’s finished talking to them?’
He led me over to the plastic seats and sat me down.
‘Do you want something? A drink of something?’
‘Is there any chocolate?’
‘Aye, I’ll go to the machine. Fruit and nut?’
‘Anything … actually, caramel bar if it’s there.’
‘Dead on. Back in a second.’
