Ah, yeah. Yeah, tis awful all right. Well, your Mam wanted me to talk to you about it, but…’
He stopped; he didn’t know what else to say.
‘Yeah? Ah, I know the score, Dad. She wants me to be careful, is it?’
‘Ah, no. Well, yeah; there’s that, of course. No, she wanted… well, if you’d any questions, you
know?’ I wasn’t sure if he wanted me to say yes, or if he just wanted me to say no, and save him
having to be awkward. He looked lost. I felt like I wanted to save him
‘No, I’ve no questions, Dad. It’s all right, shur.’ He looked at me then. His eyes went wet, like
he was going to start bawling. If we were in a film, he might have hugged me. But we were in
Limerick, so he just said:
‘Well, so,’ and put his one glove back on.

From The Boys of Summer

Ciarán West