Read Online A Swift Pure Cry by Siobhan Dowd - Free Book Online Page A

new-baked scones and frying fish. I'm there , she thought.
    Father Rose asked for eleven younger members of the congregation to come forward. Dad put a sharp finger in Shell's spine.
    'Wake up,' he said.
    Shell started. The two Duggan boys had gone up to the front, followed by the Flavin girl from Coolbar House and the younger Ronans. Shell stood up. She grabbed Trix's hand, but Jimmy wouldn't budge. She and Trix went up on their own.
    That made eight. They were three short.
    'Nobody else volunteering?' Father Rose said, smiling.
    Two younger Quinns were ushered forward by Mrs Quinn.
    That made ten.
    The church was still.
    Shell stared at Jimmy. He'd his tongue in his cheek again, poking it out like a tent. She imagined herself as a magnetic pole or a black hole. He was a thin pin or a clapped-out planet. He'd no choice but to come towards her. Her eyes went large as saucers with the effort. A miracle happened. He stood up. He put on his bored look and sauntered forward.
    'Grand,' said Father Rose. 'I've all the apostles now, save one, who's missing tonight. And we all know why he isn't coming.'
    Father Rose sat them down in a semicircle of chairs he'd prepared. He asked them to take off their shoes and socks. Then he came round with a bowl of water and a sponge. One by one he washed their feet. Shell was last in line. In her head, she was John, the youngest, the one that Jesus loved. Her feet were rough-soled and dimpled. She'd white broken skin on her heels and soles. Her toenails were long. She'd trodden many miles of roads in Galilee. As the cold sponge went over them, she felt its refreshment first, then the pure loving kindness of the hand that held it. She sat back and watched the crown of his head, soon to be punctured with thorns. The blond-brown swirl of hair had been cut short. It was like a field of stubble, waiting to be stroked. She'd to sit on her right hand to stop it from reaching down to him. The water dripped from her toes. He held her out a small linen towel of white with which to dry them.
    The congregation of Coolbar looked on, amazed.
    She put her feet into the towel so he could pat them dry.
    As Shell returned with her ten companions to the pews, she saw the face of Mrs Fallon pulled long and sour. The washing of the feet had never been done before in the parish of Coolbar. Passing Mrs McGrath's pew, she heard her whisper loudly to her neighbour, 'That's a Protestant notion!' But Shell was sure that Jesus, the real Jesus, had washed her feet. He was back once more among their stunted souls in the shape of Father Rose. He'd come in loving kindness to save them from themselves.

Fifteen

    Next day, the Stations of the Cross were held at three.
    Father Carroll, Father Rose and Declan Ronan, altar boy again, paraded the cross around the church. After each of the fourteen Stations, the congregation sang another chorus:
     
' At the cross her station keeping
    Stood the mournful mother weeping
    Close to Jesus at the last. '
     
    After the fifth Station, where Simon of Cyrene helped Jesus carry the cross, the whole congregation turned to face the Stations hung on the back wall. Shell realized that Bridie Quinn was sitting right behind her. Their eyes met. Bridie's nostrils flared. She showed her gums. Spite was in her eye. Shell mouthed a Sorry , but Bridie only glared, so Shell picked up her little bag of crocheted powder-blue, the present her mam had given her on her confirmation. She drew out a shopping list she'd scrawled on the back of an envelope and a pencil stump. Sorry, Bridie , she wrote. Honest to God. Didn't know you were going with him.
    She slipped Bridie the note when no one was looking. Bridie read it, frowned and thrust it back. Then she grabbed it again and beckoned for Shell's pencil. Shell slipped it to her as they moved round to the weeping women of Jerusalem. Bridie wrote something down on the other side of the shopping list, slow and hard, and handed it back, jerking her head towards