approval.
‘You look well, Joe, really well. I’m different, I’m just painted up a bit, that’s why I appear to be ok, but you’re really great … you look like a boy.’
‘An old boy,’ Joe laughed. ‘Oh, a very old boy … I’ll be forty-five soon. That’s not a boy these days!’
‘You look still in your thirties and you look terrific …’
Joe was pleased that her admiration was genuine. ‘Do you know what I did for us, I went out to that supermarket up in Baggot Street … Lord has the place all changed … and I got us a bottle of fizz, on me. I decided that if we’re going to do this mad thing we’ll celebrate it in style.’
‘Do you think we should wait until it’s done?’ Carmel was unwilling to celebrate yet.
‘Hell no, if we say we’ll do it, then it will be done.’ He opened the bottle with a practised hand and poured into the tooth mugs. ‘Of course, I still think you’re as daft as a brush.’
‘Why? To get what I want? To try and get what I want?’
‘No.’ He raised his glass to her. ‘Cheers, good luck. No, that’s not daft. To want it is daft.’
‘Cheers,’ she said, raising her glass. ‘Ninety calories for four fluid ounces … how many in this glass?’
‘I think we could say bang goes 180 calories there.’
They laughed like old times.
* * *
‘We’ve done nothing but fight since you came back. It’s the last thing on God’s earth that I want to do.’
‘We haven’t been fighting,’ Ruth said wearily. ‘I keep asking one question and you keep asking it back. I keep saying why do I have to go to this dinner and you keep saying why not. It’s not so much a fight, it’s a cul-de-sac.’
Dermot sighed. I keep telling you that we’re buying time, that’s all it is … buying peace of mind and opportunities … all of these things we want, and we can get them if you just come to the house and behave nice and naturally and let everybody tell you how wonderful you are for one evening. I know, I know, you don’t want to, but it doesn’t seem too hard a thing to me.’
She got up and walked around her kitchen. ‘And it seems amazing to me that you don’t see how hard it is to do. To go and talk to her, and to smile … and eat the food she’s been slaving over, and go to the lavatory in your bathroom, and leave my coat on your bed, your marriage bed … really, Dermot …’
‘If I’ve told you once there are single beds I’ve told you twenty times … this time you’ll be able to see for yourself.’
‘It’s almost as if you felt like a big man, having us both there …’
‘Christ, God, if you knew how that is not true … I’ll feel nervous and uneasy and anxious … and I’ll feel a cheat and a deceiver. Do you think I want to draw all that on myself?’
‘Please, Dermot …’
‘Please, Ruth, please … I never asked you anything like this before and I swear I’ll never ask you again.’
‘Oh, for all I know it could become a weekly affair, maybe I’ll be invited to move in … put a third bed in the room.’
‘Don’t be coarse.’
‘Isn’t it bad enough to deceive her without rubbing her nose in it?’
‘Ruth, I love you, don’t you know?’
‘I think you do, but it’s like believing in God – sometimes it’s very difficult to remember why you ever did …’
* * *
‘Aren’t you having even numbers, Mother? I thought you were asking me once about how to seat eight at a table.’
It was the day before the party. Anna had dropped in to check up on Mother. Bernadette was right, Mother had never looked better, slimmer and with colour in her cheeks, or could that possibly be a blusher? And what smart shoes! Mother said she had bought them for tomorrow and she was running them in. They were super, they cost about twice as much as Anna would have paid for a pair of shoes and ten times what she thought Mother would have paid.
‘No, just seven … I suppose I did think of getting an extra
‘You look well, Joe, really well. I’m different, I’m just painted up a bit, that’s why I appear to be ok, but you’re really great … you look like a boy.’
‘An old boy,’ Joe laughed. ‘Oh, a very old boy … I’ll be forty-five soon. That’s not a boy these days!’
‘You look still in your thirties and you look terrific …’
Joe was pleased that her admiration was genuine. ‘Do you know what I did for us, I went out to that supermarket up in Baggot Street … Lord has the place all changed … and I got us a bottle of fizz, on me. I decided that if we’re going to do this mad thing we’ll celebrate it in style.’
‘Do you think we should wait until it’s done?’ Carmel was unwilling to celebrate yet.
‘Hell no, if we say we’ll do it, then it will be done.’ He opened the bottle with a practised hand and poured into the tooth mugs. ‘Of course, I still think you’re as daft as a brush.’
‘Why? To get what I want? To try and get what I want?’
‘No.’ He raised his glass to her. ‘Cheers, good luck. No, that’s not daft. To want it is daft.’
‘Cheers,’ she said, raising her glass. ‘Ninety calories for four fluid ounces … how many in this glass?’
‘I think we could say bang goes 180 calories there.’
They laughed like old times.
* * *
‘We’ve done nothing but fight since you came back. It’s the last thing on God’s earth that I want to do.’
‘We haven’t been fighting,’ Ruth said wearily. ‘I keep asking one question and you keep asking it back. I keep saying why do I have to go to this dinner and you keep saying why not. It’s not so much a fight, it’s a cul-de-sac.’
Dermot sighed. I keep telling you that we’re buying time, that’s all it is … buying peace of mind and opportunities … all of these things we want, and we can get them if you just come to the house and behave nice and naturally and let everybody tell you how wonderful you are for one evening. I know, I know, you don’t want to, but it doesn’t seem too hard a thing to me.’
She got up and walked around her kitchen. ‘And it seems amazing to me that you don’t see how hard it is to do. To go and talk to her, and to smile … and eat the food she’s been slaving over, and go to the lavatory in your bathroom, and leave my coat on your bed, your marriage bed … really, Dermot …’
‘If I’ve told you once there are single beds I’ve told you twenty times … this time you’ll be able to see for yourself.’
‘It’s almost as if you felt like a big man, having us both there …’
‘Christ, God, if you knew how that is not true … I’ll feel nervous and uneasy and anxious … and I’ll feel a cheat and a deceiver. Do you think I want to draw all that on myself?’
‘Please, Dermot …’
‘Please, Ruth, please … I never asked you anything like this before and I swear I’ll never ask you again.’
‘Oh, for all I know it could become a weekly affair, maybe I’ll be invited to move in … put a third bed in the room.’
‘Don’t be coarse.’
‘Isn’t it bad enough to deceive her without rubbing her nose in it?’
‘Ruth, I love you, don’t you know?’
‘I think you do, but it’s like believing in God – sometimes it’s very difficult to remember why you ever did …’
* * *
‘Aren’t you having even numbers, Mother? I thought you were asking me once about how to seat eight at a table.’
It was the day before the party. Anna had dropped in to check up on Mother. Bernadette was right, Mother had never looked better, slimmer and with colour in her cheeks, or could that possibly be a blusher? And what smart shoes! Mother said she had bought them for tomorrow and she was running them in. They were super, they cost about twice as much as Anna would have paid for a pair of shoes and ten times what she thought Mother would have paid.
‘No, just seven … I suppose I did think of getting an extra
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