Read Online The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley - Free Book Online

after that to stop us silly wee cubs in our tracks was to go to the desk and touch it. We shut up pretty quickly then, I can tell you.’
    ‘Didn’t you have other teachers though, Father?’ I said.
    ‘Aye, we did in the end.’
    ‘How do you mean?’
    He laughed drily to himself.
    ‘Mr O’Flannery’s career was cut short let’s say.’
    ‘Why, what happened?’
    ‘The silly sod fell off the cliffs at Rue Point, photographing the puffins. When they told us on the Monday morning, all the lads cheered, and to my eternal shame so did I.
    ‘We were still cheering when the headmaster came in. I thought we were done for, you know. But he didn’t scold us at all. He knew what O’Flannery was like. What people thought of him. He just sat on the edge of the desk asking us questions about geography and science and mathematics. And do you know what? Between us we answered every single one. He must have been there for an hour and then he said something that I’ve never forgotten to this day.’
    ‘What was that, Father?’
    ‘He said, “In time to come, each of you will thank the man who gave you your mind.” Then he got up and left. And he was right. I mean he was hard as nails, O’Flannery, and I hated him at the time, but I feel kind of grateful to him now, you know? There aren’t many lessons of his that I don’t remember.’
    ‘What did it mean, Father?’
    ‘What did what mean?’
    ‘The Latin.’
    He laughed. ‘The law is harsh, but it is the law. Then there was, let’s see, Ex fructu arbor agnoscitur and Veritas vos liberabit .’
    ‘What does that one mean, Father?’
    ‘The truth will set you free,’ he said and played his card.
    ‘John,’ I said, automatically.
    Father Bernard raised his eyebrows and then looked at me thoughtfully.
    ‘Father Wilfred taught you a lot, didn’t he?’
    I nodded and was about to show Hanny which card to lay down when I realised that he had won.
    ‘Show,’ I said and bent the cards towards Father Bernard.
    Hanny pulled them back to his chest.
    ‘It’s alright, Hanny,’ I said. ‘You’ve won. You’re the winner.’
    ‘Aye, he is that,’ said Father Bernard looking at Hanny’s hand, and then throwing in his own cards.
    He sat back and looked at me as I scooped the cards into a pile to deal them again.
    ‘There was something I wanted to ask you actually, Tonto,’ he said.
    ‘Yes, Father?’
    ‘On behalf of Mr Belderboss.’
    ‘Yes, Father?’
    ‘When Father Wilfred passed away,’ he said. ‘There was something of his that went missing. A book. You’ve not seen it knocking about have you?’
    ‘A book?’
    ‘Aye, you know, a diary, a notebook, that kind of thing. It was quite important. To the family. Mr Belderboss is pretty keen on getting it back.’
    ‘No, Father.’
    ‘Not in the vestry? Or the presbytery?’
    ‘No, Father.’
    ‘Do you think any of the other lads might know?’
    ‘I don’t know, Father.’
    ‘Would it be worth me asking them?’
    ‘I’m not sure, Father. Maybe.’
    He looked at me and I started dealing.
    ‘You know, Tonto, confession is bound by a seal of secrecy. I can’t tell a soul what you say to me,’ he said, pausing for a moment. ‘Even with a gun to my head.’
    I looked up at him sharply, thinking that he had somehow seen the rifle, but he was gathering his cards together and spreading them in his hands.
    ‘But I’m not in confession, Father,’ I said.
    He laughed and then outside on the landing I heard Mummer calling for him.
    ‘You have a think about it, Tonto,’ he said and got up to open the door. ‘If anything comes to you, let me know.’
    Mummer came in. ‘Oh, there you are,’ she said. ‘I hope these two weren’t keeping you up, Father.’
    ‘No, no, not at all, Mrs Smith,’ he said. ‘I just wanted to see if they’d got any better at cards.’
    ‘Oh,’ said Mummer, confused as to whether Father Bernard had set up some elaborate test to see if we were secret gamblers. ‘Have