Three Little Truths

by Eithne Shortall

  Robin shut it again. ‘You’ll electrocute yourself if you cut through that wire.’ Carmel pulled at the gate but her daughter wouldn’t let go. ‘Edie’s husband is talking to him now. Look.’

  Carmel slackened her grasp on the gate and they both turned towards the Occupied Territory. Shay Morrissey was back, although now wearing a duffel coat over his vest – ‘You must have gotten to him, Mam’ – and he was shaping up to the man Robin had seen Edie with last night. He seemed to have things under control.

  ‘All right, Carmel?’ called a woman standing in a garden two doors up from them, eating a bowl of soup.

  ‘Oh, hi, Ruby!’ Carmel called back. ‘How’s it going? One of the lesbians,’ she murmured to Robin. ‘I told you her and Madeline got married after the referendum? Myself and your father were invited to the afters.’

  ‘I remember.’ Her mother hadn’t shut up about it. She’d still been working at the time and was the first nurse on the ward to attend a same-sex wedding. You’d swear she’d won an award.

  ‘It was incredibly stylish, Robin. Both of them in these gorgeous off-white jumpsuits and the cake was just rows of little cakes. Very modern, as you’d expect. But they still did salmon or beef so, you know, a nod to tradition.’

  Several neighbours were out now, watching from the safety of their gardens. The only people actually out on the road were Shay, Edie’s husband and, a few yards back, Edie. Robin glanced across the street but there was no sign of life from number eight. Martha and her daughter had both disappeared inside.

  ‘Oh, feck me! Daniel just put his hand on Shay’s shoulder! Jesus, but he’s a braver man than me.’ Carmel sucked air in through her teeth as they watched the two men square up to each other. ‘Give us one of those crackers, Robin. You know how nerves make me hungry.’

  ‘I talked to Martha.’

  ‘Mmm.’ Carmel munched away, crumbs falling from her woolly jumper into the flower bed. ‘What’s Shay saying, I wonder?’

  ‘I don’t feel good about it, Mam. I think I should say something.’

  ‘Whatever it is, he’s saying a lot of it. And with feeling.’

  ‘I think I should tell her.’

  ‘Is Daniel . . .? Is he leaving? Oh, no. Feck me! He’s going for the boot.’ Carmel shoved her hand into the packet again and stuffed another cracker into her mouth. ‘He goin’ foh da boothhhh!’ A cream-coloured spray soaked the garden.

  ‘Are you listening, Mam? I think I should tell Martha about Eddy. Or else I should go to the guards before they come to me.’

  Carmel snapped her head around, wiping the crumbs from her chin. ‘The guards, Robin? Are you mental? No.’ Robin had been in the middle of telling her mother about Eddy’s midnight visit and the connection to Martha’s tiger raid when Carmel got a WhatsApp message about Shay and went barrelling out of the house. ‘For all you know, you put two and two together and came up with five.’

  Behind her, Daniel was taking what looked like bolt cutters out of his boot.

  ‘All you know is that Eddy did something stupid, and okay probably illegal, around the same time that all that happened to Martha. But thousands of people do stupid things every day. You have no proof that there’s a connection.’

  ‘She saw him, Mam. When he came here last night. She saw Eddy on the street.’

  Carmel let this sink in and was still struggling to find a counterargument when there was a roar from behind. ‘Oh my God, he’s got a bolt cutter! Well, good man, Daniel,’ she said, flinging her own shears on to the porch with a clatter. ‘That should get the job done, anyway.’ Transfixed, she reached for another cracker.

  ‘Is Shay making progress with that drill, Carmel?’ shouted her soup-eating, lesbian pal. ‘That tree is blocking my view.’

  ‘I don’t think so, Ruby! But he’s giving it a good shot!’

  ‘The missus will be raging she missed this,’ said a man standing in the garden next to the soup-eater. ‘Yep! Here she is now – texting me to take a video for her!’

  ‘I’m going inside,’ muttered Robin.

  ‘Don’t say a word, Robin,’ said Carmel. ‘Eddy’s a waste of space but he’s your son’s father. You don’t want the hassle, not when you can avoid it. Ah, ya bowsie, ya!’ And she was back to the action, just in time to see Shay get a bollard an inch off the ground and sort of lever it in the direction of Daniel’s back wheel. ‘Ah, now. Not the BMW.’

  Robin closed the front door, leaving it on the latch. She could hear her mother shouting – ‘Ya bowsie! Ya bowsie! Ya blue-bollocked bowsie’ – as she headed into the kitchen. Her dad and Jack would be in town for another while and Johnny had stayed with friends last night. Or at least he’d told Carmel he was staying with friends; Robin presumed it was a girl.

  Robin pulled out her phone and opened the Irish Jobs app. She’d applied for a few positions over the past couple of weeks but had yet to get as much as an interview. Not that she was surprised; she wouldn’t have given her an interview either. She scrolled through the notices but there was nothing new.

  And just like that she was hit by a memory of flirting with a friend of Eddy’s, drunkenly, in their flat one night. It was a nothing memory, just something stupid she’d done once, but this kept happening. She’d be in the middle of doing something entirely unrelated and out of nowhere she’d have a flashback to something she’d done in the past, nothing awful, just something she was ashamed of. Now that she was no longer living that life, it turned out she was ashamed of a lot.

  She knew why she shouldn’t tell Martha what she knew, but she also knew why she should. She needed to talk it through with someone.

  Cormac.

  She wanted to tell Cormac.

  It had only been a month but he had listened when she told him about Eddy and he hadn’t judged. She liked him a lot. A lot a lot. And she needed to tell him about Jack. She wanted her conscience clear.

  Her phone started vibrating in her back pocket and she pulled it out, willing it not to be Eddy. She looked at the flashing screen and grinned. Cormac. She took it as a sign.

  ‘I was just thinking about you.’

  ‘That’s good. I’m always thinking about you.’ She could almost hear the dimple forming on his cheek. ‘How’s it going? I’m just on my way home from the barber’s.’

  ‘You got a haircut?’

  He laughed. ‘Don’t worry. It doesn’t look any different. My mum thinks the barber sees me coming. She’s convinced he never takes anything off at all.’

  ‘Glad to hear it,’ said Robin, leaning back on the counter. ‘I like your hair.’

  ‘I like yours.’

  Robin cringed into her free hand. They were disgusting.

  ‘So, how’ve you been in the twelve hours since I last saw you? Sleeping, breakfast, don’t skimp on the details.’

  ‘Quite a lot has happened, actually,’ said Robin.

  ‘Really? Want to tell me about it?’

  ‘Yes.’ Yes, yes, yes.

  ‘Today?’

  ‘Yes please.’ She thought about Jack, who was due home around three. She needed to tell Cormac about his existence before then. ‘I have a few hours now . . .’

  Cormac was good. She knew this. He was the sort of person she wanted in her life. She would trust him. She would tell him about Jack, then maybe explain about Eddy and Martha.

  ‘Great. Will I pick you up? We could go to Howth for a walk? And you can talk the ear off me.’

  Robin grinned. ‘That sounds perfect.’

  ‘What’s your address, exactly?’

  ‘Nine Pine Road, off—’

  ‘Oh, I know it.’

  ‘Do you now?’ said Robin, impressed. ‘And you not even from Dublin.’

  Cormac said something but it was lost to the roars from outside. Robin leaned forward and peered into the hallway but the front door was closed and she could see nothing.

  ‘Sorry,’ she said, covering her other ear. ‘Say that again.’

  ‘My mother lives there
. They just moved into number eight; her, my sisters and my stepfather. Martha Rigby. Do you know her?’

  TWENTY-SIX

  ‘Daniel, just calm down. It’s not—’ But Daniel was out of the car, pulling his arm away before Edie could get a grasp on it, the seat belt snapping into its holder behind him and the car door left wide open, as he bulled his way over to Shay Morrissey.

  ‘Oi! Morrissey!’

  The owner of number one Pine Road was walking down his garden path, having heard some of what Carmel had said, at least, and added a jacket to his working-man ensemble.

  ‘What do you think you’re playing at?’ Daniel pointed up at the MORRISSEY PARKING ONLY sign. A few of the other letters had started to run and there was a lot of white paint at the base of the wall.

  ‘I’m asserting my right to land,’ replied Shay, not even looking at Daniel as he continued along the route back to his jackhammer. ‘I will not be bullied out of it. This is nine feet out from my property and I have a right to insert retractable bollards if and when I wish.’

  ‘Bollards?’ repeated Daniel. His eyes fell on the green poles still in their packaging. He glanced back at Edie, who winced.

  ‘Daniel, don’t—’

  ‘That’s right. Bollards. Retractable ones.’

  Daniel was a foot taller and about forty years younger than Shay, but to be fair to their neighbour he stood his ground. His eyes darted about as Daniel moved closer – unlike Edie, he was probably glad to have so many witnesses gathered on the road – but he didn’t move from his spot.

  ‘I don’t care if they retract up your arse,’ said Daniel, quieter now but still perfectly audible from where Edie stood, as he put his hand on Shay’s shoulder. ‘You’re not putting them on my street. Am I clear?’

  He sounded like his brother, or his dad, the way she’d occasionally heard them talk to Daniel. This was the Carmody temper. Daniel rarely let it flare up. When they had rows, like they had last night, Edie was the one who got worked up.

  Yet again, Edie felt sorry for Shay Morrissey. He wasn’t the real reason Daniel was so angry, he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  ‘Daniel,’ she called, trying to be heard by her husband but not the rest of the neighbours. Robin and Carmel were standing in their garden, and a few of the others were out too: Ruby, Rita Ann, Liam Chambers from number eleven. At least Martha had gone inside. Edie could forget any chance of ever being mistaken for chic – for French – after this. Brawling on the street was about as unsophisticated as it got.

  ‘Come on! We’ve other stuff to talk about. And Peter was looking for you,’ she added. ‘He rang. He couldn’t get you on your mobile so you should probably—’

  ‘Yeah, he got me,’ replied Daniel, still looking at Shay.

  ‘Right. Well . . .’

  Ruby waved from up the road. Edie lifted a hand meekly in response.

  ‘Do what your little lady tells you,’ said Shay, smiling up into Daniel’s face. ‘And get your scum hand off my shoulder.’

  ‘What did you call me?’

  Shay paused, confused. ‘I didn’t call you anything.’

  ‘Scum?’

  ‘No, I called your hand scum, not you.’

  ‘My hand is part of me.’

  ‘Well, technically, yes, okay, but that’s not what I meant—’

  ‘That’s what it sounded like.’

  ‘It wasn’t my intention. But look, if you want to take it like that, then go ahead. I won’t stop you.’

  ‘Come on, Daniel. Get back in the car.’

  ‘Come on, Daniel. Get back in the car,’ mimicked Shay. Then he leaned slightly to the left of Daniel. ‘No offence, love!’

  Daniel turned from Shay and walked towards her. Edie breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Good. Let’s just drive—’

  But he wasn’t going for the car door, he was going for the boot. He popped the trunk. Edie rushed over.

  ‘This is ridiculous, Daniel,’ she hissed. ‘You’re annoyed about last night, although I don’t know why. I didn’t do anything, except presume that what we had agreed still stood. I never went back on my—Oh, for heaven’s sake. What are you going to do with those?’

  Daniel had produced a pair of bolt cutters and was shutting the boot again. The thing was full of all sorts of crap from the garage. A few of the neighbours started to whoop and cheer when they saw the massive scissors. It sounded like Ruby was yelling ‘Take off his mickey!’ but the woman was a practising solicitor so that seemed unlikely.

  Daniel took the potential weapon and walked over to Shay. Then he swerved slightly down towards the drill. He was going to cut the cord. Edie caught a sob in her throat. Was there anything that didn’t make her think of having children?

  ‘Get away from that,’ shouted Shay and he made a jump for Daniel but her husband spun around, wielding the bolt cutters.

  ‘Daniel!’

  He wasn’t listening. He was a man possessed. Poor Shay. He was at risk of losing a limb and it wasn’t even about him – or at least, it was only a little about him.

  Shay was roaring now, but Daniel just kept on cutting. Then Shay started dragging one of his new bottle green bollards across the tarmac of Pine Road. Oh gosh. He was heading for Daniel’s car.

  ‘Daniel!’

  ‘I’m busy,’ her husband fumed, not looking up from the cord that was proving difficult to sever.

  Edie couldn’t help but see it as a metaphor.

  The neighbours were having great chats and Edie felt a mixture of mortification and jealousy. She didn’t want to be the spectacle. She wanted to be part of the audience; standing in her own garden, shouting across to the other spectators; solidifying her place in this community; making friends!

  ‘Everything okay, Edie hun?’ shouted Fiona, coming halfway down the road, but when she saw that both men were now armed, she quickly retraced her steps. ‘Give us a shout if you need anything, hun!’

  Daniel was grunting and cursing over by the laneway as his implement refused to cut through the wire, while Shay was doing similarly disgruntled huffing and puffing as he tried to lift the bollard and fling it at Daniel’s car. He had set the bollard up like one of those yokes they threw in the Olympics. On his second try, Shay made contact with the body of Daniel’s car. Edie couldn’t see the assaulted side of the vehicle from where she stood but from Carmel’s excited roars – was she calling him ‘bossy’? – she knew damage had been done.

  Edie was on the verge of going home and leaving them to it – Daniel was her husband not her child. Another sob. Christ. Get a grip, Edie! – when Bernie Watters-Reilly turned the corner on to Pine Road.

  Edie clamped her eyes shut. This was it. It was all over for her now. She’d be kicked out of poker and the street party and general Pine Road acceptable society, and she and Daniel would become such social lepers that they’d be forced to move.

  She didn’t want to move! She’d started to make real friends. She was now in two WhatsApp groups!

  But Bernie didn’t look at her or Daniel or Shay. She just marched on up the road like a woman on a mission. Was she going home? Or calling to Trish, maybe? Poor Trish. Edie observed Bernie quick-stepping it up the road, when a cacophony of sound came out of nowhere. She spun around just in time to see Shay – who was sixty-five if he was a day – pulling down his jeans and – was he? Oh gosh, yes, yes he was – he was mooning her husband.

  Carmel and Ruby had gone into hysterics and were whooping and hollering from their gardens. She could have sworn Ruby shouted, ‘Take it off.’ Daniel was sitting on the pavement, speechless, sweat pumping from his forehead and the massive scissors paused at an angle. He couldn’t seem to take his eyes off the insubstantial, forlorn looking arse as it wriggled its ghostly pallor from side to side.

  Edie couldn’t hear what Shay was heckling over the neighbours’ roars but whatever it was, Daniel was up on his feet, charging at the older man and his naked behind. Shay barely had time to wipe the jeer from hi
s face, never mind pull up his jocks, before Daniel’s fist collided with it.

  ‘K! O!’ hollered Ruby. There was no mistaking it this time.

  That was it. Edie was a forgiving woman but she’d had enough. Her heart was broken and this was ridiculous. She marched over, grabbed the keys from Daniel and told him to get up to the house before someone called the police. Then she returned to his car, noted the scratch to the paintwork above the rear wheel, and climbed in. She drove it slowly up the road and parked outside Ellen’s, the only available spot. She ignored the twitching curtain and the sight of Ellen Russell-O’Toole yet again cleaning her windows as she strode across the road, up the garden path and into their own home. She barely had her jacket off when Daniel came storming in behind her.

  ‘Did you see what that fucker did to my BMW? I’m going to get the hammer, go down there and smash his car window in. See how he likes it, the—’

  Edie spun around, so furious she couldn’t stop the tears. She couldn’t speak. She just stood there, blinking at her husband and gave a big, loud, ugly sob.

  ‘What?’

  ‘What?’ she echoed. ‘What?’ She pulled down the sleeve of her good cotton blouse, which she had pulled out of the back of her wardrobe after seeing Martha wear something similar, and drew it across her face. ‘You’ve just humiliated me in front of all my friends!’

  ‘They’re not our friends, Edie. They’re our neighbours.’

  ‘They are my friends!’ shouted Edie, more vehemently than the statement really warranted. She didn’t really like Bernie Watters-Reilly, if she was being honest, but the woman was a gatekeeper, and she liked Ruby, although she didn’t know her surname. ‘What did you have to go and hit him for? He might call the police! And you’re not even annoyed about the parking! You’re just annoyed about last night. You don’t even care about Shay Morrissey.’