Through The Barricades: Winner of the SCBWI SPARK Award 2017

by Denise Deegan

  Mister Healy turned from Maggie. In a controlled voice, he asked, ‘How can I help you, Daniel?’

  Daniel bowed his head in shame. ‘You think I should surrender,’ he said quietly.

  ‘No, in fact.’

  Daniel looked up. ‘No?’

  His father sighed. ‘Once, I might have. But I have learnt much in one and a half years. I have learnt that there is no good reason to die and that there is a limit to what a man should be expected to give for his country. You, Daniel, have given enough. You are a good person and I will continue to love you whatever you do, wherever you go. But I would suggest America.’

  Daniel and Maggie exchanged a surprised glance.

  Mister Healy removed his wallet from his inside pocket. ‘I do not have enough on me for your passage but I do have enough for you to lie low until I can get to a bank. As you know, the city has shut down.’

  ‘Thank you, Father,’ Daniel said. ‘I’ll pay back every penny.’ But it was not the money as much as his love that Daniel truly appreciated.

  ‘Don’t thank me, Daniel. This is my chance to put things right, though I can never truly make up for what I did to you.’ He stood suddenly. ‘Now! You’ll need false papers! I take it you are travelling together?’ he asked without looking at Maggie.

  ‘Yes, Father,’ Daniel said.

  ‘You should stay at a hotel,’ he thought aloud as he paced the gazebo. ‘Away from the city.’ He stopped walking and tapped his stick against his shoe. Suddenly, he pointed it at Daniel, his face alight. ‘The Royal Marine in Kingstown! From there you could catch the mailboat to England, then on to America.’

  Daniel looked at Maggie. She smiled through tears of relief.

  ‘Let us go at once!’ his father continued. ‘The minute this rising is put down, arrests will be made. And trust me, they will show no leniency.’

  Neither would they show him leniency if he were to be found harbouring a rebel and a deserter. He would be stripped of his beloved job and possibly jailed. ‘Thank you, Father – for all you have done – but we’ll make our own way to Kingstown.’

  ‘You will do nothing of the sort. For a year and a half, I have searched for a way to make it up to you. Finally I have found one. By God, I’m going to see it through.’

  They lay on the floor of the motorcar, behind the two front seats, under a rug. Daniel’s father drove at his usual smooth pace. The humming, though, was new and Daniel wondered if it was nerves or excitement – his father loved a crisis. Daniel felt no such excitement. If his father were to lose his job, how would he feed the family? How would he face his friends? His life would be ruined.

  Too soon to have reached their destination, the car drew to a silent halt.

  ‘Can I help you, Sergeant?’ Daniel’s father asked in a cheerful tone.

  ‘We’re in search of rebels, sir.’

  ‘My dear man, do I look like a rebel to you?’ His laughter was hearty.

  ‘Nevertheless, I must ask – where are you off to at this hour?’

  ‘Well, my workplace has been overrun by insurrectionists. My routine has been disturbed. I am leaving this wretched city to take some air at Kingstown.’

  ‘And you are traveling alone?’

  Daniel lay very still, imagining a pair of eyes peering into the car.

  ‘Let me ask you this, Sergeant. Do you know what it is like to have a wife that talks incessantly? And by incessantly, I mean, non-stop.’

  ‘Can I see your papers, sir?’

  ‘Certainly.’

  There was rustling.

  Daniel wondered how Maggie was faring.

  ‘I wish that you had said that you were a lawman, Mister Healy.’ The sergeant spoke apologetically. ‘Lord knows what state the rebels will leave the Four Courts in,’ he said as though they were suddenly on the same side.

  ‘I’d rather not dwell upon it.’

  Daniel had no doubt that his father had spoken the truth.

  There was a pause, then the sound of his papers being returned.

  ‘I’m sorry for detaining you, sir. I do hope you enjoy your breath of fresh air.’

  Daniel expected his father to take off immediately.

  ‘Any news on when this wretched uprising will end?’ he heard him ask instead. The man had nerves of steel.

  ‘Very soon, I suspect. They say that the rebel headquarters will fall imminently.’

  ‘That is, indeed, good news. Thank you, Sergeant. I bid you good day.’

  ‘Good day, sir. Drive with care. But stop for no one.’

  The engine revved up and they were gliding forward, once more.

  Under the rug, Daniel found Maggie’s hand. Her dreams of a new Ireland were fading fast.

  ‘I haven’t lost my touch!’ his father called jubilantly from the front. Then his voice changed as he warned them. ‘Once in your hotel rooms, do not leave for any reason. I will find you the minute I have your papers and tickets.’

  ‘Thank you, Father.’

  ‘You will have to be patient. God knows how long it will take with the city as it is.’

  fifty-four

  Maggie

  The soft piano music, the chatter and polite laughter in the hotel lobby all belied the fact that there was a revolution taking place only miles away. Lives were being lost for the greater good and no one cared. But Maggie was no one to talk. She herself had deserted the fight. Patrick had been right, after all. When the time had come to choose, she had not chosen her country.

  The bellboy showed them to their separate rooms. As soon as he had left them, Daniel walked through the interconnecting door and took her in his arms.

  ‘I love you,’ he said.

  She leant into him, surprised at how desperately she needed to hear it. She had done the right thing. Of course she had. A great tiredness came over her.

  ‘I might lie down,’ she said.

  He looked deep into her eyes. ‘Did you get any sleep, at all, over the last few days?’

  She shook her head, unable to speak now, to think even.

  ‘Come.’ He helped her into bed and kissed her forehead. Then he locked the door to the corridor. ‘I’ll just be through here.’ He showed her the interconnecting door one more time.

  ‘Stay with me, Danny.’ She did not want to part from him. Rather, she wanted to curl up in his arms and listen to the slow beating of his heart, her favourite heart in the world.

  And so he stayed.

  Maggie woke to a rising sun and no sign of Daniel. She leapt from the bed and hurried to his room. He was standing at an open window.

  ‘Thank God,’ she said.

  He turned, smiled and came to her. He took her hands in his. ‘How are you feeling?’

  ‘How long have I slept? Is there any news of the insurrection?’

  ‘It’s Friday now, Maggie. And no. No news. I ordered a newspaper but there are none. It has affected everything, it seems.’

  ‘Not this hotel,’ she said bitterly.

  He brought her to the window. ‘The sea is still there. The sea that will carry us to safety.’

  She closed her eyes and inhaled the briny air blowing in through the window. It smelled of hope and freedom. Soon, she told herself. Soon, he will be out of danger.

  Looking down, she saw a mother arrive with a little girl. Maggie thought of her family. She longed to let them know that she was safe. She longed to say goodbye. But she could not trust a telegram and could not leave the room.

  By Sunday afternoon, she was going out of her mind, pacing both rooms. She had just marched into Daniel’s again when there was a sharp rap on his door. They looked at each other.

  ‘Go to your room,’ he whispered. ‘Stay there until I come for you.’

  She hurried inside and closed the door. She put her ear to it but could hear nothing. Moments passed and still no sound. She inched the door open. Then she was bursting through it.

  ‘Michael!’

  He looked grave. ‘It’s over! The rebels have o
rdered an unconditional ceasefire.’

  She stopped in her tracks. ‘No. It can’t be. They wouldn’t-’

  ‘And yet they have.’

  Daniel hurried to her with a chair. She sank into it as her legs gave way.

  ‘You must leave on the first ship!’ Michael urged. ‘People are being rounded up in their thousands, not alone revolutionaries but those whose homes were commandeered by them, members of Sinn Fein, anyone at all that looks at a soldier sideways. They’re arresting first, asking questions after. They’ve all but taken out the hounds. I saw them stop a priest! No one is safe. You must get away at once.’

  ‘We’re awaiting false identity papers,’ Daniel said, looking at Maggie.

  ‘You don’t have that luxury. For all we know, they could already be going door-to-door in every hotel in Dublin. Take my papers. Use my mask.’

  ‘What about you?’ Daniel asked him. ‘What will you use?’

  He smiled. ‘My face. They won’t ask for papers once they see it.’

  ‘We still need papers for Maggie.’

  ‘No, Danny,’ she said. ‘You go. I’ll follow when my papers are ready.’ She wondered if Mister Healy would bother with her documentation once his son was safe. He might even turn her in. Well, it was a risk she was prepared to take.

  But Daniel stood firm. ‘I’m not going without you.’

  ‘You face execution! I want you on the first boat.’

  ‘I’m waiting.’

  Michael surprised her then. ‘You’re better together. You can provide each other with alibis. And I’ve given those alibis some thought. I think that you, Maggie, should be a governess travelling to England to take up a position with a good Catholic family. You, Michael Benjamin Hegarty, should be her cousin, escorting her there to ensure her safe passage during these troubled times.’

  Daniel looked at Maggie.

  ‘It’s good,’ she said.

  Michael turned to Danny. ‘I called to your home and spoke with your father. He said that you’re bound for America.’

  ‘Does he agree that we should leave immediately?’

  ‘We spoke before news broke of the surrender. I’ll return and tell him we only need papers for Maggie now. It might speed things up.’

  ‘Thank you, Michael,’ they said together.

  ‘Would you do me the greatest favour, Mick?’ Maggie asked. ‘Would you visit my mother and let her know that I’m safe and where I am? I’d love, more than anything, to say goodbye.’

  He nodded, a softness in his eyes. ‘Of course.’

  ‘Make sure that you’re not followed!’ she added.

  He smiled. ‘You underestimate me.’

  ‘I would never. Who got us out of Dublin Castle? I will never forget that as long as I live.’ She regarded him with such fondness and admiration. ‘How we’ll miss you.’

  He raised his eyebrows. ‘You may not have to. If Sabha is as keen on adventure as she seems to be, we may follow you out.’ He looked so happy that the mask seemed to melt away.

  ‘I told you that you’d make someone laugh!’ Maggie said, delighted.

  ‘And I didn’t believe you. As usual, I was wrong.’ He winked. ‘Now, I’d better go.’

  ‘Thank you, Mick, for everything,’ Daniel said.

  ‘Thank me when we’re all in New York.’

  And there it was suddenly, a dream for Maggie to cling to. She threw her arms around him and wished him Godspeed. But as she pulled back, her face darkened. ‘Is the city very bad?’

  ‘Ah,’ he said with regret. ‘It’s as though the Great War itself has passed through Sackville Street. Entire buildings have been turned to rubble. The GPO is a blackened shell, smoking still.’

  ‘Is there any news of James Connolly, the countess, Patrick Shanahan, Michael Mallin, any of the leaders?’ she asked, knowing that it was only they that would be spoken about, not the ordinary men, women and children who had risked everything for their country. But, then, the leaders were ordinary people too.

  ‘I don’t know. It’s chaos out there.’

  She longed for news of her brother and friend. If they were alive – and she prayed that they were – they would be raging at the thought of a ceasefire. They would have wanted to fight to the death. Not give up. Never give up. She was surprised that James Connolly had. But then she did not know the circumstances. She sighed deeply.

  ‘All for nothing,’ she whispered. The cycle of poverty would continue. Life in the tenements would go unchanged. Working conditions would remain poor and workers underpaid. There was no one to change it now. They had given it their all and failed.

  ‘I will bring as much news as I can when I return,’ Michael promised. ‘I’m sorry, Maggie, that it has ended like this.’

  She forced a smile, not trusting herself to speak.

  Michael hurried away.

  Then, with Daniel’s arms about her, Maggie cried for dreams that would never be realised and guilt that she had not, after all, done her bit.

  Then, they were there, her little family standing in the corridor – everyone except for Tom. Emotion flooded Maggie. She hurried them inside where all four fell into one embrace. Maggie’s heart ached with a loneliness that had already begun.

  ‘Any news of Tom?’ she and her mother asked at the same time, each as desperate as the other.

  Both shook their heads.

  ‘’Tis a lovely room,’ Lily said from the window. ‘Look at the pretty lamps all down the pier. ’Tis like a fairytale.’

  Maggie smiled at her.

  ‘You must move quickly to get away,’ David urged.

  Their mother fetched her purse.

  ‘No, Mam, we’re grand,’ Maggie insisted.

  ‘It’s not much, Maggie, but you don’t know how happy I am to be able to give it to you. I feared that we’d lost you.’

  ‘I’m sorry for the worry.’

  ‘Aren’t you here?’ she said brightly. ‘Now how are you fixed to get away?’

  ‘Danny’s father is arranging false papers and our passage to America.’

  ‘America!’ Lily exclaimed.

  The word had the opposite effect on their mother who looked at Maggie sadly.

  ‘How long will that take?’ David asked urgently.

  ‘That’s the problem,’ Maggie said. ‘Danny can use Michael’s papers but we have to wait for ones for me.’

  Lily turned from the window. ‘Use mine!’ she said simply.

  ‘You were listening, over there?’ their mother exclaimed.

  ‘I’m forever listening, Mammy.’ She looked at Maggie. ‘Use my papers.’

  Maggie went to her sister and lifted her up. She kissed her cheek. ‘If we were the same age, I’d take you up on it, Lil.’

  ‘There’s ten years between us, Maggie, that only means slipping in a one in front of the seven.’

  Everyone stared at her.

  She shrugged. ‘’Tis simple.’

  Maggie, David and their mother exchanged a glance. Then a smile.

  Maggie swirled Lily around. ‘Where did we get you?’

  ‘At the food kitchen,’ she said simply.

  ‘Wasn’t that the luckiest day of my life?’ Maggie said.

  There was a rap at the door.

  Eyes wide, Maggie looked at her mother.

  ‘It’s only the trunks,’ she reassured. ‘I asked them to be sent up.’

  ‘Trunks?’

  ‘You don’t think I’d let you away without your things?’ She turned and went to answer the door.

  ‘Is America very far away?’ Lily asked, doubtful for the first time.

  ‘It’s not forever, Lil,’ she said and felt guilty for the lie. If they got away they could never return home. This was Maggie’s last time with her family. She pulled Lily close, trying not to cry.

  ‘Now, let’s hope I’ve not forgotten anything,’ their mother said looking up from the trunk she had begun to open. ‘Ah, there it is!’ she exclaimed, reaching for a small box. From it, s
he lifted a gold locket and chain, which she presented to Maggie.

  Maggie assumed that it would contain a picture of the family she was leaving behind. But when she opened it, it was her father’s face that she saw. Her eyes welled.

  ‘It’s you I’d like the picture of,’ Maggie said to her mother. It was she, after all, who had raised them, who had taken Lily in, and who had let Maggie chase dreams that might have killed her. Maggie’s father had left her with a legacy that had demanded too much – of all of them.

  Her mother touched her heart. ‘I’ll send you one to New York.’

  ‘And send me news of Tom.’

  Her mother nodded, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.

  ‘First, we must get you onto that boat,’ David said.

  fifty-five

  Daniel

  Wednesday, 3rd May, 1916

  ‘What’s your name?’ Daniel asked Maggie.

  ‘Lily Murphy.’

  ‘Date of birth?’

  She knew it all – the date and place of birth, the name of the family she was to work for in England, the address. She grilled Daniel in return, though it was no challenge for him; he knew everything there was to know about Michael Benjamin Hegarty.

  They embraced, took deep breaths and opened the door.

  Out on the corridor, Daniel linked Maggie’s arm. They would walk out of the hotel and board the boat at the nearby pier. Daniel’s father had taken care of the hotel bill in advance. There was no reason to stop. No reason to get involved with anyone. Only go to the boat and leave.

  At the top of the stairs, two gentlemen were engaged in an animated conversation. Their words floated down the corridor.

  ‘I know they were fools to rise but executing men who have surrendered is an outrage!’ one said.

  Maggie stopped. She turned to Daniel, eyes wide. She stared at the men.

  ‘No stopping,’ Daniel quietly urged. ‘Let us get to the boat.’

  She slipped her arm from his and was gone. He strode after her, his heart racing.

  ‘Pardon me. I could not help but overhear. Who is being executed?’ She sounded shrill.