A Swift Pure Cry by Siobhan Dowd Page A

that.'
    'No!'
    'Why not?'
    'It's Stone Age. It has a point. Like an arrow.'
    Shell shrugged. 'Doubt it.'
    Jimmy wriggled back into his pyjamas. ''Tis. I know it.'
    'OK so, it is.' She smiled. 'When you're better, Jimmy, I'll get you a present. From McGraths'.'
    'Would you, Shell?'
    'I will. What would you like?'
    He furrowed up his face to think about it for such a long time Shell thought he'd gone asleep. Then he stared up at her with hungry eyes. 'Shell,' he whispered, 'I'd like a bucket.'
    'A bucket?'
    'A bucket and spade. For the strand.'
    'But you have them already-out the back somewhere.'
    'That old bucket's split. And the spade's gone.'
    'OK, Jimmy. I'll get you the bucket and spade.' She didn't know where she'd get the money. But she knew she'd done right, because soon after he dropped off to sleep with a peaceful look on his narrow white face. She couldn't sleep herself. She sat by his bed, stroking his thick head of hair. Soon her mam was sitting beside her, an arm around her shoulder. Her soft humming filled the peaceful dark, going up and down the lazy notes of a song Shell couldn't quite remember.

Thirteen

    Palm Sunday came and went, with no sign of Father Rose at church. He'd to give the Mass that week down on Goat Island. Monday passed, then Tuesday. By Spy Wednesday, Jimmy had recovered. He ate his breakfast and demanded his present.
    Shell remembered the five coins she'd scattered for the poor of the parish in their hour of need. She prayed Jesus to count Jimmy as one of them and went up to the fields to retrieve them. She scrabbled around for ages but found only three of them. She'd priced the bucket and spade at McGraths' already. She hadn't enough.
    She searched the house high and low. A ten pence had rolled under the fridge. In the lining of her school bag was another five. She still needed more.
    Dad was out collecting. She went into his room. The dressing-table mirrors enticed her over for another game of Eternity, but she resisted them. She crept to the wardrobe and went through his pockets.
    She found what she needed and stole it, making the sign of the cross.
    She went to the village next, locking Trix and Jimmy into the house so they couldn't run into mischief on the roads. When she explained her errand, they solemnly swore to be good while she was out.
    Mr McGrath let her spend a long time choosing. She bought a bucket of apple green and a spade of ocean blue. When she came to pay, he threw in another spade, ladybird red, with a wink. 'Our secret, Shell,' he said, like he had with the bubblegums the week before. She smiled.
    Before heading home, she walked up to the church. The side door was open. She crept up into the gallery, sat down and listened hard.
    Jesus was somewhere close. The wood groaned again. Light played in the aisles below. She prayed to him to forgive her the theft of money. She prayed for the repose of the souls of Michael Rose and Moira Talent, her own dead mam, and of all the departed. She prayed for the troubles of the world to end. She was still on the last, when voices started up in the vestry. Father Carroll and Father Rose came through into the main body of the church, chatting. They paused by the altar. Shell crouched down behind the balcony.
    'Back again, to the time of the purple cloths,' Father Carroll sighed.
    'There's always a heaviness at this time of year,' Father Rose agreed.
    'Nora has the lilies organized.' Father Carroll went to the lectern and turned a page or two of the Bible. 'Joe Talent's doing the readings.'
    'Joe Talent? Again?'
    'He reads like a rusty nail, I know. But he'd be hurt if I passed him over.'
    A shudder of mirth went through Shell in the gallery. She curled over her knees to press it back down. Her pew creaked.
    'It's windy today,' Father Carroll said.
    'They're a poor family, the Talents, aren't they?' Father Rose asked. The way he said it made the laughing inside Shell stop.
    'The poorest. The father's on the social since his wife died.