in the fields. In the summer you climbed up a haystack and then came flying back down again. And then what did you do?
You just turned around and climbed back up again. ‘I’m the best!’ squealed Raphael and pulled the bits of hay out of his hair.
‘Say some Latin for us!’ the boys all said because they couldn’t remember it.
‘ Introibo ad altare Dei! ’ cried Raphael.
‘Latin is good!’ the boys said. ‘We wish we knew some.’
‘I’ll teach you,’ said Raphael.
And he did. In a week they were all able to say it and off they went down the road chanting and clapping away to beat the band Introibo ad altare Dei .
It was good then. Of course it was. It was good being alive in those days.
Out in the Fields
Or at least it was until the War of Independence when people started getting shot right, left and centre and sometimes even whole towns were torched and left to burn away to
nothing. You never knew what was going to happen next. Just like the day Raphael was helping Mattie to fork the hay in the field when the Black and Tan soldiers came up and stood there smiling and
saying, ‘Turned out nice, didn’t it?’ They took off their caps and wiped the sweat off their foreheads saying, ‘Bloody weather in this country. Like them what lives in it
– untrustworthy, know what I mean?’ Raphael didn’t know much about the Black and Tans. He knew there was a war on all right and that Ireland was trying to win independence for
itself. But apart from that he knew nothing and to tell the truth he didn’t really care. At least not up until a couple of minutes later when the Black and Tan put his cap back on and hit his
father across the face with a revolver.
What exactly happened after that, Raphael was never able to say for sure. One of the others might have hit him with a rifle butt or something but anyway Mattie fell down and when he was on his
knees the Black and Tan said, ‘We know you’re a rebel, Bell. We know all about you and if you don’t tell us what we want to know you’re going to be a sorry man. A very sorry
man indeed, I don’t mind telling you.’ Raphael knew it was serious now and started crying but they told him to shut up or they would kill his father. So he shut up as best he could. Not
that it mattered all that much anyway because the officer said he was fed up and told him to get up and then put the barrel of the revolver to his chest and blew a hole in it. Some of the blood
from it splashed across Raphael’s face. When they were going they said to him, ‘You remember this day, son. That should keep you out of mischief.’
His father wasn’t dead yet and Raphael realized he was trying to say something to him. He fell to his knees and pleaded, ‘Daddy, don’t die!’ Mattie held his hand and
said, ‘Promise me one thing, son. You’ll always look after your mother. She adores the ground you walk on, son. Promise me you’ll be good to her no matter what happens.’
‘I promise, Daddy,’ said Raphael and then Mattie’s head tilted to one side and he died.
Raphael stood up on the legs of a newly born spring lamb and felt the fields were screaming.
Stranger
The sad part of it all was that Evelyn never really got over it. It doesn’t really matter when all the preparations are being made for the funeral and so on and all your
neighbours are there to comfort you but they can’t stay there for ever. And that’s when it begins to get hard. Although you’re living in a lovely little cottage it’s like
you’re inside a sealed metal container that lets in no light. That was what Evelyn felt when she broke down crying and it seemed to be for no reason just as it did the day Raphael came in the
door and found her there in the middle of the kitchen weeping uncontrollably. Her hands were shaking and she was mouthing the word ‘Mattie’ even though there was no sound coming out.
Raphael went to her and threw his arms around her. Her nails bit into his wrist and
You just turned around and climbed back up again. ‘I’m the best!’ squealed Raphael and pulled the bits of hay out of his hair.
‘Say some Latin for us!’ the boys all said because they couldn’t remember it.
‘ Introibo ad altare Dei! ’ cried Raphael.
‘Latin is good!’ the boys said. ‘We wish we knew some.’
‘I’ll teach you,’ said Raphael.
And he did. In a week they were all able to say it and off they went down the road chanting and clapping away to beat the band Introibo ad altare Dei .
It was good then. Of course it was. It was good being alive in those days.
Out in the Fields
Or at least it was until the War of Independence when people started getting shot right, left and centre and sometimes even whole towns were torched and left to burn away to
nothing. You never knew what was going to happen next. Just like the day Raphael was helping Mattie to fork the hay in the field when the Black and Tan soldiers came up and stood there smiling and
saying, ‘Turned out nice, didn’t it?’ They took off their caps and wiped the sweat off their foreheads saying, ‘Bloody weather in this country. Like them what lives in it
– untrustworthy, know what I mean?’ Raphael didn’t know much about the Black and Tans. He knew there was a war on all right and that Ireland was trying to win independence for
itself. But apart from that he knew nothing and to tell the truth he didn’t really care. At least not up until a couple of minutes later when the Black and Tan put his cap back on and hit his
father across the face with a revolver.
What exactly happened after that, Raphael was never able to say for sure. One of the others might have hit him with a rifle butt or something but anyway Mattie fell down and when he was on his
knees the Black and Tan said, ‘We know you’re a rebel, Bell. We know all about you and if you don’t tell us what we want to know you’re going to be a sorry man. A very sorry
man indeed, I don’t mind telling you.’ Raphael knew it was serious now and started crying but they told him to shut up or they would kill his father. So he shut up as best he could. Not
that it mattered all that much anyway because the officer said he was fed up and told him to get up and then put the barrel of the revolver to his chest and blew a hole in it. Some of the blood
from it splashed across Raphael’s face. When they were going they said to him, ‘You remember this day, son. That should keep you out of mischief.’
His father wasn’t dead yet and Raphael realized he was trying to say something to him. He fell to his knees and pleaded, ‘Daddy, don’t die!’ Mattie held his hand and
said, ‘Promise me one thing, son. You’ll always look after your mother. She adores the ground you walk on, son. Promise me you’ll be good to her no matter what happens.’
‘I promise, Daddy,’ said Raphael and then Mattie’s head tilted to one side and he died.
Raphael stood up on the legs of a newly born spring lamb and felt the fields were screaming.
Stranger
The sad part of it all was that Evelyn never really got over it. It doesn’t really matter when all the preparations are being made for the funeral and so on and all your
neighbours are there to comfort you but they can’t stay there for ever. And that’s when it begins to get hard. Although you’re living in a lovely little cottage it’s like
you’re inside a sealed metal container that lets in no light. That was what Evelyn felt when she broke down crying and it seemed to be for no reason just as it did the day Raphael came in the
door and found her there in the middle of the kitchen weeping uncontrollably. Her hands were shaking and she was mouthing the word ‘Mattie’ even though there was no sound coming out.
Raphael went to her and threw his arms around her. Her nails bit into his wrist and
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