Rose of Tralee Read Free Page B

‘Are you goin’ to light the fire? I’ll bring thematches if you like.’
    Colm knew very well that Mammy always kept the matches on the topmost shelf, and knew, too, that Caitlin could never reach them in a million years. ‘It’s all right, alanna,’ he said, however. ‘We’ll not be after lightin’ the fire until we’ve delivered the linen.’ He bent and picked up the bucket of water, pouring it over the potatoes, then stood the bucket down again and tossed in the salt. ‘And anyway, you know you aren’t allowed to touch matches, they’re . . .’ he turned as he spoke and what he saw made his eyes bulge. Caitlin was calmly struggling from shelf to shelf like a goat up a mountainside, heading straight for the topmost one. ‘Why, you wicked little ...’
    He leaped towards her on the words, just in time to see her clutch at what she clearly thought was a shelf edge ... and topple backwards, holding his mammy’s wooden chopping board in her hands for one brief second before releasing it to clutch at the air as she crashed floorwards. A number of objects came off the shelves with her, landing on or around the child, and Colm, his heart beating so loudly that it almost deafened him, pushed everything wildly aside and looked down into her white face. ‘Caitlin! Are you all right?’ he gasped. ‘What devil possessed you to go climbin’ like a mountain goat on Mammy’s cupboard shelves? Oh, if you’ve been an’ gone an’ kilt yourself then it’s my fault, for not rememberin’ as how you’re always game for anyt’ing, any’ting at all!’
    He pulled Caitlin into a sitting position and realised that a good deal of her pallor was due to the bag of flour, which had tipped most of its contents over her as she fell, and indeed, a second later she sneezed several times, very loudly, before pulling herself out of his arms and getting waveringly to herfeet. ‘I went crash-bang-wallop,’ she said breezily. ‘The shelf breaked in me hands, so it did. Will – will Mammy be cross?’
    ‘She will so,’ Colm said thoughtlessly, then saw Caitlin’s mouth begin to turn down at the corners and repented of his cruelty. ‘Ah, it’s all right, alanna, for I’ll not breathe a word to the mammy; you were doin’ your best to help,’ he said reassuringly. ‘Now just you sit in the chair be the fireside whiles I clear this mess away, then we’ll go off to deliver the washin’ an’ no one the wiser.’
    He shovelled the flour back into its sack, hoping that the next time his mother came to need some she would not notice what a deal of dust had somehow got mixed with the topmost couple of inches, then began to tidy the other things. What a blessing she’d not actually broken anything, he thought, returning things to their proper places and giving a quick look back over his shoulder to see what the spalpeen was doing now. With Caitlin you could never be sure. But she was kneeling on the floor and dusting flour off the lower shelf with an old rag, clearly intent on making amends for her accident. As it was, Mammy would not scold for a mishap – and besides, with luck she need never find out.
    ‘All done,’ Colm said presently, returning to the washstand to heave the slop bucket up in one hand and the empty one with the other. ‘Come on, Caitlin, we’ll deal wit’ the water first.’
    Caitlin got to her feet and as she stood up Colm noticed the state of her for the first time. Oh Mary, Mother of Jesus, the kid was covered in flour; it mingled with the dirt of a day’s play and gave her a terrifying appearance! Sighing, he stood his buckets down and reached for the floor brush, then led Caitlinback into the pantry cupboard. He might as well brush her down where all the worst mess had been, then brush all the mess between the boards.
    Twenty minutes later he and Caitlin set off at last, Caitlin looking suspiciously pale still, though Colm comforted himself with the thought that she looked pale because he was