The Insect Rosary Read Free Page A

Hurley.
    â€˜They didn’t mean we should sleep in the same bed, did they?’ asked Elian.
    â€˜No,’ said Nancy, unsurely. She noticed a fold down bed next to the wardrobe. ‘There’s a z-bed. But I think you could stay in the girls’ bedroom.’
    â€˜You want me to sleep in a girl room?’ said Hurley.
    â€˜I mean the kids’ room. It used to have the girls because there were more of them. The boys were in one room, but Donn sleeps in there now. There were four boys in one bed, so you could always share with him if you’re going to be picky.’
    â€˜No, thanks.’
    â€˜I’ll show you the room,’ said Nancy, picking up his backpack.
    He took it and slouched behind her. She opened the door to the much larger room, one double bed facing the large bay window also overlooking the drive like her room, and the other single bed against the left hand wall. Another window faced the paddock at the side of the house.
    â€˜Pick a bed, any bed,’ said Nancy, wondering why she was talking like that. Tired, probably. She needed a sleep, but had to face Elian on his own first.
    Hurley put his backpack down and jumped onto the bed by the window. She thought of telling him it was wrong, that wasn’t the bed she’d slept in, but decided to say nothing.
    When she got back to the best bedroom she was relieved to see that Elian was asleep. She didn’t want to talk about Bernadette again. Not yet.

3
    Then
    They looked like two cupboard doors either side of the fireplace. The one on the left was forbidden. The one on the right was a larder built into the alcove. This was where we got the glacé cherries from. Sometimes Sister Agatha gave them to us when we’d behaved ourselves and let us pick one out, stickily pulling it from our fingers before chewing it quickly and hoping for another. More often we dared each other to climb on the armchair and fetch them down two at a time. That was mostly me, even though Nancy complained that I’d had my fingers on them. How she expected me to balance on the arm, open the door and hand her the clear, plastic pot to choose her own, I’m not sure. That was only giving me more of a chance to get caught.
    This time I did get caught. The sound of the door opening and Nancy’s gasp made me twist and I fell from the arm of the chair onto the cracked, brown tiles of the hearth. My arm hurt like Nancy had kicked it with both feet at once and I cradled it like a baby until Mum came to see why Sister Agatha was shouting. I could hear Florence crying in the distance so knew she was already in a bad mood.
    â€˜She’s a thief,’ said Sister Agatha, shaking her head. ‘Stealing from her own family. I don’t know what you’ve been teaching that child. I knew someone was, but I’m not one to point the finger. And,’ she pointed at Nancy, ‘that one’s no better. She knew exactly what was going on.’
    I thought later, after I’d stopped crying, that they played with blame like me and Nancy. That when me and Nancy were old and grumpy, we’d still be the same and try to wriggle out of getting told off. Adults got told off a lot in this house. Every time Mum was angry she called her Sister Agatha, and she did now.
    â€˜Oh, you’re so much better than the rest of us. If only you’d had children you could have shown us all how it was done. What a shame you married Jesus instead, Sister Agatha.’
    Sister Agatha drew her black cardigan around herself and stood, arms crossed. ‘Agatha. And I know your children call me Sister Agatha too, just to be offensive.’
    â€˜Look at you, all in black, just like a pretend nun. It’s no wonder, is it? Except they chucked you out.’
    â€˜I left, and you know full well why, Eithne.’
    I had quietened now and watched with amazement as they argued above my head. They’d forgotten I was there, sitting in the white ash