Uchenna's Apples Read Free

“We’ve got tinkers!” she whispered.
    “What?” Uchenna looked around. “Where?”
    “Not here, you think they’d come here so close to the school and the shops? They’d just get arrested or something.”
    Uchenna shrugged. This being Ireland, there were always Travelling people around: families who lived in caravans or mobile homes as their ancestors had for sometimes hundreds of years, and didn’t want to settle down into houses. They did all kinds of casual work—fixing leaky roofs and paving driveways, recovering old slates and fireplaces from demolished houses, breaking up old cars for parts. But the “settled community” tended to look at them suspiciously a lot of the time because Travellers often made a real mess of the places where they were camped, and a lot of them were supposed to be thieves who’d steal things from people’s yards whenever they could. Some Travellers were really poor: some of them looked poor, but were really rich from the honest (or dishonest) work they did. “Well, what?” Uchenna said. “Oh no! Don’t tell me the playing field’s full of caravans all of a sudden! Or the park—” That was something that happened without warning in some parts of the country: a park or field would suddenly turn without warning into a gathering place for Travelers, crowded with ramshackle caravans and RVs, and it would take months for the county council to get rid of them and get everything cleaned up again.
    “No, it’s okay,” Emer said as they cut across the corner into Uchenna’s street, past the big boulder set in the ground that had the words ADAMSTOWN CIRCLE WEST cut into it. “Stop looking so shocked! Your precious hockey field is safe.”
    “Well, it better be, we have a game with Naas on Saturday,” Uchenna said. “So where are the tinkers, then?”
    “Nobody knows.”
    “You are turning into Mystery Girl all of a sudden,” Uchenna said, giving Emer a weird look. “If nobody knows where the tinkers are, then how do we know they’re here in the first place?”
    “It’s the horses,” Emer said.
    Uchenna stopped where she was on the sidewalk and looked at Emer. “Horses here ?” she said. “Oh, wait a minute. Is this some horses from one of the big stud farms out behind the development? What’s that big one’s name?”
    “Airlie Stud,” Emer said. “Nope. These are not any of those fancy purebreds. Donal and Ruairi say they’re tinker ponies.”
    Uchenna shook her head. “Okay, so where are they?”
    “Out behind my house!” Emer said. “Well, almost. You know where the second field back is, on the right side of my circle? In there. We should go see.”
    Uchenna looked at her friend a little oddly as they headed down the steps together. “Didn’t think you were all that much of a horse person,” Uchenna said.
    “I’m not! But I’ve never seen any of these up close. Can’t wait.”
    “You’re never going to go in the field with them?” Uchenna said, mystified by the sudden interest.
    “I am! I’ve always wanted to see some of these shaggy ones up close. Now they’re right behind my house, almost. It’s like they’re mine.” Emer was actually grinning, and those pale blue eyes of hers were alight with excitement as the breeze whipped her hair around. “Nobody can say anything to me if I go look at them. And anyway, if we don’t do it now, they might be gone in the morning!”
    “Yeah, they might,” Uchenna said. “And don’t you think you should be careful? Because whatever tinkers put them there might get pissed off at you if they see you messing with them.” And there might be trouble, Uchenna thought. Traveling people had a reputation for being violent sometimes, especially when settled people meddled in their doings.
    “Well, I’m not gonna mess with them. But anyway, there’s no sign of any tinkers around right now,” Emer said. “Which is really weird.”
    “Yeah, you’d be right there,” Uchenna said, pausing for a