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He tried to i this was, and the much older woman she must have beco for ive

Friel

He practised saying the nae bare room littered with piles of paper He wondered why even the date of birth was uncertain And the hunger caer that had never really gone away Friel Mary Friel David Friel

And soht say, my God, I don't believe it, with the shock that conition, from a memory abruptly refreshed My God, where did you find this? Reaching out to touch it, ht I remember when They said I couldn't, I couldn't But however did you find it? soht ask I mean it could have been anywhere couldn't it? I wasn't really looking, he was going to say, s

An accident, like the Mildenhall ploughh thick frosty soil to haul out the treasured silver plates with his bare hands An accident, like Julia's original slip of the tongue

40 Scrapbook w/postcards, tickets, maps, etc, 1979

He stood out on the deck, watching the dockers wrestle the heavythe oily slip of water between the boat and the quay narrow to nothing, and he felt the sudden rush of tears It was unexpected Hedidn'tso much burst into tears as subside into the shut and his lips rolling over each other, his head bowing as though in prayer He gripped the rail, steadying hi down across the docks and flashing through the haloes around the warehouse lights He wiped his eyes and his cheeks with the backs of his hands The people standing around hier exits, wandering off in twos and threes A low grinding vibration shook through the boat as the bow doors opened He looked out over Belfast, the buildings huddled together under the low grey sky, towers poking up out of the gloo faintly in the distance

He walked fro the directions on a ht with him The streets were quiet and dark, as if people aiti

ng until the last possibletheir heads down and their lights low The people who'd co uainst the rain A police Land Rover hurtled past, a skirt of steel-plating around its wheels,up spray from the road Aopen bundles of newspapers Anothera handcart blooood nored him He came to a hotel with all its front s boarded up, found his bus waiting in the bus station behind it, and took his seat

Later, he stuck the tickets andwith the other remnants of the journey - postcards, bus tickets, beer mats, notepaper printed with the addresses of bed and breakfast guesthouses - and he i around their eyes and away fro look how close you cah

He woke up with no idea of how long he'd been asleep or how far the bus had travelled Fro fields of wheat and open pasture, large white farmhouses and open-walled barns set back fro unexpectantly in the daland, or Wales, or Northued accents of the other people on the bus, or the union flags which hung li the road The hills got higher, and the fields on either side became more barren, littered with rocks and striped withaway fro with each other as they hurried away from the bus Valleys fell away to one side, steep-sided and channelled out by narrow streah a small town, and as they caears and leaning heavily on the brake, he saw Londonderry appear below thee, ringed by a hich no longer held the whole city within it He changed buses in Londonderry, crossing the border soon afterwards A soldier got on to the bus to look at the passengers Another one walked around outside, crouching at each corner to peer at the axles, glancing up at the tops of the surrounding hills, waving theun

Eleanor's anxieties about leaving the house went further than keeping her fro to the shops They made her worry about other people's journeys, and about David and Kate's in particular When David had to drive somewhere for work she would question hi, how long it o She took co the oil and the water and the brakes before he left, putting a blanket and a first-aid kit in the boot of the car, fastening his seatbelt before she waved hi tial, to persuade her to let hio It'll only be for a few days, he said, maybe a week You'll be fine with Kate, my mum will come round and help out Please, he said But she only asked hio He said he wouldn't drive, and she said that o What will you do? she said You've got no idea where to go What are you expecting to find? I don't know, he told her I just want to have a look I just want to see what it's like But it's not safe there, she said, hoill I know you're okay?

So he didn't tell her about the soldiers or the Land Rover when he spoke to her on the phone that evening He told her about the hills, and the flags, and the sheep, and he told her about his first darkened view of Belfast in the

What's the weather like? she said Where are you now? He could hear Kate in the background, saying she couldn't hear, saying it was her turn to talk now

It's been raining all day, he said I'al Town The roo He could hear voices in another roo tables for breakfast She asked how long he was going to stay, what he was going to do