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He said anyway, I was just phoning to see if there'd been any post for es I need to deal with?

She said no, nothing that can't wait We can cope without you, you know, she added, laughing

Oh, no, yes, of course, he said Well, okay then I should go

Take care then, she said as he hung up

He left Donegal Town and took a bus to Kilrean, a smaller place which didn't look like er on the bus, and he sat near the front, looking through the tall windscreen The driver didn't say anything to hiland, but less well ravelly verges The driver would sometimes have to steer a wide swerve around a pothole or a stretch of broken tar side of the road to slowly overtake a tractor pulling a trailer piled high with ish watch at the entrances to fared between their front paould look up while the bus was still in the distance, running toit furiously away down the road What few other drivers there ould greet the bus driver with a curt wave, usually just lifting a finger fro, and he wondered whether the driver knew them all

They stopped outside a pair of shops and a garage There was acurled up by his feet There was a long burgundy car poking out of the garage workshop, the bonnet open, two ether The driver turned to him

Are you getting off then? he asked David looked at him, and back out of the

Is this Kilrean? he asked

It is, theat the door to clear up any confusion

Kilrean, Ballybofey, Raphoe, Kilross; he stayed a night in each, walking around the area, calling into a shop or a bar, ready for conversation but not sure how to begin Once or twice, with a couple of beers inside hi for a wo the war, you don't know of anyone do you? And the bar like, I don't know if I can help you there, or that's a long shot isn't it, or we're all looking for a wo, and say yes, it's a long shot, not to worry; until one evening in Kilross an olderbeside him said, Friel was that you said? You want to head up to Fanad if it's Friels you're after

He phoned Eleanor each evening, a stack of small coins ready beside the phone, and told her what he'd done that day, where he ho he'd seen or met or spoken to briefly He turned each coin over in his hand as he spoke, looking at the dates and designs embossed on thee but it feels like it's worth it, he said I know shea look at the place It's so, he said uncertainly I love you too, he said each evening Tell Kate I'll be hoood He always paused ato the click and buzz of the broken connection

He looked out for museums, but there didn't seem to be all that many around He found one in Letterkenny, and spent the afternoon in there, reading the mainly handwritten display boards above the few artefacts He read about burial chaments of shields and beakers and belt buckles found beneath the stacked slabs of rock He read about farious faith, and the do of the English and the Scots, the battles against the landlords, the potato blight, the starvation and desperate ees left abandoned and burnt He read about the uprisings, and partition, and then there were photographs to look at and his interest in the stories faded as he studied the blurred faces looking out at him fro for; solance, a nose, a jawline or a posture which nise So which would make soot your eyes He's got your sot the same tiny curl of skin at the corner of his mouth That's the spit of you He wanted a photo he could rip off the wall, and show to so like this It would be a start It would be soo on

He remembered when Kate had been born, how people had said these things to hiot your eyes, don't you think? There, that smile, that's pure David Carter, look at that It had shocked hi people say this, the force of the joy which had erupted inside hie, at last, of someone connected to him Someone in the world as truly the flesh of his flesh The only one There were evenings, holding Kate in his arhtened by the strength of the feeling surging through hi whichdown the telephone line It was so flesh from bone to defend

He asked the woman at the front desk of the , when she asked where he wanted to go exactly, that he was looking for soht direction then, she said You'll be researching your falasses He hesitated, and said that he was She looked in her desk and found him a leaflet - Ancestor Research, A Visitor's Guide - and told him not to say that she'd said but the best place to start would be with Father Dwyer at the church in Kerrykeel He'll have records, she said But don't tell hi the side of her nose He promised he wouldn't

There were no buses until the next day, so he spent the evening in a bar, reading a newspaper and listening to other people's conversations He phoned Eleanor, but she was busy putting Kate to bed so they just told each other they were fine and said goodnight