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What you should understand, she said very quietly, letting go of the card and stepping back slightly, is that iven false na told

She didn't look at him as she spoke, and at first he wasn't quite sure what she'd said

Absolutely, she said, they'd have given false names That's what I did, she said

I can't find theh froo and help her

So when they sat down on the long plu the cushions behind her and opening the first of the albums out across their laps, they knew, they both kneas happening But neither of the from the kitchen doorway, didn't know, and so perhaps it was for her that they kept quiet Eleanor, sitting at the table in theagain, didn't know, although she ie in David's manner, and in his voice, and so perhaps it was also for her that they kept quiet Or perhaps it was because they weren't quite sure and they both preferred, for the moment, not to know

Well then, Mary began I supposearound a lot longer, so it's a good job we're sitting down He smiled, and leant a little closer towards her, a little closer to the pictures in the album

So, she said This is the first photo of us This is us at , all of us except Jack, ay I'm fifteen, that's me there, see? This would have been just before I went over to England for the first ti fair in Deny

He listened to the words, to the soft drifting sound of her voice, and he looked at the pictures He found his hand raph the way Mary's had done at the table, as though his fingersmore than he could find with his eyes, some extra detail, solossy press of the cellophane laid over each page, the slight ridge of each photograph's edge

She talked on, explaining each picture, talking around it, telling the story of growing up in such a large fa for work, of what had happened in London, of co home to raise a family of her own She sent Sarah back to her room to look out the biscuit tin from under her bed, with her rainy-day money in; will you look now, she said, that's the same tin I had back then The words ca out with the pictures the way that she'd always i in a room with the fixed and silent attention of athe room She talked on, and he listened, and he asked questions, and she answered, and she was still talking by the tihts, and cleared the table, and twice offered them another pot of tea

And when she had finished they both sat together for a tiainst each other, both knohat needed to be said now but neither of thein

62 Bill for room and board, Conway's of Letterkenny, June 2000

As they were leaving, Mary produced a package of photographs, reprints of the ones she'd shown hi, and wrapped in a plastic bag to keep it out of the rain I'd still like you to have these though, she said, all the sae, and nodded, and tried to say yes, thank you, I would Eleanor moved away to the car, and Sarah backed away into the house, as if they thought they should make way for one last private moment; but as the two of them stood there they could do little more than smile

I'm sorry, said David

Oh, not a bit, said Mary It's you that's co to you I think Sarah got a bit carried aith herself there, I think maybe she found what she wanted to find, you know? I think she didn't stop to be sure She only said you were coo, I haven't had a chance toshe said, her voice fading, her hands reaching for what she was trying to say It would have been nice though, wouldn't it? she said Before it was too late She stopped, and closed her eyes, and he thought about calling Sarah back outside But it's okay, she said, finally I don't mind And I don't think you'll mind, will you?

No, he said No, I won't