Lingard027Chapter 4Lingard Estate1972Linen Hall LibraryThursday, March 10, 2016TIFFLingard027ManuscriptBelfast Lough, GantriesEnglishhttps://www.niliteraryarchive.com/content/lingard027Linen Hall LibraryLinen Hall LibraryAttribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SAhttps://www.niliteraryarchive.com/sites/default/files/Lingard027_1.jpgLHL Archive25
CHAPTER FOUR
Sadie and Kevin sat on the top of Cave Hill looking down atwith the city
spread out below them. They looked down at the great sprawl of factories,
and offices and houses that were gradually eating further and further
into the green countryside beyond. Into the midst of the town came
Belfast Lough. It was blue now this eveningunder a blue, nearly cloudless sky, speckled
with ships and spiked by the shipyard gantries.
"I like looking down on the town, " said Kevin.
"Me too, "aid Sadie. "It looks so peaceful. I wish it were!""
It was peaceful up there on the hill with the wind placing round
their faces and tousling their hair. Sadie sat with her knees up to her
chin, hugging her legs. She felt at ease with Kevin though of course
it was seldom she felt ill-at-ease with anybody, but she also felt a
sort f contentment that she was unxused to.
"It’s funny," she began.
"What?" He turned on one elbow to look at her.
"I was just thinking a place looks better if you've got somebody
with you."
"Two pairs of eyeballs are better than one. As long as they're
the right two pairs of course."
He has a sweet tongue on him, she thought. He was gazing back
down at the city again. She stole a look at him. His face was strong>del>
not very broad but it was it was firm and had a look x suggestion of
strength about it; it was also deeply tanned, witht the look of one
who was seldom indoors. He probably went home only to sleep. She
TextJoan LingardTuesday, September 6, 2016 - 10:48872Lingard028Chapter 4Lingard Estate1972Linen Hall LibraryThursday, March 10, 2016TIFFLingard028ManuscriptBangor, MothersEnglishhttps://www.niliteraryarchive.com/content/lingard028Linen Hall LibraryLinen Hall LibraryAttribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SAhttps://www.niliteraryarchive.com/sites/default/files/Lingard028_1.jpgLHL Archive26
understood the feeling of restlessness in him. She had it in herself.
He pointed down at the ships.
"Have you ever been in a boat, Sadie? A proper one?"
"No. Only a row boat at Bangor."
They both laughed.
"We'll go to Bangor one day again, shallwill we?" said Kevin. 'And
I'll take you out in a row boat. I'll row you across the sea to
Scotland. How would you like that?"
"I'd like it fine."
"You've devil enough in you for it, haven't you?"
Her eyes glinsted. "My mother says I go out of the way to avoid it
the easy way round."
"If your mothers were to get together they would probably be xxxxx
saying the same things."
The words silenced them for they realised the impossibility of their
mothers ever getting tohgether.
"Well," said Kevin lightly, jumping to his feet,"shallWill we go?"
He held out his hand to her.
They walked down the hill close together but not touching. Lights
were springing up gradually in the houses, the blue in the sky was
deepening streaks of pink and yellow swept across it, and each
moment it changed bringing another colour or hue and changing.
Every moment it looked different; new colours and shades merged and
infiltarated the blues, pinks, yellows, torquoise, red.
"Look at the sky," aid Sadie. She felt she had never seen a sky
TextJoan LingardTuesday, September 6, 2016 - 10:48873Lingard029Chapter 4Lingard Estate1972Linen Hall LibraryThursday, March 10, 2016TIFFLingard029ManuscriptCoca-cola, JukeboxEnglishhttps://www.niliteraryarchive.com/content/lingard029Linen Hall LibraryLinen Hall LibraryAttribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SAhttps://www.niliteraryarchive.com/sites/default/files/Lingard029_1.jpgLHL Archive27
before.
They stopped to look at it and Kevin rested a hand on her shoulder.
His hand was warm and she liked the feel of it.
"It's a fair sight," said Kevin. "You never see it properly
from the street."
He held her hand as they descended the last part of the hill
and kept hold of it once they had reached the bottom.
"Would you like some chips?" he asked. "My stomach feels in need
of something tasty?."
They walked along the main road in towards the centre of the city.
He told her of some of the funny things they turned up in the scrap
business, and she recounted some amsuing tales of the women who came
into the big department store where she worked. She was on the
hat counter at the momentshopped in the hat department.
"Hats!" he said. "I can't imagine you selling hats."
"Neither can I. You should see some of the women primping in
front of the mirrors cramming fancy bits of felt and feathers on ,
their heads. And they're always wanting to you to tell them how
nice they look."
He put up his hand to touch her silky fair hair briefly. "I can't
imagine you with a hat on your head."
They saw a Coca-Cola sign shining ahead and smelt the chips
before they reached the cafe. They went inside. It was warm and
bright and a juke box was playing. She sat down at an empty table,
and he went to the counter to get their order.
TextJoan LingardTuesday, September 6, 2016 - 10:48874Lingard030Chapter 4Lingard Estate1972Linen Hall LibraryThursday, March 10, 2016TIFFLingard030ManuscriptBoyfriends, CatholicEnglishhttps://www.niliteraryarchive.com/content/lingard030Linen Hall LibraryLinen Hall LibraryAttribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SAhttps://www.niliteraryarchive.com/sites/default/files/Lingard030_1.jpgLHL Archive28
She glanced around her. The xaf customers were nearly all teenaagers
sitting over cups of coffee and Coca-Cola. At the other side of the
room she saw two girls she recognised: they worked in the same store.
At the moment she saw them, they saw her too.
They got up and came across to her.
"Hit thereyou, Sadie. What are you doing round here?'*
G.-W-*
"I've been up on the Cave hill."
"On your ownlone?"
"No." She nodded towards Kevin where he stood in the queue.
They looked him over carefully and rolled their eyes in approval.
"Handsome looking fella. Where did you pick him up?"
"I didn't pick him up. I've known him a long time."
They examined him again with curiosity. The girls in the shop
liked to spend their breaks talking about their boyfriends. Sadie
seldom joined x in for the talk bored her. They all had one thought
in their minds: they wantedto get married as soon as possible.
Kevin came back carrying two plates of fish and chips. He set
them down on the table. Sadie
introduced them him reluctanlty to the
girls who flashed bright smiles at him, but as soon as Sadieshesaid his name
she could see their thoughts ticking over. Kevin McCoy. A Catholic
name, unmistakably Catholic. Sadie stared them hard in the eyes,
daring them to show anything they were thinking.
"Well, we'd better be getting along. See you in the morningthe morn, Sadie."
They took another look at Kevin before they went out. They would
be waiting for her in the cloakroom in the morning bursting with
TextJoan LingardTuesday, September 6, 2016 - 10:48875Lingard031Chapter 4Lingard Estate1972Linen Hall LibraryThursday, March 10, 2016TIFFLingard031ManuscriptHillside, HorrorEnglishhttps://www.niliteraryarchive.com/content/lingard031Linen Hall LibraryLinen Hall LibraryAttribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SAhttps://www.niliteraryarchive.com/sites/default/files/Lingard031_1.jpgLHL Archive29
questions that she would not answer. There was no one better than
Sadie Jackson at telling people to mind their own business.
Sadie laughed.
"What is it?" asked Kevin.
"ThoseThem" two. They've got something to talk about all the rest of the
way home."
"People have little to talk about," he said with disgust, "Come
on, eat your fish and chips before they get cold." xxxiXK5ixi*±±
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tfixMaHifcxhaxaxfcaxdKxanyfekxsgxbHfcxixxHirtxisx#
Sadie discovered she was hungry after the fresh air up on the hill-
side. They ate quickly and then relaxed to drink their coffee. She
asked him about the others inrest of his family.
"How many brothers and sisters do you have now?" she said. "I
don't remember."
"There's eight of us altogether. One more than when I last saw
you. AdnAnd there'll be another next month."
"Nine!," she said in horror, "What a life for your motheri"
"She's happy enough," he said shortly.
"Oh Kevin, don't be daft, What woman wants to wear herself out
bringing up a load of kids like tnat?"
His face closed . He shrugged. He did not want to pupursue it
further but she would not let it lie. She knew she was bad that way:
often when it would be better to let something slide she went on
determinedly.
TextJoan LingardTuesday, September 6, 2016 - 10:48876Lingard032Chapter 4Lingard Estate1972Linen Hall LibraryThursday, March 10, 2016TIFFLingard032ManuscriptProds, JacksonEnglishhttps://www.niliteraryarchive.com/content/lingard032Linen Hall LibraryLinen Hall LibraryAttribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SAhttps://www.niliteraryarchive.com/sites/default/files/Lingard032_1.jpgLHL Archive30
“How can you ever expect to have a decent life if you go on having
all those numbers of kids? I don't know why the pPope has to make
you do it."
"You're talking rot." He was angry now. "The pPope doesn't make
us. You Prods are all the same, you haven't the faintest idea what
you're attalking about."
They glared at one another across the table, then let their a eyes
fall. They did not want to fight, as they once had. Sadie swallowed
hard before she spoke. She always found it difficult to withdraw*
"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't really mean it like that."
"That's all right."
It was the first time they since their meeting that evening that
there was any unease between them. Kevin's brow was creased and
his eyes were dark. Sadie fiddled with the spoon in her saucer.
"I wouldn't have nine kids myself, mind you," he said.
"No?"
"No. I couldn't feed them." He stood up. "Come on, I'll leave
you home."
"You don't have to."
"I don't have to do anything. I never do anything I don't want to
do. You should know w that about me, Sadie Jackson."
She laughed and jumped up. "I know that. But it might be asking
for trouble coming into my street."
"I'll leave you at the endheadof it, I won't come to your door. I
wouldn't want to give your mMa heart attack."I nearly did once
TextJoan LingardTuesday, September 6, 2016 - 10:48877Lingard033Chapter 4Lingard Estate1972Linen Hall LibraryThursday, March 10, 2016TIFFLingard033ManuscriptFriends, TroubleEnglishhttps://www.niliteraryarchive.com/content/lingard033Linen Hall LibraryLinen Hall LibraryAttribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SAhttps://www.niliteraryarchive.com/sites/default/files/Lingard033_1.jpgLHL Archive31
They were friends again. They walked, hand in hand, through the
streets, skirting the areas that were strung with barbed-wire barricades
or that they knew might be troublesome Once they had to take shelter
in a doorway to get out of the waypath of two men. The men were
running, feet clattering on the pavement, their breath gushing out
in loud rasps. As they passed, Sadie and Kevin saw the look of the
hunted in their faces. Seconds later four policemensoldiers thrundered by.
When the noise of their feet had faded, Sadie and Kevin went on their
way. They walked with a feeling of closeness for they knew that
they were inviting trouble in walking together at all.
Do people deliberately avoid certain areas? YES
TextJoan LingardTuesday, September 6, 2016 - 10:48878