1923
Knock, knock, knock! Knock, knock, knock!
The sound had been going on for a while, Peg realised, as her sleeping ears woke to it. As it sank in that what she was hearing was somebody banging on the front door, like they were trying to rouse the entire county, she heard a voice calling. Her mother's, calling from across the hallway, from what used to be Barney's room, querulous in her weakness. “Peg? JJ? Peg?"
This was how they'd slept since Barney died: herself, her father and mother in three separate bedrooms, all doors open, in case Máire took a turn or needed anything in the night.
"It's all right, Mammy," she answered, already out of bed and shoving her feet into her slippers. "I'm coming."
Knock, knock, knock! again. Free Staters, no doubt, on another raid. Holy God, they'd
