27
“And you remain, inviolate.”
Johnny Duhan, “Inviolate”
*
Kirsten was heading fast towards the Augustinian. A very drunk businessman was swaying at the door of his BMW, singing “A Galway Girl”.
Last time I’d heard it, Steve Earle had been on stage in the Town Hall. This guy was beeping the locks of the car in time to the song, on, beep, off, beep, hiccup.
Like that.
He appeared deliriously happy.
Envy writ large, I swallowed, shouted,
“Kirsten… Jeez.”
Caught her at the top of Buttermilk Lane. She said,
“Terry shouted ‘w***e’ at me before I left, then he spat.”
“Christ.”
“I told him to relax, unless he wanted a heart attack.”
She hailed a taxi, asked,
“You coming?”
“Sure.”
The cab driver told us why the people rejected the Nice Treaty, said,
“Can’t have Europe bullying u
