Sister's Trio Squad

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

The room fell silent, the only noise the low hissing of

the peat fire in the hearth.

Lisa broke the silence. 'And why not America?'

'Because it's too far away and we don't know anyone there. No one at all! If I were coming with you, that would be different, but three young girls alone you have to go to someone we can trust.'

'Holy Mother of God, would you listen to him! Isn't he just the pompous one. It's nineteen twenty-two, not eighteen twenty-two, Matty O'Maxwell!'

Matty ignored Nancy's outburst. You can go to Liverpool." 'Liverpool!' they all chorused scornfully.

Suddenly Sarah smiled. Oh, Matty was a smart one. Liverpool was not too far away should disaster befall them, despite Nancy's optimism, and of course Maura and Bart would have them. Who better to keep her eye on them than her own sister and her husband, even though she and Maura had never been close.

'Your Aunt Maura will have you and there's plenty of work there,' Matty continued. No one spoke, they were all trying to digest this

statement. Finally Lisa spoke. 'Isn't she the one that came over for Patsy Ryan's wedding?'

Matty nodded.

'And a great lump of an idle piece she looked, too!' "That's enough of that, Lisa O'Maxwell! A fine way to talk about family. Downright disrespectful it is. She's a fine woman."

'So, it's agreed then?' Matty queried.

One by one they nodded. Nancy was the last, the move ment of her head just perceptible. She wasn't stupid. If she continued to harp on about going to America she might never get out of Ireland at all, and wasn't it from Liverpool that all the ships sailed to New York? Liverpool would suit her to start with.

Lisa began to clear the dishes from the table. She stacked the plates in the sink, smiling. She'd find a job in one of the big stores and then maybe she'd settle down, if the right man came along.

Sarah squared her shoulders resolutely. 'I'll write to your Aunt Maura now and then the matter will be settled altogether. Not that I want you to go and I'm hurt and angry that you have just sprung this on me, but we won't

be going into all that now. I'll miss you, all of maybe you're well out of it.' Margaret reached out and took her mother's hand. you, but

'Ma, we won't give you any cause to worry and if things

get very bad here, well... you could come over to us."

Nancy smiled, magnanimous now she had achieved some measure of success. 'Oh, Ma, don't you think we'll miss you, too? We'll write every week and one day. . .' she looked over Sarah's head, seeing before her in a dazzling future the realization of all her dreams . . . one day I'll come back and you'll be so proud of me because everyone will have heard of me! I'll be rich and famous. I'll buy you a grand house and

'Aye, and pigs might fly!' Matty interrupted. She wasn't the first and she certainly wouldn't be the last to leave Ireland thinking she could conquer the world with a pretty face, a bewitching smile and a clear soprano voice

The letter was duly written and sent and everyone awaited the reply with varying degrees of apprehension. It came a week later. Sure, Maura would love to have them, that she would. From what she remembered they were nicely-mannered, quiet girls and would Sarah just let her know when she should expect them? The bit about them being 'quiet' caused a somewhat caustic remark from Matty, which had almost resulted in another row.

With Pat and Fergal dead and the girls going away, Sarah had decided to move back to her old home. Both her parents were long dead and her bachelor brother, Richard, was finding it more and more difficult to keep the small farm going. He would find Matty's help a bless ing and Matty was quite happy to go. In the long term, Sarah thought, it would ensure that the land stayed in the family and the house, too. In the short term, it might just keep Matty out of trouble with the warring factions until the new Irish Free State had sorted itself out. She had sacrificed her husband and one son, she wasn't about to lose another if she could help it!

Lisa was arranging strips of narrow satin ribbon of different colours that were rolled on stiff reels made of heavy card. She had spread the ends of them in a fan shape on the top of the glass showcase which stood in front of the shelves holding the bolts of cotton prints, striped ticking, calico, woollen tweeds and chintz.

'You've a good eye for colour, Lisa. That's very effective, one colour to match or contrast with each roll of cloth; very imaNancytive. Ah, it's sorry I am to be losing you."

Lisa looked up. She liked her employer. Mrs O'Leary could be very brisk and business-like when the need arose, but she was pleasant and knew all her customers by name and noted all their purchases in a series of notebooks for reference.

'I'll be sorry to go,' Lisa answered, with real regret in her voice. 'You've been very good to me and taught me so much."

"Heaven alone knows where I'm going to get someone I

can trust and who has some taste and can be tactful with

the most perverse of customers.'

Lisa began to feel uneasy and guilty. Mrs O'Leary would have to train someone else if she wanted to take time off from the business, as she frequently did these days. 'It's not that I'm dissatisfied, nothing like that at all!' she tried to explain.

'Oh, I can understand, Lisa. I hear they have some very elegant shops in Liverpool and it's only natural that you want to get ahead. I was like that myself at your age. When I first came here this place was like an undertaker's parlour! Everything was drab and dowdy and shoddy, and you know I won't have shoddy goods in my shop! So don't you be feeling guilty now, even though I'll have to scour the whole county for a decent girl. . .'

Her words only made Lisa feel worse. The real reason why I'm going, Mrs O'Leary, is that ... that I'm afraid. We lost Pa and then Fergal and I couldn't stand it if Matty were killed too.' She rearranged a piece of ribbon. 'And when I hear the sound of a cart rattling over the cobbles at night or a horse being galloped along the street, I start shaking all over and I can't stop! I keep remembering the raids and the Crossley tenders rumbling through the night while we sat and waited. And it will be worse this time, unless the Republicans give up, and they

won't, Matty says. So I suppose I'm trying to run away from my fear."

Mrs O'Leary frowned. She held the views of many of her generation. They had suffered enough over the last years, and now that the Irish Free State had come into being she thought the die-hards should be content and lay down their arms. What everyone wanted now was to live in peace. There had been too many men killed already without neighbour killing neighbour. She understood how the girl felt; they would all bear the hidden scars for years to come. She patted Lisa's hand.

'Don't you go worrying over it now, and as a farewell gift you can choose anything you like from the stock - within reason of course!'

Lisa bit her lip. If only things were different, she would stay on, she really would. Oh, how she longed for the days of her childhood when there had been peace. When Pa had taken them down to the banks of the Suir on summer evenings and they had watched the fish rising in the slow-moving water. He would point out the dragonflies skimming the surface, the rays of the setting sun turning their wings emerald green and vivid blue. It had been years since they had wandered along the tow path beside the river, where once the heavy horses had pulled the barges from Clonmel to Carrick-on-Suir. Now it was a dangerous place, you never knew who was lurking in the tall pines on the Gurteen bank or in the overgrown churchyard of the ruins of Saint Sillan's church beside the

river at Kilsheelan. The shop bell tinkled and Lisa looked up, pushing away the memories and smiling automatically. 'Don't forget what I said now, Lisa, anything within

reason! Isn't it grand for the time of year, Mrs. Butler Power? Lisa will be only too pleased to serve you, have to nip out for half an hour. A bit of business you understand.' Mrs Butler-Power smiled frostily at Lisa. A bit of y

f

business was it? It didn't fool her, more like afternoon tea with Joseph Ryan, the solicitor, and him a widower of only three months. The whole town was talking about it. 'I hear you're leaving us, Lisa?' she asked, curiously.