Chapter 38
Matty beeped but I was already waiting at the window when he pulled up outside my house with Ronan in the back.
It was Sunday afternoon and I was really looking forward to some much-needed Buddy Time.
After Easter it had been a tough few weeks getting back into the routine of school, revision, driving, Feeney’s and the mounting pressure of exams approaching.
I thought I had been hiding my stress quite well, spinning all the plates, but I couldn’t hide from Mrs O’Neill.
‘It’s alright keeping the plates spinning, Brendan, it’s the plate spinner I’m worried about. How’s he doing?’ she said one morning after registration.
‘He’s doing fine, Miss, plus – I’ve got one less plate to spin because I passed my driving theory test last weekend.’
‘Congratulations!’
‘Thanks, Miss, and don’t worry about the plates, I can spin them in my sleep.’
‘You are getting your sleep, though, aren’t you?’
‘I am, Miss.’
I was sleeping, but not a lot, and most nights were filled with strange and vivid dreams, probably brought on by all the directions my mind was having to switch through on a daily basis: stressful study mode, confused boyfriend mode, anxious driver mode, happy friend mode.
After having had full days with Ronan over Easter I didn’t want to have to divide myself up into smaller pieces once again, especially with Ronan; two evenings a week wasn’t enough.
‘Well,’ she said, ‘at least that’s something, getting proper sleep’s important. But maybe give yourself a complete reset this weekend? Do something fun?’
‘Got that covered, Miss. Ronan and me are going to the Irish Museum on Sunday.’
‘Oh, perfect, I’ve never been but I hear it’s good. It’ll be quiet on a Sunday too, I’m sure?’
‘Yes, I phoned and they’re only open from one till five and the lady said they rarely have more than a handful of people through the doors all afternoon, said we’d more or less have the place to ourselves. Plus I needed to check about wheelchair access.’
‘Sounds like another plate you’re spinning there, Brendan.’
‘Aye, but a nice plate, Miss. I wouldn’t mind smashing all the others to keep that one spinning.’
‘Oh, Brendan, please don’t say that and can we please stop this plate-spinning analogy? It’s setting me on edge.’
‘OK, Miss. I’ll put all the plates in a cupboard and take one out at a time only when I need it.’
‘Well, I don’t mind you putting it like that,’ she said. ‘Enjoy Sunday and give my best to Ronan.’
I’d worked extra hard that whole week to earn the bonus Buddy Time.
Dad said I could swap my afternoon driving lesson to the evening that Sunday and I’d worked at Feeney’s all morning before getting home for a quick lunch and waiting at the window for Matty to arrive.
Ever since Matty did the Kilmare trip, he’d been doing a few of the hospital appointment runs for Ronan.
Mr and Mrs McCoy had obviously felt a strong trust in him after that day.
Their trust in me had strengthened too: letting me go to the museum with Ronan without them was a big step; I knew it would be an anxious few hours for them while Ronan was away.
I was nervous, too, but I somehow felt everything was going to be fine.
On that day at Kilmare when Ronan got distressed I seemed to handle it really well, knowing what Ronan would need and telling his parents and Matty what to do – I don’t know where that confidence came from, but it stayed with me.
At one o’clock on the dot Matty, punctual as ever, was beeping his horn outside my house.
‘See yous in a few hours, Mum and Dad,’ I called on my way out the door.
‘Wait a wee second,’ said Mum. ‘Can I pop out and say a quick hello to Ronan?’
Mum was including herself in my life now the way she used to, it was hard to imagine her the way she’d been the year before.
She spoke to Ronan, saying how well he was looking.
Ronan just listened and I could see Mum was finding it awkward, especially after I’d been telling her how much he’d been talking and here he was not saying a word.
Mum looked to me for help.
‘He’s not normally this quiet,’ I said.
‘Well,’ she said, stepping back, ‘I hope yous have a lovely afternoon, look forward to hearing all about it.’
I got in the back with Ronan and as soon as Mum slid the door closed Ronan said my name and did a mini laugh.
‘Oh now he speaks!’ I said. ‘Sorry about Mum gushing all over you, don’t know who’s more embarrassed, me or you.’
‘Yoo.’
‘Oh, right,’ I said, ‘since you’re not embarrassed I’ll tell her to come and do that every time.’
‘Regular ladies’ fella is our Ronan,’ said Matty, ‘he was doin’ a bit’a gushin’ himself after his visit to the nurses in the hospital the other day, isn’t that right, Ronan?’
Ronan blew through his lips.
‘Aye,’ continued Matty. ‘On the drive there he has a big smile on his face and afterwards, drivin’ home, he has wee cartoon love birds twitterin’ round his head.’
Ronan made a noise that sounded like ‘oi’.
‘I’m only coddin’ you. Off to the museum then?’
‘Driver, drive on,’ I said.
It was only ten minutes to the museum from my house. Matty helped me with Ronan when we arrived.
‘I’ll be parked just across the road when yous are red up,’ he said.
I pushed Ronan up the sloped concrete path and through the wooden doors of the museum.
It was a small building, barely bigger than a detached house, but it stretched quite far back.
We walked straight through and into the gift shop that doubled as a reception where an elderly lady was sitting behind a counter doing cross-stitching, which she set down when we approached.
‘Welcome, boys, yous are here for a wee dander round? I think I spoke to one of you on the phone the other day about the wheelchair access and that?’
‘Yes, that was me,’ I said, ‘Brendan. And this is Ronan.’
‘And yous haven’t been here before, wasn’t that right?’
‘No, first time.’
‘Right, well yous have the place to yourselves, there’s been no one in through the doors so far and Sundays are always quiet anyway so you’ll be able to wander round t’your hearts’ content.
Do you know what section yous’d like to start with?
We’ve exhibits over the two floors; you could easily see everything in a few hours if you’re only skimming but if it’s a particular area you want to learn about then I’ll point you in the right direction. ’
‘Not really,’ I said, ‘we’re here to just look around, maybe we’ll come back another time if we see something that we’d like to learn more about.’
‘That’s the best way, the best way indeed.
’ She stood up with some difficulty and came round slowly to our side of the counter as she spoke.
‘Ground floor here is all your local history: Irish linen, flax production, the weavers; some lovely examples of embroidery in the display cabinets. Then on past that is the Georgian architectural history of the town. You’ll see each section has a “Then and Now” theme, with photos of how things were “then” and ones of how things are “now”.
It’s a wee theme I came up with myself,’ she said with a sense of pride.
‘Then at the very back there’s a great section on the railway disaster.
Then upstairs …’ she looked at Ronan and stalled, ‘… there’s a stair lift for your friend, I’ve never worked it myself but I’ll give it a go.
The only thing is it’s a Sunday and I’ve no one here to help if there was a malfunction. ’
‘We’ll stick to the ground floor maybe,’ I said, choosing to keep our Sunday malfunction-free.
‘Rightio,’ she said, going back to her side of the counter and picking up her cross-stitching. ‘Give me a shout if you need any help or anything. Annie,’ she said, indicating herself.
‘Thanks, Annie,’ I said and pushed Ronan into the musty gloom of the museum’s ground floor.
There was a wooden weaving machine in a glass cabinet directly in front of us and an information board to the left of it with ‘Then’ as a title at the top; it had black-and-white photographs of women working machines like the one in the cabinet with text explaining how it worked.
To the right of it was another information board with ‘Now’ titled at the top; it had colour photographs of modern-day clothing factories that didn’t have people operating anything at all.
This was clearly the ‘Then and Now’ theme Annie had been talking about.
‘Sound familiar?’ I said to Ronan, since his parents and me had been using the ‘Now and Then’ technique with him when planning out our days.
I hadn’t been to many museums, but there was something about this one that reminded me of being in the forest at Kilmare – the peace.
I wasn’t sure if Ronan felt the same but he seemed to be engaging with each display cabinet we came to.
I checked if he was ready to move on to the next thing and waited for his nod before I did.
At the end of the Irish linen display, there was a ‘Then’ picture of a field with a horse-drawn contraption that was gathering crop.
The ‘Now’ picture was of a combine harvester in a field of barley.
I can’t explain it any other way, but it felt like Ronan turned to stone when he looked at that picture; I wouldn’t have been able to push his chair because of how heavy he suddenly seemed.
‘I think that’s the end of this display, Ronan,’ I said, ‘will we move on to the next bit?’
‘Yeah-sh,’ he said in a deep tone.
I pulled the chair back, pivoted round and walked on to the next section; he did feel heavier.
We walked along a display that had side-by-side comparisons of local streets true to Annie’s theme of ‘Then and Now’.