Chapter Forty-Eight #2
Jimmy smiles. ‘The debt just went up. Overdue payment, tut, tut,’ he grins, again just as Sean’s fist hits him in the jaw, knocking him sideways and stumbling out of the door.
‘Everything all right, Sean?’ says Garda Eamon.
‘Just about perfect now, thank you, Garda.’ Sean stretches out his hand.
I pull out a bunch of notes, count them and toss them on top of Jimmy Power, who is being helped to his feet.
Frank, Seamus and Padraig, Patsy, and even Al the Swede are standing behind Sean, backing up a member of their oyster family.
‘Get out and don’t come back,’ Rosie shouts from behind them.
‘Never did like oysters anyway,’ Jimmy mutters as he hurries away with his lad in tow.
Sean is beside me. He picks up one of the oysters and holds it to my mouth by way of celebration. I hesitate and then shake my head. He frowns and I feed it to him with a smile.
‘Let’s get this party started!’ I shout, and another cheer goes up.
Outside the sun is beating down. Seamus and Padraig are leading donkey rides across the sand, where the sea is starting to come back in. Grandad is sitting by the barn, drink in hand.
‘And you could see for miles. Oyster beds all over, there were,’ he’s telling a group of Swedish tourists here with Al.
Margaret and Dan are making up by the barbecue, where Rosie is serving up the grilled oysters.
‘So, you two make up?’ I ask.
Margaret gasps and hugs me. ‘So, you’re staying?’ She holds my hands.
‘I am,’ I smile, squeezing her back.
She looks coyly up at Dan. ‘Dan’s asked me to go to the States with him, now that he’s not buying an oyster farm here.’ She suddenly looks crestfallen. ‘That’s if you don’t mind. But if you’re staying and don’t want the job, well, I would.’
I’m thrilled for her. ‘Oh, Margaret, that’s brilliant. You should go. You need to let the world see Margaret from Dooleybridge.’
‘Well, now I can see that Grandad is right. Life is made up of memories, so make them good ones. It’s no good sitting and waiting for life to come to me any more.
’ We both look to where Grandad is sitting with Betty beside him, pointing out the sights and telling her about Dooleybridge in its heyday.
‘And I’d like to say I’m sorry.’ Dan holds out his hand to Sean, who eyes it suspiciously.
‘I just got carried away. I’m going back to the States now, but I’d be really interested in talking to you about supplying me with oysters.
I’m going to open up a new restaurant paying homage to my Irish roots, an oyster bar.
I’ll pay top whack.’ Sean looks at the hand again and then smiles and shakes it.
‘I’ll send you over all the Pacific oysters you like, but as for the native ones …’ He looks over at the barn where the drinkers are enjoying Guinness and eating the barbecued oysters hot from the foil, ‘they’re going to stay right here.’
I don’t get a chance to find out what Sean means.
Betty is on her way to the bar. ‘Just getting me and Grandad a top-up. Oh, Fiona, love, you were amazing. Who’d’ve ever thought it, little Fiona Clutterbuck from my kitchens, a champion shell-shucker.
And now you’ll be travelling all over the world entering shucking competitions. ’
‘Yes, yes I will, won’t I?’ I can’t stop smiling.
‘You know there’s always a job for you back with me. You could move out front now if you like, Kimberly won’t mind,’ she says.
‘Oh, thanks, Betty, but you know, this is home now. But give everyone my love, Brian and Adrian too. Tell them I send them all the luck in the world.’
‘Will do, lovely,’ she beams back and rolls off to the bar.
‘How about some music?’ Patsy comes out with his mandolin. Padraig follows with a fiddle. Lily’s got a squeeze box.
‘Sean, you up for it?’ Patsy calls.
Sean checks to see I’m OK then goes off to get his guitar. I sit down at one of the tables outside the barn.
‘What you need is a nice cup of tea,’ says Rosie, and puts one down in front of me.
‘Thanks, Rosie.’
‘No, thank you. This is all down to you. You’ve given my kids their community back, something to bring their kids back to.’
I look out again at the children playing, the families walking across the bay.
Freddie, Mercury and our newest arrival are enjoying their jobs, no longer redundant, and Grandad is feeling much the same, I’d say.
If only there was a way to keep this going.
The band strikes up and Sean is on stage playing with them.
Maybe there is—
‘So, looks like you’re staying,’ Nancy interrupts my thoughts.
‘Looks that way,’ I say, and sip the tea.
She sniffs.
‘Y’know what, Nancy? You need to learn that oysters are more than just a way to make money. They’re food and they’re fun.’ I grab a tray of oysters from one of the tables and thrust it at her. ‘Try one. And chew, don’t just swallow!’ I instruct.
Just then Seamus and Padraig appear with Freddie.
‘Nancy’s just leaving. Perhaps you could see her off. But I think she wants to see the oyster beds before she goes.’ I find myself smiling.
‘Righto,’ they say with a tip of the hat, not listening to any of her protestations and instructing her to roll up her trouser legs before lifting her onto Freddie’s back and trekking her across the wet, soft, grey sand to show her where the oysters are grown.
I don’t think the sight of an ashen-faced Nancy being led along on a donkey, clinging on for dear life, will ever leave me.
‘So what do you think about Connemara lamb, see a market for it abroad?’ I hear Seamus and Padraig asking her as they lead her back up the shore, past a laughing audience to her car. She has a face like thunder.
‘I hear Scotland has some very good oyster farms,’ I call after her as the BMW flies down the lane for what we hope is the last time.
Perfect. Everything is perfect, I think, as I stand and look out at the sight of the busy festival, just as my head starts to swim, spots appear before my eyes, I feel myself reeling, and then darkness descends.