Academy Street Read Online Free PDF Page A
Author: Mary Costello
priest came
to visit she heard her father say, ‘What’s gone is gone.’ At night he stares into
the fire. He does not seem to like anyone—not Denis or Claire or her—except maybe
Evelyn. She is the eldest. He gives her housekeeping money every Saturday. She keeps
the ration book and sells eggs to the egg-man from Henaghan’s, and swaps some of
the butter she churns for sugar and jam and other groceries that John Joe Donnellan
sells in his travelling shop. She sends Denis to the post office, or to town to order
chicken-feed. Denis is seventeen. He has blue eyes and thick black hair. When he
was a baby he was blond like Oliver. They were all blond at the start, her mother
said. Denis sits in the kitchen at night, his arms folded, his long legs thrown out
in front of him, not saying anything. No one says much any more. A silence came on
the house the day of the funeral and it has stayed. Tess thinks that they would all
like the silence to end now, but no one knows how to put an end to it. She looks
at their faces at night. She hears her own heart beating in her chest, in her head
and ears too, thump, thump, thump , deafening her. She watches Denis’s chest rising
and falling. He can hear his own heart too, she thinks. They can all hear their hearts—Claire
and Evelyn and her father—making an awful racket, thumping inside them, like hers.
In the cold, Maeve’s feet break out with chilblains and she cries at night. Claire
rubs on Zam-Buk and she is kept home from school for two days. Tess goes alone and
stays back after school to help Mrs Snee tidy up. The light is fading when she leaves
and her boots begin to hurt. She hurries along the road, almost running, pulling
her coat tight. Up ahead is the Black Bend and the tinkers’ camp under the trees.
She sees the flames of a fire rising and people gathered around—more people than
she has ever seen there before, all moving, slow and wavy, in front of the fire.
There are men standing at the edge of the camp, smoking and drinking from brown bottles.
As she draws nearer a strange quietness fills the air. Not even the dogs are barking.
She stops and looks back the way she has come. The road is empty and she grows afraid.
Her eyes meet the eyes of the tinker man who cleaned the school lavatories. He bows
his head very slowly and Tess looks away. She walks on, faster, her head down. As
she passes in front of the camp a woman lets out a terrible cry. Tess stands, frozen.
There are women and teenage girls gathered in a circle in front of a tent. They look
up and see Tess and a hush falls on them. The circle opens and Tess sees a wooden
table and on it a child is lying, dressed in white. It is the tinker girl, her eyes
closed, her face snow-white, her hands crossed on her chest. She is dead. At the
end of the table, a woman is combing the child’s hair. It is the tinker woman who
came to Mrs Glynn’s door. When she sees Tess she stops and bows her head. The flames
of the fire are dancing on her face. Tess cannot move or take a step. Then the girls
and women close in around the table again and Tess looks at her feet and walks on,
beating down the fear.
At the tea they are all looking at her. ‘What’s wrong with you, why don’t you answer
me?’ Evelyn asks her. ‘Why aren’t you eating? And you ate no dinner either. What’s
wrong? Did you lose your tongue or something?’ I did answer you , she replies. I’m
not hungry . But then, after a few more answers, she knows they have not heard her.
Her words are not working, the sounds are not coming out of her mouth into the air.
‘Did something happen in school, Tess?’ Claire asks her softly, and she runs from
the kitchen, out to the front hall and up the stairs. At the turn she stands under
the stained-glass window. She thinks of the tinker girl’s white face. She remembers
the day she stuck her tongue out at the tinker girl and now she is dead. She turns
her face up to the window, longing for the sun to pour in and
to visit she heard her father say, ‘What’s gone is gone.’ At night he stares into
the fire. He does not seem to like anyone—not Denis or Claire or her—except maybe
Evelyn. She is the eldest. He gives her housekeeping money every Saturday. She keeps
the ration book and sells eggs to the egg-man from Henaghan’s, and swaps some of
the butter she churns for sugar and jam and other groceries that John Joe Donnellan
sells in his travelling shop. She sends Denis to the post office, or to town to order
chicken-feed. Denis is seventeen. He has blue eyes and thick black hair. When he
was a baby he was blond like Oliver. They were all blond at the start, her mother
said. Denis sits in the kitchen at night, his arms folded, his long legs thrown out
in front of him, not saying anything. No one says much any more. A silence came on
the house the day of the funeral and it has stayed. Tess thinks that they would all
like the silence to end now, but no one knows how to put an end to it. She looks
at their faces at night. She hears her own heart beating in her chest, in her head
and ears too, thump, thump, thump , deafening her. She watches Denis’s chest rising
and falling. He can hear his own heart too, she thinks. They can all hear their hearts—Claire
and Evelyn and her father—making an awful racket, thumping inside them, like hers.
In the cold, Maeve’s feet break out with chilblains and she cries at night. Claire
rubs on Zam-Buk and she is kept home from school for two days. Tess goes alone and
stays back after school to help Mrs Snee tidy up. The light is fading when she leaves
and her boots begin to hurt. She hurries along the road, almost running, pulling
her coat tight. Up ahead is the Black Bend and the tinkers’ camp under the trees.
She sees the flames of a fire rising and people gathered around—more people than
she has ever seen there before, all moving, slow and wavy, in front of the fire.
There are men standing at the edge of the camp, smoking and drinking from brown bottles.
As she draws nearer a strange quietness fills the air. Not even the dogs are barking.
She stops and looks back the way she has come. The road is empty and she grows afraid.
Her eyes meet the eyes of the tinker man who cleaned the school lavatories. He bows
his head very slowly and Tess looks away. She walks on, faster, her head down. As
she passes in front of the camp a woman lets out a terrible cry. Tess stands, frozen.
There are women and teenage girls gathered in a circle in front of a tent. They look
up and see Tess and a hush falls on them. The circle opens and Tess sees a wooden
table and on it a child is lying, dressed in white. It is the tinker girl, her eyes
closed, her face snow-white, her hands crossed on her chest. She is dead. At the
end of the table, a woman is combing the child’s hair. It is the tinker woman who
came to Mrs Glynn’s door. When she sees Tess she stops and bows her head. The flames
of the fire are dancing on her face. Tess cannot move or take a step. Then the girls
and women close in around the table again and Tess looks at her feet and walks on,
beating down the fear.
At the tea they are all looking at her. ‘What’s wrong with you, why don’t you answer
me?’ Evelyn asks her. ‘Why aren’t you eating? And you ate no dinner either. What’s
wrong? Did you lose your tongue or something?’ I did answer you , she replies. I’m
not hungry . But then, after a few more answers, she knows they have not heard her.
Her words are not working, the sounds are not coming out of her mouth into the air.
‘Did something happen in school, Tess?’ Claire asks her softly, and she runs from
the kitchen, out to the front hall and up the stairs. At the turn she stands under
the stained-glass window. She thinks of the tinker girl’s white face. She remembers
the day she stuck her tongue out at the tinker girl and now she is dead. She turns
her face up to the window, longing for the sun to pour in and