Torn Away Read Online Free PDF Page B

now. About the same heightas Declan and almost as thin, she had blonde hair, straight, chopped off flat at the jaw line. She wore a white T-shirt and a pair of blue denim cutoffs. Her skin was very tanned. She had pale green eyes and long blonde eyelashes. Her smile was warm and a little tilted, as though she were sharing a private joke that only she and he understood.
    Thomas, he could see now, was one of those handicapped kids—what were they called? Mental retards or Mongoloids, something like that. His broad features looked to Declan like one large, happy-face grin. Declan turned his attention back to his uncle.
    â€œThere’s not much point looking round a place where I don’t intend to stay,” said Declan. He glared at his uncle. “Now that you know how I feel about being forced to come to this wild country, perhaps you will be kind enough to send me back. I’m well able to take care of myself.”
    Matthew put down his knife and fork on his plate and leaned his elbows on the table. “We want you to stay with us, Declan.”
    â€œAh! We do!” said Kate. “Give it a chance. We need you to stay, Declan, so we do.”
    â€œI won’t stay. If you won’t send me back, then I’ll make my own way back—somehow.”
    Matthew gave Kate a doleful look.
    The little chapel was crowded. Father O’Connor’s sermon droned on and on without end.
    In spite of all his sleep, Declan felt weak and tired. He wanted the service to be over so he could lie down somewhere, anywhere.
    Sunbeams shone through the stained glass windows, bathing the chapel in a rich, sleepy light. The pew was full. Ana sat on Declan’s right, Thomas on his left. Ana had changed from T-shirt and cutoffs into a green dress. To Ana’s right sat Matthew and Kate, Matthew stiff in his Sunday suit, and Kate, arty in a brightly colored, flowing kaftan, and a wide-brimmed straw hat festooned with bright artificial flowers.
    Afterwards, outside in the bright sunshine, Kate introduced Declan to the priest. Father O’Connor said how delighted he was to meet him and that, when time allowed, he would love to sit and ask a few questions about Ireland. He seemed sincere. “And welcome toCanada,” he said before they parted. Declan didn’t answer the priest, so his aunt did it for him: “Thank you, Father,” she said.
    They went home and changed into their workaday clothes.
    Matthew settled into his comfortable chair in the kitchen with his book and a cup of coffee.
    â€œAna and Thomas will take you for a walk and show you around,” said Kate.
    â€œI prefer to be on my own,” said Declan as he left the house.
    He started making plans for his escape.

Chapter Seven
    By the end of the day, he had a plan.
    He would need money. He found two bills, a ten and a twenty, in the kitchen drawer where Kate and Matthew kept their letters and bills. He didn’t like to take it, but he had no choice; they should have left him alone in Ireland and then he wouldn’t need to steal their money. He had no idea how much thirty dollars was worth, but it would do; he would not need much, just bus fare and chocolate money, enough to keep him going for a couple of daysuntil he got back home. He folded the bills and stuffed them into his uncle’s coat, not the stained carcoat, but a warm-looking, padded ski jacket hanging beside it in the closet.
    Next, he rooted through the glove compartment of his uncle’s truck and found a map of British Columbia which he stuffed into his pocket. He studied the map in bed that night. British Columbia was very big. He checked the scale of the map and the area of the westernmost Canadian province and did some rough calculations in his head. The whole country of Ireland would fit into British Columbia ten or eleven times! Imagine that! Ten Irelands! He shook his head in wonderment. He located Otter Harbour. The nearest town was called Sechelt.