Secrets and Shadows by Brian Gallagher Read Free Book Online Page A

in for a few minutes, Grace, you go and play with the girls,’ said Ma, indicating three nearby girls who were using a piggy to play hopscotch on the pavement.
    ‘OK,’ answered Grace. Her two closest friends, Joan and Kathleen, had also lost their homes and were staying with relatives, but Grace knew the girls who were playing hopscotch and she greeted them easily.
    ‘Hello, girls,’ she said, approaching.
    ‘Grace,’ said the one who was throwing the piggy. ‘Where are you living now?’
    ‘Arbour Hill.’
    The second girl raised an eyebrow. ‘Where’s Arbour Hill when it’s at home?’
    ‘It’s near Stoneybatter.’
    ‘Why did you move there?’
    ‘It’s where my grandda lives. I’m going to school there too, Ma says it’s too far to be coming back here.’
    ‘And what are the teachers like?’
    ‘Same as here. Some are grand, some are a pain.’
    ‘Any nice youngfellas?’ asked the third girl.
    ‘No, sure it’s a girls’ school.’
    ‘I meant in Arbour Hill.
    ‘Oh. No…no, I just got to know some of the girls,’ answered Grace.
    It was a lie, she realised immediately – she had made a friend in Barry.
Why had she hidden that?
Maybe it was because Barbara, the girl who had questioned her, was nosey and silly, and was always talking about boys. Grace didn’t want her going on about herself and Barry and perhaps making fun of her new English friend.
    She was a little surprised by her protectiveness, but though Barry certainly wasn’t a boyfriend, she still thought of him as a friend. And he hadn’t just left his
neighbourhood
, like her, he had left his
country
. So she would stand up for him if need be, or better still, keep his existence from silly busybodies like Barbara.
    She took the piggy before the other girl could question her further, threw it accurately onto the far end of the chalked bed, then hopped confidently along the pavement in front of the bombed out houses of her old neighbourhood.

CHAPTER SIX
    B arry felt the hairs rising on the back of his neck and he tensed himself, sensing danger. He was walking home from school, and lots of other boys were making their way along Brunswick Street, but that didn’t guarantee safety.
    McGrath and his friends, Nolan and Byrne, were walking slightly in front of him, and Barry had picked up on smirks and exchanged glances and he suspected that something was afoot involving him.
    He knew that he shouldn’t have antagonised McGrath earlier in the playground, but he hadn’t been able to hold his tongue when the class bully had lectured the other boys.
    ‘Every bleedin’ foreigner in the country should be locked up!’ McGrath had declared. ‘Locked up or sent back where they came from!’
    ‘Why’s that, Shay?’ asked Charlie Dawson.
    ‘Because they could be spying on Ireland. My da says the Germans and the English both want Ireland as a base – so they have their spies here in case they invade.’
    ‘And what are they spying on?’ asked Charlie.
    ‘Airfields, harbours, army barracks, places where landing craft can come ashore, places for dropping paratroops.’
    ‘Right,’ said Charlie, sounding impressed.
    ‘We shouldn’t put up with all these foreigners; they should all be rounded up!’
    McGrath said it with venom and he looked directly at Barry, but Barry didn’t respond.
    ‘But how would you round them up?’ asked Charlie. ‘How would you know who they were?’
    ‘Easy. You listen to them. And anyone who has an accent, you lock them up or kick them out.’
    ‘Really?’ said Barry, unable to hold back any longer. ‘So it’s Mountjoy Jail for Brother Fahy and his thick Kerry accent then?’ he said sarcastically.
    Several of the boys laughed, but McGrath’s face darkened.
    ‘Do you think the war is a joke, Malone?’
    ‘No, I don’t. But locking up anyone with an accent is.’
    ‘A lot of Irish people died in the North Strand – and you’re making jokes,’ persisted McGrath. ‘But you don’t care, do