The Heather Blazing by Colm Tóibín Read Free Book Online Page A

her she was in good shape. There was nothing to worry about, she said. The letter was written to Carmel, but she sent her father her regards in the last paragraph. He left the letter on the table beside the window, took an umbrella and went out for a walk.
    *  *  *
    On the day they were to go to Madge Kehoe’s they drove to the village and bought a bottle of whiskey and a box of chocolates to take with them.
    â€œDo you think that this is too much?” Carmel asked him. “Maybe I should have got sherry instead of whiskey.”
    â€œIs there anything worse than sherry?” he asked, and smiled.
    â€œTom and Madge will be delighted to see you. Madge went on about the Judge and they missed you last summer.”
    â€œI remember Madge well. She’s a good few years older than me,” he said.
    He drove along a narrow lane towards Ballyvalden and Knocknasillogue. The late afternoon sky had suddenly become bright. He passed a herd of cows which were being goaded along by a boy with a stick.
    Madge Kehoe was standing at the door when they arrived, holding two eager dogs by the scruff of the neck. She had grown to look so much like her mother that he was sure for a few moments that the old woman, long dead now, with whom he used to play cards, was still alive and standing at the door. Madge’s face was wrinkled and her skin withered in the same way as her mother. The hair was white, but still thick and curly. But the voice was different, lower and stronger.
    â€œDon’t mind the dogs now, just come in,” she said. The dogs continued to yelp and bark as she held them.
    There was a fire lit in the front room; a sofa and two armchairs had been placed around the hearth. Tom, Madge’shusband, stood up when they came in. He had the air of a man sitting in a room he wasn’t used to, wearing clothes that he normally wore only to Sunday Mass.
    â€œYou’re looking well, both of you,” he said.
    â€œIt’s terrible weather,” Carmel said.
    â€œWe’ve seen the end of the summers,” Tom said. “We had a few nice days in June, but there’ll be no more summers like we used to have.”
    They were sitting down by the fire when Madge appeared with the bottle of whiskey which Carmel had left on the hall stand.
    â€œI found this out in the hall, wrapped in brown paper,” she said. “And this.” She took the wrapping of the box of chocolates. “I don’t know how they got there,” she laughed. “Isn’t God good to us, all the same?”
    â€œThe house is looking lovely, Madge,” Carmel said.
    â€œWe’ll have to have a drink,” Madge said. “And maybe we’ll get a bit of sunshine. Will you all drink whiskey?”
    â€œI won’t, thank you,” Carmel said. “But I’m sure Tom and Eamon will.”
    When they went into the large modern kitchen to eat they found another guest at the table. He was an elderly Christian Brother.
    â€œThis now is Brother McDonagh,” Madge said, and she explained how he used to come every year for the month of August in the days when she kept guests for the summer.
    â€œAnd we had too much work here and I couldn’t keep it all up, so I wrote to all the regular guests and told them that I was too busy with the farm, but Brother McDonagh wrote back and he was so disappointed and heartbroken that I couldn’t let him down, so I wrote and told him to come, and he still comes every August.”
    â€œI love the sea air,” the Brother said.
    Madge began to put the food on the table, and they sat down to eat together as a damp August evening settled in.
    â€œI knew your father well,” the Brother said to him halfway through the meal.
    â€œYes, that’s right,” Madge said. “I forgot to tell you. Brother McDonagh taught in the Christian Brothers’ School in Enniscorthy.”
    â€œThat’s funny,” Eamon said.