The Gamal (28 page)
—Perfect night for a lock-in in fairness, says Dinky.
—Fuckin joke like in fairness, says Snoozie, and he shaking one of the Four Crosses fellas who’d passed out in the corner.
—’Tis only ourselves like in fairness, says Teesh.
—Disgrace, says Dinky.
—Ha? says the Four Crosses fella and he looking around cos he did not know where he was.
—Come on lads, Sinéad has orders from the boss, it is what it is, says James, and he collecting empties and throwing stools on tables for the exhausted love of his life.
—Fuck sake, says Dinky.
—You know she doesn’t have a choice Denis, so be fair now.
—Oh yeah. The big man has spoke. Lads, we must be fair, the big man has spoke, says Dinky looking around for approval.
—Come on to fuck, says Teesh, grabbing Dinky by the jacket and pulling him out the door.
They were followed by the rest, last of all Snoozie who was leading the Four Crosses fella by the hand, same as a pair of toddlers they were, the drunk leading the blind drunk.
—You’ll be fine, you’ll be fine, you’ll be fine, Snoozie kept saying to him, over and over and his eyes half closed, like a prayer for himself. You’ll be fine, you’ll be fine, you’ll be fine.
James bolted the door behind them. Sinéad was coming out to the bar floor carrying a mop and a steaming bucket. I gently prised the mop and bucket off her and took a stool off a table by the bar for her to sit on. I gently guided her by the shoulders to sit. I started mopping and she goes,
—You’re a star Charlie, thanks.
—Yeah, I said.
—Wasn’t Dinky some prick there, said Sinéad.
—He didn’t mean it. You know what he’s like when he’s drunk, James said.
—Still, she said.
—Drink talk only, said James.
James took absolutely no notice of any of it. I looks up at James and he’s standing, leaning on the pillar by the door smiling at Sinéad. She was wiping the sweat from her brow with a napkin.
—You played a blinder tonight babe, he said.
I got busy mopping. James stood behind her and massaged her shoulders. I made quick work of the floor and went out to mop the jacks, with Sinéad protesting that that was her job.
—Stay where you are, I said.
James came out to me. I told him I didn’t need any help but he insisted. He did the men’s. Dirty work. Pool of piss on the floor. I did the women’s. I was out in the beer garden having a smoke by the time he was finished.
—Men weren’t created to piss indoors, he said.
—Yeah, I said. Go on back in see how she’s doing, I’ll be in in a sec.
When I went in Sinéad had a pint for James and a Lucozade for me on the counter. She was putting coins in money bags and sending them into a chute that led to a safe under the till. James went over to the piano around the corner out of sight. Sinéad would sing a few notes between counting money.
—Cool. I balanced the books on my first night on my own, she said.
—You’re a winner.
—Roundy said I’ll probably be out on my float the first few times cos I’ll make mistakes with the till.
—You’re a winner babe, James said again, then tinkered away on the piano again.
Sinéad threw a few quid in the till and got a bottle of beer for herself.
She sat beside me.
—You’re a star for doing the floor and the toilets for me. Thanks a million.
—James helped me.
—You’re never doing that again though. That’s not fair. I owe you one, right?
—Yeah.
—He’s playing well for a fella that’s in a tangle isn’t he?
—Yeah.
—I heard that, roared James.
Sinéad laughed.
—I’m not bitch you silly drunk, roared James.
Sinéad laughed. Then she goes,
—Did the lads tell you there’s training tomorrow at five?
—Ha? said James. No. No one said it.
—I heard Dinky and Teesh talking about it. Five o’clock tomorrow.
James stopped tinkering with the piano and goes,
—Why didn’t they tell me? Well I’ll be there anyway.
—That’s what I like to hear, said Sinéad. I might go down for a look. Will you go down too Charlie?
—I only do the matches.
—Sure come and watch with me. Don’t mind the water bottles.
—OK so, I goes.
—Cool, she said and skipped around the corner to him. They giggled and I could hear them kissing.
—I’m going to head off, I said, getting tired.
—By fuck, you’re not, said James.
—Stay right where you are Charlie, I mean it, said Sinéad.
—I’m going out for a smoke so, I said.
—OK, said Sinéad, that’s allowed but if you go home we’ll be up the hill after you.
—Yeah, I said.
—Yeah, she said.
—Yeah, said James and laughed.
I strolled away out the back door to the sound of wrong notes and Sinéad laughing and James saying,
—The keys of the piano keep moving. Stay still ye little fuckers.
Stayed out the bones of half an hour. Waited for the noise of the piano to start again and coughed loudly on my return.
—No need for all the coughing, we’re respectable, said Sinéad.
—Speak for yourself, said James. I’m only respectable in the sense that I can be respected. It is possible to respect me. I am . . . respectable.
—Lost me babe, said Sinéad.
—Did I lose you Charlie?
—Yeah.
—Lost to the world I am so.
—You might have more luck making sense with the piano than your mouth. Play, she said, sitting on a stool at the bar.
He played some familiar riff on the piano.
—Cool, Sinéad said.
Sinéad rubbed the polished oak counter slowly with her index finger, watching the condensation from her skin appear and disappear in an instant when she moved it. Then she started singing. I’d the words of ‘Time After Time’ here cos that’s what she sang.
—That’s what I’m talking about, said James, that’s what I’m talking about. World must hear you. Your next job now is knowing it too. Not only believing it. But knowing it. Am I right Charlie?
She went over and knelt beside him and said ssshhh and kissed him and said,
—My beautiful drunk man.
He shook his head and smiled at her and said,
—I’m still right babe. Amen’t I right Charlie?
—Yeah. He’s pure true Sinéad. You must know it yourself. Or else you could falter.
—Falter, said Sinéad, beautiful word. You’re some gamal all right.
—Yeah, I said.
Sinéad sang slow,
Don’t falter
Don’t falter please
We’ve come so far
—That was nice, said James.
He played Sinéad’s new melody on the piano, and jinked around with it a bit and came back to it again. When Sinéad sang again, he played quietly along with her on just a few keys.
Don’t falter
Don’t falter please
We’ve come so far
—That was OK was it? Sinéad asked.
—A tad brilliant maybe, James said.
—What did you think Charlie?
I could hardly listen to the talk cos I was still kinda lost somewhere between her voice and the tune. Still inside in the middle of it I was. I looked over and they were both looking at me for an answer,
—Yeah. I like it. Keep going with it, I said.
—You heard the man, said James, turning back to the piano and tinkering the tune out again. She sang,
Believe in
Believe in me
We’ve come so far
—Need to take it somewhere else now. A chorus that’s . . .
Sinéad was trying to think exactly what she meant. James encouraged her.
—OK yeah . . .
—Like . . . dunno . . . ya know ‘Tangled up in Blue’ where like . . . it’s like you get flashes of what’s going on but aren’t sure. Like you don’t even know whose words you’re hearing, you know?
—Yeah.
—Like so far like we’re in the first person. Whoever’s talking is saying don’t falter. You’d presume it’s like to a lover or someone wouldn’t ya?
—Yeah.
—Well like . . . if we could like inject a bit of like mystery or something you know?
—OK.
—Like. There’s yearning and there’s fear, she said.
—Yeah, James said.
She sang some rambling lines then.
—Did you ever hear such puke? Sinéad said.
—I like it, said James.
—I can’t find the chorus, she said.
—The sound was beautiful, I said.
—Thanks Charlie.
—And some of the words were fierce nice as well I thought, I said.
—What do you think James?
—I think it’s amazing.
He was after going over and leaning behind the bar and grabbed the biro and the notepad Sinéad had used for adding the money up and he started writing.
Sinéad sang a few verses quietly and James wrote the lines. I was lying on the bench on the flat of my back with my eyes closed and when Sinéad couldn’t remember the words of the new bit of song she’d just created, I called them out.
—That’s incredible Charlie. Do you ever forget anything? Sinéad asked.
—Not that I recall, I said.
When they finished that they got to work on the chorus that they couldn’t find.
—Good tidings . . . What’s tidings?
—Like . . . news I think, said James.
—Cool. Good tidings. Bad tidings. No tidings.
I sat in the corner cos I was sleepy. Ideas bounced between them. Their quiet voices washed over me with the shy and blooming ideas entering the room we were in. From I do not know where. Their voices spoke and hummed and sang ideas at each other’s minds. Of newborn. Of newborn dreams. Like children. Twins. Forecast. Outlook. Look out. Outpost. What prophecy is this? They took their wounds and cast them out to sea. Bleeding dreams. And all souls prayed for miracles. Yeah. Calm seas. Good tidings. The old man saving food for the young and dying instead of them. And secrets. Deathbed secrets made for all to save. Entrusted. Knowledge. Old man’s sacrifice. That to him is no sacrifice. Yeah. Child’s hand in his. The child is fascinated by something ordinary. Like tassels on the blanket. Yeah. Playing with the tassels while the old man dies and the others cry. Yeah. Old man says goodbye. You’ve come so. You’ve come so far. Go take the day. You’ve come so. You’ve come so far. Go take it please. We’ve come so far. Yeah I like that. What about? No, what about like the sea or something? A lighthouse.
When I woke up the dawn of day was beaming in through the chinks in the curtains. They’d put a jacket over me that some drunk had left behind. They were asleep huddled in the corner of the bench opposite, her head on his belly. Her legs were on the bench, his were on the table beside it. I went over and shook James by the shoulder, telling him to wake up but it was Sinéad who woke.
—What time is it?
—Quarter to six.
—Jesus.
She sat up. She eventually woke James out of his drunken coma. He didn’t know where he was. She giggled.
—Good morning, she said.
—Ha? said James, looking wildly around.
We left. James was carrying the pages with the new song on it, rolled into a scroll. The morning sun was hunting the mist off like Sinéad kicking the lads out after closing time. I took off up the hill.
—See ye today, I said.
—Slán, said James.
—See ya later, said Sinéad, don’t falter.
—Yeah, I said.
Sinéad called up to my house at about half four and she had some tea with the mother. She used to do that long ago when we were younger so it was kind of nice for my mother too. My mother put on some old Ray Charles record and was asking her all about life in Roundy’s. We headed over to the pitch then a bit after five and sat down on the grass bank looking down at the pitch. The lads were playing a training match between themselves. James was marking Teesh in midfield.
Next thing we seen Sinéad’s father and he walking all unsteady down past us. He walked down as far as the wire that’s around the pitch below to where the other men were. He was half pissed already I’d say. He was kind of ignored, standing behind the men who didn’t move when he reached them. After a while one of them moved and he moved towards the wire then. Sinéad watched him the whole time. Was like she was willing them silently with her eyes to be nice to him. She only sat back and relaxed when he seemed more part of the group. She caught me looking at her then and I seen there was moisture after resting on her eyelids. Tiny bit more and she’d have had tears proper. She goes,
