The Gamal (37 page)

—No.

—I’ll ask you again. Did you play any part whatsoever in the break-up of the relationship of James Kent and Sinéad Halloran?

—No. I didn’t.

—Very well. You are under oath. Thank you. I’m done, Your Lordship.

—You may leave the witness stand.

Dream

I used to always have a dream for as long as I knew Sinéad. In it Sinéad would be turning away and I’d be begging her not to go. Cos it was always known in the dream that she was walking away to her death, for our sake somehow. She was just looking back at me. Her face was the same in all the dreams. Hint of a smile. As if to say it’s OK isn’t it? In one she was being nailed to a cross by the Romans. In another one she was being carried away by an angry mob of women who were going to burn her at the stake. In another one she was an Indian girl being dragged away from her family by the cowboys. Always the same look on her face as she looked back to me. Like she knew this would happen some day. Not even a splinter of surprise. Just looked back at me trying to tell me it was OK with her eyes. Rotten dreams them. Take me half a morning to forget about it they would.

And James. One time James was shot. In my dream. Big hole in his chest size of a football and he walking backwards away from us all saying it was OK.

Voices

—Sinéad. Are you OK? Sinéad . . . Sinéad.

—Yeah?

—Are you OK?

—Yeah I’m fine, why?

—Just. Nothing.

—Cool babe.

More of Racey’s Evidence

—Now. Could you give your full name to the court registrar, please.

—Tracey Martina Aherne.

—Thank you. You knew the accused. Is that right?

—Yes.

—How did you know him?

—I knew him since secondary school. We were the same age and hung around in the same gang.

—And you had a relationship with the accused, is that right?

—Yes. On and off like.

—Could you just clarify what you mean by the phrase on and off?

—Yes. Like . . . we’d go out with each other . . . then it would be off like . . . and then we’d be back together again.

—And this went on for how long?

—Since like . . . second year in school to about a couple of years ago I suppose.

—OK. And in all this time did you ever feel that the accused, Denis Hennebry, had strong feelings for Sinéad Halloran?

—Sorry, what do you mean like?

—OK. I’ll put it this way. How do you think he felt about Sinéad?

—Dunno like. I’d say he liked her. Not in that way like. But as a friend like. You know. We were all friends sure like.

—OK. That’s fine. Thank you very much.

—No problem.

The other lawyer comes up then.

—Hello, Tracey. The sun is really catching you there, isn’t it? Are you very warm?

—Yeah, I suppose I am.

—Can we allow the witness to move Your Lordship, into the shade a bit, maybe.

—Of course.

Racey moved into the shade. The clerk moved the microphone over a bit for her. Here Tracey expains the real names of people. But I’ll put in the nicknames when I’m typing it cos the real names are a pain in the hole for you to be learning at this stage. They used the real names in the court but I’ll type the nicknames in instead for you. That’s all I’ll change though.

—Does that feel better?

—Much better, thanks very much.

—No bother at all. Now, Tracey. You say that you and Denis Hennebry hung around in the same gang throughout your adolescence, is that right?

—Yes.

—Could you name the people that you considered to be in the same gang over those years?

—Ahm. Say. Denis. Myself.

—Sorry, could you give surnames also, just for the court record if you could, thank you.

—Yeah. Denis Hennebry and myself, Sinéad Halloran, James Kent, Snoozie, I mean, Richard Fitzpatrick.

—Who’s Snoozie?

—Snoozie’s just a nickname for Richard Fitzpatrick. His father’s pub is The Snug.

—I see. Did you have a nickname?

—Yes. Racey.

—Why did people call you Racey.

—Not sure. Think it’s because I’m a good swimmer.

—Really. Very good. Did anyone else have a nickname?

—Ahm. Yeah. Well, there was the Gamal. That was Charlie McCarthy. Ahm. There was Dinky. That was Denis Hennebry. Ahm . . . And Teesh. That was Gary O’Donovan. But Teesh and Snoozie were a bit older than us. Mostly Dinky who was friendly with them, from the football. And James a bit too, I suppose.

—What do you mean a bit?

—Well, he wouldn’t have been as friendly with Teesh and Snoozie as Dinky was.

—Why was that, would you think?

—I don’t know. Probably didn’t have as much in common.

—OK. Is there anyone else you might think was in the same social gang?

—Well, there were others like Karen that would hang around with us drinking now and again.

Fuck You All

I used to love this one Johnny Cash song when I was small long ago. ‘Sam Hall’ or ‘Damn Your Eyes’ like I likes to call it. I like Sam Hall. Like the way he goes on. He doesn’t say,

—My name is Sam Hall, pleased to meet you.

He’s done with people. Damn your eyes. Damn your nose. Damn your stupid face.

Spike Milligan did a stand-up show one time in England. His best friend was an Englishman called Peter Sellers. He was a comedian too. Peter Sellers was the main act. Spike was supporting him. The audience booed and hissed Spike and roared at him to get off. Then they started chanting, ‘We want Sellers, we want Sellers,’ and all. In the end Spike left the stage like an embarrassed childeen. Next thing Sellers came on and the crowd gave a big cheer. Sellers smiled at his adoring crowd and stood in front of the microphone for a few seconds ’til they calmed down. Then he said,

—Fuck you all, and walked off the stage.

Fuck you all. Sometimes I wonder is that what madness is. Someone having enough. And then saying, fuck you all. No one is born thinking fuck you all. Takes some stuff for them to get like that. Or maybe they’re being loyal same as Peter Sellers. Loyal to what no one knows. Sinéad said fuck you all when she lived on music. But she was never alone. She had me. And James.

Anyhow next thing in the court case that happened was this. I was after paying Snoozie that visit in the church at the weekend and then he seen the Light of Christ.

Irregular Development

—Your Lordship, may it please the court, I’d like to bring to this court’s attention that we have had an irregular development.

—Continue.

—Your Lordship, a witness has come to me and has requested to testify again. I requested him to speak to the registrar of the court.

—That’s right, Mr Storey, I’m aware of the situation. I’m going to explain the situation to the jury now. Now an irregular development has occurred in this trial. My registrar informed me and I had a meeting with the witness and I’ve informed the counsel for the accused that Mr Richard Fitzpatrick
(that’s Snoozie)
will be testifying after lunch. As a jury you’ll be asked to reconsider the witness’s original testimony . . . which occurred last Tuesday. In the meantime I would like this court to continue calling any other witnesses.

—Your Lordship, I believe the counsel for the accused are due to call a witness now.

—I beg your pardon. Yes, you’re calling on Gary O’Donovan
(that’s Teesh)
again.

—Well . . . ahm . . . actually . . . Your Lordship, in light of the request made by Richard Fitzpatrick we would like to request a stay for the said testimony until after we’ve heard what Mr Fitzpatrick has to say this afternoon.

—In that case it looks like we’ve got a long lunch-break.

—Your Lordship, I’m sure Mr Fitzpatrick could be persuaded to testify now.

—Your Lordship, we’d like to object on the grounds that we need some time with our client to establish if he has any idea what Mr Fitzpatrick may have in store for us.

—Well, I’m not sure what difference it will make. Nobody will be able to make contact with Mr Fitzpatrick until after he testifies. As is standard practice in such circumstances the court will have the witness in an unknown place under police protection. Anyway his testimony may take a while so we’ll break for lunch.

—Very well, Your Lordship.

—I would kindly ask our jury to be back here by 1:45. The court is adjourned now until a quarter to two, thank you.

More of Snoozie’s Evidence

—Overruled. The witness will claim to have further information which is highly relevant to the case in question. Sinéad Halloran is in no position to defend herself so we’ll just hear what this young man has to say.

—OK, Your Lordship.

—You may ask the witness questions after Counsel O’Hare is finished.

—Thank you, Your Lordship.

—Proceed.

—I heard Dinky telling the whole story to Teesh.

—And when exactly did you hear it?

—I overheard something well over two years ago. And I can’t keep it to myself no more. Before God I want to tell the truth.

—OK. Carry on.

—The lads were staying in my house.

—Why?

—That would happen often enough because they lived with their parents. We’d stay up late after the disco playing cards or watching telly. Have a few more beers.

—I see.

—Well anyhow, this time we were watching a video.

—Yes. Could you tell me exactly who was with you?

—Yeah. Ahm. Myself, Dinky, Teesh and the gamal.

Yes I was there in that house too. I tagged along with Dinky and Teesh in a taxi out to Snoozie’s house. It was the night of the Afghan scarf and James finished with Sinéad once and for all. There was electricity among the lads so I suppose I just tagged along with them out to Snoozie’s to see what the gossip was.

—OK.

—Ahm. I fell asleep. Then I woke up. The telly was off. I could hear Teesh and Dinky talking in the dining room. That’s like beside like the television room. There’s double doors between them but they were open. They were talking about seeing the last of the settlers.

—Who were the settlers?

—The Kents. They disappeared then the time of the War of Independence. The castle was burned down that time like. But James’ father came back to renovate it and live there like. Settle back to Ballyronan again like.

—I see, yes.

—They were talking about old yarns their fathers had told them about the Kents in the famine times. Evicting people off their land cos they couldn’t pay the rent to the landlord.

One story Teesh told was about a girl that Old Dirty Kent got pregnant cos he was famous for preying on the poor starving young girls. He’d send for them to do jobs for him and their mothers would send them up cos they knew she’d get a bit of food or a bit of money for taking care of his lordship. Anyhow this girl’s mother went up and demanded that her daughter be taken care of cos she was carrying his lordship’s baby. Old Dirty Kent sent out a lackey and told the whole family to call up to the house the next day at twelve noon. They went up at twelve noon and there was nobody there. They hung around for a while but then headed off back to their cottage. On their way back they noticed a plume of smoke coming from over the valley and sure enough their houseen was up in flames and they were evicted to wander the roads with all the other evicted skeletons in the famine long ago.

Dinky told another one was about him raping a souper’s daughter. The soupers were called that because they were Catholics who were supposed to have taken the soup off the Prods during the famine in exchange for changing from Catholic to Protestant and becoming the landlords’ lackeys. I dunno if it ever really happened. Old Master Higgins didn’t think there was any truth in it when Dinky asked him about the soupers in class long ago. Anyhow, this souper’s daughter was being raped on the ground by his lordship and next thing he comes around the corner to see his daughter’s violation and he says to her,

—‘Lift up your arse girleen, his lordship’s balls are getting all dirty.’

Then Teesh told a one that I knew Dinky had heard before but he left him tell it anyway. I could hear Dinky all lick-arsy going, ‘Yeah,’ ‘Oh right,’ ‘Jesus Christ,’ or ‘Holy shit,’ every now and again to lick Teesh’s ass and he telling the story. I couldn’t bother telling the story now but you get the idea. Some stories are only shit and tell more about the people that tell them than the people they’re supposed to be about isn’t it?

Anyhow so yeah, that kind of thing. I was in the room with Snoozie in case you’re a bit slow and haven’t copped it. This part could be complicated depending on if you’re thick or not. I was pretending to be asleep. But I was listening to Teesh and Dinky’s shitetalk too. Back to Snoozie in court now so.