登陆注册
20052400000041

第41章 TWO 1921-1928 Ralph(21)

Paddy's starched shirt and celluloid collar chafed, the blue suit was too hot, and the exotic Sydney seafood they had served with champagne at luncheon had not agreed with his mutton-inured digestion. And he had felt a fool, thought he looked a fool. Best though it was, his suit smacked of cheap tailoring and bucolic unfashionableness. They were not his kind of people, the bluff tweedy graziers, the lofty matrons, the toothy, horsy young women, the cream of what the Bulletin called "the squattocracy." For they were doing their best to forget the days in the last century when they had squatted on the land and taken vast tracts of it for their own, had it tacitly acknowledged as their own with federation and the arrival of home rule. They had become the most envied group of people on the continent, ran their own political party, sent their children to exclusive Sydney schools, hobnobbed with the visiting Prince of Wales. He, plain Paddy Cleary, was a workingman. He had absolutely nothing in common with these colonial aristocrats, who reminded him of his wife's family too much for comfort. So when he came into the presbytery lounge to find Frank, Meggie and Father Ralph relaxed around the fire and looking as if they had spent a wonderful, carefree day, it irritated him. He had missed Fee's genteel support unbearably and he still disliked his sister as much as he had back in his early childhood in Ireland. Then he noticed the sticking plaster over Frank's eye, the swollen face; it was a heaven-sent excuse. "And how do you think you're going to face your mother looking like that?" he yelled. "Not a day out of my sight and you're back at it again, picking fights with anyone who looks at you sideways!"

Startled, Father Ralph jumped to his feet with a soothing noise half-uttered; but Frank was quicker.

"I earned myself money with this!" he said very softly, pointing to the plaster. "Twenty pounds for a few minutes' work, better wages than Auntie Mary pays you and me combined in a month! I knocked out three good boxers and lasted the distance with a lightweight champion in Jimmy Sharman's tent this afternoon. And I earned myself twenty pounds. It may not fit in with your ideas of what I ought to do, but this afternoon I earned the respect of every man present!"

"A few tired, punch-drunk old has-beens at a country show, and you're full of it? Grow up, Frank! I know you can't grow any more in body, but you might make an effort for your mother's sake to grow in mind!" The whiteness of Frank's face! Like bleached bones.

It was the most terrible insult a man could offer him, and this was his father; he couldn't strike back. His breathing started coming from the bottom of his chest with the effort of keeping his hands by his sides. "No has-beens, Daddy. You know who Jimmy Sharman is as well as I do. And Jimmy Sharman himself said I had a terrific future as a boxer; he wants to take me into his troupe and train me. And he wants to pay me! I may not grow any bigger, but I'm big enough to lick any man ever born-and that goes for you, too, you stinking old he-goat!"

The inference behind the epithet was not lost on Paddy; he went as white as his son. "Don't you dare call me that!"

"What else are you? You're disgusting, you're worse than a ram in rut! Couldn't you leave her alone, couldn't you keep your hands off her?" "No, no, no!" Meggie screamed. Father Ralph's hands bit into her shoulders like claws and held her painfully against him. The tears poured down her face, she twisted to free herself frantically and vainly. "No, Daddy, no! Oh, Frank, please! Please, please!" she shrilled.

But the only one who heard her was Father Ralph. Frank and Paddy faced each other, the dislike and the fear, each for the other, admitted at last. The dam of mutual love for Fee was breached and the bitter rivalry for Fee acknowledged.

"I am her husband. It is by God's grace we are blessed with our children," said Paddy more calmly, fighting for control.

"You're no better than a shitty old dog after any bitch you can stick your thing into!"

"And you're no better than the shitty old dog who fathered you, whoever he was! Thank God I never had a hand in it!" shouted Paddy, and stopped. "Oh, dear Jesus!" His rage quit him like a howling wind, he sagged and shriveled and his hands plucked at his mouth as if to tear out the tongue which had uttered the unutterable. "I didn't mean it, I didn't mean it! 1 didn't mean it!" The moment the words were out Father Ralph let go of Meggie and grabbed Frank. He had Frank's right arm twisted behind him, his own left arm around Frank's neck, throttling him. And he was strong, the grip paralyzing; Frank fought to be free of him, then suddenly his resistance flagged and he shook his head in submission. Meggie had fallen to the floor and knelt there, weeping, her eyes going from her brother to her father in helpless, beseeching agony. She didn't understand what had happened, but she knew it meant she couldn't keep them both.

"You meant it," Frank croaked. "I must always have known it! I must always have known it." He tried to turn his head to Father Ralph. "Let me go, Father. I won't touch him; so help me God I won't."

"So help you God? God rot your souls, both of you! If you've ruined the child I'll kill you!" the priest roared, the only one angry now. "Do you realize I had to keep her here to listen to this, for fear if I took her away you'd kill each other while I was gone? I ought to have let you do it, you miserable, self-centered cretins!"

"It's all right, I'm going," Frank said in a strange, empty voice. "I'm going to join Jimmy Sharman's troupe, and I won't be back."

"You've got to come back!" Paddy whispered. "What can I tell your mother? You mean more to her than the rest of us put together. She'll never forgive me!"

"Tell her I went to join Jimmy Sharman because I want to be someone. It's the truth."

"What I said-it wasn't true, Frank."

同类推荐
  • 普济方·针灸

    普济方·针灸

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • The Antichrist

    The Antichrist

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 皇明九边考

    皇明九边考

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 古谣谚

    古谣谚

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 宗教律诸宗演派

    宗教律诸宗演派

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 掠魂时刻

    掠魂时刻

    现代人的探索追溯出远古时代的一个神话,包含毁天灭地力量族群的消失重新点燃了战争的序幕。二战时的烟火,秘密的地下研究,无意中诞生的一个超级神童在一夜之间以成年之体重生。背地后的势力,阴险的诡局,两个绝顶聪明人之间的战斗,注定了又一场硝烟。
  • 陈小莫的陈小莫

    陈小莫的陈小莫

    陈小莫知道这一辈子很长,而自己的感情经历却是很丰富,经历了结婚、离婚、相恋、相爱、恐惧、背叛和被爱...在感情的世界里面,陈小莫从来都不是一个无理取闹、嫉妒心强的女孩子。相反的,虽然很黏人但是努力做到冷漠,因为被伤害所以陈小莫把自己的那颗玻璃心永远的封印在自己给自己铸就的堡垒里面不见阳光....可是陈小莫也在等待..等待一个可以解封的那个人...此文描写的全部都是作者本人的事情,所以更新会很慢,有宝宝们看的希望不要着急,而且第一次写文,不好勿喷,谢谢
  • 梧桐歌

    梧桐歌

    他们相逢在治世之末,乱世之始,那时长歌还未拉开序幕,却已风云际会,群雄四起。深山中的少女,鲜衣怒马的少年,命运的丝线将这些年轻的生命纠缠在一起,从此无法分开。再相遇,他们已认不出彼此,可是冥冥中的力量,还是把他们越推越近。当真相逐渐浮出水面,当一切慢慢揭开,谁是谁的劫数?谁又是谁的救赎?是相信,还是怀疑,是挣扎,还是放弃?
  • 忠犬老公快过来

    忠犬老公快过来

    断掌女克死八任未婚夫,被嫁一送一,九嫁暖男董事长~自家大哥撬墙脚;表妹争锋不伦恋,小三一波盖一波,婆婆死不认媳妇儿。且看月明珠如何处理三角、四角、五角感情,打跑小三、小四、小五、小六…
  • 危机恋人

    危机恋人

    我!一个平凡的少女,过着孤独的生活,说朋友没朋友,说依靠没依靠,注定是孤身一人!可是!我怎么也不知道会成为我们班新转来的鸣刹同学的·······小姐。对!是小姐,早上还高冷嫌弃我的人晚上突然把自己送到我家门口服侍我,天哪,这是不是老天爷心痛我了?给了我一个大帅哥?回答当然是不·······跟他相处的后段日子里,我知道了他的身份,还有,我的处境也深陷危机!
  • 穿成端妃这杯具

    穿成端妃这杯具

    方皇后:端妃那个小贱人,居然又是一脸疲惫的样子来请安,她这是想向我示威吗?王宁嫔:端妃当这后宫之中只有她受宠吗,哼,做什么成天被陛下疼爱的样子!曹洛莹:冤枉啊,你们每天晚上瞪大眼睛一宿一宿的不睡觉试试,王宁嫔我也是在救你的命好吗!简而言之,就是一个穿越女凭借自己的王八之气刷嘉靖boss宠爱结果把自己给坑惨了的故事。【情节虚构,请勿模仿】
  • 哈佛人生经营课

    哈佛人生经营课

    《哈佛人生经营课》从情商、幸福、气质、成长、心理、人脉等人生诸多方面,为你诠释出一个顶级学府的育人之道和哈佛精英的成功之道?哈佛是个宝贵的思想库,追求卓越从这里起航!
  • 带着仙府闯都市

    带着仙府闯都市

    什么是人品?人品就是落河不死,仙府随身,仙府有灵药,治病是好手,都市小人物,惊艳成长……
  • 乱世遗花传

    乱世遗花传

    该作品以北宋末年战乱频发为背景,讲述了热血英雄的爱情故事,每个人、每段故事都曲折凄婉,每段故事都反映了当时的历史背景,作者前后写了两年,时隔久远,希望读者能提出宝贵意见!
  • 七十年英雄回归

    七十年英雄回归

    当人与妖再次决裂,回归的圣剑带回那些逝去的英雄,在男主角游历中,他却为老婆太多而烦恼。那些逝去的英雄原地崛起,再次为人类的未来奋斗。