Page 50 of Charlie
He shrugged, unwilling to clarify, but River was more forthcoming.
“I used to share one with my mom, but then she went to study yoga in India and she couldn’t bring me with her.”
“Your mom is studying yoga in India?” I knew it was a lie. Eileen had told me how River’s mom, Julie, had been kicked out while River had been allowed to stay. “How long will she be gone for?”
“I’m not sure. She’s been gone for a few months now.”
More like eight or nine, I thought, but I didn’t say that out loud.
“Can’t you ask her when she’s coming back then?”
“We can’t talk on the phone because of the bad connection.”
“Oh, okay. What about you, Lumi? Do you have your own room?”
“No, I sleep with my mom.”
“And where is your father?”
She stiffened a little. “All I know about him is that he’s white and that my mother resented him for not marrying her when he learned that she was pregnant with his child. She’s from a traditional Indian family so marriage was a big thing until Father made her realize that marriage is institutionalized suppression of women. Anyway, she was lucky that Father took her in and helped her become successful on her own.”
“Father, is that Conor?”
“Yes.”
“We are all his children,” River said, repeating what O’Brien had said not so long ago.
“Can I ask a question?”
“They nodded.
“How come none of you speaks with an Irish accent?”
“We can if we want to.” Maximum changed into an accent as Irish as his mother’s. “But Da says it’s better if we speak a more polished English. It makes us sound more cultivated.”
River spoke Irish too. “Nathan an’ I sometimes speak Irish when it’s just the two of us at night. I love it because it reminds me of my ma. She has a thick brogue but I always loved the way she speaks.”
“Maybe you can teach me one day. I find it so charming.”
“Aye, I can!” River guaranteed. “Try saying something in Irish.”
I imitated an accent in a few sentences and it was so bad that it made the girl bend over with laughter.
“Ye’re rubbish at it.”
River and I were good at laughing together and even the others smiled at my willingness to embarrass myself.
I could hear voices approaching and hurried to cover my tracks in case Conor would drill them about what questions I’d had asked. “All right, but when I wanted to know if you liked it here, I didn’t mean in this house, I meant in Dublin and Howth. I’m a tourist, so I’m curious to know what it’s like living here.”
“Howth is quiet in the winter but in the summer, we have a lot of visitors.” To my surprise, Lumi was the one who began entertaining me with details as Conor and Charles came back in to the room.
“There’s a castle not far from the main road, and the lighthouse is pretty. If you want to visit a café, I recommend the one just by the train station.”
“Thank you, I’ll check it out.”
When Charles and Conor came up to us, I was disturbed by the withdrawn expression on Charles’ face. Walking over to stand next to him, I muttered, “Are you okay?”
He didn’t have a chance to answer before Conor turned his attention on me. “I understand you’re an anthropologist. Maybe you could teach a lesson to the children about what it is you do and how anthropology works.”
