Page 126 of The Missing Sister
Katie crossed herself. ‘I swear on all the saints.’
Merry climbed out of her bed and opened the drawer she used for her pants and socks. Thinking that even her sisters on the search for pennies wouldn’t touch her smalls, she pulled out a black sock, then took it over to the bed and poured out the contents.
‘Jesus, Mary and Joseph! I’d reckon you could buy your own cow with that amount!’ Katie took one of the shiny round coins in her small palm and stroked it. ‘How many do you have?’
‘Thirteen altogether.’
‘’Tis an unlucky number, Merry. Maybe you should give one to me for safekeeping.’
‘Of course you can have one, Katie, but don’t tell the others or they’ll want one too.’
‘Will we go to Timoleague to buy some sweeties this week?’ Katie suggested.
‘Maybe, but I’m saving the rest.’
‘What for?’
‘I don’t know,’ Merry said, ‘but something.’
‘John told me a secret once.’
‘What secret?’
‘Oh, about how we can get more sweeties if...’
‘What?’
‘I’m not sure I should tell.’
‘Katie O’Reilly! I just told you where I hide my pennies. You tell me now, or I’ll—’
‘’Tis your turn to swear on all the saints you won’t say I said.’
Merry did so. ‘Come on now, Katie, tell me.’
‘John told me that when he was my age, some of the boys in his class at school who had pennies took them down to the railway line when the train was due to go by. When they heard the hoot of the train, they ran onto the tracks and laid their pennies on the rails. When the train passed, its wheels ran over them. And Mrs Delaney at the sweetie shop always gave them a few extra sweeties if the boys had flattened pennies. I’d say ’twas because it makes them larger,’ Katie nodded knowledgeably.
‘John’s never done that, has he?’
At that point, Katie’s pale skin flushed a deep crimson, even as she shook her head.
‘You’re not to go telling Mammy and Daddy.’
‘But ’tis dangerous, Katie, he could have been killed!’ Merry said as she collected her pennies and put them back in the drawer.
She’d just climbed back into bed when Nora came into their room.
‘Merry, go sit with Mammy while I go downstairs to the laundry with this sheet.’ She yawned loudly. ‘I’m exhausted, and here you two are, tucked up cosy in your beds.’ Nora swung round and marched back through the door.
‘All she’s done is sit with Mammy for most of the afternoon,’ Katie complained. ‘’Twas me that was washing out the new babe’s napkins.’
‘Well, I’d better go and sit with Mammy like she said.’
Merry walked along the narrow landing, then unhooked the latch to Mammy and Daddy’s room. With relief, she saw that both her mother and the new babe were asleep, even if they were as still and pale as the grave.
Getting down on her knees, she sent up another prayer, before gingerly lifting the sheet to check for blood like Ellen had done. It was clean.
‘Thank you, Holy Mother, for protecting my own,’ she whispered as she replaced the sheet and then sat down in the chair to wait for Nora to return.
