Maire's Story

Chapter 17 and 18

C H A P T E R   S E V E N T E E N

It had been weeks since Maire had a chance to spend time at Magic Maple. So when Frank phoned her one Saturday morning to see about borrowing her copy of Big Red, she said yes, but only if they could meet at the farm.

Frank agreed, so a few hours later he pulled his bicycle into the Magic Maple driveway and pulled up to the old homestead. That's where Maire was, standing on the verandah in front of Theresa and Gram and describing how Nessa had not-so-subtly convinced Donal O'Reilly to apologize for pushing Lorraine Hanlon off a swing during lunchtime at school.

"That Nessa...she has half the boys in school scared witless," declared Theresa when the tale ended. "Oh hello, Frank."

"Hi Mrs. Adam — uh, both Mrs. Adamses. Hey Maire."

"Hello Frank. I was just telling them about Nessa an' Donal O'Reilly at school. Do you remember that?"

Frank nodded with a slight smile. "Donal was real nice to Lorraine after Nessa got through with him. Hey, do you have the book?"

"It's back in the new house. I thought we'd check in on the cats first. Is that okay?"
"Sure," said Frank evenly. Doing just about anything with Maire was fine by him, though he'd never think of saying so.

Maire stepped off the verandah. "We should be back before too long," she told Gram. Then, with a glance at Frank, added, "Maybe we'll go for a walk in the fields after seeing the cats."
"Sounds okay to me." he agreed.

"Well, you're both welcome for supper if you like," Gram said. "I'm cooking up some steak for Pa and it's no bother to add more to the pan."

Maire smiled. "I was kinda hoping you'd say that, Mrs. Adam, 'cause I told Monique I might not be home 'til after supper."

"Aren't you the sly one?" said Gram with a twinkle in her eyes. "If I didn't know better, I'd say a bit of Coleen's ways have slipped into your soul."

"I wouldn't mind that at all," she said happily.

With a wave, Maire and Frank set off across the yard to the henhouse. A quick check revealed nothing, so they went on to the next building. It was a slow ramble of a search, as Maire dawdled to enjoy the sunshine and the sweet, fresh smell of new summer grass. Overhead, the familiar notched tails and cinnamon undersides of the barn swallows could be seen searching for resting spots along the hydro wires.

"This is the only place in Guilfoyle where I've seen swallows," said Frank, shading his eyes against the sunshine and watching their circuitous routes.

"They know the best place to live is here," was Maire's explanation, given with a touch of pride. "I think they used to nest at Mr. O'Dea's farm, but I heard Mrs. Adam tell Mrs. Mulvey that he didn't like them and always busted up their nests. That made me real mad an' I was going to say so to Mr. O'Dea at church last week, but Monique stopped me. She said she didn't like that either, but Mr. O'Dea has the right to do whatever he wants with his property, no matter what we think of it."

Maire sighed, then let the thought go and declared "Aren't the buildings looking fine?" as they entered the granary. "Mr. Adam — I mean, of the New Magic Maple house — he painted up everything real nice just a few weeks ago. It's too bad you couldn't come over when he finished off the shed. Me an' Nessa helped him out, an', well, we got whitewash all over ourselves. It made me mad at first, but then we had such fun cleaning up after that I didn't mind. I ended up being real sparkling. Nessa still had whitewash in her hair an' didn't care much."

They looked around for a moment and, finding nothing of a feline nature, left and headed for the stable.

"You're always cleaner than most people," Frank assessed. "You're the cleanest person I know. I've never seen a bedroom as tidy as yours."