Read Wednesday's Child for Free Online

dogs.’
     
    ‘Oh.’
     
    I wasn’t sure what that meant, but figured I’d get a chance to ask about it later.
     
    She continued to sulk.
     
    ‘One thing that I will never do, Gill, is lie. I’m telling you right now about the visit to the doctor because it has to happen, and pretending that it doesn’t won’t help anyone. So I’m telling you straight up. With me, there are only two rules. When you’re with me, you don’t hurt anyone, me and you included, and you try your best. I follow those rules, and I’ll ask you to. Part of not hurting is no lies. Lies hurt, and I’m not into that. I reckon you’ve been lied to enough.’
     
    She made a kind of snorting noise.
     
    ‘So what happened today?’
     
    ‘With Maggie?’
     
    ‘Is that her name?’
     
    ‘Yeah.’
     
    ‘So. You want to tell me what happened?’
     
    ‘Not really. She was makin’ fun of me, so I did her. Did her good too.’
     
    ‘So I hear. What was she saying to you?’
     
    ‘Nothin’.’
     
    ‘Must have been more than nothing for you to do her so good.’
     
    ‘She was callin’ me names and stuff.’
     
    ‘Bad names, huh?’
     
    A nod.
     
    ‘She was sayin’ that we’re all mad. That my mammy lets the dogs ride her.’
     
    I said nothing to that. There didn’t seem a right thing to say.
     
    ‘Them things aren’t true. Them are bad things to say about a person’s family.’
     
    Gillian looked up at me, and all the fight had gone out of her.
     
    ‘Will you take me home, please?’
     
    It was as sudden and as immediate as that. It was as if her battery had run down. I figured that in fact that probably wasn’t far from the truth: the outburst of the day, coupled with her anger at me for telling her of her imminent visit to the doctor had effectively used up all her reserves of energy. She had burnt herself out. She sat in the seat, her eyes glazed over, her shoulders hunched up. I called for Sister Assumpta and she got Gillian’s coat and bag, and we walked her down to the car. She said not a word, and climbed into the back without protest. I turned to Sister Assumpta before getting in myself. I couldn’t hide the anger in my eyes, and she stepped back a bit when she saw it.
     
    ‘How could she be allowed to get to this stage, Sister? You’d better tell me that you’ve been calling and calling for help, because I’ll chase this one up and someone will have to answer for it. You seem like a nice lady and this seems like a good school, but so help me if I find that she has been left to starveherself because she’s the local redneck’s kid and no one gives a good god-damn, I’ll be coming back out here with the fucking inspector and a fucking warrant and we’re going to have us a very, very close look at your child-protection policies and procedures. I’m not arrogant enough to believe that I can have the school closed down, but believe me, someone will lose their job.’
     
    She nodded, and I knew from the expression on her face that if there was any fault here, it didn’t lie with her.
     
    ‘I have been ringing your offices on an almost weekly basis. You are the first person to come out in two months of calling.’
     
    ‘I’ll check that, Sister.’
     
    ‘I would expect no less.’
     
    I nodded at her, some of the anger dissipating.
     
    ‘I’ll see you soon.’
     
    She turned and walked back into the school building.
     
    ‘You strapped in, Gillian?’ Andi asked as she started the engine.
     
    No response. It was really as if the Gillian I had seen for that short outburst was gone, had fled deep inside. I glanced back, saw that she was safely harnessed and nodded at Andi. We pulled out of the schoolyard and turned out towards the Dublin road.
     
    The O’Gorman homestead was a kind of shack set deep within many acres of farmland. It had to beaccessed down a long dirt track with tall trees and overgrown ditches on both sides. The only sounds as we moved across the terrain was the