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pleasantly, when they joined him at a round table set in the recess of a bay window. ‘You have your new frock?’
    ‘It’s green,’ said Pomona mischievously, ‘So, if she wants to, she can perform on stage with the O’Flahertys in their green kilts!’
    ‘Is this what they have suggested?’ Carmen asked sharply.
    May managed to speak before Pomona this time. ‘No, of course not!’ She thought, why is Mum making a fuss about me and Paddy? I’m not ready to have a boyfriend yet. She’s been away so long she has no idea how I feel. Growing up is enough to cope with at the moment.

    On Friday evening, after the O’Flahertys left for the Pier Theatre, Jenny suggested that May and Pomona might like to have a bath. ‘You will have the kitchen to yourselves, as Percy and I will be busy in the bar; there’s always a dominoes match going on, and someone has to sort ’em out, when players get too hot under the collar. I’ll get Percy to bring the tub in. I’ll fill the clothes copper, so you have plenty of hot water, you can mix that with cold, can’t you? Leave the tub for Percy to empty last thing – he’s the expert, eh? I’ll put two big towels to warm on the airer over the stove, and there’s a new bar of Fairy soap, unless you prefer Pears transparent?’
    They chose the Pears soap. It was a big tin tub, and took several jugs of hot and cold water to fill. There was room for the girls to sitone at either end. ‘We haven’t shared a bath since you were a baby!’ May told Pomona. ‘And don’t you dare make any personal remarks!’
    ‘I’ll close my eyes until you’re under water!’ Pomona quipped back. She whipped up the soap flakes which Jenny had also kindly supplied, into a froth. ‘Now you’re concealed by the bubbles!’
    ‘Shut up and wash your neck and feet – those are the bits you usually ignore….’
    ‘And you can hurry up and wash yourself, because when you get out I’m going to swim from one side of the tub to the other – I bet Gertrude Ederle has a private pool! How many strokes d’you think that will take?’
    ‘Not enough – more likely a flood on the floor!’ May said.
    Pomona dodged the wet sponge her sister threw at her. The sponge landed on Toby instead, as she rested her pointed chin on the rim of the bath and gazed soulfully at them. She yelped.
    ‘Be quiet, Toby,’ May warned, ‘unless you fancy a bath, too!’ Toby removed herself smartly.
    They were sitting in their nightgowns, worn beneath thin wrap-around dressing-gowns because it was summer, sipping mugs of milky cocoa, when they heard the first strains of music. Jenny was playing the piano, and the pub regulars were joining in the chorus. ‘I wish we …’ May murmured wistfully. Then she had a bright idea. ‘Finish your cocoa! We’ll sit on the snug stairs: no-one will know
we’re
singing too!’
    Friday was pay day for the hard-working agricultural labourers, their night for a glass or two in the pub. It was men only, but some took home a bottle of stout as a treat for the wife. Tonight, they were joined by fishermen back from trawling herring, with coins jingling in their pockets. So sea shanties were much called for.
    What shall we do with the drunken sailor
, May and Pomona sang with them.
    They were startled when the kitchen door opened and Brigid tiptoed along the corridor. She’d guessed what they were up to.
    She grinned. ‘Room for me on the stairs? I gather you had a bath! The boys are emptying it, to save old Percy a job. When they’ve done that, Brendan will make us toasted cheese for supper. Would you like a midnight feast?’
    ‘It’s not
that
late,’ Pomona said, with a huge yawn. Then, ‘Yes, please! But can I have my supper in bed?’
    ‘You go ahead,’ May agreed. ‘I’ll bring it in a little while.’
    When she followed Brigid into the kitchen she saw Paddy sitting in the rocker with Toby on his lap. Brendan was slicing bread at the table. There was already a delicious