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“He’s our brother,” Shannon clarified, as she tried to soothe the grizzly infant, who was refusing the bottle she was offering him.
“How old is he?” I asked, sinking down on the thread worn cushion.
“Who, Sean?” Bouncing him in her arms, she tucked a blond curl behind his tiny ear and said, “He just turned two.”
“Really?” I found it incredibly hard to believe that the infant in her arms was as old as two. He was dinky in size and reminded me more of twelve-month-old.
“I’ve gots four brothers,” Ollie added.
My eyes widened. “Four?”
“Yep, and one sister,” Ollie added proudly. “Darren’s the oldest, and then there’s Joe, Shannon, Tadhg, me, and Sean.”
“In case you haven’t guessed; he’s the one who can’t keep his mouth shut,” Tadhg interjected from his perch on the armchair opposite us. Flicking through channels with the remote control of the television in hand, he cast me a sideways glance before looking back at Shannon. “He’s going to flip.”
“Who?” I asked.
“Daddy,” Ollie said at the same time as Tadhg said, “Joey,” and Shannon said, “Nobody.”
“Acting the big hard man at school,” a dominant male voice roared, causing all of the children around me to flinch and cower. “You’re lucky they’re not going to the Gards with this. You’d be off the team permanently. Yeah, that’s right; they’ve suspended you from the team, too.”
“You think I give a shit about getting kicked off the hurling team?” I heard Joey’s strained laugh.“Get fucked, old man. That’s your dream, not mine.”
“Oh, you’re still riled up, are ya? Don’t worry, I’ll knock that out of you, boy.”
“What in god’s name is wrong with the pair of you? Why do you always resort to using your fists? Why can’t you stop being like this?” a woman’s voice cried out. “Why do you have to resort to violence at the drop of a hat?”
Uncomfortable, I looked at his siblings, who were all dutifully ignoring the shouting coming from the other room.
“It’s too much, Joey. I can’t handle you anymore, I really can’t.”
“Handle me? You don’t need to handle me. You don’t need to do shit for me, not that you do anyway. I’m grand as I am. And I was trying to protect my sister, if you’re so fucking concerned. She’s going to end up topping herself if you don’t get her out of that school. She can’t take any more of them.”
“And I can’t take any more of your behavior!”
“Then throw me out.”
“Don’t fucking tempt me, boy.”
“Get off him, Teddy!”
“Now, where the fuck is that sister of yours. She’s got a hand in this.”
A few moments later, the sitting room door was thrown open, and in walked a tall, formidable looking man.
Their dad,I mentally noted, recognizing the very obvious resemblance he bore to the children littered around the sitting room.
I also instantly recognized him as one of the meaner, sleazier drunks that propped up the bar at work when I worked the afternoon shift on weekdays. He never ordered food, so I never had to personally serve him, but I always got the creepiest vibe from him.
“Who’s this?” he demanded, balking at the sight of me sitting on his couch.
“This is Aoife,” Ollie said proudly, patting my shoulder with his small hand. “She’s my friend.”
“Teddy, wait,” a woman, who looked an awful lot like Shannon, called out, hurrying into the room after her husband. “Please, just wait…” Her voice trailed off when her eyes landed on me, and I swear I saw her sag in relief. “Oh, hello.”
“Hi,” I replied, quickly standing up. “I’m Aoife.”
“Aoife,” the mother repeated with a small nod of her head. Sliding the sleeve of her cardigan down in her attempt to conceal the cast on her arm, she forced a small smile and asked, “Are you friends with Shannon?”
