#bantry

Oddity Damian Mc Carthy. 2014

House Bantry House, Seafield, Bantry, Co. Cork, Ireland See in map

#OTD in 1798 – French fleet intercepted off Donegal and Wolfe Tone is captured when the Hoche strikes its colours.

“To unite Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter under the common name of Irishmen in order break the connection with England, the never-failing source of all our political evils, that was my aim”.” –Theobald Wolfe Tone Theobald Wolfe Tone was one of the founders of the United Irishmen. In efforts to free Ireland from English rule, he had encouraged a French invasion of Ireland which due to bad…

Here's another sample of my writing, and you can check out all ten chapters on my website, linked at the bottom:

2nd of October, 2001

First I have to set the scene. It’s the 2nd of October, 2001. Here in Ireland, we start secondary school at twelve. My alarm clock was set to the radio. At 6:00 a.m., “Shiny Happy People” by R.E.M. started blasting. It must have been some throwback station or something. Not that I minded. It was one of my favorite songs when I was little. I turn off the alarm and roll back over. I do not want to get up. My blanket is so warm, and the pillow is so soft.

My baby sister, Jenny, starts fussing in her crib. I share a room with her. I don’t share a room with my big brother because he’s older, and apparently, 16-year-olds don’t generally share a bedroom with their 12-year-old little sisters. Something about bringing girls over. I roll out of bed and pick up Jenny. I take her downstairs to my mum, who is making breakfast and lunch for school.

“Morning. She’s up.” I say.

My mum turns to me and takes the baby. “Good morning, sweetie. Thank you. You’d better get ready so you’re not late.”

I rush back upstairs, brush my long, wavy, blonde hair, braid it, brush my teeth, and then put on my new school uniform. It’s a white shirt, green sweater, purple and gold tie, and blue and green plaid skirt and blue blazer. I add a sparkly purple headband to the uniform, cause you know, I like to be unique.

I sling my backpack over my shoulders and go back downstairs. This time I find Jenny in her high chair, and my older brother, Bart, eating shredded wheat at the counter. Mum hands me a plateful of fried eggs and toast as I sit down at the table.

“There. That should fill you up for the morning.” Mum says.

I smile as I start to eat. Mum works a lot, but she always gives us a big meal before school, to make sure we won’t be hungry until lunch. She hasn’t done it with Bart since he was about 14 and a half. He took charge of his own breakfast then, and he even started drinking coffee! It’s weird sometimes having a brother so much older than you.

There’s a knock on the screen door, and my two best friends, Samantha and John McBride, who are also twins, walk in.

“Morning!” Sam says.

“Good morning, you two,” my mum says. “Nice hair, Sam.”

Sam brushes her new chin-length hair behind her ear. “Thank you, Ms. McConnell.”

Just in case you caught what Sam called my mother, as I mentioned my parents are divorced. I haven’t seen my father since I was six years old when he left. I don’t know why he left. I don’t even know if he’s still alive. I think I asked my mum once, and she said he was, but that was a couple of years ago. She’s remarried now but kept her last name, as did Jenny.

Anyways, I like Sam’s new hair. She looks good with it short. The twins immediately sit on either side of me.

“Guess what?” Sam says.

I shrug. “I don’t know. What?”

“That cute boy I’ve been eyeing all semester- he got moved to our class. And his name’s McGinty, so I may get to sit next to him.”

“Didn’t you have a crush on a girl last year?” I ask.

Now Sam shrugs. “So what? I can crush on both.”

John takes a banana and starts to eat it, while I ask, “Why’d he get moved?”

Sam shrugs again. “I think he wanted to change his schedule.”

“Supposedly, he wanted to be on the other side of the school as Rooster McClaggen at the end of school,” John says.

“It is so weird going to school with old teenagers,” Sam says.

Bart frowns at her. “Hey, watch it,” he teases.

“Bart, will you walk Cory to school today?” Mum asks.

Bart frowns. “Me? Why? I promised Mary I’d meet her at school.”

“So?”

“I can’t walk up to my girlfriend at school with my little sister hovering behind me. Why can’t she walk with Sam and John?”

I frown at my brother. “Bart, I’m sure you did not mean to be hurtful just now, but I want you to walk with her because people have been antsy since the plane attacks. I want you to look after her until she gets to class,” Mum says.

Bart sighs. “You’re right, mum. I’m sorry,” he just goes back to eating.

My mum is referring to the September 11th attacks in New York and Washington D. C. She didn’t let me see any of the footage, but I know it was horrible. And she’s right, it’s making people antsy, especially at school. Some of our darker-skinned classmates are being bullied because of it. I don’t know why. It’s not their fault.

After we finish breakfast, we grab our backpacks and head out the door. Bantry is a small town, so we don’t have to walk far to get to school. We don’t even go to the normal secondary school. That one’s a Catholic school, I mean it’s Ireland. We go to Bantry Bay Alternative Education Academy. It’s not an alternative version of education, it’s just not a religion-affiliated school.

Bart walks with us but is using his new phone to text someone. “Who are you texting?” I ask.

Bart groans. “Cory! You made me push the wrong button.”

I giggle. Those phones are weird. Why would you take all that time pushing buttons to get the right letter when you could just talk on the phone?

“Is it Mary?” I tease him about his girlfriend.

Bart puts his phone away. “I have other friends, you know,” he says.

After my first class, I meet Sam and John in the hall to get our books for our next class out of our lockers.

“I thought secondary school English would be a lot more difficult than primary school. But that wasn’t so bad,” I say.

“Aye, that’s because we’re in the first tier,” Sam says. “Bart is diagraming sentences.”

I shudder. John catches the eye of a tall brunette with a bow in her hair.

“Oh, Janey Mac!” He says, blushing bright red and trying to hide behind his algebra book.

“What’s gotten into you?” I ask.

Sam tries not to giggle. “Uh oh. It’s Trudy O’Neil. John’s had a crush on her since 5th class.”

I frown. “What? How come I didn’t hear about this?”

“Because he’s too scared to talk to her.”

John frowns at Sam, lowering his book without thinking. “I am not scared.”

The girl, Trudy O’Neil, comes up to us. “John McBride?” she says.

John quickly puts the book back in front of his face. Sam and I laugh. Trudy tries not to laugh, too.

“I just wanted to say that I liked your shoes,” Trudy says.

John lowers the book. “Oh,” he blushes. “Thank you.”

Trudy smiles. “See you in class.”

Trudy then leaves.

Sam and I look at John, who is bright red. I nudge him playfully. “She likes you.”

“How do you know?” John frowns.

I exaggeratedly imitate Trudy. “See you in class.”

John gives me a mock glare. “Just wait till you have your first crush. I’m gonna be relentless.”

I roll my eyes. I don’t see that happening.

After school, I went to watch the girls’ basketball team practice, longing for the day when I can be on the team myself. Basketball is my favorite sport, and I’ve been told I’m pretty good at it. I once beat Bart 35-17 one-on-one, and he was at least 7 inches taller than me at the time. I met Sam and John after and they walked me home. I had a spring in my step, but that didn’t last long. When I got home, Bart and Mum were fighting. They fight a lot nowadays. It’s about various things; school, girls, responsibility. It isn’t that Bart’s not responsible. He’s a Virgo with a Capricorn moon. No one is more responsible than Bart. He accuses her of being irresponsible, and that makes me uncomfortable. I sent Sam and John home for the fight. I walked in, trying not to get in the middle of it.

“Bart, there is no discussion here. I don’t want you going out that late on a school night,” Mum says.

“I am sixteen years old. I can go out as late as I want,” Bart argues.

“When you’re eighteen, you can go out as late as you want. Until then I get to say,”

“You know what. Fine. It’s not like you care,” Bart stalks off to his room.

I just quietly go to my room, sit down on my bed, and cry. After a few minutes, someone knocks on the door.

“Who is it?” I ask.

“Honey, it’s me.” It’s Mum.

I sit up and wipe my eyes. “Come in.”

Mum comes in and sits on the bed with me. “You didn’t say you were home.”

“You and Bart were fighting again. I didn’t want to get in the middle of it.”

“Honey, you don’t need to worry about me and Bart. But you do need to let me know when you get home from school, okay?”

I nod.

“Where’re John and Sam?” Mum asks me.

“I sent them home. I didn’t want them to see the fight.”

Mum looks at me, sadly. “Honey, I’m sorry. I’ll try to do better about letting it go to a full-blown fight, okay?”

I nod again. “Okay.”

Mum and I hug. “Alright, do your homework, and I’ll call you when dinner’s ready.”

Mum had to go deliver a baby. She’s a Lamaze coach and midwife, so sometimes she gets called in the middle of the night, day, mealtime, and once even during a PTA meeting. So, Bart is making me dinner tonight. I do my homework in the living room.

(2 - 3)t + 4 = 1

What is this gob? The worst part of secondary school so far is algebra. What the hell is the letter for? I thought math was supposed to be about numbers.

“Cory, dinner’s ready,” Bart calls me from the kitchen.

I lean back and sigh. I didn’t get a thing done. My brain just isn’t working.

Bart comes in. “Did you hear me?”

“Aye. I’m just frustrated by this problem.”

Bart looks it over and helps me through it. t=3 apparently. We went into the kitchen and ate dinner. Bart made mac’n’cheese with bacon, and peas. It’s an easy thing to make, and easy for both me and Jenny to eat, except she doesn’t like peas. Bart tried several times to get her to eat before he caved and cut up a carrot for her.

After dinner, and putting Jenny to bed, Bart came to my room and helped me braid my hair. Every night we have quality time, even since Bart became a teenager. I like that he makes time for me, even when he has friends and a girlfriend. The truth is, Bart may irritate me sometimes, but we’ve always been close. After our father left, he started to take care of me a lot more.

While Bart braided my hair, I mused. Finally, I ask him, “Bart, why do you and mum fight so much?”

Bart sighs. “That’s not anything for you to worry about.”

“But I already worry about it. I hear it all the time. Sometimes I don’t think you think she’s a good parent.”

“Mum is a wonderful parent… We just disagree sometimes.”

I sigh. “Bart, why can’t you tell me?”

Bart finishes my first braid. “Because you’re too young to understand.”

I frown. “I’m twelve! I go to secondary school.”

Bart tickles my nose with some of my hair. “And you can’t understand algebra yet. When you can understand that, I’ll tell you why Mum and I fight.”

I frown again. “That’s just not fair.”

“You know, when I was your age Mum told me I wouldn’t understand why she dated for another few years. That was unfair.”

“Doesn’t she date to replace da?”

Bart pauses for a moment before continuing. “Aye, but not for the reason you think.”

“She wants a dad for us. That’s why she married Edward.”

“Aye, and Edward is always working.”

I never thought about that before. Edward O’Donoghue is Jenny’s father and our stepdad. It’s true, though. We don’t see him a lot. He does play basketball with me sometimes.

Bart finishes the second braid. “Look… There are a lot of grown-up things that go on that… one day you’ll understand. But right now you’re twelve, and the only things you should be worried about are school, eating right, and getting enough exercise.”

“And my period. Sam said I’ll probably get mine soon. She got hers last year.”

Bart nods. “Aye, sure. Now go brush your teeth.”

I hug Bart before I go into the bathroom to brush my teeth and get ready for bed.