I roared at my waynes to get me the phone book as we all ran for the kitchen. My heart was in a panicky beat of worry as I dialled the number for the hospital. I got through to the men’s ward where no one seemed to know much. He wasn’t badly cut up but his back was bruised so he’d been sedated for now and they’d know more tomorrow. We had no car; it was at the mart. Rattling the nerves and doors at The Hill seemed too dramatic and Bernie would be fast asleep so Eileen was not an option. We decided John would have to keep for one night.

The boys were worried so I set about reassuring them. I reeled off one of my lists. Your father is made of strong stuff. He hates fuss of any kind. He heals fast, bouncing back from cuts that would have slowed a normal man down. He once gaffer-taped a wad of bandages around a sliced forearm that had to be stitched two days later; he could survive without us and anyway he was asleep. They sloped back to their film and I took a shaky cuppa out to drink under the stars. Wordy was still on the street, leaning against his tractor. Why?

–  Wordy, was there something else?

–  No.

–  Well goodnight then, safe home!

With that he swung up into the cab and started away. Wordy was just one among many misfits that John had looked out for over the years; he was known as a bit simple even by people who knew his mother had taken too much drink through all four of her pregnancies. The Plough hung just above my head and I tracked my eye up to the North Star and hoped it could be seen in Omagh if anyone was gazing out of a hospital window.

During the night, after falling asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow, I woke up with sweat running down my back and between my breasts and realised that I was on his side of the bed, tangled in a knot of sheets and worry. I was alone but I was not on my own. When I swung my legs out, Granny Moo was standing by the window, she was looking at the stars. I kept my eyes glued to her for as long as I could but with the first blink she was gone. That was the end of sleep. Rising at 5am, I went through several changes of clothes. I had a lot of stuff brought to me over the years. Posh stuff from all over the world from Lizzie Magee: perfume, high heels, leather handbags in every colour of the rainbow. I love buying clothes for you, Mary Rattigan, she says, I get to pretend that I’m thin and gorgeous. She’s a card!