‘If that isn’t proof that wearing your shoe leather out running up in and out of St Cuthbert’s in the name of religious observance delivers you the good life and a full purse, I don’t know what is,’ she had grumbled to big Paddy on more than one occasion before Kitty had died. But the Dohertys had paid a terrible price and now little Paddy stood before her with his pleading eyes, anxious expression and the winsome smile that made her heart melt and flip from despair to gratitude. She had her little Paddy and for that she was grateful, most of the time.

‘Go on, Paddy, get out before one of your brothers walks in here screaming with a black eye. Haven’t I enough on my plate to be dealing with, without another argument with Deirdre Malone to add to the list?’ She picked up a decidedly dirty dishcloth and began wiping down the kitchen table, wincing with each outward stretch as little Paddy stood, frozen in a no man’s land between his mother’s despair and his father’s ire. And he had more to say…

‘Do we have enough money for the rent, Ma?’

Peggy, about to sit back down, stilled; his words hung in the air. He had been worrying about the rent for days. He knew exactly what she was doing when she sat at the table with the stubby pencil and he always checked on a Friday night when he arrived home from school. The rent book was kept in the press, in the little drawer under the bread crock, and little Paddy would slip it out, look for the ink tick in the box next to the date and if it was there, breathe a sigh of relief and slip it back into place again. But for three Fridays now there had been no tick. His ma usually left to pay the rent every Friday morning, straight after pay night on Thursday. She also took her curlers out to pay the rent, for Peggy, despite her ways, loved her hair. It had once been the feature that made her stand out amongst her peers. And although not as thick or as lustrous as it once was, it still made a statement when she removed her curlers. Peggy might stand in the rent queue in a coat with no buttons and her worn-out slippers, but her hair took on all comers from the dockside streets. However, little Paddy had noted that Peggy and her curlers had not been parted for the past three weeks and his heart had tightened in fear.