A Son of Aran Read Online Free Page B

speak of their origins or travels. The captain, a tall good-looking man, spoke perfect English. He frequently left the ship to visit haunts downtown. Looking at him closely, Peadar thought to himself, ‘Haven’t I seen that fellow somewhere before?’ Offhand he couldn’t recall the circumstances.
    The outside of the two-storey house on Long Walk looked dilapidated; inside it was comfortable. On the ground floor one large room doubled as a kitchen and living room while another was a bedroom. Basic washing and toilet facilities were provided in a small annex to the rear of the building. To Peadar’s amazement, two rooms upstairs were permanently locked. When questioned about these, Saureen told him that these were her business premises. They had to be kept under lock and key as her work was confidential.
    â€˜You see the telescope by the window,’ she said to him one day, when she showed him into the front room.
    â€˜I use it to keep watch on ships and boats that come and go in the bay. A friend of mine in the Customs likes to have information on any suspicious activities that arise, such as boats transferring goods from one to the other. It has something to do with smuggling and evading customs duties.’
    â€˜And what is in the other room. Can I look in there too?’
    â€˜I’m sorry, Peadar, that’s where I keep confidential information; I can’t let you see that.’
    â€˜How come my wife doesn’t trust me to see the information she compiles?’ Peadar wondered. He shrugged his shoulders, but didn’t comment further. In Aran he was aware that goods were often washed ashore on the tide— bales of rubber, barrels of oil, planks of wood from vessels that had foundered or been wrecked at sea. Items found were supposed to be surrendered to the customs authorities but few finders bothered to do this. To compensate them for salvaging the articles, they reckoned that they were entitled to keep anything that came their way. It was a case of ‘finders keepers.’ Sometimes they sold their booty to visiting boats—the few pounds they received made life on the island more bearable. Peadar was uneasy that his wife might be involved in giving information to the customs men about any of his friends’ boats and they might get to know about it. He had heard stories of bodies being found in the docks with no evidence of how they got into the water. He recalled the man he had seen on Long Walk the first night he visited there.
    â€˜Was he a customs man?’ he wondered.
    Rhona was disappointed that Saureen didn’t come back to work in the café. She had been a willing worker and was popular with the patrons. While Peadar pursued his job in MacDonacha’s, she seemed preoccupied at home during the day. They went together to one of her favourite pubs a night or two each week. There she introduced him to her friends and liked to show him off as her conquest. Peadar felt embarrassed, particularly when he observed some of the company passing covert winks to one another behind Saureen’s back. He didn’t understand this reaction among friends—back home in Aran people were more direct. There, at least you knew who your real friends were. On nights when Saureen went out on her own, Peadar occupied himself with meeting some of his workmates for a pint in a local pub. He visited Festy or chatted with his fishermen friends. Usually he was home before her—quite often she showed signs that she had been drinking. He never upbraided her for her behaviour— why should he? Wasn’t it normal for women to drink in Galway! One particular night as he walked along the quay, he observed a tall man linking her arm-in-arm. The man faded into a doorway as they neared the house. Was this the man he had seen leaving on the first night he visited her at the Long Walk? Peadar decided to say nothing.
    â€˜I’m sure she’ll explain the