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then we’ll really change.”
    “Fishface!” we yelled. “Fishface! Fishface!”
    Then we calmed down and walked on and Geordie told me something new he’d picked up about Stephen Rose.

eight
    “He didn’t leave,” Geordie said.
    “Eh?”
    “Bennett College. The seminary. He didn’t leave. They had to hoy him out.”
    “Who says?”
    “My uncle Joe.”
    “Oh, your uncle Joe?”
    “I know, but he’s not as daft as he looks. He met a bloke in the Columba Club that told him the tale. They said Stephen Rose was an evil influence. They said there was some kind of devil worship involved. Black Masses and stuff. The Our Father backwards, and upside-down crosses and black candles and stuff.”
    “Ballocks. They wouldn’t allow that in there.”
    “But they didn’t, did they? They chucked him out.”
    “And the lads in there live in dormitories and there’s priests looking after them day and night. We saw that when we went to play that football match against them.”
    “There’s always ways to do things, Davie. You know that.”
    “Mebbe.”
    “There was a couple of lads from Sunderland that was sent round the bend by it.”
    “From Sunderland? Mebbe they deserved it, then.”
    “Ha ha. They had to be sent out as well. And now they’re in a special home in Rome and nuns look after them.”
    I pondered what he was saying.
    “There had to be exorcism and stuff,” he said.
    “You don’t believe in that ballocks, do you?”
    “What ballocks?”
    “All that devil and exorcism stuff.”
    “But if you believe in all the other stuff…”
    “Like?”
    “Like God and goodness. Then mebbe you got to believe in the devil and badness.”
    “If you believe in anything at all.”
    He put his hands on his hips and tilted his head and pursed his mouth.
    “So now you’re telling me you believe in nowt?” he said.
    I shrugged.
    “Mebbe I don’t,” I said. “Mebbe the whole lot of it’s a load of nowt. Just a pack of crazy tales and lies and legends.”
    I threw my cigarette away.
    “That’s ballocks,” he said. “How can there not be nowt?”
    “Dunno,” I said.
    “Exactly. Just got to look around you.” He kicked a tree. “You’re telling me this tree came from nowt? You’re telling me the earth and the sky and the bliddy solar system came from nowt?” He poked my chest with his finger. “You’re telling me
you
came from nowt?”
    “Dunno,” I said.
    “Dunno? You’re talking ballocks, man.”
    I shrugged again. We walked on through the quiet streets.
    “Anyway,” I said, “if he’s caused that much trouble, how come they’re letting him come here and stay with somebody like Crazy bliddy Mary?”
    “Aha, that’s the other bit. He’s been sent here because of Father O’Mahoney. They reckon he knows about lads and how to keep an eye on them. You watch. You’ll see him in and out of Crazy’s house all the time.”
    “I don’t know,” I said.
    “It’s why they’re keeping him out of school, as well. They don’t want him corrupting kids like us. And Crazy Mary? Easy. It’s because they reckon she’s just too daft to get affected by him.” He laughed. “It all makes sense, you see?”
    He shook his head.
    “You’re too innocent, Davie,” he said. “That’s your problem. You think everything’s nice and everybody’s nice. You’re naive, man.” He pointed at me. “One of these days, somebody’ll start taking advantage of you.”
    “Nick off,” I said.
    “Aye. All right. But it’s true. You’re clever and that, but you’re a simpleton.” He wobbled his eyes and made his voice go spooky. “You do not see the wickedness that’s in the world!”
    I pulled my collar up against the night chill.
    “Nick off,” I said again.
    Geordie put his arm around me.
    “Aye, all right,” he said. “Course the big question is, what really happened to his dad? And why’d his mam go mental?”
    I closed my eyes and said nothing. He laughed and pulled me tight. I felt the