Run to Him Read Online Free Page A

glistening damp streets and clung to the cobbles in the centre of the road, diffusing as it met doorways and windows and slipped in, under and into the cracks.
    She hadn’t caught Callum’s eye and deliberately didn’t look for him as she left. If he wasn’t watching her keenly enough to see when she left, then it wasn’t worth him having her tail home.
    She had no sooner turned into the entry than she heard his faint footsteps behind her.
    ‘Boo,’ he said again, for the second time that night, and this time Fionnuala laughed.
    ‘Away with you,’ she screamed. ‘May the cat eat you and the devil eat the cat!’
    Callum laughed, too. ‘Why do you think my nickname’s Dixie Dean?’ he said, smiling. ‘No one ever knows where I am. You shouldn’t walk out here on yer own, after all that’s happened around here lately,’ he said in a voice that was suddenly serious, a voice that made Fionnuala’s heart leap.
    ‘It’s nice that you are so concerned,’ she replied. ‘I will admit, I did feel a bit wobbly. I told my da I was walking with someone, so I’m glad you caught me up.’
    ‘I couldn’t get out of the pub fast enough, when I saw ye go. Ye know what my ma’s like. I had to let her know chapter and verse where I was off to, or she panics that I’m off robbing again. She’s really clingy now that I am the only one at home. She will be mighty upset if ever I end up back in jail. It doesn’t bear thinking about.’
    ‘Well, there’s another reason, then, why you have to give up the thieving, Callum, for yer mam’s sake. You are all she has. Now that her best friend has gone, she needs ye to be at home with her and help her. You know she thinks the sun shines out of your backside, don’t you?’
    Fionnuala and Callum both laughed at the thought of his mother. No matter what anyone had to say or wherever it was, Annie O’Prey was renowned for turning any conversation around to her wonderful boys.
    ‘You don’t need to please anyone, you know, Callum,’ said Fionnuala. ‘Everyone thinks ye are just great, anyway.’
    Now Callum’s stomach flipped over. Fionnuala had just said that everyone thought he was great. Not a living soul in his life had ever told him that before. His mother may have said so to others, but she had never said so to Callum. Unless, of course, she was passing on thanks for his latest thieving effort.
    ‘In fact,’ she carried on, ‘I’m not sure how many a family would have managed on this street, without yer help. It may not have been legal, but God, I have heard so many people say, “Thank God for Callum O’Prey”.’
    Callum stood still in the entry and Fionnuala, who had walked on a little, stopped and looked back. The words she had just spoken were words he had never before heard. Callum was always the wrong ’un. He had spent his life being told by the nuns how he was stupid and no good for anything. He had upset his mam with his holidays in jail, along with his adored big brother.
    ‘What’s wrong?’ she asked.
    ‘Fionnuala, is that so? Is that what you have heard people say about me?’
    ‘Sure, of course I have, they say it all the time. Every time they place another order and you miraculously provide whatever it is they want, with absolutely no risk whatsoever to their own. Jesus, my mother canonizes you every time she runs the Eubank around the kitchen. But it doesn’t matter, Callum, it’s all praise built on sand, as it’s false and sinful and you have to stop now. People may praise you when they sweep their floors, but that doesn’t hand you self-respect and they don’t respect you for it. You put yourself at risk for the benefit of others and what do you get out of it? A criminal record, that’s what. Does it really bring you comfort in jail, knowing my mam is finding it easier to keep the kitchen clean?’
    Callum had been full of pride at the thought that his neighbours didn’t regard him as a complete idiot, but now Fionnuala’s words