Chapter 3

Shea got ready for the night's drive up and down the T of the town. Another night taking the same route. From the middle of the main road (the horizontal of the T), he would drive straight up to his house, have a cup of tea. Then, back down, he'd turn (down the perpendicular of the T) out to the
building sites: warehouses on one side; further down on the other side, a large housing estate.
From the building sites, where he'd invariably find kids to chase away, he'd head back into the main street and either coax or scare some drunks home. Then he'd do it again. The official capacity was challenged by being on first-name-terms with just about everyone in the town.
Wine gums in the coving of the dash, bottle of Coke beside the gear stick. He was ready to go. "Lock and load" he said to himself as he started the two minute drive home for a cup of tea.
"Well, will you be busy tonight?" his wife asked, placing a bun and mug of tea in front of him.
"Ah. A bit. Kids down at the Beautiful Bog, Jimmy tells me. And some stranger came into town today. Traveller. I want to keep an eye on him. See if any more come."
"Sure what would they want with here?"
"Who knows. Who knows travellers?"
"Hmm"
After his tea, he got into the car, popped a wine gum in his mouth and said "Lock and load".
Down at the beautiful bog, voices hushed only by distance confirmed the information from Jimmy.
They were in one of the shells of houses at the end of the estate. The walls were up, but little else. They were sitting in the sitting room; drinking, laughing, using the bathroom in the bathroom. The rooms being only spaces made it all the funnier for the kids. That or the drink.
Shea got out of the car, and walked down to give them a good scare. Flashlight in hand, he got ready to switch it on, and start shouting.
A flash of light from behind lit up the turning heads of the kids in front. A loud boom, followed by the airy whisper-to-roar of a growing fire. He turned, and saw the glowing smoke. He called it in, called for the fire brigade from Oldbog, the nearest town. He ran back to the car and headed for Molloys, where the barn that just exploded was.

***

He walks into the bar, takes his hat off, opens his paper and says "Pint there, please" to the barman. The barman, looks at him a moment, then steps sideways to pour the pint. Tommy reads his paper.
"You. Fer fuck's sake." Tommy didn't need to look - it was the manboy that he'd put manners on before. For manners, he turned his head. "You're not fuckin' welcome here!"
"Shamey. What's going on?"
"This lad. Bringing Mary into town today. Mary."
"Oh. Well, whatever you're going to do, you won't be doing it in here."
"..."
"No need to look at me like that. Order a pint, go back to your seat, or fuck off. There'll be no fighting in here. Or outside."
"Don't think this is the end of this"
"I don't even know what this is." Tommy takes a sip of the pint just placed in front of him and goes back to reading something about a woman whose dog was savaged by a rat, only to be saved by her daughter's cat.
Shamey slaps his hand on the counter, looking at Tommy. The barman says "Shamey." and he walks back to his seat.