Page 29 of Calling Frank O'Hare

‘I don’t need to see him, I just like to see him. He’s a real joker. He makes me laugh.’ She caught sight of Billy on his way over. ‘What d’you bring him for?’

Billy may or may not have heard her but he didn’t need to, he got the gist by the dirty look she threw at him. ‘Don’t worry I’m away. Here, love. Peace offering. Across the divide.’

Eve’s lip curled at the sight of the drink he’d put on the table. ‘What’s that?’

‘Babycham. I thought you could do with sweetening up.’

‘You’re fucking hilarious, Billy Mac.’ She turned to Frank. ‘And what the hell are you smiling at?’

Frank put his arm around her. ‘Ah come on now, Eve. I thought you liked a joke.’

She pushed him away. ‘Fuck off. And take your wanker pal with you.’

Frank and Billy stumbled out of the Harp, onto Hill Street. Eve had come round in the end. She’d even had a laugh with Billy. She’d even put her hand down Frank’s pants and squeezed his dick when she kissed him goodnight. Maybe things weren’t as bad as he thought.

Billy lit up a cigarette. Smoking was his new thing. He took a drag and blew a smoke plume out of his nostrils. Like a tiny white cloud, it hung in the cold February air before fading into the night. ‘Have youse two done it yet?’

‘Have we fuck. There’s nowhere to go, is there? When we get over the water, we are gonna shag until we can’t shag no more.’ He put on a Yank accent when he said it. He thought it would make him sound manly, like Van Morrison but as soon as he said it, he realised it made him sound like one right eejit.

Billy laughed all the same. ‘I’d let you go to mine but my ma’s man would be straight on the blower to his contacts. You and her Highness are gonna have to wait.’

‘I think Eve’s warming to you, Billy.’

‘My easy charm must be wearing her down. She’ll be granting me a dance at your wedding, the way things are going.’

‘Who says we’re getting married?’

Billy stopped walking. ‘Oh, you radical you! All this talk of over the water’s gone to your head.’

‘Not so loud, people might hear.’

‘You know, FB, you’ve got no sense of adventure. Embrace the danger for a change. C’mon. I’ve got something to show you.’

All the way home, Billy wouldn’t say what it was. He just kept saying he didn’t want to spoil the surprise. But when they got to a bombed out shop near their neighbourhood, he put his fingers to his lips and signalled for Frank to follow him.

Frank had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, but he still followed Billy round to the back of what was left of the shop. The only thing still standing in the yard behind the ruins was a brick shed, although calling it standing was an exaggeration. The door was padlocked but the lock it held together was hanging off, making it easy for Billy to open it.

‘Billy, I don’t think–’

‘Shh.’ Billy went inside and pulled back an old sack curtain from the window. The shed filled with moonlight.

Frank stood in the doorway. He relaxed when he saw that the inside was just a messier version of his da’s shed. He couldn’t understand why Billy had brought him here, unless he was suggesting that it might be somewhere to bring Eve. But this was a Catholic area, so that would be crazy.

Billy grabbed some empty petrol cans from the floor and tossed them into a corner. Underneath was some rotting cardboard, and underneath that, part of an old door. He lifted it up and handed it to Frank. ‘Do something with this.’

There was a sound in the near distance. A movement maybe, Frank couldn’t be sure. Something cold crept over him. It wasn’t an entirely new experience so he knew what it was. It was fear. He grabbed Billy’s arm. ‘We need to go.’

‘Aye, in a minute. Nearly there.’ Billy pulled his arm away and lifted up some tarpaulin. And then Frank felt sick. Beneath the tarpaulin were two boxes. There was no need to open them. They both knew they were guns.

‘Shit,’ was all Frank could say.

Suddenly, there was another sound, louder and closer than before. Frank’s heart leapt into his mouth. ‘What was that?’

Billy dropped the tarpaulin. ‘Run!’

He pushed Frank back round the side of the shop, just as a beam of torchlight found them. They ran for their lives, instinctively taking the opposite direction to home, and didn’t stop until they were far away from where either of them lived.

Frank’s eyes searched the shadows and dark entries but saw no one. There was a film of sweat on his forehead. He wiped it away with his sleeve. ‘Did they see us?’

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