Page 38 of Calling Frank O'Hare

Billy put his arm on Martin’s shoulder. ‘Sure. If there is a next time.’

24

Pride comes before a fall

They had just about survived the night, what with the torrential rain and Martin’s rampant wind. That was Frank’s view anyway. Finn was a lot less perturbed by the weather, although he did concede that the smell had nearly suffocated him at times, and that Martin was indeed a slob of the first order. ‘It’s no wonder Bronagh threw you out, if you were doing that sort of business every night,’ he said, over breakfast.

Martin slugged back his coffee and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. ‘That’s not why she threw me out.’

‘I thought you didn’t know why she threw you out,’ said Frank.

‘I didn’t when we last talked about it, but I might have a clue now. I messaged her to tell her we were going on a road trip, in case she was interested.’

‘And was she?’

‘No. She told me to feck off and don’t contact her again until I saw the error of my ways. Obviously, I asked if she couldn’t give me a hint on the errors. To help me along, like. She said if I paid her more attention, then I wouldn’t need to ask the question. So, from that I’ve deduced I haven’t been paying her enough attention.’

Finn topped up their coffees. ‘Are you sure there’s not more to it, Marty?’

Frank blew on his steaming mug. ‘Finn’s right. You’ve never paid Bronagh much attention. If that’s all it is, I’m amazed she didn’t throw you out years ago.’

‘And how would you know, brother dear? When was the last time you saw me and Bronagh together? When did you last grace our humble shores?’ said Martin.

‘That’s got nothing to do with it.’ Frank didn’t need to see Martin in action to know how things would play out with him and Bronagh. There was a reason why she was his third wife.

‘It has everything to do with it. You don’t know shit about us and our lives.’ Martin jabbed his finger in Frank’s direction. ‘You cut us off as soon as you could, just like Billy said you would.’

‘It’s time you and Billy grew up.’ Frank stood up and walked away before he said something that couldn’t be unsaid.

He ignored Finn’s pleas to come back and went in the direction they’d gone in yesterday. He’d been an idiot to agree to this trip. As soon as he cooled off, he’d drive the Mini back to Finn’s house. There was no need for him to carry on, Finn could see to it that Martin got home. In fact Martin could get himself home. It was about time he took some responsibility for his actions.

He came to a point where the trail split into two tracks. Yesterday, they’d taken the one that led them uphill. This time he stayed on the flatter one, knowing it would be better for putting some distance between him and the van. He walked at a pace that made him breathless and he was starting to tire, but he was too full of indignation to stop. He knew he had nothing to be indignant about. Martin had spoken the truth, he had cut them off. But he’d had good reason to, hadn’t he?

There were more deer up ahead. No stag this time. He probably wasn’t far away though. The deer kept their eyes on him as he negotiated his way along the narrowing track.

His thoughts strayed back to that first time the boys came to stay with him in Birmingham. Billy had spent the whole of that weekend picking holes in Frank’s new life. Birmingham was as crap as Belfast. His new friends were all middle-class wankers. The girls weren’t as pretty as the ones back home, and they were slags too. It was embarrassing. Even Martin and Finn were embarrassed by the stuff he was coming out with. Frank hadn’t relaxed until they were back on the train to Liverpool. All the same, he’d made Billy promise to pass that message on to Eve because he didn’t trust Martin to do it. The next time he saw Billy, he said he’d done it, but no letter ever came. Not that it really mattered to Frank by then. He was over Eve the minute he saw Ellen, but it was the principle of the thing. He’d been more angry that Martin had been sniffing around her. He shook his head at his younger self and the callousness of youth.

He looked over to the deer again. To his surprise they were enveloped in fog and barely visible. It was time to swallow his pride and turn back before it got too thick to see. He turned and retraced his steps but the fog was descending quicker than he could walk. Frank sped up, his arms pumping. He could hardly see the trail now and the fog was getting thicker. He began to run. Suddenly his left foot connected with something slippery and slid forward. His right foot went the same way and before he could stop himself, he came crashing down with a mighty thump.

He lay there for a few minutes, certain that he could see stars circling over his head like they do in cartoons. When the stars landed on his face, he realised it was just the heads of dead heather that had been disturbed by his fall. He pulled himself up to a sitting position and immediately realised that this time, his back was well and truly fucked. He reached into his rear pocket gingerly and took out his phone. Naturally there was no signal and to add insult to injury, the screen was cracked.

Frank rested his head on his knees. He really wanted to scream right now. Instead he closed his eyes and pictured Ellen noticing him for the first time at that party. She was so perfect. To look at anyway. He never did find out any more about the friend with the top hat and tails. When he got to know her better, he found she had a whole collection of oddball friends, so the need to know more about that particular one wasn’t important. Besides, he’d only asked because he was too dumbstruck to think of anything else to say.

25

The Lady returns – 1981

It had been two months since the boys had visited. Martin kept asking when they could come again but Frank put them off. He was still angry with him about Eve, but the real reason was that he didn’t want to risk Billy showing him up like the last time.

Adrian knocked on his door. ‘Ready?’

Someone was having a birthday party at Snobs, a club in town, and everyone was invited. He had it on good authority that the Lady of Shalott was going to be there. He hadn’t seen her since that party in March, but he’d found out her name was Ellen Montague. Frank took a last look at himself in the mirror. He was dressing to impress.

Adrian leaned on the door frame. ‘Come on you tart, you look gorgeous.’

They positioned themselves on a walkway above the main dance floor in Snobs, along with a crowd of other fellas. Every now and then someone would shove or elbow them to get past, but they held their place because it was the best spot for watching the dance floor. They were both checking for somebody in particular. Adrian was looking for a girl on his course that he fancied his chances with, and Frank was looking for Ellen Montague.

‘A Message to You Rudy’ came on. Unable to resist it, they left their vantage point and went down to dance. So did half the guys on the walkway, causing the population on the floor to swell, along with the ratio of boys to girls. More 2-Tone records followed. They had everyone bouncing off each other. It made him think of the concerts he’d been to in Belfast. He thought of Eve sticking her tongue out at him and tried to imagine what it would have been like if she’d been here with him tonight. But she’d chosen Belfast over him so like it or not, she was history.

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