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"Of course."
"He liked his few jars. Fresh out of high school he went to work for Railway Express. Midnight to eight five days a week at their central depot, and he never missed a night's work, and he was never without a drink from the moment he punched in until he walked out into the light of dawn. Every one of them drank like that, and when they weren't drinking they were stealing, and when they weren't doing that they were figuring out what to steal next. The company's out of business now, and it doesn't take a genius to tell you why."
"I guess not."
"But the finest thing that ever happened there," he said, "was when they had the cat. This woman owned a prizewi
"And they stole the cat?"
"They did not. Why would anyone steal a cat? All they did was drop it, crate and all. The fine crate shattered, and the cat stood in the wreckage and looked around at these drunken idjits, and in a flash it was gone. So what do you think they did?"
"What?"
"They reassembled the crate. They got a hammer and nails and put it back together again, and a fine job they did, to hear them tell of it. But when they were done the cat had not reappeared, and who could blame her? Well, they could hardly send an empty crate to San Diego, and so the whole crew of them stalked through the warehouse, calling 'Here, kitty kitty' and making little mewing noises."
"That must have been something to see."
"If the cat saw it," he said, "it took care not to be seen in return, for never a hair of the creature did any of them ever take sight of again. But they did find another cat, a nasty old tom blind in one eye and missing an ear, and his dirty old coat matted and scabby with mange. He made his home in the warehouse, don't you know, living on rats. And small children, I shouldn't wonder."
He smiled richly at the memory. "And it was De
"Oh, no."
"Ah, Jesus," he said. "Can ye picture it, man? The poor woman herself opens the crate and out leaps this wee savage with an evil glint in his good eye."
" 'Oh, Fluffy,' " I said, pitching my voice as high as it would go, " 'what have they done to you?' "
" 'Ach, Fluffy, I hardly knew ye!' "
" 'Was it a hard trip, Fluffy?' "
"Can you see it, man? Oh, you should have heard De
"He wouldn't let you?"
"I want to go, says he. I want to serve my country, says he. De
"Why do you suppose he went, Mick?"
"Ah, who can say? He was home on leave before they shipped him overseas. I told him if he wanted to get out now it would take more than a phone call, but 'twould be easy enough to get him out of the country. He could go to Canada, or to Ireland. Mickey, says he, what would I do in Canada? What would I do in Ireland? What did I ever do here? And he gave me this sweet smile, a smile to break your heart. And I knew he was going to die over there, and I knew that he knew it."
I thought for a moment. I said, "You think that's why he went?"
"I do."
" 'I have a rendezvous with death,' " I said, and quoted the few lines I remembered of the Alan Seeger poem.
"That's it exactly," he said. "A rendezvous with death. He had a date and would not break it, the poor lad."
A little before two, Burke shut down the taps and sent the handful of customers on their way, all but the little old man in the cloth cap. He stayed put on his stool while Burke placed the chairs on top of the tables so they'd be out of the way when the floor was mopped first thing in the morning. When he was through he brought over Mick's bottle and a thermos of coffee, setting them within reach on the next table.
He said, "I'm off, Mick."
"Good man."
"Mr. Dougherty's still sittin' there. I'll walk out with him, shall I?"
"Ask him if he'd rather stay until the rain lets up. He's no trouble. Just lock up, and I'll let him out when he's ready."
But the old fellow didn't want to stay past closing. He followed Burke to the door and they went out together. Mick turned out all the lights but the one over our table, came back and freshened his drink.
"That was Eamo
"I don't believe I know him."
"Why should you? He was killing men fifteen years before you were born."
"Are you serious?"
"We talked of West Cork," he said, "and Paddy Meehan's pub and its improvements. Eamo
"I don't even know what the words mean."
"The Auxies were the Auxiliaries, the RIC was the Royal Irish Constabulary, and you know who the Black and Tans were. Here's a song you'd understand without a glossary.
On the eighteenth day of November
Outside of the town of Macroom
The Tans in their great Crossley tender
Came hurryin' on to their doom
But the boys of the collyum were waiting
With rifle and powder and shot
And the Irish Republican Army
Made shit of the whole fuckin' lot.
"It was a bloody massacre, and trust the fucking Irish to write a song about it. Eamo
"When you first started talking about him," I said, "I found myself thinking of another little old man. His name was Homer Champney."
"I don't know him."
"I never knew him myself," I said, "but he started something. Or continued something, it's hard to know for sure. It makes a hell of a story."
"Ah," he said. "Let's hear it."