Doubt in her eyes, she turned then to Frank. Ought I to shave it? she asked, tight-upped. Frank put out his hand, revolted. Oh, Mum, no! Surely not! If she gets a good douse of kerosene it ought to be enough. Please don't shave it! So Meggie was marc...
Now what am I going to do with you? Meggie gaped at the tiny thing roaming blindly round Fee's bare skin in search of more hirsute territory, then she began to weep. Without needing to be told, Frank got the copper going while Paddy paced up and dow...
Suddenly Fee made a sound, so peculiar it jerked Meggie out of her musing and made the menfolk still seated at the breakfast table turn their heads curiously. Holy Jesus Christ! said Fee. Paddy jumped to his feet, his face stupefied; he had never hea...
she was too busy trying to remember how many plates there were in Teresa's willow pattern tea set. And when the Maoris in the organ gallery broke into glorious song, Meggie's head was spinning in a daze of ultramarine blue far removed from Catholicis...
However, in spite of bitter aloes, ridicule, Sister Agatha and Paddy's switch, Meggie went on biting her nails. Her friendship with Teresa Annunzio was the joy of her life, the only thing that made school endurable. She sat through lessons aching for...
and no idea in the world how to make the afflicted limb do what Sister Agatha insisted it could. She became mentally deaf, dumb and blind; that useless appendage her right hand was no more linked to her thought processes than her toes. She dribbled a...
Arithmetic she found easy, but when called upon to demonstrate toper skill verbally she could not remember how many two and two made. Reading was the entrance into a world so fascinating she couldn't get enough of it; but when Sister Agatha made her...
During lesson breaks in the playground they walked with arms looped around each other's waists, which was the sign that you were best friends and not available for courting by anyone else. And they talked, talked, talked. One lunchtime Teresa took he...
What happened then? Sister Ag caned her good and proper, and sent her home in disgrace. Well, I'd say she's had punishment enough. I have a lot of respect for the nuns and I know it isn't our place to question what they do, but I wish they were a bit...
Well, I told the boys what I'd do to any Cleary who even whimpered when he was caned, and that goes for you, too, Meggie. No matter how hard she beats you, not a whimper. Did you cry today? No, Frank, she yawned, her eyelids drooping and her thumb po...
Murder her, really murder her, take the double chins and squeeze .... Down went his tools, off came his apron; he walked to her quickly. What's the matter, dear? he asked, bending over until her face was level with his own. The smell of vomit rose fr...
Then down came the cane, anywhere it could land on Meggie's body as she flung up her arms to shield her face and cringed, still retching, into the corner. When Sister Agatha's arm was so tired it did not want to lift the cane, she pointed toward the...
Meggie Cleary, she whispered back. You there! came a dry, harsh voice from the front of the classroom. Meggie jumped, looking around in bewilderment. There was a hollow clatter as twenty children all put their pencils down together, a muted rustling...
It was lunchtime before the last of the pain died out of her hands. Meggie had passed the morning in a haze of fright and bewilderment, not understanding anything that was said or done. Pushed into a double desk in the back row of the youngest childr...
but her mouth tightened like an overwound spring, and the tip of the cane lowered itself an inch or two. Who is this? she snapped to Bob, as if the object of her inquiry were a new and particularly obnoxious species of insect. Please, Sister, she's m...
