From Manhattan to Tullyboy

Imagine our great joy on the return of our eldest Ellen daughter from NYC and her immediate offer to join us in Dickie’s to celebrate a surprise birthday for our neighbour Rose Callery.  The Callery family have been connected to our family as friends over three generations so with great heart and Sarah’s fiddle tucked into the boot we chuntered along to play our part in the proceedings.  As it happens, both Sarah and I were to join in another celebration; the home coming of The Moylurg Ceili Band who had won the All Ireland senior competition in Derry the previous week. 

Dickie’s was full to the brim and the joyous laughter, singing and conversation reflected merrily on Rose as she sat regally beside her husband, sister and the co conspirators of the surprise party.   Party pieces were recited; Sarah, Charlie and Breege played a few tunes as the Callery girls distributed trays of food over creamy pints and shortly after eleven Sarah and I decided to scoot over to Kingsland to see ‘The Moylurgs’. My Reason For Living, and Ellen accepted a lift from a neighbour and wished us goodnight as they expected to be home well before us.

As we travelled along the Knockarush Road, Sarah regaled me with stories from children and families she had met that day as she worked in the café in Tullyboy Farm.  Hoarse with laughter, she kinked and coughed as she relived the adventures.  Suddenly, we both saw flashes of white along the road and as I sharply slowed the car down we could see approaching like a pair of racehorses, two runaway calves.  Keenly aware of the potential danger to motorists, I urged Sarah out of the car and pressed a torch into her hand ‘what’til I do’ wailed she as I turned the car and got ahead of the calves, leaving her on the road behind.  ‘Find a gate to open or a drive to get them off the road’ sez I.  After some tribulation, we found a boreen and Sarah remained at the head of the road as I set off to find Matt O’Dowd.  

The lights were on at Tullyboy but the doors were locked so, unusually for me, I made my way to the front door and through the curtain framed window I could see Matt leaning forward in his armchair with his elbows on his knees and his face framed by the cups of his large hands.   I tapped a friendly but brisk tattoo on the window and Matt threw himself out of the chair, came to the window, stepped back and then realizing it was me, he came to open the door.  His wife,  Eileen, burst into a spontaneous and highly contagious laughter on hearing of the runaway calves and insisted that Sarah and I come back to the house when our mission was accomplished.

Meanwhile, Sarah and her new suede red pumps were traversing a boreen, and as I caught up to her, I could hear her throat and chest gently wheezing from her exertions and helpless laughter.  Mission accomplished we repaired back to Matt and Elieen who were both in the kitchen.  Tears of laughter followed as Eileen explained that Matt had been watching a thriller on the telly and my knock at the window and occurred at an intense moment.  A happy hour passed as we laughed ourselves to exhaustion and arrived home delighted with our adventure