<p>that was a relief wherever you be let your wind go free who knows if that pork
chop I took with my cup of tea after was quite good with the heat I couldnt
smell anything off it Im sure that queerlooking man in the porkbutchers is a
great rogue I hope that lamp is not smoking fill my nose up with smuts better
than having him leaving the gas on all night I couldnt rest easy in my bed in
Gibraltar even getting up to see why am I so damned nervous about that though I
like it in the winter its more company O Lord it was rotten cold too that
winter when I was only about ten was I yes I had the big doll with all the
funny clothes dressing her up and undressing that icy wind skeeting across from
those mountains the something Nevada sierra nevada standing at the fire with
the little bit of a short shift I had up to heat myself I loved dancing about
in it then make a race back into bed Im sure that fellow opposite used to be
there the whole time watching with the lights out in the summer and I in my
skin hopping around I used to love myself then stripped at the washstand
dabbing and creaming only when it came to the chamber performance I put out the
light too so then there were 2 of us goodbye to my sleep for this night anyhow
I hope hes not going to get in with those medicals leading him astray to
imagine hes young again coming in at 4 in the morning it must be if not more
still he had the manners not to wake me what do they find to gabber about all
night squandering money and getting drunker and drunker couldnt they drink
water then he starts giving us his orders for eggs and tea and Findon haddy and
hot buttered toast I suppose well have him sitting up like the king of the
country pumping the wrong end of the spoon up and down in his egg wherever he
learned that from and I love to hear him falling up the stairs of a morning
with the cups rattling on the tray and then play with the cat she rubs up
against you for her own sake I wonder has she fleas shes as bad as a woman
always licking and lecking but I hate their claws I wonder do they see anything
that we cant staring like that when she sits at the top of the stairs so long
and listening as I wait always what a robber too that lovely fresh plaice I
bought I think Ill get a bit of fish tomorrow or today is it Friday yes I will
with some blancmange with black currant jam like long ago not those 2 lb pots
of mixed plum and apple from the London and Newcastle Williams and Woods goes
twice as far only for the bones I hate those eels cod yes Ill get a nice piece
of cod Im always getting enough for 3 forgetting anyway Im sick of that
everlasting butchers meat from Buckleys loin chops and leg beef and rib steak
and scrag of mutton and calfs pluck the very name is enough or a picnic suppose
we all gave 5/- each and or let him pay it and invite some other woman for him
who Mrs Fleming and drove out to the furry glen or the strawberry beds wed have
him examining all the horses toenails first like he does with the letters no
not with Boylan there yes with some cold veal and ham mixed sandwiches there
are little houses down at the bottom of the banks there on purpose but its as
hot as blazes he says not a bank holiday anyhow I hate those ruck of Mary Ann
coalboxes out for the day Whit Monday is a cursed day too no wonder that bee
bit him better the seaside but Id never again in this life get into a boat with
him after him at Bray telling the boatman he knew how to row if anyone asked
could he ride the steeplechase for the gold cup hed say yes then it came on to
get rough the old thing crookeding about and the weight all down my side
telling me pull the right reins now pull the left and the tide all swamping in
floods in through the bottom and his oar slipping out of the stirrup its a
mercy we werent all drowned he can swim of course me no theres no danger
whatsoever keep yourself calm in his flannel trousers Id like to have tattered
them down off him before all the people and give him what that one calls
flagellate till he was black and blue do him all the good in the world only for
that longnosed chap I dont know who he is with that other beauty Burke out of
the City Arms hotel was there spying around as usual on the slip always where
he wasnt wanted if there was a row on youd vomit a better face there was no
love lost between us thats 1 consolation I wonder what kind is that book he
brought me Sweets of Sin by a gentleman of fashion some other Mr de Kock I
suppose the people gave him that nickname going about with his tube from one
woman to another I couldnt even change my new white shoes all ruined with the
saltwater and the hat I had with that feather all blowy and tossed on me how
annoying and provoking because the smell of the sea excited me of course the
sardines and the bream in Catalan bay round the back of the rock they were fine
all silver in the fishermens baskets old Luigi near a hundred they said came
from Genoa and the tall old chap with the earrings I dont like a man you have
to climb up to to get at I suppose theyre all dead and rotten long ago besides
I dont like being alone in this big barracks of a place at night I suppose Ill
have to put up with it I never brought a bit of salt in even when we moved in
the confusion musical academy he was going to make on the first floor
drawingroom with a brassplate or Blooms private hotel he suggested go and ruin
himself altogether the way his father did down in Ennis like all the things he
told father he was going to do and me but I saw through him telling me all the
lovely places we could go for the honeymoon Venice by moonlight with the
gondolas and the lake of Como he had a picture cut out of some paper of and
mandolines and lanterns O how nice I said whatever I liked he was going to do
immediately if not sooner will you be my man will you carry my can he ought to
get a leather medal with a putty rim for all the plans he invents then leaving
us here all day youd never know what old beggar at the door for a crust with
his long story might be a tramp and put his foot in the way to prevent me
shutting it like that picture of that hardened criminal he was called in Lloyds
Weekly news 20 years in jail then he comes out and murders an old woman for her
money imagine his poor wife or mother or whoever she is such a face youd run
miles away from I couldnt rest easy till I bolted all the doors and windows to
make sure but its worse again being locked up like in a prison or a madhouse
they ought to be all shot or the cat of nine tails a big brute like that that
would attack a poor old woman to murder her in her bed Id cut them off him so I
would not that hed be much use still better than nothing the night I was sure I
heard burglars in the kitchen and he went down in his shirt with a candle and a
poker as if he was looking for a mouse as white as a sheet frightened out of
his wits making as much noise as he possibly could for the burglars benefit
there isnt much to steal indeed the Lord knows still its the feeling especially
now with Milly away such an idea for him to send the girl down there to learn
to take photographs on account of his grandfather instead of sending her to
Skerrys academy where shed have to learn not like me getting all at school only
hed do a thing like that all the same on account of me and Boylan thats why he
did it Im certain the way he plots and plans everything out I couldnt turn
round with her in the place lately unless I bolted the door first gave me the
fidgets coming in without knocking first when I put the chair against the door
just as I was washing myself there below with the glove get on your nerves then
doing the loglady all day put her in a glasscase with two at a time to look at
her if he knew she broke off the hand off that little gimcrack statue with her
roughness and carelessness before she left that I got that little Italian boy
to mend so that you cant see the join for 2 shillings wouldnt even teem the
potatoes for you of course shes right not to ruin her hands I noticed he was
always talking to her lately at the table explaining things in the paper and
she pretending to understand sly of course that comes from his side of the
house he cant say I pretend things can he Im too honest as a matter of fact and
helping her into her coat but if there was anything wrong with her its me shed
tell not him I suppose he thinks Im finished out and laid on the shelf well Im
not no nor anything like it well see well see now shes well on for flirting too
with Tom Devans two sons imitating me whistling with those romps of Murray
girls calling for her can Milly come out please shes in great demand to pick
what they can out of her round in Nelson street riding Harry Devans bicycle at
night its as well he sent her where she is she was just getting out of bounds
wanting to go on the skatingrink and smoking their cigarettes through their
nose I smelt it off her dress when I was biting off the thread of the button I
sewed on to the bottom of her jacket she couldnt hide much from me I tell you
only I oughtnt to have stitched it and it on her it brings a parting and the
last plumpudding too split in 2 halves see it comes out no matter what they say
her tongue is a bit too long for my taste your blouse is open too low she says
to me the pan calling the kettle blackbottom and I had to tell her not to cock
her legs up like that on show on the windowsill before all the people passing
they all look at her like me when I was her age of course any old rag looks
well on you then a great touchmenot too in her own way at the Only Way in the
Theatre royal take your foot away out of that I hate people touching me afraid
of her life Id crush her skirt with the pleats a lot of that touching must go
on in theatres in the crush in the dark theyre always trying to wiggle up to
you that fellow in the pit at the Gaiety for Beerbohm Tree in Trilby the last
time Ill ever go there to be squashed like that for any Trilby or her barebum
every two minutes tipping me there and looking away hes a bit daft I think I
saw him after trying to get near two stylishdressed ladies outside Switzers
window at the same little game I recognised him on the moment the face and
everything but he didnt remember me yes and she didnt even want me to kiss her
at the Broadstone going away well I hope shell get someone to dance attendance
on her the way I did when she was down with the mumps and her glands swollen
wheres this and wheres that of course she cant feel anything deep yet I never
came properly till I was what 22 or so it went into the wrong place always only
the usual girls nonsense and giggling that Conny Connolly writing to her in
white ink on black paper sealed with sealingwax though she clapped when the
curtain came down because he looked so handsome then we had Martin Harvey for
breakfast dinner and supper I thought to myself afterwards it must be real love
if a man gives up his life for her that way for nothing I suppose there are a
few men like that left its hard to believe in it though unless it really
happened to me the majority of them with not a particle of love in their
natures to find two people like that nowadays full up of each other that would
feel the same way as you do theyre usually a bit foolish in the head his father
must have been a bit queer to go and poison himself after her still poor old
man I suppose he felt lost shes always making love to my things too the few old
rags I have wanting to put her hair up at 15 my powder too only ruin her skin
on her shes time enough for that all her life after of course shes restless
knowing shes pretty with her lips so red a pity they wont stay that way I was
too but theres no use going to the fair with the thing answering me like a
fishwoman when I asked to go for a half a stone of potatoes the day we met Mrs
Joe Gallaher at the trottingmatches and she pretended not to see us in her trap
with Friery the solicitor we werent grand enough till I gave her 2 damn fine
cracks across the ear for herself take that now for answering me like that and
that for your impudence she had me that exasperated of course contradicting I
was badtempered too because how was it there was a weed in the tea or I didnt
sleep the night before cheese I ate was it and I told her over and over again
not to leave knives crossed like that because she has nobody to command her as
she said herself well if he doesnt correct her faith I will that was the last
time she turned on the teartap I was just like that myself they darent order me
about the place its his fault of course having the two of us slaving here
instead of getting in a woman long ago am I ever going to have a proper servant
again of course then shed see him coming Id have to let her know or shed
revenge it arent they a nuisance that old Mrs Fleming you have to be walking
round after her putting the things into her hands sneezing and farting into the
pots well of course shes old she cant help it a good job I found that rotten
old smelly dishcloth that got lost behind the dresser I knew there was
something and opened the area window to let out the smell bringing in his
friends to entertain them like the night he walked home with a dog if you
please that might have been mad especially Simon Dedalus son his father such a
criticiser with his glasses up with his tall hat on him at the cricket match
and a great big hole in his sock one thing laughing at the other and his son
that got all those prizes for whatever he won them in the intermediate imagine
climbing over the railings if anybody saw him that knew us I wonder he didnt
tear a big hole in his grand funeral trousers as if the one nature gave wasnt
enough for anybody hawking him down into the dirty old kitchen now is he right
in his head I ask pity it wasnt washing day my old pair of drawers might have
been hanging up too on the line on exhibition for all hed ever care with the
ironmould mark the stupid old bundle burned on them he might think was
something else and she never even rendered down the fat I told her and now shes
going such as she was on account of her paralysed husband getting worse theres
always something wrong with them disease or they have to go under an operation
or if its not that its drink and he beats her Ill have to hunt around again for
someone every day I get up theres some new thing on sweet God sweet God well
when Im stretched out dead in my grave I suppose Ill have some peace I want to
get up a minute if Im let wait O Jesus wait yes that thing has come on me yes
now wouldnt that afflict you of course all the poking and rooting and ploughing
he had up in me now what am I to do Friday Saturday Sunday wouldnt that pester
the soul out of a body unless he likes it some men do God knows theres always
something wrong with us 5 days every 3 or 4 weeks usual monthly auction isnt it
simply sickening that night it came on me like that the one and only time we
were in a box that Michael Gunn gave him to see Mrs Kendal and her husband at
the Gaiety something he did about insurance for him in Drimmies I was fit to be
tied though I wouldnt give in with that gentleman of fashion staring down at me
with his glasses and him the other side of me talking about Spinoza and his
soul thats dead I suppose millions of years ago I smiled the best I could all
in a swamp leaning forward as if I was interested having to sit it out then to
the last tag I wont forget that wife of Scarli in a hurry supposed to be a fast
play about adultery that idiot in the gallery hissing the woman adulteress he
shouted I suppose he went and had a woman in the next lane running round all
the back ways after to make up for it I wish he had what I had then hed boo I
bet the cat itself is better off than us have we too much blood up in us or
what O patience above its pouring out of me like the sea anyhow he didnt make
me pregnant as big as he is I dont want to ruin the clean sheets I just put on
I suppose the clean linen I wore brought it on too damn it damn it and they
always want to see a stain on the bed to know youre a virgin for them all thats
troubling them theyre such fools too you could be a widow or divorced 40 times
over a daub of red ink would do or blackberry juice no thats too purply O
Jamesy let me up out of this pooh sweets of sin whoever suggested that business
for women what between clothes and cooking and children this damned old bed too
jingling like the dickens I suppose they could hear us away over the other side
of the park till I suggested to put the quilt on the floor with the pillow
under my bottom I wonder is it nicer in the day I think it is easy I think Ill
cut all this hair off me there scalding me I might look like a young girl
wouldnt he get the great suckin the next time he turned up my clothes on me Id
give anything to see his face wheres the chamber gone easy Ive a holy horror of
its breaking under me after that old commode I wonder was I too heavy sitting
on his knee I made him sit on the easychair purposely when I took off only my
blouse and skirt first in the other room he was so busy where he oughtnt to be
he never felt me I hope my breath was sweet after those kissing comfits easy
God I remember one time I could scout it out straight whistling like a man
almost easy O Lord how noisy I hope theyre bubbles on it for a wad of money
from some fellow Ill have to perfume it in the morning dont forget I bet he
never saw a better pair of thighs than that look how white they are the
smoothest place is right there between this bit here how soft like a peach easy
God I wouldnt mind being a man and get up on a lovely woman O Lord what a row
youre making like the jersey lily easy easy O how the waters come down at
Lahore</p>
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