We took the bus into town. We sat at the back on the top deck. It was a Friday. There were no World Cup games on that day, but the city was still decked out in green, white and gold and everyone who passed us seemed to have an extra pep in their step, strangers saying ‘Howya’ to one another and everyone smiling, laughing, upbeat. The sun was still shining and it felt like the only people with troubles in Dublin, Ireland, that day were us and our families. Every time I thought about my family I wanted to cry. They had been so happy the night before. I had ruined that now. Sorry, Mam and Dad. Sorry, Rachel. Sorry, Rich.
We got off the bus on O’Connell Street. There was a travel agent on the corner of Talbot Street. Charlie went off in search of a mask, Sumo hid in a doorway and Johnny J and I went inside while Walker watched for police. The bell rang out as the door opened and a blonde lady in a red suit and white silk scarf looked up from her computer and smiled at us.
‘How can I help?’
‘We’d like to buy a ticket for New York, please,’ Johnny J said, and she looked us up and down and pointed.
‘You’d like a ticket for New York?’
Johnny J nodded. ‘It’s for my mam.’
‘Oh, and she sent you to buy it?’ she said.
‘She’s not well.’
‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘Sit down.’ She pointed to some chairs in front of a desk.
We sat down. I put my backpack, which held the money, under the chair and between my legs.
‘When would she like to travel?’ she said.
Johnny J and I looked at one another. Good question.
‘As soon as possible,’ I said, and Johnny J nodded furiously.
‘Yeah, ASAP.’
‘OK,’ she said, ‘well, it will take about a week for the ticket to be processed and sent out, so I’ll book for fourteen days from now.’fn1
How were we going to outsmart the law for two whole weeks? Johnny J looked like he was about to throw up.
‘I was hoping for sooner,’ he said, and the lady laughed.
‘We’re not magicians,’ she said.
‘It’s fine,’ I said.
‘The ticket costs seven hundred and eighty pounds,’ she said.
‘Grand,’ I said. I opened my bag and counted out the money.
When I handed her the exact amount, she looked from us to the cash and I held my breath. Then she smiled and nodded. ‘Right then.’
She asked us loads of questions about Johnny J’s mam, including her middle name, the details of her address and phone number, and then he answered questions about what meal she’d like and where she’d like to sit on the plane. He said she’d have the chicken and asked if they’d seat her beside the toilet if possible.
‘So you’ll have those tickets out to her ASAP,’ he said as we were leaving.
‘Yes, sir,’ she said.
‘Thanks,’ he said.
‘Just before you go – does she have a visa?’ she asked.
‘A visa?’ Johnny J looked from the travel agent to me.
‘Yes, a visa to get her into America?’
‘I don’t think so. Does she need a visa?’
‘Oh yes.’
‘Well, how does she get one?’ Johnny J sounded very upset.
‘She’ll have to go to the American Embassy.’ She riffled through a drawer and handed us a lot of forms. ‘She’ll need to fill out forms like these.’
‘In the embassy?’ Johnny J asked.
I pushed forward. ‘And then she can go to America?’
‘Unless she has a criminal record,’ she said, and she smiled.
‘No, she doesn’t,’ Johnny J said.
‘Good, shouldn’t be a problem then.’
We met up and all headed to a doughnut shop on O’Connell Street and sat around a table eating doughnuts bought with the proceeds of crime and working out our next move. We all agreed that the only thing we could do was post a letter to Mrs Tulsi telling her to get an American visa and to expect a ticket to turn up within ten days.
‘Of course, that makes her an accomplice to our crimes,’ Walker said.
‘Well, being an accomplice is better than being dead,’ Johnny J said. He was right.
We finished up our doughnuts and headed to the General Post Office and congregated in a corner of the giant room. Johnny J wrote a letter to his mam and Uncle Ted on the back of an old brown paper bag that someone had left in the wastebasket.
Dear Mam and Uncle Ted,
There’s a ticket on the way to you for America. Please use it. Here’s money for expenses. Please get on the flight and get a taxi and go to the hospital – ask the taxi man which hospital is the best one for you. Walker says that taxi men know everything. They will fix you, Mam. I’m sorry that we couldn’t get enough money to send Uncle Ted with you and I’m sorry I’ve had to go away. Please tell the Finns, Browns, Lanes and Eastmans that we are all OK and that we are very sorry for everything.
I’ll miss you, Mam, but I’ll see you again.
USE THAT TICKET.
Big love,
Johnny J.
PS Uncle Ted, please check Mam’s passport is up to date and take her to the American Embassy to get a visa. It’s very important. Thanks, Johnny J.
I handed him most of the money we had left, only keeping one hundred pounds for us. I figured one hundred pounds would do the five of us for as long as we needed it. He put the money and letter into a big envelope, sealed it and posted it.
‘What now?’ he said.
‘Now we hide,’ I said.
‘Where?’ Charlie said, and we all just stood there in the middle of the General Post Office, not having a clue where to go.
‘The zoo?’ Sumo said. We all looked at him, hiding behind the pink scarf. He just shrugged. ‘I just like the zoo,’ he mumbled.
‘Maybe hide out in the Dublin Mountains?’ Charlie suggested.
‘What if it rains?’ I asked.
‘I’ll die out on a mountain,’ Walker said, and then took a blast of his inhaler just to make his point.
After what seemed like a really long time, Sumo put his purple hand up in the air. ‘My Auntie Nora has a caravan in Wexford.’
‘Any chance she’d be there?’ I said.
‘Nah,’ he said. ‘She hates Wexford.’
‘Do you know how to get there?’
He hunched. ‘Mam and I got the train down a few times. The place is called Strawberry Beach Park.’
‘That’ll do,’ I said, and we walked outside onto the street. I saw a taxi coming up the road and I put my hand out.
‘Taxi,’ I shouted.
The guy stopped.
‘Will you take five of us?’ I said.
‘I’ll take ten of you if you’re paying,’ he said.
We all piled in.
‘Where to?’ he said.
‘Heuston Train Station,’ I answered, and that was it. Johnny J, Sumo, Walker, Charlie and I were officially on the run.