Chapter 12
A Final Verbal Warning

I got complacent, so I did. Now that my paperbag was black with experience, I began to cut corners and take risks. I was heading for a fall, as surely as the day I had slipped on Petra’s poop, fallen against Mrs Grant’s rose bush and torn my new tartan turn-ups out of John Frazer’s. The same day I had run home crying and been spotted of course by Big Jaunty, who had told all the other paperboys the next day, when they had all laughed until they cried.

I had developed the sort of paperboy swagger that comes with the confidence of having delivered ten thousand papers with a completely clean disciplinary record. Among swaggers, the paperboy swagger was unique. It was more uncommon than a hard-man swagger, more routine than a marching-season swagger and less intimidating than a tartan-gang swagger. It was a swagger very much in its own right, and involved walking purposefully, while at the same time confidently swinging a heavy bag over one shoulder without losing your balance (no matter how high your platform shoes) whenever it swung back into place. Your shoulders would then continue an arrogant vertical and horizontal swaying motion, while one hand would remain fixed on the paperbag, holding it close to one leg. With your other hand, you would remove each newspaper from the paperbag, slapping and folding it aggressively against the other leg. It was paperboy poetry in motion. This complex ballet of the streets would be performed at great speed – unless you were in a bad mood because you had got the strap for your cheek and you weren’t going to the caravan that weekend.

I had mastered the essentials of the job long ago, as well as identifying and honouring the importance of all of the more subtle dos and don’ts that were part of a paperboy’s unwritten induction manual. These included the following immutable rules:

• Never throw newspapers towards a house like an American paperboy. This is Belfast: you could be mistaken for a petrol-bomber. Also, the paper might well get soaked or stolen.

• Do not rub your nose while doing the papers, as the black ink on your hands will create a Groucho Marx moustache on your face at the exact moment that a wee girl you fancy or your big brother is walking down the street. They will laugh and you will be humiliated.

• Do not over-fold your papers, or they will be too fat to fit through the standard letterbox.

• Do not attempt to deliver papers on a bike. The weight of your paperbag will inevitably shift your centre of gravity, so that you lose balance and crash into a prickly hedge, a brick wall, a rusty car, or all three.

• Do not fight with spring-loaded letterboxes. Accept that they will slice your fingers, no matter how good your delivery technique.

• Never attempt to deliver to houses with snarling dogs, especially if the owner says, ‘Och, don’t worry, love, he wouldn’t touch ye.’

• Do not be seen jumping over fences between semi-detached houses. This will upset the more upwardly mobile customer by reminding them that, although they have risen from terrace to semi, they still live on the Shankill and as such have not yet achieved suburban detached status.

• Do keep ringing the doorbell if a curtain twitches and no one comes to the door, especially if they haven’t paid their paper money for two weeks in a row.

• Do remember who is on holiday, so they do not return from Millisle to a newspaper mountain inside their front door.

• Do be nice to old ladies, including pretending you like their cats that scratch you, and be friendly with families who have a Ford Cortina and wash it every week, as these are the ones who are most likely to give you a good tip.

As my mastery of my trade became increasingly evident, I noticed how Oul’ Mac began to look at me with a certain amount of awe. Clearly he had never before seen such flawlessness in a paperboy. I was never late; never once had I given him cheek; I had never stolen even a single penny. My employer’s attitude to me changed from indifference to incredulity and then, finally, to admiration. I actually overheard him whispering the words, ‘best f**kin’ paperboy ever’ to Mrs Mac once, as I walked into the shop with a bulging bag of tepid takings, fresh from my boots. And indeed, to Mrs Mac, I was approaching sainthood.

My customer complaint rate was exceptionally low. My clean slate had in fact been marred on a few occasions only, by unjust crumpled back-page complaints, and even then Oul’ Mac had taken responsibility for the damaged goods as being van-related as opposed to bag-related. Each time, he had apologised to the customer, said it ‘hadn’t been the wee lad’s fault’, and given them a free Ulster. Even when customers sometimes complained unfairly – when, for example, it had actually been the postman who had spat on their step – I never told any of them where they could stick their Belfast Telegraph (at least not out loud), not even Mr Black from No. 13. And so the conflict had never escalated to management level and therefore Oul’ Mac never even got to hear about it.

Of course, Mr Black had never liked me, since my very first paper round, when he had suggested I was too young for my vocation. The feeling was mutual: I didn’t like the oul’ get either. He was well known for being grumpy. My mother always described him as ‘yet another ignorant wee Belfast man’. I took this to mean that there was a large pool of such men in our city. Mr Black’s wife had died before I was born, and he had grown-up children in Canada and bad breath. He loved his greyhounds only.

One day, while happily engaged in my work and delivering his paper perfectly and on time, with one of the greyhounds tugging at the turn-up of my parallels, the same Mr Black told me off for whistling ‘Fernando’ by ABBA. He said I should ‘not be whistling no Republican song at his front door’. There was a line in ‘Fernando’ that went something like, ‘How proud you were to fight for freedom in this land’, and so Protestants thought Fernando was a Provo. I was certain, however, that Fernando, the song’s hero, was fighting near the Rio Grande, because that rhymed with ‘land’ in the next line. ABBA spoke Swedish, so they liked easy English rhymes like that. I wasn’t sure exactly where the Rio Grande was, but I was certain it wasn’t anywhere near West Belfast. I supposed it might have been in the Bogside, but even then I was sure Fernando wasn’t a Provo.

Mr Black’s attack about my song choice seemed particularly unjust, since I wasn’t even singing the questionable words of the song on the day in question: I was only whistling the tune. Anyway, I was in no doubt that the blonde one in ABBA, in whom I was developing an increasingly strong interest at the time, was much too nice to be on the other side’s side. And I had never seen a woman look less like Bernadette Devlin. I couldn’t work out whether Agnetha was a Protestant name or a Catholic name, but maybe Swedish was a different religion altogether, so it would be okay to marry her – although she was already married to Björn, which was a shame of course, because that was for ever.

As my professional complacence grew, I began to leave the occasional gate open behind me. If I suspected a customer was out at church or voting again, or if I otherwise judged they would not see my misdemeanour, I would wilfully leave their gate wide open. It felt good, dismissively letting it swing in the wind. I was a rebel now: no gate would dominate me. Of course, if there were small dogs or children that might escape onto the road and get knocked down by a bus, I was still very careful. But in less dangerous circumstances, I would sometimes belligerently let customers’ gates swing on their squeaky hinges.

In the absence of witnesses, I would be only one of a range of suspects for the crime of a gate left swinging, and I knew that with my reputation, I would be at the back of the criminal queue. It could have been the bread boy, or the rag-and-bone man who shouted ‘any oul regs?’, or a scout ‘bob-a-jobbing’. Or a politician canvassing or a Baptist giving out gospel tracts or a collector for the Loyalist prisoners. Any one of these would have made a better suspect than me. Yes, Christians, boy scouts and Loyalists were all more potentially aberrant than I was. If it came to a line-up in Tennent Street RUC station, I was sure I wouldn’t be the one to be singled out: my reputation was secure, after all, and I knew that both Oul’ and Mrs Mac would defend my innocence to the hilt. Once the pair of them had established the extent of my integrity, they had become invested in maintaining their belief in it.

I had become very smug. My family, the ones who knew me best, could recognise it only too well. ‘Don’t be so Mr Know-It-All now, love,’ warned my mother. ‘Stop being such a cocky wee shite!’ ordered my father. ‘Catch yerself on, dickhead!’ chided my big brother. ‘Wise up, wee lad,’ said my wee brother.

But these challenges occurred behind closed doors, and I was far from wising up. To my employers and customer base alike, I remained blameless. In my own mind I was beyond reproach. But pride, as the Reverend Lowe would have said, always comes before a fall …

It happened on a Wednesday. The papers were lightest on a Monday and Wednesday, so these were generally my most complacent days. Lost in my smugness, I barely gave my professional responsibilities a thought that day. Although it was a school day, I was excited. On Wednesdays I had a violin lesson, and I played guitar at the Bible Union at lunchtime, so it would be a very musical day – although carrying both instruments to and from school on the bus was something of a balancing act. And even though I also had PE on Wednesdays and knew the tracksuited teacher would choose one of his rugger favourites to select the five-a-side teams and I would be one of the last to be picked, I didn’t care, for today was to be the start of my acting career. I had auditioned for the school play, and the casting was to be announced during the after-school drama club that day. For, as well as being a violinist like Yehudi Menuhin and a guitarist like Paul McCartney, I had aspirations of becoming a great actor, like Roger Moore. The school play this year was to be Tom Sawyer, and I had auditioned for the parts of both Tom and Huckleberry Finn. I would have been happy with either part: I had already in fact begun to learn the lines of both. The drama club started at three o’clock and finished at four o’clock, so I reckoned that once I had landed my starring role and modestly accepted the congratulations of my supporting actors, I would have plenty of time to catch the bus home in time to do my paper round and then go to Scouts as usual.

‘First of all, I have to say that you all did very well in your auditions,’ began Miss Baron, our drama teacher, in a patronising manner. Miss Baron was young and blonde, and by far the most attractive teacher in the whole school. She was like Olivia Newton-John with chalk, and so she always got my complete attention. I was always determined to please Miss Baron.

‘Aaahh, she’s really nice … I like her … Is that blouse see-through, like the one Olivia Newton-John wears in my Look-in poster?’ I found myself thinking. ‘She’s just letting the bad ones down gently, I suppose … That’s really nice of her. If she just stood beside the window, I would know if it was see-through or not …’

‘Not everyone can play a leading role, but there is always next year, of course,’ Miss Baron continued authoritatively, interrupting the flow of my meandering thoughts.

I looked around me sympathetically at all the kids who were about to be disappointed. Miss Baron was right: they would always have next year. Miss Baron was always right.

‘The part of Tom Sawyer will be played by … Thomas O’Hara,’ were her next words. This was perfect casting: Thomas could use his real name, and he was already a good mate of mine, so we wouldn’t have to act too hard at being Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. I patted my pal on the back magnanimously, as he grinned widely. My part was next.

‘And the part of Huckleberry Finn will be played by … Patricia Thompson!’ Silence. Then applause and congratulations for – Patricia bloody Thompson?!

Excuse me?

Have I misheard?

I didn’t get it.

I am not Huck?

I didn’t get a part?

F**k, I’m not Huck!

She has given my part to a ... girl?

I hate Patricia Thompson. I bet her da plays golf with the teachers and she lives up the Antrim Road. I bet no one from up the Shankill with a Ford Escort respray has ever been given a main part in a play in this snobby oul’ school.

I hate that Miss Baron. She gets on like she thinks she’s Olivia Newton-John, but she’s an oul’ boot, and she gave a boy’s part to a girl. And Patricia Thompson already has breasts and ... where is she going to put them?

I’m tellin’! Patricia Thompson is going to have to dress up as a boy. Miss Baron is trying to make Patricia Thompson into a homo – except a girl homo, if there is such a thing – and I’m going to tell my RE teacher because it sounds like a sin!

Somewhere amid the mists of my selfish anger and moral outrage, I hazily heard Miss Baron interrupt my internal ravings: ‘The part of Boy Three, one of the boys who paints the fence for Tom, goes to Tony Macaulay.’

I was to be nothing more than a Boy Three – a bit part at Tom Sawyer’s fence! Thomas O’Hara was to be the star, and I was nothing. This was humiliating. It was like Thomas got to be the new Doctor Who, if Tom Baker ever regenerated, while I got to be a Silurian stuck inside a rubber suit who then got zapped by the Sonic Screwdriver in the very first episode.

As far as I was concerned, Drama Club was over. But once we had been informed of the casting decisions, we had to do a read-through of the play. Thomas O’Hara had thirty lines to read for every one of mine. Patricia Thompson tried at first to put on a deep boy’s voice for Huck, but Thomas O’Hara’s voice hadn’t broken yet, and it didn’t sound right that the girl playing a boy had a deeper voice than the boy playing a boy. So Miss Baron told Patricia to just speak in her normal voice, so that Huck and Tom would sound the same. I rolled my eyes at this latest example of artistic misdirection, and I could not hide my disgust at Patricia’s attempt at an American accent. The more she tried to sound authentically American, the more she sounded like a farmer from Ballymena. She had clearly never watched a single episode of Sesame Street, where you learned how to say the alphabet in American.

By four o’clock that afternoon, I just wanted to get out of there and get home to do my papers. At least my talents were appreciated at work, even if they were overlooked at school. As I left the school, it was already getting dark. It was raining, as usual, so I had to put up my blue duffle-coat hood. It wasn’t properly waterproof, but it was so thick the rain didn’t come through. I walked to my bus stop with my schoolbag over my shoulder, holding in one hand my guitar in its faux-leather case and, in the other, my violin case. It was just me and my instruments at this bus stop, where you could catch a bus into the city centre and, from the City Hall, take another bus up the Shankill. Most of the other thespians had gone to the Antrim Road bus stop. Patricia Thompson, for example, just had a short direct bus route home to her detached house – when her daddy didn’t collect her in his Rover, that is. It wasn’t fair.

After more than half an hour standing in the rain, during which time I was distracted by angry thoughts about Miss Baron and what would happen if Patricia Thompson broke her leg or if her minister were to receive an anonymous letter and didn’t allow her to dress up as a boy, I realised that my bus was late. Sometimes the bus was late because of the Troubles, but it usually came within an hour, once the bomb-disposal men had had the chance to blow up the suspect device in the hijacked milk van in which it had been planted.

Another half hour passed, during which my mind wandered from time travel to meteorites to Agnetha. Then I realised that the bus was very late indeed. In fact, I knew that by now I would not make it home in time to collect my papers from Oul’ Mac at the van. At this stage, I wasn’t too concerned, however. I could still be home within an hour and deliver my Tellys a little late. I could blame the Provos; everyone would call them bastards, and everything would be okay. I searched in my pockets among the chewing gum and marbles for the two-pence piece I retained for such emergencies, and then I picked up my violin and guitar and calmly walked around the corner to the red public telephone box, in order to call home and ask my big brother to collect the papers.

It was only once I had managed to squeeze inside the phone box with both instruments and my schoolbag that I discovered it had been vandalised, and I had to awkwardly extricate both myself and my luggage in a reverse movement with my duffle-coat hood still up, restricting my rear view. I daren’t leave my guitar or violin outside or, I was sure, they would be nicked for Smithfield Market or a bonfire. I walked down the road to the next telephone box, and it had been vandalised too. Then on to the next, and the next: they were all broken. Every telephone receiver had been torn from the wall and the words ‘Brits Out’ scrawled everywhere. I knew these were British Telecom telephones, but I had never realised that a telephone box could be an instrument of British oppression. Maybe they were bugged, like in James Bond? Maybe if I did get through, 007 would be listening to my every word, in case I was a Russian spy hiding plutonium in my violin case?

As I considered several possible James Bond plot lines, eventually, about a mile later down the road and halfway to the City Hall, I found an intact telephone box. By this stage, I was very wet and exhausted from walking and manoeuvring in and out of countless telephone boxes, weighed down with my schoolbooks and musical burdens. I was starting to panic. If only I had had my own blue police telephone box – my very own TARDIS – I would be able to travel through time and space like the Doctor and be home before I even left for school that morning. Unless, of course, I pressed the wrong button and landed on the planet Skaro and had to battle the Daleks who were trying to take over the universe.

I was starting to think I might have to ask my big brother to do my papers that night. I knew that he would charge me double-time, which would mean less money to buy ‘Love Is’ cards for Sharon Burgess. I put my freezing fingers into the cold stainless-steel holes of the telephone dial and rang our home number. My mother answered quickly, and I immediately dropped my two pence into the money slot, hoping it would work properly this time, because often it didn’t.

‘Are you all right, love?’ Mammy asked excitedly. ‘The buses are all off! The UDA are burning them all to stop a United Ireland, and Paisley says we’re going down the Dublin Road! And you and your brother aren’t home from your drama and his rugby, and it’s terrible! And the roads are all blocked with barricades, and your daddy can’t even get the car down the road to collect youse, and youse’ll have to walk home the night in the dark. And I’m worried sick, and they’ll pick on you with your violin, and your father’s up til a hundred …’

‘Mammy, I’m going to be late for my papers,’ I interrupted, realising that my two pence would only give me a few precious minutes before the pips went and I was cut off. ‘Can you go round and get my papers from the van, and I’ll do them when I get home or, if I’m not home in time, ask …’

Beep-beep-beep-beep. I could hear the pips and then the line went dead. The conversation was over. I hoped my mother had got the important message. I wasn’t too worried about walking home in the dark, and I knew I wouldn’t be going anywhere near the Dublin Road, but I didn’t like the suggestion that I would be picked on for carrying my violin, and I just hoped Mammy would collect my papers and my big brother would deliver them when he got home.

I walked for streets and streets into the city centre and then for miles and miles up the Shankill, towards home in the dark in the rain in a duffle coat with a guitar case in one hand, a violin case in the other hand and a schoolbag over my shoulder. I must have stood out, but no one picked on me. In fact, no one paid me any attention at all. There were much more interesting sights to behold: burning buses, barricades blocking the roads, tartan gangs with petrol bombs, police and soldiers in riot gear with guns pointing in every direction. The public-transport network was being torched to save Ulster. My concerns were insignificant in relation to these cataclysmic events, but my feet were sore.

As I reached the top of the Shankill Road, there was a further delay. Due to several riots on the main road and adjoining streets, not only were vehicles being prevented from going any further, but so were pedestrians. The RUC had blocked off all the roads and the pavements, and so I could go no further. There was only one way up the Shankill to my home and that was up the Shankill! There was no alternative route: I was stuck. It was nine o’clock, and I had long since given up any ambition of delivering my own papers that evening, but at least my big brother would have carried out substitution duties fairly adequately. Unless of course my mother had done them – but she had sounded much too distressed to be thinking about my papers.

I stood quietly among a gathering crowd of similarly stranded pedestrians waiting for the all-clear. I was wet and tired, but mainly bored. Some of the others were talking excitedly about the drama that had unfolded throughout the day. They seemed to be enjoying it all, in fact. I was just bored, however. Then several Elvis fans with tattoos began to move among us, whispering important information in privileged ears. While the gathering crowd speculated about a rumoured IRA invasion and how Paisley would save us, I just stood and dreamed of being Scott Tracy on Thunderbird 2 – although not with puppet strings.

Suddenly, I was struck across the back of the head and my duffle-coat hood fell down. I turned around to see if I had been picked on by a violin-hating Loyalist, but I got a huge shock, because standing there behind me in the stranded crowd was my big brother with his schoolbag and rugby kit. With muck from a scrum still on his face, he exclaimed, ‘Look at the state of you, with a guitar and violin and a duffle coat! What are ye like, ya big fruit?!’

I was glad to see him too. But then it dawned on me: if he was here and hadn’t made it home yet either, then no one would have done my papers! Unless of course my parents had done them, and that was unlikely. I began to realise that I was in big trouble. The perfect paperboy had fallen! I imagined the raised voices of forty-eight angry customers against one errant paperboy. I pictured one extremely angry Oul’ Mac and one deeply disappointed Mrs Mac. I was doomed. This was the stuff of instant dismissal. It was gross misconduct. My career was at an end. When I explained the situation to my big brother, he wasn’t reassuring.

‘Oul’ Mac’ll kill ye!’ he said, as the RUC finally let us through the site of the now-quelled street unrest.

The two of us arrived home just after ten o’clock, to be greeted by jubilant and relieved parents. My mother opened the front door tearfully and hugged us very tightly. During this embrace, all I could do was look over Mammy’s shoulder at the pile of forty-eight fresh Belfast Telegraphs with the white cord uncut around them. They were just sitting there sullenly, undelivered. I felt sick. I dropped an instrument from each hand, knowing that tomorrow I would have to face the music.

I slept remarkably well that night, however. The exhaustion of my mammoth trek home outweighed the anxiety provoked by the prospect of facing Oul’ Mac and the sound of shooting outside. The next day at school, I developed a clever plan. If I wasn’t sacked instantly, I would deliver Wednesday’s paper and Thursday’s paper both together! If anyone asked, I would blame the rioters from down the Road, and Oul’ Mac would never hear about it, and I would survive.

Sure enough, when Oul’ Mac arrived with the Thursday night Sixth Editions, there was no mention of my misdemeanour. I knew as soon as I saw him that he wasn’t angry. His cigarette ash formed a long drooping protuberance from his mouth – this was not the cigarette of an agitated man. I was relieved: obviously no one had complained. My customers must have assumed that Oul’ Mac had not been able to get the papers through the barricades the previous night. This had happened before, when the roads had been barricaded to keep us British, and for most people it was worth the sacrifice.

I gathered the Thursday Tellys into my paperbag as usual, but then I ran around the corner to our house, where I added the Wednesday night editions into the bag. I thought my shoulder would break under the strain, but this was a minor discomfort, compared to the potential trauma of being dismissed at such an early stage in my career. And so I began to deliver two newspapers to every house. I tried to fold them into one to take the bad look off them, but together, they were too thick to fit through the letterboxes.

As I proceeded on my paper round, a series of doors began to open behind me. A third of the way up the street, half the doors were open. It was like when a band marched up the street – except not such a happy occasion.

‘That’s last night’s, son,’ said one bemused customer.

‘What are you playing at?’ said another.

‘Where were ye last night, love?’ enquired another.

It wasn’t going well. My plan had backfired. By trying to deliver Wednesday with Thursday, I had revealed to the street that there having been no paper on Wednesday was my fault and was not down to the rioters. Mr Black, of course, dealt the final blow.

‘That’s yesterday’s paper,’ he said viciously. ‘Did no one ever tell you in your grammar-school education that a daily newspaper is worthless the day after it is published?’

‘Sorry, I was late home last night after school drama club and the riots,’ I foolishly attempted to explain.

‘Don’t give me that, wee lad,’ Mr Black replied, scornfully. ‘You can take yesterday’s paper back now. I don’t want it and you can tell Oul’ Mac I’ll not be paying for it, so you can stick it up your arse.’

This man would have tested the restraint of the most resolute pacifist paperboy.

At that moment, a short queue developed in front of me, all of them dissatisfied customers returning Wednesday night Tellys, reminding me that they would not be paying for these. I was receiving as many newspapers back as I had delivered. My paperbag was now as heavy as ever. This was a disaster: the issue of who would be paying for the undelivered papers immediately brought Oul’ Mac back into the equation, and I knew it was only a matter of time before someone phoned the newsagent’s shop to complain. I never found out who it was, but I assumed it was oul’ Mr Black who had betrayed me.

The next evening, Oul’ Mac arrived in the van as usual. As he stopped, he put the handbrake on more aggressively than usual, it seemed. I could feel the screech in my teeth. This meant trouble. Oul’ Mac scanned the waiting crowd of paperboys, until his eyes fixed upon me. He stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray on the dashboard and jumped out of the van with the vigour of a man of half his age. This was a very bad sign. He headed straight for me.

I had planned to accept my dismissal with dignity. I wouldn’t cry, and I wouldn’t tell my employer where he could stick his paper round. I was clinging on to the hope that he might at least provide me with a satisfactory reference for my next employer. If not, I was destined for signing on in Snugville Street forever.

‘You, here! Nigh!’ Oul’ Mac pointed at me and shouted. He sounded like Davros, the creator of the Daleks.

‘What sort of a wee blurt tries to deliver the Wednesday night Telly on a Thursday night?’ he enquired. I hung my head in shame. It was a reasonable question, except for the ‘wee blurt’ bit.

‘I’m sorry Mr Mac, I was at drama, and the buses were off …’ I attempted to explain, before he unexpectedly interrupted.

‘You were at what? Drama?’ my employer asked in rhetorical disbelief. ‘I’ll have f**kin’ Laurence Olivier doing the papers next!’

Then, to my surprise, he laughed and shook his head. I feared one of his looser teeth would fall out, but they hung in there as precariously as my contract of employment.

Oul’ Mac then looked at me in the eye very seriously and said in low voice: ‘Last chance, wee lad. Happens again and you’re out on yer arse! And you’re paying for them!’

I was relieved. It wasn’t to be instant dismissal after all. This was my final verbal warning. It knocked the complacency out of me and reduced my swagger considerably. I delivered my papers with eyes facing down for the next few weeks, until both customers and line manager forgot all. I paid for all forty-eight newspapers out of my weekly wages, and I donated the batch of Wednesday night editions to the church wastepaper scheme to raise money for the Biafran babies. It was a sort of penance. I had learned the hard way, so I had.