2.

Eileen Murphywas tough out. I should have listened to her that night when she said to shove his head down in the water with myboot. I wanted him to be taken byGod with no hand in it at all myself but of course that was a Sin of Omission so I was a black sinner too. We should have called the constabularythe minute he slithered in. Theysaya drunkard has more lives than a cat. Lurching up the road everynight, steamed to the gills, taking the two sides of BlarneyStreet – horses & carts the whole lot & not a hair of his head damaged. His white collar shining in the green gaslight. Howmanytimes did he fall down & rise again like an India rubber ball? & what was there to stop him rising again? The bodywasn’t found & no one sawJesus rise on Easter Sundayeither. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said he would. Come & see the place where he lay – & that is the gospel according to Matthew.

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