Читать книгу Cry Heaven, Cry Hell - Howard Gordon - Страница 10

Chapter 4

Two months later Malkia had a 26 inch boy of 12 lbs. He was named Patrick Tyndall Moses Mikawber. She had to lock Craine out of their house because he kept lining up behind his son to be breast fed and wouldn’t adhere to the six week period of abstinence post pregnancy. He began to spend time with the aeroplane his father and brothers had built from his directions and shipment of stolen parts. He wanted to fly by the Ornams and strafe their house, but he knew that the constable was still angry about being put in a garbage can full of feces and knew who did it. He observed that he had not forgotten the rockets and machine guns and reassured himself that a day would come.

The time was coming for Pat’s bris, and he had to go to shul with the Dolemans and his family. Afterwards they all went out to a restaurant, and Mendel suggested that he leave Pat’s foreskin as a tip for the waitress. Malkia kicked him under the table. She had the sweetest grin on her face when she did it. Brython started laughing, and everyone else joined in.

At one site there was no laughter going on. Jesse Ornam did not like the fact that the house was rebuilt and that Malkia and the baby survived. Though St. Pat was scraped off Delphious’ arse, he still had scars on his face where he was cut. The Mikawbers had to pay for that, as well as Craine’s betraying his nation and fighting in the Brits’ war. He never considered that Tyndall and his family wanted freedom from Britain as much as he did. Jesse also did not like the idea of Craine not converting to the right way to approach God, where he would’ve stood before his maker with a righteous soul. Instead, he gave himself to the Christ killer Jews. He spit on the ground when this crossed his mind. Too bad that his sheenie wife made it and brought another one of their unholy mess into the world. Next time his family would take them both off of the earth. They probably were the part of England that sucked the land and money out of Ireland.

Jesse was not silent about his rage, and Delphious helped spread his sick hate throughout the family. Their discussions at the dinner table became a forum for echoing the senseless anger that propelled them into violent thoughts. This was not enough for the dynamic duo of hatred, but they became loud and irrational at Sinn Fein meetings. The infection was spreading. After a couple months a plan was conceived. The Eastern Europeans made the Jews stay in their place. They kept them out of public office, kept them away from money, and made them pollute their own sections of towns and cities. Maybe Ireland ought to take up the cause of creating a Christian state.

Weapons and incendiary devices were cached, manufactured on the sly, cleaned, oiled, and stocked with ammo by the Ornam’s for two months. The buildup was extended to the Sinn Fein, and a considerable supply was being hoarded for the time of reckoning. This was not between the Ornams and Mikawbers, but directed towards getting England out of Ireland, along with their Protestant stooges. No attention was paid to the idea that the family was looking for the same freedom for their native land that Sinn Fein was, as were the small number of Jews that were in Eire. Prejudice and the small mindedness that comes from escalated anger seemed to be the dominant modes of thought of the day. The escalation that followed was to have devastating consequences.

The cache of weaponry was to begin the blast for Irish independence that lasted from 1919 to 1922 when a patchwork quilt of peace was to be knit between the two nations later to emerge as the terrorist acts of the militant Protestants, the militant Catholic followers that coined the phrase “Erin go Bragh,” as their voice of terror that spanned church attacks, attacks on innocent children and families, incarceration, hangings, and retaliation by starvation diets. Now the bloodletting would gain full expression.

The Ornam and other Sinn Fein families began to hold practice drills in the hand to hand combat that had punctuated the trench warfare of the “War to end all wars.” Of course the Prots saw what was coming and began to hold their own drills. The first attack assumed the shape of a pogrom. The Dolemans were attacked, and the Mikawbers joined in the defense of their kinsmen. The plane was a secret weapon and had not been unleashed, but this was to happen shortly. The house was fired, and little Pat and Malkia were hidden in a locker of the basement that covered a tunnel out to the woods with a clear line to the constable’s office. Jesse was about to use his tickets to New Zealand to get out of Ireland for good, but he stayed long enough to get a final lick at his foes.

He was a part of the raid on the Doleman house and had observed the point where the tunnel ended. He met Malkia and Pat at the exit and shot them both. Then he ran to keep his appointment with his boat, which turned out to be his appointment with destiny. For Craine went to the hidden hangar, started the plane, made sure it was loaded, and sunk the ship right after Jesse had boarded. He then flew back to the Dolemans’ and strafed the pogrom in front of their house while the defenders came out of their barricade and made short shrift of the bullies. Tyndall was able to get Malkia and Pat to the hospital. Pat was able to survive, but his mother did not make it. Not one Ornam came forth to express sorrow.

Craine’s expression was not of sorrow. He moved the plane to a new hideout because after his next episode, he knew he’d have to leave the country. He had already gotten rid of the head of the garbage family; he just had to bide his time, but he had to make plans for Pat. At the next family meeting, he told Da and the others: “Lads, I’m demanding an eye for an eye for Malkia. I know I took Jesse out, and probably a lot of innocent people with him. You know what that makes me. If I didn’t harm another soul, I’d hang for what I did. To prevent a family feud that would tear us apart too, I have to take out the rest of them. I’d like nothing better than to stay here and throw off the British yoke, but my staying would put you in danger. I know what I’m going to do, and then I’ll be gone. My only question is: Do I leave me Patrick under your care, or do I take him with me, so he knows his Da?” There were tears in all the Mikawber eyes, especially Tyndall. As the head of the house he addressed the issue. “Me son, a bairn has to know his Da. There’s no mother to sing his praises. Ye’ll be held within our memories and our hearts, as well as the Dolemans for loving their daughter, bringing them a son, and stopping the first pogrom our village has ever experienced. May God bless you and our Patrick, and bring you back to us.” With that they all cried. The scene was repeated before the Dolemans that Shabbos. The sorrow and the tears flowed from both families that had become and would remain one.

On Monday, Craine bundled up Pattie with resolve in his heart and tears centered in the same organ and took the plane to the Ornam’s home. They were all leaving for work. He bombed their wagon with them all in it, including the lady of the house. With them all scattered over Belfast he set his sites for Boston, Massachusetts where he could lose himself in the big Irish population.