The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes (14 page)

Rabbit was about to leave the desk when the Johnny Rotten wannabe came over to shake her hand. ‘Good gig.’

‘Thanks.’

Chris was waiting for her. ‘That was amazing! You are serious.’

‘Glad you liked it.’

‘I like you.’

‘Fuck off, Chris.’

‘Seriously. I’m stuck down here in poxy Wexford the whole bleedin’ summer, but when I come home I want to go out with you.’

Rabbit grinned. Chris was cute: he had bullied her when she was twelve but ever since he had been her bodyguard and friend. ‘I’ll think about it.’

He nodded. ‘Nice one. Now come and get chips with me.’

She laughed. ‘I’m leaving in the van in an hour.’

‘It only takes ten minutes to eat chips.’

‘OK. I’ll tell the lads.’

On the bus going home, the lads were drunk, laughing and talking until Uncle Terry turned up the heat to knock them out. Only Johnny and Rabbit remained awake.

‘You like Chris?’ he asked.

‘He’s nice.’

‘What about the other kid?’

‘Eugene?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Oh, he lives in Spain now with his ma.’

‘How come?’

‘His da is in prison.’

‘Who’s his da?’

‘Billy the Bookie.’

Johnny nearly choked on his own tongue. ‘You had us attack Billy the Bookie’s kid?’

‘Well, to be fair, I didn’t ask you to attack him and I didn’t know who Billy the Bookie was until the court case last year.’

‘We could have been kneecapped.’

‘Or worse.’

‘Do me a favour.’

‘Wha’?’

‘Don’t tell Francie or Jay.’

‘OK.’

She reached into her bag and found a few packets of crisps. ‘You hungry?’

‘Starving.’

She threw him a packet. He tried to catch it, but missed. It landed right beside his leg, but instead of just picking it up, he felt around for it. It was dark, but his eyes had had long enough to adjust. It was weird. When he did find the packet, he couldn’t seem to grip it. Rabbit leaned over and picked it up for him. She opened it and put it in his lap. ‘Here.’

‘Dunno what’s wrong with me.’

‘You’re just tired.’

‘Yeah, it must be that.’

He pushed the crisps away.

‘Are you not going to eat them?’

‘Nah, not hungry any more.’ He leaned his head against the side of the van and closed his eyes.

RABBIT TURNED TO
face Juliet, who was lying on the bed beside her. She put her fingers through her daughter’s long light-brown hair and twisted it around them. ‘You look so pretty today.’

‘You look terrible, Ma,’ Juliet said.

Rabbit laughed and touched her face. ‘It’s just a little bloating. It’ll go down.’

‘Do you want some water?’

‘Nah, I’m OK.’

‘You didn’t eat your lunch.’

‘Wasn’t hungry. Did you eat?’

‘A little.’

‘You need to eat more. You’re so skinny.’

‘I’ll eat more if you do,’ Juliet said.

Her mother smiled. ‘Deal.’

‘I can get you something from the canteen?’

‘How about I start tomorrow?’ Rabbit said.

‘OK.’

Davey walked in with two coffees and two sandwiches. He handed a coffee and a chicken sandwich to Juliet.

‘I’m fine, Davey.’

‘Eat it.’

‘Not hungry.’

‘Eat it.’

‘Seriously?’

‘Seriously.’

Juliet thought about it for a few seconds, then opened the packet and took a bite. ‘It’s nice,’ she said, sitting up. She propped up her pillow behind her and tucked in.

‘I had her open it and add a little more mayo and black pepper.’

‘Cool.’

Rabbit smiled at her brother and mouthed ‘Thank you,’ then returned to gazing at Juliet. Rain pelted against the window and the light died outside. Davey turned on the lamp, and when he noticed his sister shiver, he picked up her favourite lambskin blanket and wrapped her in it.

Francie arrived, soaked to the skin. ‘It’s the end of days out there.’ He shook himself off, strode over to Rabbit and enveloped her without breaking her.

‘It’s good to see you, Francie,’ she said.

‘Of course it is.’ He laid her down carefully. He stopped to ruffle Juliet’s hair before he sat down. ‘Sorry I didn’t get here last night.’

‘What was the big drama?’

‘One of the lads at work cut his hand off.’

‘You’re joking!’ Davey said.

‘Clean off at the wrist.’

‘How?’ Rabbit asked.

‘Fucking around with a samurai sword.’

‘No!’ Juliet said. It was enough to stop her eating the second half of her sandwich.

‘What happened?’

‘Ah, the gobshite who cut it off ran out cryin’ and a few of us held the other thick down and tried to stop the bleedin’ with one of the girls’ belts. You remember Sheila B?’

‘Yeah,’ Davey said.

‘Impossible to forget,’ Rabbit added.

‘Her daughter Sandra works with us. She picked up the hand, gave it a wash and put it in a bag of ice, so I had it with me when we got to the hospital. They attached it last night so hopefully he’ll be all right. Sandra’s already convinced him that it’s turned into a claw.’ He laughed.

‘How is Sheila B?’ Davey asked.

‘Mental.’

‘She was always mad,’ Davey said, smiling.

‘Well, now she’s seriously mad,’ Francie said. ‘She’s been an in-patient in the nut-house for months.’

‘That’s terrible,’ Rabbit said. ‘I really liked her.’

‘She never threw you in a canal,’ Francie replied. Rabbit and Davey laughed at the memory.

‘She threw you in the canal? Why would she do that?’ Juliet asked.

‘Francie and Sheila B used to go out together. Sheila was the jealous type,’ Rabbit explained.

‘Small understatement,’ Francie said.

‘Believe it or not, Francie used to be a good-looking boy back in the day and the women loved him,’ Davey said.

‘Used to be? Bleedin’ neck of you! I’ve still got it,’ he said, flexing his muscles. ‘The auld ones in the local supermarket go mad for me.’

‘Every time a girl went near him, Sheila had to be practically held down,’ Rabbit recalled.

‘Remember the time she locked you in the Olympia dressing room when some fans wanted an autograph?’ Davey said.

‘Yeah,’ Francie laughed, ‘and she threatened to set the place on fire.’

‘Wow!’ Juliet said.

‘She was good fun, though, and she was always kind to me,’ Rabbit said.

Francie nodded. ‘We could always count on Sheila B for a laugh.’

‘And she could always find a lock-in,’ Davey said.

‘It was like a sixth sense,’ Francie said.

‘Did she ever marry?’ Rabbit asked.

‘Nah, I ruined her for other men. You can’t follow this act.’ Francie patted his beer belly.

‘So her daughter Sandra’s yours, then?’ Davey said, in jest.

‘Don’t even fucking mess about that,’ Francie replied. ‘The first day Sandra joined, I asked her how old she was and had to count the months on me fingers. I was sweating like a paedo in a Barney suit, until I worked out the maths.’

‘Sandra is Wet Carbery’s daughter,’ Rabbit told them.

‘The short fella with the eye-patch?’ Davey said, and Rabbit nodded.

‘Why was he called Wet?’ Juliet asked.

‘He wore a nappy until first class,’ Francie said.

‘A few months after Francie broke it off with Sheila, Wet won a few quid on the bingo and took her away to Spain for two weeks. She came back pregnant.’

‘No!’ Davey said.

‘Where’s he now?’ Francie asked.

‘Last I heard he was a barman in Brooklyn,’ Rabbit said.

‘Does Sandra know her dad?’ Juliet enquired.

‘Nah,’ Francie said. ‘Sheila tried to stab him in his good eye with a cocktail umbrella on the second last night of the holiday. They didn’t really speak after that.’

Juliet laughed. ‘That’s totally insane.’

Molly arrived, with Jack tagging behind. Francie stood up. ‘Mrs H.’ He hugged her.

‘Ah, Francie, it’s good to see ya.’ She held him away from her so she could look at him. ‘Still handsome,’ she said, and he nodded towards the others triumphantly.

‘Howya, Mr H?’ Francie shook Jack’s hand warmly.

‘Better for seeing you, son.’

‘Sit down there,’ Francie told Molly, pointing to his chair as he moved to sit next to Davey. Jack sat on the sofa at the end of the bed.

‘So, what’s going on?’ Molly asked.

‘Sheila B’s in the nut-house,’ Rabbit said.

‘Of course she is,’ Molly said. ‘God love her, she’s a fucking lunatic.’

‘She was a lovely little Irish dancer in her day, all the same,’ Jack said. ‘Good enough to be in
Riverdance
.’

‘I forgot she was in
Riverdance
,’ Francie said.

‘That’s because they kicked her out after five minutes,’ Molly said.

‘What happened?’ Rabbit asked.

‘Dunno, but the rumour was she sexually harassed some guy in tights.’

‘Well, that would do it.’ Jack sighed. ‘It’s an awful shame, she was such a lovely dancer.’

‘Where’s Grace?’ Molly asked.

‘Dunno, Nan,’ Juliet said.

‘Who picked you up?’

‘I did,’ Davey said.

‘She hasn’t answered her phone all day,’ Molly said.

‘She’s probably just busy, Ma,’ Rabbit said.

‘Busy, me eye,’ Molly replied, and just as she spoke, Lenny appeared, sporting a black eye.

Molly and Jack stood up. ‘Christ on a bike, Lenny, what happened to ya?’ Molly exclaimed.

‘Some kid tried to mug me.’

‘Did you sort him?’ Francie asked.

‘He ran away.’

‘Did you know him?’ Francie said.

‘No.’

‘Pity.’

‘Why? Were you going to sort him out?’ Davey asked, amused.

‘No. I was going to ask the kid to join Freddie’s new boxing club. He could do with a few scrappers.’ Francie winked to signal he was joking.

‘Where’s Grace?’ Molly asked Lenny, touching the bruise around his eye. He moved his hands up to protect himself but she slapped them away. ‘Did you wash that cut?’

‘Yeah.’

‘So?’

‘So what?’

‘So where’s Grace?’

‘I was hoping she’d be here,’ he said.

‘Her phone’s been off all day,’ Molly said.

‘I know.’

‘Well, should I be worried?’

‘No.’

‘Hmm.’

Everyone was quiet for a few seconds, so Juliet seized the moment. ‘Can I stay at yours tonight, Nan?’

‘All of your stuff is at Grace’s,’ Molly reminded her.

‘No, it’s not, and, anyway, I need to pick some stuff up at home tomorrow.’

‘Well, your granda and I are busy tomorrow.’

‘Where are you going?’ Rabbit asked.

‘None of your beeswax.’

‘Must be something sexy, then,’ Francie suggested.

‘Don’t you start, Francie Byrne,’ Molly told him.

‘So can I stay?’

‘I’ll take care of her,’ Davey said, and Juliet grinned.

‘Are you all right with that?’ Molly asked Lenny, who nodded and sat beside Jack on the sofa.

‘You’re pale,’ Rabbit said to Lenny.

‘Haven’t eaten.’

‘You can have this chicken sandwich, if you’d like,’ Juliet said, lifting it up in its paper packaging.

‘Ah, great.’ She passed it to Davey, who handed it to Francie, who gave it to Lenny. He took a bite. ‘Lovely.’

‘The trick is to ask them to open it and add more mayo and black pepper,’ Juliet said. Davey nodded proudly.

Jacinta appeared with a plastic bowl of meds. ‘I don’t want to be a party-pooper, but there’s a lot of people in here.’

‘Don’t worry, I have to head out anyway,’ Francie said. ‘Promised I’d visit the Claw before it gets too late.’

Rabbit laughed. ‘The Claw. That poor bastard has a nickname already.’

Francie leaned down to kiss her forehead. ‘Get better soon, Rabbit,’ he said, knowing full well that that wasn’t possible.

‘I will,’ she lied, to him and to herself.

Juliet grinned at him and shook his hand when he offered it to her.

‘Just like your ma.’ For a second his face crumpled.

Davey jumped up. ‘I’ll walk you out.’

‘Jay will be in on Sunday,’ Francie said, and Rabbit nodded.

Rabbit focused on Jacinta. ‘No pain meds for a while.’

‘Are you sure? You’ve had a lot of breakthrough pain today.’

‘I know, but I’m OK, and it makes me so tired.’

‘All right. I’ll be outside.’

She was gone when Molly turned to her daughter. ‘What breakthrough pain?’

‘It’s nothing, Ma,’ Rabbit said. ‘Juliet, tell your nan about the Claw.’

Juliet laughed. ‘Some eejit got his hand chopped off by a samurai sword at Francie’s work.’

‘That’s like Gerry Foster,’ Molly said.

‘How is it like Gerry Foster?’ Jack asked.

‘He got skewered on a gate.’

‘Which is totally different,’ Rabbit said.

‘He lost a fucking kidney, didn’t he?’ Molly said.

Jack grumbled to himself while Juliet and Rabbit shared a knowing smile.

‘Lector Kenny bit off a piece of his own tongue and swallowed it,’ Lenny said.

‘Was his real name Lector?’

‘Nah, it was Kenneth.’

‘Kenneth Kenny?’ Juliet said.

‘His ma was deranged.’

‘Speaking of which, did you hear about Sheila B?’ Molly asked.

It had been such a good visit and Rabbit tried her best to stay awake, but sleep claimed her before Molly said any more.

Davey and Francie had a smoke outside the hospice.

‘Thought you were off these,’ Francie said.

‘I was.’

‘Fair enough.’

The rain was still pouring down and rattling the plastic sheeting they were standing under.

‘She doesn’t look good, DB.’

‘No.’

‘You’ve got to watch out for your parents.’

‘I will.’

‘This will kill them, Davey.’

‘I know. I will.’

‘And Juliet?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Well, yous had better start working it out.’ Francie stubbed out his cigarette.

‘Don’t bury Rabbit before she’s dead,’ Davey said.

‘Don’t shove your head up your arse,’ Francie riposted. ‘Rabbit was the baby but she took care of her ma and da and she took care of you. She can’t do it any more, so it’s time to step up.’ He put a hand on Davey’s shoulder. ‘I’m here for you, but if you let her down, I’ll batter you.’ He slapped Davey’s face gently, and Davey nodded. His friend was right.