We never do anything anymore. When Mammy was alive we always had family fun on the weekend. We used to go swimming on Saturdays — not anymore. If it was nice on Sundays we went for a hike, Daddy and Mammy and Conor and Sally and Sparkler and me. Actually I never really liked the hikes, but the funny thing is I really miss them now. All we ever do in our house now is watch television and fight and listen to very loud music while Conor goes crazy on the drums. But this Sunday is going to be different. Aunt L. and Uncle Boris and wee Billy have come all the way from Belfast to Granny’s house for the weekend to celebrate wee Billy’s first birthday, and all my aunts and their husbands and my cousins will be there for a big knees-up, says Granny (whatever a “knees-up” is). We almost didn’t go because Dad said he didn’t feel ready for a party quite yet, but first Granny and then Aunt L. got on the phone to him and told him what for! “You owe it to those poor children to put a brave face on things and start living again,”
