Summary: Chapter XV
On his fourteenth birthday, Frank goes to the post office
to start work, but learns that he is not scheduled to begin until
the following Monday. The people working at the office laugh at
Frank’s raggedy clothes. Aunt Aggie takes her nephew shopping for
new clothing, and gives him money to buy a cup of tea and a bun.
The next Monday, Frank starts work. He is a temporary
worker, which means that he receives less pay than the permanent
workers and cannot stay at his job beyond the age of sixteen. One
of the first telegrams he delivers is to Paddy Clohessy’s mother.
Her house, which used to be a pit of illness and filth, is now filled
with new furniture, bright clothes, and good food. She tells Frank
that one day after her husband, Dennis, was craving sheep’s tongue
and Paddy stole one for him, Dennis leaped up and said he refused
to die in bed. He went to England, as did Paddy, and both father
and son now send money to Mrs. Clohessy. She remarks that were it
not for Hitler, she would be dead.
Frank gets his wages, the first pound he has ever had.
When Michael tells Frank he is hungry and asks for a scrap of bread,
Frank takes Michael to get fish and chips and lemonade, then to
a movie, where they eat chocolate, and then out for tea and buns.
Afterward, Frank thinks that instead of buying food with his wages,
he should save each week so that he can go to America when he turns
twenty.
The only people who tip the telegram boys are widows,
the poor, and the wives of Protestant ministers. Rich people don’t
tip, and neither do nuns or priests. Some of the people to whom
Frank delivers telegrams are so old and sick that they cannot get
out of bed. Although it could cost him his job, Frank helps these
people by cashing their money orders and bringing them their groceries.
When school begins, Michael starts staying with Frank
in Ab Sheehan’s house. Angela comes to see her sons, and goes back
to Laman’s less and less frequently, until finally she has moved
into Ab’s altogether. Frank’s brother Malachy returns from Dublin
a few months later, and the family is reunited. Despite the fact
that Frank gives most of his paycheck to Angela, he still enjoys
work, since he gets to cycle in the countryside and dream about
the future.
One day, Frank delivers a telegram to the house of a
seventeen-year-old consumptive girl named Theresa Carmody. Frank
arrives soaked with rain, and bloodied from a fall on his bike.
Theresa tends to his injuries by putting iodine on his cuts, and
tells him to take his pants off to dry by the fire. He does, and
when she comes into the room, she leads him to the green couch,
where they make love. Theresa is bleeding, and thinking she is cut,
Frank pour iodine on her. Frank goes back to see Theresa for weeks,
and when Theresa is not too ill, they make love on the couch. One
day Frank is told to deliver the telegram to Theresa’s mother’s
workplace. When he does, he learns that Theresa is in the hospital.
The next week, Theresa dies. Frank worries that she is in hell because
they have had sexual relations outside of marriage, and he fasts
and prays and goes to Mass to beg for God to have mercy on Theresa’s
soul.
