Bridget
Violesang was 100 times better than Donegal, wasn't it now? It was so young and alive and vibrant. There were people and commotion and places to shop! Well, I didn't have the money to waste, but the shops were there and that's what counts, isn't it?
Colum called Patrick of course, but Patrick was a first rate actor and lied easily. That held Colum off a little longer. In the meantime, I worked on Patrick. He had a job of some sort when he wasn't in school, and it certainly wasn't filing papers. It was something dangerous. What girl wouldn't be curious? It was a month, at best, before he finally caved in and let me tag along with him on one of his jobs. I don't know what he was so worried about. It was easy, wasn't it? He started to let me help then. And why wouldn't he? Wasn't I even better than him at his job?
It was about then that Colum called him again. He yelled at Patrick and I imagine Patrick yelled back and when they tired of that, Patrick came to my apartment and yelled at me. Gobshite. And then didn't I lose my temper altogether and call to yell at Colum? If I had been thinking, I would have known better. But I wasn't, was I? And not a month later, just when I was getting the hang of the business and going on my own jobs without that eejit Patrick, I came home and who do you think was sitting in my apartment but my eejit brother?
"How did you get here?" I asked.
"I caught a plane and then a cab," he said. I eyed him stonily and he finally went on. "And Uncle Dermot's friends helped me find you."
It was that eejit Patrick, wasn't it?
"Well, I won't be going back with you," I said, crossing my arms stubbornly.
He frowned at me. "You can't stay here on your own."
"You're not staying with me!"
He must have known a fight was coming because he sighed then. "Dermot and I thought fo a compromise." I glared at him to let him know just what I thought of any compromise, but he just kept talking. "You can stay here if you find an adult to live with. There will be none of this living on your own. Find someone to look after you and a school to go to and you can stay. Do you understand?"
"I'm not an eejit." I said testily. But I knew not to throw the offer away because of my own stupid pride. He was giving me permission to stay here, and he couldn't very well tell what I was doing with myself when he was in Ireland, could he? All I had to do was find someone who would let me live with them. That couldn't be hard, could it? "Okay, I will then."
"Good." He nodded, not looking any more pleased with the compromise than I did. "You've got one week then. Mind if I stay on your couch? I'll have to meet whoever it is you find, so I'll have to be staying here until then, won't I?"