Patrick Flemming was born the sixth and last child of Henry--the town rover--and Jenny--the one-time town beauty. With nine years between him and his oldest brother, he spent a great deal of time by himself. His father worked as long as possible and spent long evenings in pubs, while his mother remained in corners of the house and often drinking. At the age of two, his incredible natural genius became apparent when he taught himself how to read, though it remained unnoticed.
As he grew older, he spent a great deal of time playing down by the river that seperated their house from the O'Reilly farm. His only companions were his books and his older brother, Tomas, who was cheerful, curious and very opposite to Patrick's reserved nature. When Patrick was sent to school, Tomas looked out for him and in turn, Patrick quickly learned to help Tomas with schoolwork despite the age difference.
In school, his amazing intellegence did not go unnoticed. Teachers praised it and he went through school quickly, much to the annoyance of his older brothers and sisters--all except for Tomas. While the others became jealous and angry with him for being smarter, Tomas encouraged his brother and spent lots of time trying to find out just how much Patrick was capable of, even encouraging the young boy with higher math from grades far above him.
One day, while Patrick was playing by the river with his favorite book--Alice in Wonderland--he got a curiosity to see over the wall. Patrick was never still, always he enjoyed running and climbing on things--the opposite of Tomas who could sit perfectly still for hours to watch a bird or insect.
While he was climbing on the wall, he slipped and fell. He cut his arm on a peice of metal but the injury went ignored until two days later he fell very ill and could not get out of bed or scarcely walk, despite the punishment his mother and oldest sister heaped on him. Finally Tomas ran to O'Reilly's farm to call for a doctor and Patrick was taken to the hopsital where he was treated for infection. He recovered with only a long scar to show from it, but when he arrived home he got a beating for doing something so stupid.
Eventually he and Tomas went to work for O'Reilly and later moved to Dublin where Tomas became involved in the IRA and Patrick met Mr. Flynn, who helped him get through college. At college he met Elvie, who was young, pretty, and the sunshine of his life. They were married, lived in a small house and had a daughter. They lived happily together for five years until, on their daughter's fourth birthday, on the way home from a picnic, they were attacked by men in masks. Their daughter was shot point blank while Patrick was made to watch Elvie be tortured and then shot. Their car was then destroyed with both bodies in it, and he was left alone.
A broken man, he went home but was unable to sleep without Elvie there. He retreated instead into pubs and disappeared into the numbness of alcohol. |
