Trespasses

Members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary put on a dance for the students at St. Dallan’s. One of the officers tells Cushla that he sometimes goes to her family’s pub, and he watches while Gerry dances with her. A year has passed since the start of the Ulster Workers’ Council strike. Looking back on those early days, Cushla recalls the virulent anti-Catholic sentiment that gripped her town, the scarcity of food and fuel, and the ways that regulars at her family’s pub treated her like a stranger. Michael comes into the pub for a drink, and Cushla pouts when she realizes that he won’t stay long because he’s going back to his wife. She teases him, “I was going to tell you a reason why I like you but I don’t want to seem too keen” (142). He asks if she has plans for the weekend.

Cushla travels to Dublin and checks into a hotel, where there is a room reserved for Mr. and Mrs. Lavery. She and Michael attend a performance of A Doll’s House at the Abbey Theater, where he introduces her to some, but not all, of the acquaintances they encounter. Back at their hotel, Michael asks Cushla, “Do you think we’re ridiculous?” (148). She admits that she does sometimes and can’t help but feel angry about it.

The next day, Cushla and Michael go shopping, see some places from his days as a student at Trinity College, and visit the National Gallery. When they return to the hotel, Michael asks her if she’s happy, and she honestly says she is. That evening, he takes her to a fine dining restaurant, and she burns “with want. That she might get away from her family, her mother, and be with this man” (153). He mentions an upcoming film by Stanley Kubrick, his interest in the movie’s use of chiaroscuro, and his desire to see it with her. While Michael pays their hotel bill at the end of their trip, Cushla purchases souvenirs for Davy from a religious shop. Michael and Cushla kiss each other goodbye and part ways on their return to town.

St. Dallan’s receives a bomb threat, and the teachers evacuate the students into the church. Slattery gives Cushla’s students pictures of Padre Pio and tells them to expect no leniency from him when they make their First Confessions on Saturday. Gerry asks her to attend a wedding with him, and she agrees. When she brings Davy home that afternoon, Betty informs her that someone at the school sent a social worker to check on her children. Cushla hurries back to school to confront the headmaster, who reported Betty as a way of punishing Cushla for intervening on behalf of the McGeowns.

When Cushla returns home, she finds her intoxicated mother in the bathtub bleeding from a cut on her eyelid. Gina says, “You left me…all by myself” (161). Cushla finds 30 empty gin bottles hidden around Gina’s room, the kitchen, and even the bathroom. Cushla calls the number for Michael’s flat, but there’s no answer. She calls Eamonn at the pub and tells him that their mother’s drinking has gotten out of hand, but he answers, “I’m up to my ballix here, wee girl” and hangs up on her (163). She drives to Michael’s home but leaves when she imagines his wife there. She pulls over, picks a piece of gorse, and smokes until nightfall. When she returns home, she makes her mother tea and worries about what will become of Betty and her children.

Cushla attends Penny’s art exhibition, and is concerned when Michael misses it. By the time he joins Cushla and his friends at Penny’s house, it’s nearly 10 o’clock at night. Michael had a trying day at work and drinks heavily, prompting Penny to observe to Cushla, “We are worried about him [...] Everything looks so clear to him and it’ll do him no good here. And he’s drinking too much” (171). Victor is his usual snide and prejudiced self toward Cushla, but she puts him in his place using her knowledge of the Irish language. Later that night, Michael gives her a key to his flat and asks her to stay the night with him even though he spends it working. When she awakens the next morning, she is alone in the bed, and Michael is drinking.

On the day of her students’ First Confession, Slattery tells Davy that he is a bad boy and makes him kneel until Tommy comes for him. Cushla gives Davy the missal and the rosary she bought for him in Dublin, but she can tell that she’s lost the McGeown family’s trust since they were reported to social services. The next day, Seamie and Betty attend Davy’s First Communion. During the party afterward, Gina gives Davy a five-pound note, and Cushla learns that Tommy has started a laboring job with his uncle.

Gina invites Gerry to dinner and is pleasantly surprised to find she approves of the young man. Michael calls Cushla to ask how her students’ First Communion went, but their conversation is cut short when Michael’s son asks for him. Gina thinks that Cushla and Gerry went to Dublin together, and he tells Cushla, “I don’t mind covering for you, but you need to let me know, so I don’t land you in it” (179). He asks her to be careful because something like this could cost her her job. Later that night, Tommy calls Cushla and says, “I told my mummy that you wouldn’t be that good to us and then report her” (181). Cushla shares Betty’s hope that Tommy might go back to school one day, so she promises to bring him some books.