To Keep a Bird Singing Read online

  Kevin Doyle was born and brought up in Cork. He holds a Masters in Chemistry from NUI (Cork), and worked for a number of years in the chemical industrial sector in Ireland and the United States. He has been published in many literary journals, including the Stinging Fly, the Cork Review, Southwords and the Cúirt Journal. He has been shortlisted for a number of awards, including the Hennessy Literary Awards and the Seán Ó Faoláin Prize, and has won the Tipperary Short Story Award and the Michael McLaverty Short Story Award. He has written extensively about Irish and radical politics and, with Spark Deeley, he wrote the award-winning children’s picture book, The Worms that Saved the World. To Keep a Bird Singing is his first novel.

  KEVIN DOYLE

  To Keep A Bird Singing

  First published in 2018 by Blackstaff Press

  an imprint of Colourpoint Creative Ltd Colourpoint House,

  Jubilee Business Park, 21 Jubilee Road,

  Newtownards, BT23 4YH

  With the assistance of The Arts Council of Northern Ireland

  © Text, Kevin Doyle, 2018

  Cover design: Two Associates

  All Rights Reserved

  Kevin Doyle has asserted his rights under the Copyright, Design and

  Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

  Produced by Blackstaff Press

  Converted by Geniies IT & Services Private Limited

  A CIP catalogue for this book is available from the British Library

  ePub ISBN 978-1-78073-184-1

  Mobi ISBN 978-1-78073-185-8

  www.blackstaffpress.com

  For Mary Favier

  Prologue

  Albert Donnelly stood in his garden. The sun was shining and he could hear birdsong – blackbirds and thrushes whistled and chirped. It was June and everything was lush. At the end of the garden the river flowed. There had been rain over the weekend and the current was strong. On the opposite bank was a pair of swans. They were under a willow. Sometimes they visited, crossing to peck on his lawn and borders. Occasionally they wandered as far as the rose beds. Albert’s brother, Robert, liked swans. They were the only thing that excited him any more.

  Turning from the view, Albert looked for Robert. He was parked in his chair on the terrace, overlooking the garden. Their house stood fifty or so feet higher up than the river and provided a vantage point. Cork’s main public space, Fitzgerald Park, was across the river; the grey, stone crenellations of University College were beyond that, and the spire of the Protestant cathedral, St Fin Barre’s, was there in the distance.

  Albert waved. Robert was five years older and was dressed plainly in a black polo neck and light-grey slacks. There was no response. Albert waved again and then wondered what Robert looked at all the time. What did he see now? It wasn’t clear.

  The house was called Llanes. Sometimes people asked why, but Albert wouldn’t reveal the origin of the name. A family secret, he claimed. Originally the house was a retirement home for army officers, going back to the British times. After independence it came under the jurisdiction of the Irish army and, by and by, an officers’ association had taken possession of it. It was in private hands until Albert acquired it in ’70.

  There were eight rooms upstairs; downstairs, a drawing room, a library and a private cinema, as well as the modernised kitchen. Below were floors that had once acted as the service area for the retirement home. There was also an outdoor swimming pool – covered over now. An ingenious construction. Fed by the nearby river and controlled by a sluice mechanism, it mimicked one of Cork’s famed public works – the outdoor baths on the Straight Road. It was thirty-five feet in length and twenty wide with a plunge pool for diving at the side. Albert couldn’t remember now why he had covered it over. Was it the drudgery of maintenance or the desire to have a bigger garden?

  His thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of the phone. Before mobiles the landline had been the only phone for the house. Sometimes it had been difficult to hear it if he was outside or down by the river, so he’d had a ringer bell installed on the outside of the house, on the ivy-covered gable.

  He walked up the garden and then climbed the steps to the terrace. There was a rest area halfway up, a stone seat opposite a fountain. He paused beside it. A robin was sitting on the fountain lip. ‘The grace and beauty of God to you,’ Albert said. Twenty-six steps to go. He felt fit and able for them. A little breathless but that was natural at his age. He was seventy-two and in good shape really. Ill health had not visited him like it had Robert.

  When he reached the terrace he went directly to his brother. ‘Did you hear the phone, Robert?’ he asked. ‘Well, I heard it. All the way down there I heard it. I waved, did you see me? You must have.’

  There was no response. Albert bent down. For a second he scrutinised the freckles on Robert’s nose. The brown dots had faded and spread out; they were no longer distinct. As a boy he had examined those freckles closely, often when Robert was asleep. Tony, their brother, had had plenty of them too. But Albert had none, not one single freckle, and he had never liked that about himself. He whispered, ‘The devotion of Christ and the love of Christ is the reward. Robert, you will sit at His right hand.’

  There was no response again. Albert took his brother’s veiny hand and squeezed it. At one time Robert was the most senior police officer in Cork city. He had risen to the rank of chief superintendent. Now what was he? Albert didn’t understand his brother’s illness. He didn’t like it either. He continued squeezing the hand until he saw pain in his brother’s eyes. He squeezed harder then and tears formed. He whispered, ‘We are chosen to sit at His right hand.’

  Albert’s suitcase was still in the hall. Standing beside it was a Romanian cross packaged in a protective cardboard sleeve. Albert had transported it from Bucharest and what an ordeal that was. It was purchased legally, nothing to do with that. No, it was the shape. Carrying a cross, even a small one, at his age was not easy.

  He looked around. He couldn’t remember why he had come inside. Was there something he had to do? He looked back in the direction that he had come from. Robert was still outside. Albert had shifted him closer to the French windows and faced him into the wall. His brother had to make an effort and right now he wasn’t making any.

  Albert stared. He became irritated and pinched his wrist. Why had he come inside? It wasn’t the swans. What had the swans to do with inside? He saw a loaf of fresh bread on the counter and the newspaper beside it. That was it, now he remembered.

  He looked at the phone display. It registered one call; the number was unavailable. Albert dialled the voicemail. There was a single short message: ‘Brian Boru is back.’

  Punk

  1

  In the charity shop people stopped to look; Noelie Sullivan too. The Ireland Hearse was passing. It had been appearing on the streets of Cork for a number of days. Instead of a coffin, it carried a floral wreath that spelled I-R-E-L-A-N-D in green, white and gold. Behind the hearse, a sole mourner followed. She was tall, dark haired and she held a shawl around her head and shoulders. People who knew about these things said she represented Cathleen Ní Houlihán, the mythical figure used to portray Ireland in literature. Behind her, a small float trundled along supporting a flock of expertly painted cardboard sheep. Salvos of ‘baaaa, baaaa’ interspersed with Chopin’s Funeral March could be heard intermittently. In the front of the hearse, a large plump man puffed grandly on a cigar, regaling the onlookers with, ‘Everything’s fine. Business as usual for me. Austerity is good for you.’

  The agitprop had caused a stir. There had been an argument on local radio and a city councillor had even suggested using an obscure by-law, to do with the misuse of hearses, to legally remove the procession
from the city’s streets. He claimed the hearse was a provocation and alleged that it demeaned the people of Cork, whom he pointed out were not sheep. Inside the charity shop, however, bargain hunters hurried for a view. In the rush, a woman lost her balance and fell awkwardly against a stack of boxes. A collection of LPs spewed across the linoleum. One record, by eighties punk band Crass, entitled Penis Envy, slid as far as the feet of a small boy who picked it up. The album cover depicted the oversized face of a sex doll. His horrified mother quickly took it from him and hurried to the till, where Noelie Sullivan was haggling with Mrs MacCarthaigh over the price of a copy of Beevor’s Stalingrad.

  ‘I’m surprised to see this filth on sale in here,’ the mother said.

  Mrs MacCarthaigh, in her sixties, small of stature and with white hair, took the LP and examined it. She was certain she had never seen anything like it before. ‘Good God,’ she declared, and put the album in the bin. Noelie Sullivan reached down and retrieved it.

  Penis Envy by Crass. Released in London on 1 August 1981. Noelie reckoned that maybe three or four copies of the LP – at most – had ever made it across the Irish Sea to Cork. The punk scene in the city was small back in the early eighties, and the political punk scene was even smaller. So to see the album now after all this time, well, that was a surprise.

  He studied it. In good condition, very good actually. He heard Mrs MacCarthaigh say, ‘If you’re interested, there’s more over there on the floor.’ He turned. Chopin’s Funeral March was fading and the Ireland Hearse was moving on; the shop returned to normal duties. He saw the pile of LPs.

  ‘I’ll be back for the book.’

  Gathering the records, he took them to where the light was better. Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols happened to be on top; that unmistakable yellow sleeve, the punk typeface. The Slits by The Slits was under it. But it was only when Noelie saw Inflammable Material that he paused. Inflammable was the first album by the Irish punk outfit Stiff Little Fingers. It was a famous LP, bursting out of Belfast in the late seventies. It was the sticker, though, that caught his attention. Slapped on the top right-hand corner of the black sleeve, the circular label was supposed to make the Fingers more commercially palatable at a time when punk wasn’t. It should’ve read ‘Includes the Hit Single “Alternative Ulster”’ but now there was only: ‘Inclu it Single “Alternat ster”’. A wedge was missing. Torn out. Some people didn’t like the stickers and Noelie had been one of those – back then. Too commercial. Smacked of marketing. Fuck marketing, right, we’re punks … But in this case the job had only been half done. Most of the irritating sticker remained and now it stared at Noelie. Impossible, he concluded.

  Bargaining Mrs MacCarthaigh hard, he beat her down to €1 an LP and left twenty minutes later with a treasure trove of eighty-seven albums. Stalingrad he got for €3 – a neat €90 all in. He was robbing her he knew, but the records, he was sure, were his. They had vanished from his flat twenty-six years earlier, in April of 1984 to be precise. The theft marked the beginning of a run of bad luck for Noelie.

  His LP player was nothing fancy. Designed for converting vinyl to MP3 format, it played decent nonetheless. He fixed up the plugs at the rear of his amp and checked the needle for fluff. He wondered what to play first and decided on ‘Ready, Steady, Go’ by Generation X. He’d always liked them. Placing the LP on the turntable he lifted the needle onto song 4, side A. The punk anthem took off.

  Noelie turned the volume as high as it would go. His neighbour downstairs was at work. He went to the window, lifted the sash and looked out. Douglas Street was long and narrow. It was often choked with traffic, like now. Generation X continued at full pelt in the background.

  The Rats album had sealed the matter. In 1978, Bob Geldof and Co. came to Cork to sign copies of the band’s second release, A Tonic For The Troops. Noelie waited with his buddies one morning for Geldof to show. This was well before ‘Sir Bob’ and ‘Feed the World’. Geldof was still a raw punk, an upstart, and liable to say anything. He was one of Noelie’s heroes. Geldof insisted on signing Noelie’s copy of A Tonic on the vinyl’s label – not on the record cover as was convention. Bob Geldof and The Boomtown Rats, Cork, 1978. In the charity shop, when Noelie saw the same scrawl on the label, any lingering doubts about the origins of the collection vanished.

  He selected Signing Off next, the UB40 album with the reproduction of a UK benefit form on its cover. Taking the vinyl from its sleeve he noticed an edge of paper jutting out. He tried to remove it but it was attached in some way. Slipping his hand inside he worked it free. It was a page from a book, Garrison’s Survey of Notable Irish Historical Figures. There was a biographical sketch of Brian Boru, regarded as the last High King of Ireland, and beneath that a graphic of the king in his regalia. Turning the page over, Noelie saw a typed list:

  Brian Boru File

  Document x 7

  Photograph x 5

  Double-8 clip x 1

  He looked at the front again and then at the list once more. Putting it aside he placed the UB40 record on the turntable and selected ‘Food For Thought’. The reggae number opened with a long sax introduction. He had seen UB40 live in their heyday. Lots of the big bands played Cork back then – The Damned, The Undertones, The Stranglers, Siouxsie Sioux. He was at college at the height of the punk era, an undergraduate first and then a postgraduate. For much of that time he had also worked part-time as a kitchen help, spending all his money on gigs and records. A couple of times he’d even travelled over to London to the Hammersmith Palais and the Roundhouse.

  A long time ago now, he realised, and strange to be reminded of it all again, all that energy, the heady mix of music and politics. Life was not as straightforward any more.

  2

  There were three on the Portakabin roof and they squabbled as magpies do. What was it? One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl and four for a …

  Noelie flapped his hands at the birds and they hopped across the container defiantly, their talons flicking off the metal roof. A plastic sign announced ‘Dineen Slate and Tile. Office’. The door was open but there was no one inside – just a desk, a chair on wheels and a halogen heater.

  Next to the Portakabin there was a large doorless shed housing various types of slates arranged on pallets. Patio slabs too – Nepal Sky, Ochre Sand, Connemara Grey and Cork Red. Noelie examined one and wondered if it really was a local stone or just a marketing ploy.

  A dog barked somewhere. At the rear of the yard he saw a house on the other side of a low dividing hedge – a bungalow, whitewashed a long time ago. Noelie found a gap and went through. A man in a navy boiler suit stood beside a red Hiace.

  ‘Hey?’ Noelie called.

  The man started to walk towards Noelie. He was sixty and had a limp. In his left hand he held a ratchet.

  ‘Just wondering about something is all.’

  ‘We’re closed.’

  ‘Not slates or tiles, don’t worry.’

  ‘I said I’m closed.’

  ‘Ajax Dineen?’ asked Noelie.

  ‘What’s it to you?’

  ‘Some stuff arrived into the charity shop on Castle Street. Mrs MacCarthaigh, the lady in there, said you were the man brought it in. Bits of furniture and things. But there were records too, punk records.’

  ‘So?’

  ‘So you don’t look like the sort of man that’d be into punk.’

  Dineen was mostly bald and what hair he had was white and plastered to his pate. He scrutinised his visitor.

  ‘My place was broken into way back,’ explained Noelie. ‘I won’t go into it but a couple of things were taken. Some cash, an antique clock and those punk records of mine. At the time they were my pride and joy …’

  ‘Don’t know anything about that.’

  Noelie put up a hand. ‘No sweat. I’m not looking to cause trouble, I’m just curious. How did you come to have the records like?’

  Ajax put the ratchet into his trouser-leg pocket. His expres
sion softened. ‘How you so sure they’re yours?’

  Noelie explained about Bob Geldof. He also mentioned reporting the theft to the gardaí at the time. ‘I have a copy of the report still. All eighty-seven records are listed on it. It’s a perfect match.’

  Ajax considered this and then nodded over Noelie’s shoulder. The slate-and-tile yard was on the edge of the city, off the Old Mallow Road. Further out was mostly countryside. Noelie looked.

  ‘See the hill yonder?’

  There was a rise about half a mile on. Crowning it was a Celtic Tiger mansion with huge dormer windows. Even from where they stood, Noelie could tell it was a large house.

  ‘That place has seven bedrooms, every one of them en suite. There’s a gym and a games room as well. Everything you care to mention, that fella up there has it. Wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a helipad as well.’ Ajax was standing beside Noelie now. ‘Where d’ye think the tiles and patio slabs for his mansion came from?’

  Noelie worked it out. ‘You haven’t been paid.’

  ‘In one. Every morning I see him driving his two daft sons into private school in town. Big Land Rover too. New vehicle, no less. But can he pay me what I’m owed? No siree. Not on your life. No money for poor old Ajax.’

  Noelie examined the mansion again. Did some former punk reside there? Surely not. ‘Did he have my records?’ Noelie asked.

  Ajax shook his head. ‘No, no. He’s just an example of what I’m dealing with. I inherited these three garages up Dillon’s Cross way. On a back lane there. An aunt of mine passed away. The garages were hers. We weren’t close but that’s not the point. Them records were in one of the garages. Along with a lot of other rubbish.’

  Ajax’s dog came over. He was one of those lovable rogues. He lay in front of his owner looking for a tickle but got half a shoe instead. Noelie obliged. He rubbed the dog along its belly.