Free The Bright One by Elvi Rhodes

love?’
    â€˜Of course.’
    In spite of Molly’s fears, they were in plenty of time for the train, which was a local one. Further down the line they would have to change on to the Dublin line.
    â€˜Quick, children!’ Molly said. ‘Get in! This compartment will do.’
    â€˜There’s no hurry at all, at all,’ James said. ‘They’ve got stuff to unload and things to take on. Will you look around, you’re the only one in a rush!’
    It was true. The engine driver had jumped down and was having a smoke. The platform was strewn with things waiting to be loaded while a porter, and they all knew him to be Terry Fenton, was leisurely offloading some of the contents of the guard’s van. Boxes, hens in crates, a mewing cat in a basket, several wooden boxes labelled for Luke O’Reilly’s shop, followed by a roll of linoleum, a tin trunk, a sack of letters and various parcels all had to be lifted onto the platform before Terry Fenton could think of dealing with the items waiting to go on.
    â€˜This is awful,’ Moira complained. ‘How much longer must we wait?’
    They were seated in the compartment now, James standing by the open door.
    â€˜What’s the rush?’ he said. ‘Dublin won’t go away before you get there. Anyway, Kilbally’s only one station. You’ll go through all this at the other stations.’
    â€˜Dada knows,’ Breda said. ‘Didn’t he once go to Dublin?’
    â€˜And right now,’ he said, ‘I’m going home to get some sleep. Mind you look after Mammy and the girls, Kieran.’
    â€˜Sure I will,’ Kieran promised.
    It was true what James had said. At almost every station they had the same delays, but it didn’t seem to matter now. They were on their way and everything was part of the excitement. Breda, from her seat by the window, and sitting opposite to her mother, watched the landscape change from the cliffs and dramatic coastline of Kilbally to the low-lying plain of the middle of Ireland, with its emerald green grassland, its horses, its lakes and, in parts, its acres and acres of dark brown peatland.
    â€˜When I was at school,’ Molly said, ‘wasn’t I taught that Ireland was shaped like a saucer, high around the outside and low and flat in the centre, and because of that, wet in the middle? That’s why it’s so green.’
    â€˜Oh, they still teach that stuff!’ Moira said.
    The first thing they did on leaving the train in Dublin was to look carefully around the station in the hope of seeing Kathleen. It would be so much easier to find the convent if she was there to guide them. It was a forlorn hope; she had told them that more than likely she wouldn’t be able to come, and certainly there was no sign of her.
    â€˜Oh dear!’ Molly said. ‘I did so hope—’
    â€˜It’s all right, Mammy,’ Kieran broke in. ‘She sent us the map, and clear instructions. I’ll have no difficulty in finding the way.’
    â€˜Well, I’m glad you’re with us, Kieran,’ Molly said. ‘I can’t follow maps. I’d be lost in no time at all.’ She took hold tightly of Breda and Moira on either hand and prepared to follow him.
    What struck them with force when they emerged from the station onto the street was the vast number of people on the pavement and the amount of traffic on the wide road; buses, trucks, horse-drawn vehicles, cars, though anyone who knew Dublin would have vouched for it that there weren’t as many cars these days. Petrol rationing had seen to that. Everything and everybody moved faster than they had ever before seen anything move. They stood there, gazing around them in bewilderment.
    â€˜It’s far worse than Ennis on market day!’ Molly said.
    â€˜Oh Mammy, of course it is!’ Moira said impatiently. ‘This is Dublin, not the back of beyond.’
    â€˜I’ll