Free Boy Who Made It Rain by Brian Conaghan Page A

that he was some old grandad. I didn’t understand some of the garbage he spoke, not garbage but all that intellectual talk about books and the like. I couldn’t be bothered with it all. He must have thought I was interested, or he was trying to impress me. Young people do that. I did the same when I was young. Trying to impress boyfriends’ parents, or brothers and sisters. I was impressed at first but then it grated on me.
    No, there’s no way I’d have said anything to Rosie. Sure at that time she thought I was the beesneez, I didn’t want to spoil that. I suppose you could say that I was being a bit selfish, but I fought bloody hard to get Rosie on my side and, when I had her, there was no way I was going to let anything, or anyone, come between us.
    Yes, I stayed quiet. For my own sanity as much as anything else. Look, I couldn’t exactly go up to her and say that I don’t fully trust your boyfriend. Tell me a mother who does. She’d have only told me to bugger off and mind my own business. I would have done the very same if it was my own mother. I knew where she would have been coming from.
    How did I react? Jesus, how would you have expected me to react? When I found out the first thing I thought of was our Rosie and how she was feeling, that was my first thought, protecting my daughter. After I knew she was okay my mind switched to Clem. When I first heard of it all, I just knew he would have been right in the middle of it, I knew it, and I was right…I was right.
    Looking back it’s easy to see that he was lonely. A wee lonely boy. I feel for his parents, coming up here to make a new life and having to deal with what they’re having to deal with now. Poor people. We’re all dealing with it really, I suppose. One moment of madness and suddenly there’s a succession of victims, who’ll be dealing with it for a lifetime.
    A mother knows her daughter, and I know our Rosie would never have allowed herself to get caught up in something like that. No way. So I’m pretty confident the whole thing will get resolved as everything comes out in the open. I’m not too worried because they’ll find the truth sooner or later. You can’t keep anything a secret around here. The thing is I’m sick for our Rosie having to stay in that place and answer question after question, day after day. Even I’ve had to answer a load of questions, but that poor lassie has been repeating herself over and over again until she’s blue in the face.
    And where are his parents in all this? That’s what I want to know. No matter what happens, when they realise that our Rosie has had nothing to do with it, do you think the people connected to the others will forget about all this? No chance. And they’re a bad bad lot, I’ll tell you that. We will have no other option other than to move. I’ve already been on to the council about locating us to the other side of the city, or even to another city. I can’t be doing with all the looks and gossiping. To be honest I’ll be glad to get out of here. A new start for the both of us, that’s what’s needed.
    Maybe we’ll even go to England. Somewhere by the sea. That would be nice.

Rosie Farrell’s Period
    I was standing in the cubicle, the last one as you come in the door, it’s nearer the window and it’s the cleanest, by a mile, and I’m changing my tampon when I hear this faint sound of ‘Rosie.’ I said nothing. Then another whisper/shout of ‘Rosie.’ It was Clem. I froze. Then one more ‘Rosie.’ I mean can a girl not even change her bloody tampon in peace? This was too much. Next thing I know he was inside the toilets. The girls’ toilets. Inside. The flippin girls’ toilets. So I totally iced up. Statuesque. Like that game we played as weans. I could hear him checking the doors. I sat on the seat and put my feet up to the door, careful