Benson at Leamy’s School.
In the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Toast.
Be going
in a minute, son.
No, that’s Eugene’s coffin.
I’ll tell mam you put your pint
on Eugene’s coffin.
– Have another pint, mister.
– Will you wait outside a few minutes?
– No!
– Jesus, if that was my son,
I’d kick his arse
from here to County Kerry.
I mean, if a man can’t have a pint
on the day of a funeral,
what use
is living at all?
I couldn’t have spent
another minute in that room.
I saw me little twins
morning, noon and night.
If we hadn’t have moved,
I’d have gone out of my mind...
and ended up
in the lunatic asylum.
I’m sorry, but it was
only five months ago.
And before that,
I lost my little girl in New York.
And I’ve the two boys here
and I’ve one on the way.
Ah, now, missus,
sit down, will you?
Thanks.
That’s a nice coat
you’re wearing.
It was given to me
by my cousin in Brooklyn. It’s not new.
McCourt. That’s not
a Limerick name.
Where’d you get
a name like that?
My husband, sir.
He’s from the North.
Why don’t you go to Belfast and see
what they can do for you up there?
I don’t know, sir.
Of course you don’t know.
There’s great ignorance
in the world.
I said there’s a great deal
of ignorance in the world.
And what do you want
from us?
There isn’t a stick of furniture
in the new place.
– Does your husband have a job?
– No, sir, he’s on the dole.
We’ll give you a docket
for a table, two chairs and two beds.
You can take it to the second hand
furniture shop in Irish town.
Excuse me, sir,
but will the beds be second hand?
Of course they will.
I’m worried about sleeping
in beds people might have died in.
Especially if they died
of the consumption.
Beggars can’t be choosers,
Mrs. McCourt.
Thanks.
I should say
it’s a good fire.
Could it be true
Hey, hey,
that’s my wife.
Someone like you
Who’s he?
That, Francis,
is Pope Leo XIII,
and he was a great friend
of the working man.
You know, I found this in an alley
in Brooklyn in someone’s rubbish.
No doubt thrown away by some eejit
that had no time for the working man.
Ugh, what’s that stink?
Hey, what are you doing?
Why are you emptying your bucket
in our lavatory?
Your lavatory, mister? Ah, no.
I think you’re mistaken there.
This here is the lavatory
for the whole lane, it is.
The buckets of 11 families
get flushed down here every day.
And it gets fairly powerful here
in the warm weather.
So powerful you’ll be
calling for a gas mask.
So, good night to you.
Missus.
I hope you’ll be happy
in the house.
Thanks very much.
And there was this big man,
and he came along and he met this woman,
and he grew a big huge beard
all over her face,
and then they got married.
Have we moved again,
Frankie?
No, they wouldn’t go
without the Pope.
Oh, Jesus, look at the state of youse.
Couple of drowning rats.
Get your wet clothes off,
dry yourself by the fire,
and say hello
to your brother Michael.
He’s fatter
than the Baby Jesus.
He’s the spitting image of your dead
little sister...
with the lovely blue eyes
and the gorgeous eyebrows.
Why are we
all upstairs?
The downstairs is full of the damp.
It’s killing us one by one.
That lavatory could kill us
with every class of disease.
It was the Limerick damp
that killed your wee brothers.
We’ll be dry up here for now.
We’ll go downstairs for the spring.
It’s like going away on holiday
to a nice, warm, foreign place,
like-- like Italy.
– Italy?
– Aye, we could be in Sorrento.
Calcutta, more like.
– What about the Pope?
– He can stay downstairs in Ireland.
Will you look at the state
of those children’s shoes?
I can’t go to the St. Vincent’s
for boots.
I’m too weak to be standing
in the queue.
There was a woman who had triplets
waiting forever in that queue.
Have you no pride, Angela,
begging like that?
What would you do,
Mr. Grand Manner?
You’d let them go barefoot
before you got off your arse,
useless