Don’t curse!
– Will you leave the poor child alone?
I wondered how many more babies...
the angels would leave
on the stairs.
Someone else
to share my dinner with.
Ow. What did you
do that for?
Don’t laugh.
Now you know what it feels like.
At least my grandpa in the North...
sent us five pounds
for the baby Alphie.
All right. You go home and tell your
mother I’ll be back in a few minutes.
You’re not to go
to the pub, Da.
Mom said you’re
to bring home the money.
– You’re not to drink the pint.
– Now listen.
– You go home to your mother now.
– Da.
Give us the money.
That money is for the new baby.
Da!
Please, Da.
Go home!
Will you come in here,
Frankie?
I want you to go down
to South’s Pub,
and I want you to stand
in the middle of the pub...
and tell every man that your father
is drinking the money for the baby.
You’re to tell the world there’s not
a scrap of food in the house.
There’s not a lump of coal
for the fire.
There’s not even a drop of milk
for the baby’s bottle.
Oh, come on.
And I pray that the world
would in peace let me be
And the green glens
of Antrim
Are welcoming me
And if you only knew
How the light of the moon
My heart is banging
away, and all I can think of doing...
is giving him a good kick
in the leg and running away.
– But I don’t.
– You’d imagine a picture
Because I remember all the nice times
he sat me by the fire...
and told me his stories of Cuchulain,
Roosevelt and De Valera.
Later, he’ll be home singing and
offering us a penny to die for Ireland.
It’ll be different now.
Because it’s bad enough
to drink the dole or the wages,
but a man who drinks the money for
a new baby has gone beyond the beyonds.
Mam.
I couldn’t find him.
Go to bed, Frankie.
With Confirmation,
you will become
true soldiers of the Church.
That entitles you
to die a martyr...
in the event we’re invaded
by Protestants...
or Mohammedans
or any other class of heathen.
You will have the gifts...
of the Holy Ghost.
wisdom...
understanding,
counsel.
What is the Third Station
of the Cross, my child?
When Jesus falls
for the first time.
What is the Fourth Commandment,
my child?
Honor thy father
and thy mother.
Are you all right, Frankie?
Father Gorey
is touching me with oil and praying,
and that means
I’m going to die.
But I don’t care.
And then Dr. Campbell
came in and held my hand.
It was then that I knew
I was going to get better.
Because a doctor
would never fart...
in the presence
of a dying boy.
They gave me a whole new body
full of blood.
Sister Rita said it came from
a soldier at Sarsfield Barracks.
Oh, son.
You’re a grand old soldier.
What’s wrong with me?
You’ve had the typhoid.
Don’t go.
Hey, you’re
a big boy now.
And don’t forget you got
soldier’s blood in you.
You’re over
the worst of it.
Soon be home
to Sorrento.
That was the first
time my dad ever kissed me.
I felt so happy I could have floated
out of the bed.
Everyday, I couldn’twait
for the doctors and nurses...
to leave me alone so that
I could read my books.
I loved having
a lavatory of my own...
where I could read
for hours and hours.
“To die, to sleep.
To sleep, perchance to dream.
Aye, there’s the rub.”
Frankie, are you dead?
Isn’t it grand, Seamus?
It’s Shakespeare.
I loved the Shakespeare.
It was like having jewels in your mouth
when you said the words.
“I do believe, induced
by potent circumstances,
that thou art mine enemy.”
“I do believe, induced
by potent circumstances,
that thou art mine enemy.”
“I do believe, induced
by potent circumstances,
that thou art mine enemy.”
– Bye! Bye!
– There’s Frankie.
But I missed me mom
and dad and Malachy...
and little Michael
and the baby Alphie-- God knows why.
– Frankie, will you hurry up now?
– Bye.
It was a happy day
when I finally went home.
– Hello, Frankie.
– Welcome home, Frankie.
You’re a grand soldier,
Frankie.
A credit to your
mother and father.
Welcome