adamant. He would prefer law.
Not the bar either, but being apprenticed as a solicitor. What he would really and truly like was to do this new degree course for Bachelor of Civil Law. It was like doing a B.A. but all in law subjects. He had discussed it with his father seriously and with all the information to hand. He could be apprenticed to his mother’s brother, surely. Uncle Kevin was in a big solicitors’ practice: they’d find a place for him. He timed his request well. Jack knew that his father’s head was buried as deeply in the world of rugby as the world of medicine. Jack was a shining schoolboy player. He was on the pitch for his school in the Senior Cup final. He scored two tries and converted one of them. His father was in no position to fight him. Anyway it would have been foolish to force someone into a life so demeaning. Dr. Foley shrugged. There were plenty of other boys to follow him down the good physician’s route to Fitzwilliam Square.
Jack’s mother, Lilly, sat at the far end of the table opposite her husband. Jack could never remember a breakfast when she had not presided over the cups of tea, the bowls ofcornflakes, the slices of grilled bacon and half tomato which was the start to the day every morning except Fridays and in Lent.
His mother always looked as if she had dressed up for the occasion, which indeed she had. She wore a smart Gor-Ray skirt, always with either a twinset or a wool blouse. Her hair was always perfectly done, and there was a dusting of powder on her face as well as a slight touch of lipstick. When Jack had spent the night in friends’ houses after a match he realized that their mothers were not like his. Often women in dressing gowns with cigarettes put food on kitchen tables for them. The formal breakfast at eight o’clock in a high-ceilinged dining room with heavy mahogany sideboards and floor-to-ceiling windows wasn’t everyone else’s way of life.
But the Foley boys weren’t pampered either; their mother had seen to that. Each of them had a job to do in the mornings before they left for school. Jack had to fill the coal scuttles, Kevin to bring in the logs, Aengus had to roll yesterday’s papers into sausage-like shapes which would be used for lighting the fires later, Gerry, who was meant to be the animal lover, had to take Oswald for a run in the park, and see that there was something on the bird table in the garden, and Ronan had to open the big heavy curtains in the front rooms, take the milk in from the steps and place it in the big fridge, and brush whatever had to be brushed from the big granite steps leading up to the house. It could be cherry blossom petals, or autumn leaves or slush and snow.
When breakfast was finished the Foley boys placed their plates and cutlery neatly on the hatch into the kitchen before going to the big room where all their coats, boots, shoes, schoolbags and often rugby gear had to be left.
People marveled at the way Lilly Foley ran such an elegant home when she had five rugby-playing lads to deal with, and marveled even more that she had kept the handsome John Foley at her side. A man not thought to be easyto handle. Dr. Foley had had a wandering eye as a young man. Lilly had not been more beautiful than the other women who sought him, just more clever. She realized that he would want an easy uncomplicated life where everything ran smoothly and he was not troubled by domestic difficulties.
She had found Doreen at an early stage, and paid her over the odds to keep the house running smoothly. Lilly Foley never missed her weekly hairdo and manicure.
She seemed to regard her life with the handsome doctor as a game with rules. She kept an elegant attractive home. She put on not an ounce of fat, and always appeared well groomed at Golf Club or restaurant, as well as at home. This way he didn’t wander.
Today when the four younger boys left for school, Jack helped himself to another cup of tea.
“I’ll know what you two talk
Not the bar either, but being apprenticed as a solicitor. What he would really and truly like was to do this new degree course for Bachelor of Civil Law. It was like doing a B.A. but all in law subjects. He had discussed it with his father seriously and with all the information to hand. He could be apprenticed to his mother’s brother, surely. Uncle Kevin was in a big solicitors’ practice: they’d find a place for him. He timed his request well. Jack knew that his father’s head was buried as deeply in the world of rugby as the world of medicine. Jack was a shining schoolboy player. He was on the pitch for his school in the Senior Cup final. He scored two tries and converted one of them. His father was in no position to fight him. Anyway it would have been foolish to force someone into a life so demeaning. Dr. Foley shrugged. There were plenty of other boys to follow him down the good physician’s route to Fitzwilliam Square.
Jack’s mother, Lilly, sat at the far end of the table opposite her husband. Jack could never remember a breakfast when she had not presided over the cups of tea, the bowls ofcornflakes, the slices of grilled bacon and half tomato which was the start to the day every morning except Fridays and in Lent.
His mother always looked as if she had dressed up for the occasion, which indeed she had. She wore a smart Gor-Ray skirt, always with either a twinset or a wool blouse. Her hair was always perfectly done, and there was a dusting of powder on her face as well as a slight touch of lipstick. When Jack had spent the night in friends’ houses after a match he realized that their mothers were not like his. Often women in dressing gowns with cigarettes put food on kitchen tables for them. The formal breakfast at eight o’clock in a high-ceilinged dining room with heavy mahogany sideboards and floor-to-ceiling windows wasn’t everyone else’s way of life.
But the Foley boys weren’t pampered either; their mother had seen to that. Each of them had a job to do in the mornings before they left for school. Jack had to fill the coal scuttles, Kevin to bring in the logs, Aengus had to roll yesterday’s papers into sausage-like shapes which would be used for lighting the fires later, Gerry, who was meant to be the animal lover, had to take Oswald for a run in the park, and see that there was something on the bird table in the garden, and Ronan had to open the big heavy curtains in the front rooms, take the milk in from the steps and place it in the big fridge, and brush whatever had to be brushed from the big granite steps leading up to the house. It could be cherry blossom petals, or autumn leaves or slush and snow.
When breakfast was finished the Foley boys placed their plates and cutlery neatly on the hatch into the kitchen before going to the big room where all their coats, boots, shoes, schoolbags and often rugby gear had to be left.
People marveled at the way Lilly Foley ran such an elegant home when she had five rugby-playing lads to deal with, and marveled even more that she had kept the handsome John Foley at her side. A man not thought to be easyto handle. Dr. Foley had had a wandering eye as a young man. Lilly had not been more beautiful than the other women who sought him, just more clever. She realized that he would want an easy uncomplicated life where everything ran smoothly and he was not troubled by domestic difficulties.
She had found Doreen at an early stage, and paid her over the odds to keep the house running smoothly. Lilly Foley never missed her weekly hairdo and manicure.
She seemed to regard her life with the handsome doctor as a game with rules. She kept an elegant attractive home. She put on not an ounce of fat, and always appeared well groomed at Golf Club or restaurant, as well as at home. This way he didn’t wander.
Today when the four younger boys left for school, Jack helped himself to another cup of tea.
“I’ll know what you two talk
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