Michael Burke was born in Ballaghadereen in 1956 –one of ten children- moved to Galway in1974 – married Denise in 1979 -they have two sons in Scotland –at present they are living quietly /frugally in a two-storey house, with stairs, in the east of the city…although they have removed the wallpaper .
Remembering the future
She sits casually in the wheelchair
just beside the lifeguards hut
a dark cardigan hangs loosely
over her thin shoulders
and her gaunt neck
a floppy old pink wide brimmed hat
protecting her head
from the early afternoon sun
She defiantly chain smokes
a twenty pack of Player Blues
eagerly inhaling
the nicotine
the salt air
the rolling waves
and
the nonstop screams
of the younger children
as they run
in fake terror
from
collapsing waves
Nearby
she notices
a ridiculously young
teenage couple
clinging
desperately
to each other
oblivious to all that is going on around them
Meanwhile
the temperature and time
flashes consecutively
on the gable wall of O LOONEY`S BAR
at the end of the promenade
17° 15.23 17° 15.23 17° 15.23 17° 15.24
the temperature constant
time ticking away
as ever
She takes another deep breath
and drifts back
recalling
the first
night they spent together
the awkardness of their efforts
in the boarding house bedroom
and later
their early year
exploring each others worlds
ignoring the outside world
until it eventually caught up with them
She still remembers short pieces
he wrote for her
and slowly recalls her favourite
“Walk softly
on the freshly fallen snow
she cried
as he blundered his way
awkard as some country animal
through
tiny
flakes”.
As she lights her last cigarette of the afternoon
an air of calm satisfaction
descends on her
She smiles in anticipation
knowing that the nursing staff
have secretly planned
a surprise party
for her 87th birthday .
which
she knows
was
two years
ago.
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The Galway Review 