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My Books
- Book List & Themes
- Strictly for Adults Novels >
-
Tales from Portlaw
>
- No Need to Look for Love
- 'The Love Quartet' >
-
The Priest's Calling Card
>
- Chapter One - The Irish Custom
- Chapter Two - Patrick Duffy's Family Background
- Chapter Three - Patrick Duffy Junior's Vocation to Priesthood
- Chapter Four - The first years of the priesthood
- Chapter Five - Father Patrick Duffy in Seattle
- Chapter Six - Father Patrick Duffy, Portlaw Priest
- Chapter Seven - Patrick Duffy Priest Power
- Chapter Eight - Patrick Duffy Groundless Gossip
- Chapter Nine - Monsignor Duffy of Portlaw
- Chapter Ten - The Portlaw Inheritance of Patrick Duffy
- Bigger and Better >
- The Oldest Woman in the World >
-
Sean and Sarah
>
- Chapter 1 - 'Return of the Prodigal Son'
- Chapter 2 - 'The early years of sweet innocence in Portlaw'
- Chapter 3 - 'The Separation'
- Chapter 4 - 'Separation and Betrayal'
- Chapter 5 - 'Portlaw to Manchester'
- Chapter 6 - 'Salford Choices'
- Chapter 7 - 'Life inside Prison'
- Chapter 8 - 'The Aylesbury Pilgrimage'
- Chapter 9 - Sean's interest in stone masonary'
- Chapter 10 - 'Sean's and Tony's Partnership'
- Chapter 11 - 'Return of the Prodigal Son'
- The Alternative Christmas Party >
-
The Life of Liam Lafferty
>
- Chapter One: ' Liam Lafferty is born'
- Chapter Two : 'The Baptism of Liam Lafferty'
- Chapter Three: 'The early years of Liam Lafferty'
- Chapter Four : Early Manhood
- Chapter Five : Ned's Secret Past
- Chapter Six : Courtship and Marriage
- Chapter Seven : Liam and Trish marry
- Chapter Eight : Farley meets Ned
- Chapter Nine : 'Ned comes clean to Farley'
- Chapter Ten : Tragedy hits the family
- Chapter Eleven : The future is brighter
-
The life and times of Joe Walsh
>
- Chapter One : 'The marriage of Margaret Mawd and Thomas Walsh’
- Chapter Two 'The birth of Joe Walsh'
- Chapter Three 'Marriage breakup and betrayal'
- Chapter Four: ' The Walsh family breakup'
- Chapter Five : ' Liverpool Lodgings'
- Chapter Six: ' Settled times are established and tested'
- Chapter Seven : 'Haworth is heaven is a place on earth'
- Chapter Eight: 'Coming out'
- Chapter Nine: Portlaw revenge
- Chapter Ten: ' The murder trial of Paddy Groggy'
- Chapter Eleven: 'New beginnings'
-
The Woman Who Hated Christmas
>
- Chapter One: 'The Christmas Enigma'
- Chapter Two: ' The Breakup of Beth's Family''
- Chapter Three: From Teenager to Adulthood.'
- Chapter Four: 'The Mills of West Yorkshire.'
- Chapter Five: 'Harrison Garner Showdown.'
- Chapter Six : 'The Christmas Dance'
- Chapter Seven : 'The ballot for Shop Steward.'
- Chapter Eight: ' Leaving the Mill'
- Chapter Ten: ' Beth buries her Ghosts'
- Chapter Eleven: Beth and Dermot start off married life in Galway.
- Chapter Twelve: The Twin Tragedy of Christmas, 1992.'
- Chapter Thirteen: 'The Christmas star returns'
- Chapter Fourteen: ' Beth's future in Portlaw'
-
The Last Dance
>
- Chapter One - ‘Nancy Swales becomes the Widow Swales’
- Chapter Two ‘The secret night life of Widow Swales’
- Chapter Three ‘Meeting Richard again’
- Chapter Four ‘Clancy’s Ballroom: March 1961’
- Chapter Five ‘The All Ireland Dancing Rounds’
- Chapter Six ‘James Mountford’
- Chapter Seven ‘The All Ireland Ballroom Latin American Dance Final.’
- Chapter Eight ‘The Final Arrives’
- Chapter Nine: 'Beth in Manchester.'
- 'Two Sisters' >
- Fourteen Days >
-
‘The Postman Always Knocks Twice’
>
- Author's Foreword
- Contents
- Chapter One
- Chapter Two
- Chapter Three
- Chapter Four
- Chapter Five
- Chapter Six
- Chapter Seven
- Chapter Eight
- Chapter Nine
- Chapter Ten
- Chapter Eleven
- Chapter Twelve
- Chapter Thirteen
- Chapter Fourteen
- Chapter Fifteen
- Chapter Sixteen
- Chapter Seventeen
- Chapter Eighteen
- Chapter Nineteen
- Chapter Twenty
- Chapter Twenty-One
- Chapter Twenty-Two
-
Celebrity Contacts
-
Thoughts and Musings
- Bereavement >
- Nature >
-
Bill's Personal Development
>
- What I'd like to be remembered for
- Second Chances
- Roots
- Holidays of Old
- Memorable Moments of Mine
- Cleckheaton Consecration
- Canadian Loves
- Mum's Wisdom
- 'Early life at my Grandparents'
- Family Holidays
- 'Mother /Child Bond'
- Childhood Pain
- The Death of Lady
- 'Soldiering On'
- 'Romantic Holidays'
- 'On the roof'
- Always wear clean shoes
- 'Family Tree'
- The importance of poise
- 'Growing up with grandparents'
- Love & Romance >
- Christian Thoughts, Acts and Words >
- My Wedding
- My Funeral
- Audio Downloads
- My Singing Videos
- Bill's Blog
- Contact Me
Chapter Four - ‘From Learning to Laundry to Love’
Due to family circumstances; namely, that of her parents and six younger siblings needing to eat regularly to survive, being the firstborn, Mary was called upon early in life to make the greatest of child sacrifices.
As the Lanigan family increased in membership annually, Lizzy was forever needing to rob Peter to pay Paul to make ends meet. Family provisions were only made possible because of the grocer’s willingness to allow Lizzy to pay for this week’s food supply out of her husband’s next week’s wages!
When Mary was barely 13-years-old, the decision was made to pull her out of school and send her to work in a laundry in Carrick-on-Suir. Her employers were told by her mother that she was 15 years of age, whilst Lizzy also lied to the Portlaw Headmaster. The Portlaw school Mary attended was informed that she would be living at her aunt’s house in Carrick-on-Suir soon and would therefore seek out attendance at a school over that way.
Being the oldest of the seven children, Mary had earning potential, whereas none of her younger siblings did. For the first time in her life, being her parents’ firstborn didn’t seem to offer Mary any advantage; it didn’t feel like anything ‘special’ to her.
What made the situation more aggravating for young Mary Lanigan was that her formal education was cut off during the same week she was due to sit some important examinations. These exams would determine which grade she was on target to achieve, as well as determining which school she would next progress to.
Mary’s mother asked to delay her job start until after she’d taken her examinations, but her potential employer told Lizzy Lanigan, ‘Jobs don’t grow on trees, and I can fill this post five times over before the day is out if young Mary here doesn’t want it. So, if she wants the job, she starts tomorrow at 7.15 am on the dot, or she doesn’t start at all, and I offer it to another! Which is it to be?”
Being one of the brightest scholars in her class, Mary Lanigan had every expectation of passing her school exam with flying colours. She was so disappointed by being taken out of school at such short notice that she negotiated the remainder of her teenage years in a state of permanent regret; forever wondering how far in life she might have progressed had her family not been poor and her father not been a weekend drunk.
Not surprisingly, Mary grew into adulthood carrying an enormous chip on her shoulders. Having been a bright pupil who’d been withdrawn from school prematurely, left her with an educational hang-up that she never quite lost.
As the Lanigan family increased in membership annually, Lizzy was forever needing to rob Peter to pay Paul to make ends meet. Family provisions were only made possible because of the grocer’s willingness to allow Lizzy to pay for this week’s food supply out of her husband’s next week’s wages!
When Mary was barely 13-years-old, the decision was made to pull her out of school and send her to work in a laundry in Carrick-on-Suir. Her employers were told by her mother that she was 15 years of age, whilst Lizzy also lied to the Portlaw Headmaster. The Portlaw school Mary attended was informed that she would be living at her aunt’s house in Carrick-on-Suir soon and would therefore seek out attendance at a school over that way.
Being the oldest of the seven children, Mary had earning potential, whereas none of her younger siblings did. For the first time in her life, being her parents’ firstborn didn’t seem to offer Mary any advantage; it didn’t feel like anything ‘special’ to her.
What made the situation more aggravating for young Mary Lanigan was that her formal education was cut off during the same week she was due to sit some important examinations. These exams would determine which grade she was on target to achieve, as well as determining which school she would next progress to.
Mary’s mother asked to delay her job start until after she’d taken her examinations, but her potential employer told Lizzy Lanigan, ‘Jobs don’t grow on trees, and I can fill this post five times over before the day is out if young Mary here doesn’t want it. So, if she wants the job, she starts tomorrow at 7.15 am on the dot, or she doesn’t start at all, and I offer it to another! Which is it to be?”
Being one of the brightest scholars in her class, Mary Lanigan had every expectation of passing her school exam with flying colours. She was so disappointed by being taken out of school at such short notice that she negotiated the remainder of her teenage years in a state of permanent regret; forever wondering how far in life she might have progressed had her family not been poor and her father not been a weekend drunk.
Not surprisingly, Mary grew into adulthood carrying an enormous chip on her shoulders. Having been a bright pupil who’d been withdrawn from school prematurely, left her with an educational hang-up that she never quite lost.
~~~~~
Working at the laundry with young Mary were three other girls, the owner, Grace Mulligan, and a delivery boy called George Munt. George’s job was to deliver finished laundry back to its owners by means of an old, white van that was constantly breaking down.
George was 19 years old and for the first two years of Mary’s time at the laundry, any attention he held was directed towards two of the other girls, Molly Magee, and Brigit Coley; both of whom were 18 years old, and in his opinion, ‘ripe for plucking’.
Mary had just settled into puberty and had hardly started growing breasts yet. She looked too scrawny to occupy the attention of any 19-year-old lad ‘on the pull’, let alone capture it!
Between Molly and Brigit, George fancied his chances best with Molly. Although she wasn’t quite as attractive as Brigit was, George wasn’t looking for commitment, however fetching it came wrapped. George didn’t want a steady girlfriend, and he most certainly wasn’t in the market for a wife!
All George wanted was a good time, and if he could spice up his boring job at the laundry, it would compensate in part for the poor wages he received.
Mary had only been working there for four months when it became obvious that during their daily lunch break, George and Molly would disappear and wouldn’t be seen again until a few minutes before work resumed. Little did the newcomer to the laundry know that instead of laundering sheets, the couple were sexually entwined beneath them in the back of the company white van George drove.
It was Brigit who told Mary one lunch break when she asked out of curiosity where Molly was.
“You won’t see her until the lunch break is over,” Brigit said with half a smirk across her face. “And if you do, she’ll be without her knickers above her knees, I’ll bet!”
Young Mary hadn’t the faintest what Brigit was referring to. Seeing her puzzled look Brigit added, “Find George and there you’ll find Molly also!” Brigit told her, adding, “and if you fancy a bit of ‘dogging’ in your lunch break, find where his van is parked up and look for yourself.”
Mary could hardly believe it, and particularly the matter of fact manner that Molly’s work mate Brigit reacted to the knowledge that three or four times a week, Molly and George would be going at it hammer and tongs ‘getting their rocks off’ in the back of the firm’s van!
Young Mary had never had a proper boyfriend yet. Compared to other girls of similar age, she was innocent; having been sheltered too long under the umbrella of a strict father and her religion.
She was, however, just as curious as any other young girl of her age and wanted to see what really happened when girls lost their virginity that made the experience so different; pleasurable and exciting for one girl, and so hurtful and disappointing for another.
It was about three weeks later when young Mary decided to follow Molly one lunch time as she watched her leave the laundry shed and walk towards the white van, where she opened the passenger door and let herself in, after looking around to see that she wasn’t being spied on.
After about five minutes, Mary saw the van moving up and down. The bounce in the vehicle was almost imperceptible, but it clearly bounced Mary told herself.
Mary sneaked up towards the white van and peeked through one of the small square windows in the rear doors and looked inside the van. The square was no larger than a foot wide by six or eight inches deep, and although dirty, Mary was still able to discern the nature of the movement taking place within.
While she couldn’t see the whole of George and Molly, Mary could see enough of the couple to make out what they were doing! She thought the sight to be disgusting. She thought it an image made more vulgar because of the grunting and the foul language of George Munt as he thrust his trouserless body into Molly Magee as though he was punishing her.
As far as Mary was concerned, she didn’t want to know where George was planting his flag and made haste to get back inside the work’s premises to complete the afternoon shift before it was time to go home.
A moment before she withdrew her eyes to walk away from the white van, Molly’s face came into full view. The look it wore was one of brazen satisfaction as she stood up half naked and began to stroke George’s stiff manhood with a look that said, ‘Have you had enough yet, George?’
Mary had seen enough and returned inside the premises.
For a long time after her ‘dogging’ episode, Mary avoided being alone with George, and to tell the truth, had she ever had it in her mind to enter the convent and become a nun, now would have probably been the precise moment of her recognition of her vocation!
George was 19 years old and for the first two years of Mary’s time at the laundry, any attention he held was directed towards two of the other girls, Molly Magee, and Brigit Coley; both of whom were 18 years old, and in his opinion, ‘ripe for plucking’.
Mary had just settled into puberty and had hardly started growing breasts yet. She looked too scrawny to occupy the attention of any 19-year-old lad ‘on the pull’, let alone capture it!
Between Molly and Brigit, George fancied his chances best with Molly. Although she wasn’t quite as attractive as Brigit was, George wasn’t looking for commitment, however fetching it came wrapped. George didn’t want a steady girlfriend, and he most certainly wasn’t in the market for a wife!
All George wanted was a good time, and if he could spice up his boring job at the laundry, it would compensate in part for the poor wages he received.
Mary had only been working there for four months when it became obvious that during their daily lunch break, George and Molly would disappear and wouldn’t be seen again until a few minutes before work resumed. Little did the newcomer to the laundry know that instead of laundering sheets, the couple were sexually entwined beneath them in the back of the company white van George drove.
It was Brigit who told Mary one lunch break when she asked out of curiosity where Molly was.
“You won’t see her until the lunch break is over,” Brigit said with half a smirk across her face. “And if you do, she’ll be without her knickers above her knees, I’ll bet!”
Young Mary hadn’t the faintest what Brigit was referring to. Seeing her puzzled look Brigit added, “Find George and there you’ll find Molly also!” Brigit told her, adding, “and if you fancy a bit of ‘dogging’ in your lunch break, find where his van is parked up and look for yourself.”
Mary could hardly believe it, and particularly the matter of fact manner that Molly’s work mate Brigit reacted to the knowledge that three or four times a week, Molly and George would be going at it hammer and tongs ‘getting their rocks off’ in the back of the firm’s van!
Young Mary had never had a proper boyfriend yet. Compared to other girls of similar age, she was innocent; having been sheltered too long under the umbrella of a strict father and her religion.
She was, however, just as curious as any other young girl of her age and wanted to see what really happened when girls lost their virginity that made the experience so different; pleasurable and exciting for one girl, and so hurtful and disappointing for another.
It was about three weeks later when young Mary decided to follow Molly one lunch time as she watched her leave the laundry shed and walk towards the white van, where she opened the passenger door and let herself in, after looking around to see that she wasn’t being spied on.
After about five minutes, Mary saw the van moving up and down. The bounce in the vehicle was almost imperceptible, but it clearly bounced Mary told herself.
Mary sneaked up towards the white van and peeked through one of the small square windows in the rear doors and looked inside the van. The square was no larger than a foot wide by six or eight inches deep, and although dirty, Mary was still able to discern the nature of the movement taking place within.
While she couldn’t see the whole of George and Molly, Mary could see enough of the couple to make out what they were doing! She thought the sight to be disgusting. She thought it an image made more vulgar because of the grunting and the foul language of George Munt as he thrust his trouserless body into Molly Magee as though he was punishing her.
As far as Mary was concerned, she didn’t want to know where George was planting his flag and made haste to get back inside the work’s premises to complete the afternoon shift before it was time to go home.
A moment before she withdrew her eyes to walk away from the white van, Molly’s face came into full view. The look it wore was one of brazen satisfaction as she stood up half naked and began to stroke George’s stiff manhood with a look that said, ‘Have you had enough yet, George?’
Mary had seen enough and returned inside the premises.
For a long time after her ‘dogging’ episode, Mary avoided being alone with George, and to tell the truth, had she ever had it in her mind to enter the convent and become a nun, now would have probably been the precise moment of her recognition of her vocation!
~~~~~
When Mary had been at the laundry for four years, Molly Magee and George left the firm in the same week after the owner found them ‘at it’ like a pair of rabbits in the white van one day and sacked them on the spot. For almost five years they’d been having sex two or three times a week inside the firm’s van and, until now, the owner had never latched on.
Six months later, Molly Magee was said to be pregnant and within the year, George had legged it to Galway. One way or another, though Mary could easily guess which way, Molly had managed to get some other chap from Kilkenny to give her back her communal respectability through marrying her and assuming the paternity of the baby she was expecting.
As Mary matured between the ages of thirteen and nineteen, while she kept her maidenhood intact, her daily mixing with older girls and the stories they told her, along with the occasional banter with young men who chatted her up, was to fill in lots of biological gaps that had been left unfilled for far too long.
Even her twin sisters who were two years younger than Mary were more acquainted with what was normal and what went beyond the edge before the commitment of marriage! Despite being younger than Mary, when it came to ‘what-was-what’, the twins were more experienced in the ways of the world than their older sister and their parent’s firstborn.
Mary shared a bedroom with the 17-year-old twins, Brigit and Bernadette, and while she was still too reticent to explore her own body when in bed, her twin sisters even masturbated together and became highly exhilarated if they ejaculated at the same time!
To tell the truth, while Mary loved her family to bits, a part of her was telling her more daily that she was approaching that time in her life when she should be moving out of the parental home.
Six months later, Molly Magee was said to be pregnant and within the year, George had legged it to Galway. One way or another, though Mary could easily guess which way, Molly had managed to get some other chap from Kilkenny to give her back her communal respectability through marrying her and assuming the paternity of the baby she was expecting.
As Mary matured between the ages of thirteen and nineteen, while she kept her maidenhood intact, her daily mixing with older girls and the stories they told her, along with the occasional banter with young men who chatted her up, was to fill in lots of biological gaps that had been left unfilled for far too long.
Even her twin sisters who were two years younger than Mary were more acquainted with what was normal and what went beyond the edge before the commitment of marriage! Despite being younger than Mary, when it came to ‘what-was-what’, the twins were more experienced in the ways of the world than their older sister and their parent’s firstborn.
Mary shared a bedroom with the 17-year-old twins, Brigit and Bernadette, and while she was still too reticent to explore her own body when in bed, her twin sisters even masturbated together and became highly exhilarated if they ejaculated at the same time!
To tell the truth, while Mary loved her family to bits, a part of her was telling her more daily that she was approaching that time in her life when she should be moving out of the parental home.
~~~~~
Mary Lanigan continued working at the laundry for a total of six years; leaving this job when the shop closed in 1975. Mary was partly relieved it hadn’t closed a month later. Had the laundry stayed open two weeks longer than it did, they were planning to give Mary a bit of a party to celebrate her 21st, birthday, when in fact she was still only 19-years-old.
Having started off her employment on the back of a deception, young Mary carried the lie on, rather than coming clean and risking getting sacked for gross misrepresentation of her age.
Having started off her employment on the back of a deception, young Mary carried the lie on, rather than coming clean and risking getting sacked for gross misrepresentation of her age.
~~~~~
After her job collapsed with the closure of the laundry in Carrick-on-Suir, Mary was out of work for four months. The 19-year-old approached many employers, but when they started asking for specific details relating to school attended and any examinations undertaken and qualifications she’d achieved, it was subsequently revealed that she’d left the school in Portlaw two years before her 15th birthday ‘because of pressing family matters’, and had taken up a laundry job in Carrick-on-Suir, having misrepresented her age.
Mary Lanigan started to become disillusioned and silently cursed her parents for having made her leave school at the age of thirteen years to start work prematurely.
Mary knew it was important she got herself a job soon. Her mother had given birth to another six children after herself, and with the passing of each year, family income stretched less than the previous year. Her six siblings were growing up fast, and her four brothers were eating like horses! Her 17-year-old twin sisters now worked, but their weekly earnings were modest and basically proved just enough to feed and clothe themselves.
After being out of work for four months, Mary Lanigan knew she had to get something soon if she wasn’t to be a drain on her family. Of all the things that were happening in Mary’s life these days, feeling ‘special’ was certainly not one of them!
For a brief spell, Mary started to doubt the veracity of the Romany’s prophecy to her mother twenty years earlier and even wondered if the secret she’d been sworn to keep at the age of seven years had been no more than a wishful hope of a gullible Irish bride and a traveller’s deception.
Mary Lanigan started to become disillusioned and silently cursed her parents for having made her leave school at the age of thirteen years to start work prematurely.
Mary knew it was important she got herself a job soon. Her mother had given birth to another six children after herself, and with the passing of each year, family income stretched less than the previous year. Her six siblings were growing up fast, and her four brothers were eating like horses! Her 17-year-old twin sisters now worked, but their weekly earnings were modest and basically proved just enough to feed and clothe themselves.
After being out of work for four months, Mary Lanigan knew she had to get something soon if she wasn’t to be a drain on her family. Of all the things that were happening in Mary’s life these days, feeling ‘special’ was certainly not one of them!
For a brief spell, Mary started to doubt the veracity of the Romany’s prophecy to her mother twenty years earlier and even wondered if the secret she’d been sworn to keep at the age of seven years had been no more than a wishful hope of a gullible Irish bride and a traveller’s deception.