Chapter Seven
'True love never dies'
During that early Christmas Day morning, nobody in the Ferguson household managed to get any sleep. The three adults simply talked and talked until three am before Tom agreed to sleep overnight in the spare bedroom.
The story that Tom told them convinced Elizabeth and Magnus that God had truly blessed all in their house that day. Tom told them that Bess Beresford, whom they knew of as 'Widow Waterford', was indeed the sweetheart of his late teens. Indeed, he described her as the only woman he had ever loved and the only woman that he ever would! He showed them the only image he had retained of his former sweetheart before she became determined to redeem her name. This was the happiest of times in their lives and the smiling face of Bess showed it to be so.
The story that Tom told them convinced Elizabeth and Magnus that God had truly blessed all in their house that day. Tom told them that Bess Beresford, whom they knew of as 'Widow Waterford', was indeed the sweetheart of his late teens. Indeed, he described her as the only woman he had ever loved and the only woman that he ever would! He showed them the only image he had retained of his former sweetheart before she became determined to redeem her name. This was the happiest of times in their lives and the smiling face of Bess showed it to be so.
While Elizabeth and Magnus couldn't tell Tom precisely where Bess lived on Curraghmore, when they said that it was near the eddy, Tom said that he had an idea where to look. The eddy was a place where many of their hours together had been spent during their courtship days and they often visited an old ruin of a roundhouse. When Tom left the Ferguson household the following morning, he looked to carry a sign of urgency in his face. He was determined to meet up with Bess once more and indicated that whatever the outcome proved to be that he wouldn't leave Portlaw without returning to say farewell to them both.
Elizabeth knew that all parties had been fated to meet each other under the circumstances which had brought them together. While shae didn't usually gamble, today she was feeling particularly lucky. She asked Magnus to take a coin from her purse and to buy a 'lucky dip' ticket in the Christmas Euro Lottery. In all of the excitement, Magnus forgot to buy the lottery ticket as requested by his wife.
Christmas Day in the Ferguson household was crazy and overcrowded. After all their eleven children and relatives had learned of the birth of the twins, the entire extended family arrived on their door step throughout the day to celebrate the occasion and to 'wet the babies' heads.' By the time that all the eleven children, partners, sixty-six grandchildren, five great grandchildren and eight in-laws had been and gone towards the end of Christmas Day, both Magnus and Elizabeth were tired out. Elizabeth and Magnus took their two infants and went to bed and stayed in bed for the next thirty-six hours; getting up out of it only for emergency purposes and calls of nature!
The next time the couple got up out of bed and had breakfasted was on December 27th, the morning after the Christmas party celebrations that Magnus had arranged for in his capacity as Secretary to 'St. Michael's Catholic Church' and as Secretary to 'The Portlaw Rugby Club.'
The next time the couple got up out of bed and had breakfasted was on December 27th, the morning after the Christmas party celebrations that Magnus had arranged for in his capacity as Secretary to 'St. Michael's Catholic Church' and as Secretary to 'The Portlaw Rugby Club.'
Elizabeth, Magnus and Tom had chatted throughout the previous night and Tom had more or less told them everything that had happened to him over the years. He told them that Bess had broken his heart fifty-two years earlier by refusing to marry him because of her condition that would prevent her ever giving birth to a healthy child. After this refusal, Tom emigrated to America and eventually settled in Pittsburgh. He continued his further education in the field of medicine and was eventually attracted to the specialist field of obstetrics which enabled him to always remain close to the affection of 'his children'; a profession which he practised in for forty-five years before retiring a few years ago.
Even though he'd never married or had fathered children of his own, Tom loved the thought of having children so much that he felt sure that his choice of profession as an obstetrician gynaecologist had been the natural avenue of work for him to pursue. Tom told Magnus and Elizabeth that it had been a big mistake for him and Bess ever to have broken it off, whether or not Bess could ever give birth to a healthy child. The years had taught him that they'd both been too foolish to waste their happiness together by denying the love they'd held for each other. It was a testament to their professed love of earlier years that neither party had ever given their love to another. Tom also found it hard to discover that Bess could still hold so much enmity towards the Waterfords; a family whom she'd cursed all her life, but to his knowledge, had never met in person.
Even though he'd never married or had fathered children of his own, Tom loved the thought of having children so much that he felt sure that his choice of profession as an obstetrician gynaecologist had been the natural avenue of work for him to pursue. Tom told Magnus and Elizabeth that it had been a big mistake for him and Bess ever to have broken it off, whether or not Bess could ever give birth to a healthy child. The years had taught him that they'd both been too foolish to waste their happiness together by denying the love they'd held for each other. It was a testament to their professed love of earlier years that neither party had ever given their love to another. Tom also found it hard to discover that Bess could still hold so much enmity towards the Waterfords; a family whom she'd cursed all her life, but to his knowledge, had never met in person.
Around 10.30 am a knock was heard on the front door of the Ferguson house. It was Nancy Noolan who had wanted to pass on the news of last night's party in 'St. Michael's Catholic Church Hall', which had been arranged by the church Secretary, Magnus.
It was apparent from the look across her face that Nancy was in her element and there was simply no way that she would allow any other to be the first to tell Magnus how well his secretarial arrangements for the priests, nuns and Catholic parishioners of Portlaw had turned out. She seemed as smug as a skunk who'd just strolled into a house of perfumery and was about to let out a stinker; after which she intended to whoop and holler it to all and sundry in County Waterford.
Magnus listened in part disbelief as Nancy Noolan unfolded the story of the evening's church social event in her own inimical manner. After five minutes of listening, Magnus could no longer endure the agony. He placed both hands at the side of his head to block off his ears from the scoffing town gossip, mouthing "la..la..La..La....LA......LA" as loudly as he could.
It was apparent from the look across her face that Nancy was in her element and there was simply no way that she would allow any other to be the first to tell Magnus how well his secretarial arrangements for the priests, nuns and Catholic parishioners of Portlaw had turned out. She seemed as smug as a skunk who'd just strolled into a house of perfumery and was about to let out a stinker; after which she intended to whoop and holler it to all and sundry in County Waterford.
Magnus listened in part disbelief as Nancy Noolan unfolded the story of the evening's church social event in her own inimical manner. After five minutes of listening, Magnus could no longer endure the agony. He placed both hands at the side of his head to block off his ears from the scoffing town gossip, mouthing "la..la..La..La....LA......LA" as loudly as he could.
When he went back indoors, his wife Elizabeth asked, "Who was that at the door, Magnus and why are you behaving like one of our grandchildren when his mother tells them something that they don't want to hear? Was that the voice of Nancy Noolan I heard? What did she have to say for herself, dear? Nothing wholesome I'd wager."
"Oh she was just gossiping about the social function in the church hall last night," Magnus replied embarrassingly.
"The church function. I completely forgot about the church function," Elizabeth remarked. "Did the audience like 'The Sound of Music'? Was it to their taste?"
"I shouldn't have imagined so," Magnus replied, "as they never saw the production."
"Never saw it! Whatever happened, Magnus? Was the cast sick?"
"The cast wasn't, but according to the Portlaw gossip, Nancy Noolan, virtually everyone else at the social event was! There were priests, nuns and parishioners dancing on the tables in a drunken state of undress and disarray, while others of the more adventurous type were engaged in all manner of lewdness, frivolity and mortal-sin-familiarity with members of the same and opposite sex in the church grave yard! While all this was going on, inside the hall, 'The Naughty Nuns,' who I thought had been booked for 'The Portlaw Rugby Club's' Boxing Day event was demonstrating their party piece inside the church hall; 'The dance of the seven veils.' In divesting themselves of their habits, let's say they became responsible for probably making Father Rossy's next confessional evening the longest on record since the birth of Christ!"
"Oh she was just gossiping about the social function in the church hall last night," Magnus replied embarrassingly.
"The church function. I completely forgot about the church function," Elizabeth remarked. "Did the audience like 'The Sound of Music'? Was it to their taste?"
"I shouldn't have imagined so," Magnus replied, "as they never saw the production."
"Never saw it! Whatever happened, Magnus? Was the cast sick?"
"The cast wasn't, but according to the Portlaw gossip, Nancy Noolan, virtually everyone else at the social event was! There were priests, nuns and parishioners dancing on the tables in a drunken state of undress and disarray, while others of the more adventurous type were engaged in all manner of lewdness, frivolity and mortal-sin-familiarity with members of the same and opposite sex in the church grave yard! While all this was going on, inside the hall, 'The Naughty Nuns,' who I thought had been booked for 'The Portlaw Rugby Club's' Boxing Day event was demonstrating their party piece inside the church hall; 'The dance of the seven veils.' In divesting themselves of their habits, let's say they became responsible for probably making Father Rossy's next confessional evening the longest on record since the birth of Christ!"
After gathering his breath, Magnus continued to tell his wife all that Nancy had maliciously told him about the shameful events of the previous night; describing the incidents as revealed by the salacious parish gossip.
It would seem that Magnus had somehow got himself muddled on the day he arranged to send out the details to each of the groups entertaining the two Boxing-Day-Party events. Having correctly addressed both letters of confirmation, he erroneously inserted details of the wrong venues before sealing and posting them. He thanked both entertainment groups which he'd booked in his capacity as 'Secretary' and simply asked that they submit their billing accounts for payment after the evening's performance. In getting this tiny detail of administration wrong, Magnus had ensured that each social gathering would be entertained by the entertainers, who had provisionally been booked for the other venue!
Neither the strict Catholic laity nor the Catholic priests and convent nuns ever complained about this little mix up, despite having been subjected to the highest-proofed moonshine alcohol called 'White Lightning' made by illegal Appalachian distillers in America. They just couldn't prevent themselves from hooching and smooching by the end of the night. After the Naughty Nun's opening performance, all the righteous Catholic wives and mothers immediately took their innocent children home to their beds while their fathers naturally stayed on 'to help out the poor nuns' in the event of the remaining audience getting too wild or raucous.
Nancy had told Magnus that there would be hell to pay once the Bishop and Mother Superior discovered the 'goings on' both last night and also this morning. Waterford Radio had even broadcasted sightings of three nuns frolicking in the waters at Tramore before sunrise while this morning's edition of The Munster had photographs of morning-after-drunken Sisters in Christ, dancing in the school playground, smoking in a group, having a snowball fight on the convent steps and even trying to scale the drainpipes of the walls outside their convent bedrooms to get back into the convent unnoticed after a night out on the tiles!
There was also a rumour that three of the older sisters were still in the park drinking and feeding the ducks and that they hadn't returned to the convent last night. 'The Munster' newspaper subsequently managed to print a snap of five women in the habits of nuns outside a sweet-shop window looking in and all wearing short skirts and denier stockings, with the question posed beneath the photograph, 'Are these sisters for real or are they just five Christmas party goers who didn't manage to get back to their own beds last night?' The newspaper headline was entitled, 'Naughty Nuns?' Farmer Low of the Bunny Cross area was seen by a nosy neighbour in his tractor on the morning following the Boxing Day event. It was reported that he was accompanied by a nun in white nylon stockings who looked entirely comfortable there doing whatever she'd been doing!
It would seem that Magnus had somehow got himself muddled on the day he arranged to send out the details to each of the groups entertaining the two Boxing-Day-Party events. Having correctly addressed both letters of confirmation, he erroneously inserted details of the wrong venues before sealing and posting them. He thanked both entertainment groups which he'd booked in his capacity as 'Secretary' and simply asked that they submit their billing accounts for payment after the evening's performance. In getting this tiny detail of administration wrong, Magnus had ensured that each social gathering would be entertained by the entertainers, who had provisionally been booked for the other venue!
Neither the strict Catholic laity nor the Catholic priests and convent nuns ever complained about this little mix up, despite having been subjected to the highest-proofed moonshine alcohol called 'White Lightning' made by illegal Appalachian distillers in America. They just couldn't prevent themselves from hooching and smooching by the end of the night. After the Naughty Nun's opening performance, all the righteous Catholic wives and mothers immediately took their innocent children home to their beds while their fathers naturally stayed on 'to help out the poor nuns' in the event of the remaining audience getting too wild or raucous.
Nancy had told Magnus that there would be hell to pay once the Bishop and Mother Superior discovered the 'goings on' both last night and also this morning. Waterford Radio had even broadcasted sightings of three nuns frolicking in the waters at Tramore before sunrise while this morning's edition of The Munster had photographs of morning-after-drunken Sisters in Christ, dancing in the school playground, smoking in a group, having a snowball fight on the convent steps and even trying to scale the drainpipes of the walls outside their convent bedrooms to get back into the convent unnoticed after a night out on the tiles!
There was also a rumour that three of the older sisters were still in the park drinking and feeding the ducks and that they hadn't returned to the convent last night. 'The Munster' newspaper subsequently managed to print a snap of five women in the habits of nuns outside a sweet-shop window looking in and all wearing short skirts and denier stockings, with the question posed beneath the photograph, 'Are these sisters for real or are they just five Christmas party goers who didn't manage to get back to their own beds last night?' The newspaper headline was entitled, 'Naughty Nuns?' Farmer Low of the Bunny Cross area was seen by a nosy neighbour in his tractor on the morning following the Boxing Day event. It was reported that he was accompanied by a nun in white nylon stockings who looked entirely comfortable there doing whatever she'd been doing!
Elizabeth looked at Magnus as it eventually dawned on her that her absent-minded husband had booked both groups of social entertainers to attend the wrong venues. 'The Naughty Nuns' had turned up at the Catholic Church Hall along with a mountain of delicious, no-expense-spared food and enough spirits and alcohol to sink a battleship, while 'The Sound of Music' cast had turned up at 'The Portlaw Rugby Club.'
Naturally, as entertainment, food and drink was ordered at the same time, all of the modest home-made buns and bottles of lemonade and soda pop had accompanied the theatrical troop of 'The Sound of Music' to the stomachs of 'The Portlaw Rugby Club.' On the other side of Portlaw all the punch and hooch planned to be drunk by the Rugby Club was instead being imbibed by parishioners of Portlaw Catholic Church, along with their priests and nuns in attendance. This hooch carried with it the kick of a mule!
Naturally, as entertainment, food and drink was ordered at the same time, all of the modest home-made buns and bottles of lemonade and soda pop had accompanied the theatrical troop of 'The Sound of Music' to the stomachs of 'The Portlaw Rugby Club.' On the other side of Portlaw all the punch and hooch planned to be drunk by the Rugby Club was instead being imbibed by parishioners of Portlaw Catholic Church, along with their priests and nuns in attendance. This hooch carried with it the kick of a mule!
It turned out that St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church Party of Boxing Day, 2013 would be one that would go down in history. Indeed, so ashamed was Father Frank Rossy and every other Catholic who'd attended the event, that all entered into a conspiracy of silence, hoping to prevent an account of it ever reaching the ears of the Bishop Of Waterford (who never attended), or the Mother Superior who'd been unable to attend at the last minute due to an unexpected illness in her family.
Within two months of the Christmas Party for St. Michael's Catholics, no fewer than five nuns of the Order resigned from the convent before their pregnant conditions became public knowledge. All five nuns reportedly married the fathers of their babies according to Nancy Noolan, but there was one pregnant nun (Sister Bountiful), who was never able to know for certain who the father to her child was. On the early morning of December 27th, 2012, Sister Bountiful woke up in the sleeping quarters of the presbytery with a drunken man at either side of her; Father Frank Rossy and his twin brother, Callum Rossy. All three sleeping partners were naked.
During the immediate days that followed, as neither brother or Sister Bountiful could say with certainty who had done what, when and to whom, the two twin brothers decided that on this occasion it would be brother Callum who took the blame!
Within two months of the Christmas Party for St. Michael's Catholics, no fewer than five nuns of the Order resigned from the convent before their pregnant conditions became public knowledge. All five nuns reportedly married the fathers of their babies according to Nancy Noolan, but there was one pregnant nun (Sister Bountiful), who was never able to know for certain who the father to her child was. On the early morning of December 27th, 2012, Sister Bountiful woke up in the sleeping quarters of the presbytery with a drunken man at either side of her; Father Frank Rossy and his twin brother, Callum Rossy. All three sleeping partners were naked.
During the immediate days that followed, as neither brother or Sister Bountiful could say with certainty who had done what, when and to whom, the two twin brothers decided that on this occasion it would be brother Callum who took the blame!
As for the virile rugby players of 'The Portlaw Rugby Club,' the evening didn't turn out to be quite the disaster as one might otherwise have anticipated. Forty-eight hours prior to the 'All male rugby party', one of the player's fiancées had managed to persuade all the other girlfriends of the rugby players to gate-crash this coming Boxing Day Party and to catch the virile males in the act of watching some cavorting stripper prancing around their table top wearing nothing but her birthday suit as they guzzled champagne and fed their faces with stuffed pig and other delicious delicacies.
On the evening in question, as the rugby players awaited the theatrical cast of 'The Naughty Nuns' to strip off as they sung, in strolled all of their girlfriends who were amazed to hear in the background, 'How do you solve problem like Maria'. The girl friends had been drinking beforehand and they clearly relished the prospect of catching their boyfriends drooling over some semi-naked bimbo as they sang dirty rugby songs and made lewd gestures.
When the rugby players saw their women folk enter as the show curtain went up inside a nunnery, they looked flabbergasted at what their girlfriends might see next. When the girl friends of the rugby players saw and heard the singing nuns and listened to the Von Trapp family, two smartly dressed women in their fifties passed around a tray of cream buns and soda pop to all in attendance. The girl friends of the rugby players looked gob-smacked and stunned at the innocence of it all and felt deeply ashamed for having so mistrusted and misjudged their virile boyfriends.
When the rugby players saw their women folk enter as the show curtain went up inside a nunnery, they looked flabbergasted at what their girlfriends might see next. When the girl friends of the rugby players saw and heard the singing nuns and listened to the Von Trapp family, two smartly dressed women in their fifties passed around a tray of cream buns and soda pop to all in attendance. The girl friends of the rugby players looked gob-smacked and stunned at the innocence of it all and felt deeply ashamed for having so mistrusted and misjudged their virile boyfriends.
"I'm so sorry darling that I didn't believe you all these years when you said all along that it was only innocent entertainment at your all male Boxing Day dos,' seemed to be the nature of the general apology that each rugby player received from their girlfriend at the end of the night's performance. All of the rugby player's girlfriends felt so guilty that they wanted to make it up to their boyfriends over Christmas in the best way they could think of; so they gave their men folk an extra present to remember this festive season by during any leaner years of marriage ahead.
"I've always told you it was innocent fun and that I'd never do the dirty on you, darling,' seemed to be the nature of the rugby player's general response to their girlfriend's grovelling apology.
"I've always told you it was innocent fun and that I'd never do the dirty on you, darling,' seemed to be the nature of the rugby player's general response to their girlfriend's grovelling apology.
|
Click here for the next page
|
Click here for the previous page
|
