Chapter Two
'The Baptism of Liam Lafferty'
When Lucy's aunt Hetti heard about the birth of her grand nephew in the grounds of 'Saint Michael's Catholic Church', Portlaw, she was initially shocked. It was as though circumstances of her deceased sister's dependents had returned to haunt her life once more. Despite appearing the most demure and sensible of spinsters that Kilbunny had ever known, Hetti Lafferty was inwardly an emotionally fragile individual who had many unresolved problems of her own. On the outside, anyone who didn't know the secrets of the 37-year-old spinster would have considered her as being a person who was as level headed and as Catholic as one could hope to be.
Since the tragic death of her sister Lilly, fourteen years earlier, Hetti had experienced strange recurring dreams on an almost nightly basis. Being a devout Catholic and virgin, they were not the type of dreams that a decent woman might tell a man; indeed any man, whether he be doctor or priest.
In her dreams, Hetti would frequently be walking a path, which she and a man whom had once planned to marry her would walk. It was beyond the Kilbunny border and it led to a secluded cave that lovers were said to frequent. As Hetti and her man friend approached, she would see an image of her sister above the cave etched into the rock face in an adopted pose of rest, while guarding the entrance to the cave would be another image of her sister Lilly, standing there completely naked. In her Freudian dream, Hetti's man friend would not see the image that his fiancee Hetti saw; merely the cave that awaited the end of their walk!
Nobody in Kilbunny who'd ever known her niece Lucy had ever blamed Hetti Lafferty for the girl's wayward nature. Not one Kilbunny resident ever doubted that Hetti Lafferty had done all that any human could possibly have done with a rebellious niece who was indeed beyond anyone's care and control. Not even one mean-spirited person in Kilbunny blamed Hetti for putting the 7-year-old girl into care seven years earlier. Even when the act had been done and the rebellious child had been sent to the protection of the nuns in Limerick, everyone in Kilbunny shared the view that it had been done for the young girl's personal safety and had been in her best interest.
None of these facts however, seemed to be able to stop the bad feelings of guilt re-invading the body of Hetti Lafferty. However the situation had presented itself and however difficult it had been coping with young Lucy all those years ago, Hetti still blamed herself for not having tried harder before giving up on her niece. After all, Lucy was her dead sister's only child!
Then when her niece ran away from the Children's Home in Limerick and she'd been informed, Hetti blamed herself. Even though she knew that it had been her niece who'd run away, Hetti couldn't help but fear that 'running away' was a family trait which young Lucy had inherited; a family trait which had been frequently practised by herself and Lucy's mother long before Lucy had drawn first breath. There had been many occasions in their lives when both sisters would constantly flee the truth before facing and confronting the uncomfortable situation they shared.
Since the tragic death of her sister Lilly, fourteen years earlier, Hetti had experienced strange recurring dreams on an almost nightly basis. Being a devout Catholic and virgin, they were not the type of dreams that a decent woman might tell a man; indeed any man, whether he be doctor or priest.
In her dreams, Hetti would frequently be walking a path, which she and a man whom had once planned to marry her would walk. It was beyond the Kilbunny border and it led to a secluded cave that lovers were said to frequent. As Hetti and her man friend approached, she would see an image of her sister above the cave etched into the rock face in an adopted pose of rest, while guarding the entrance to the cave would be another image of her sister Lilly, standing there completely naked. In her Freudian dream, Hetti's man friend would not see the image that his fiancee Hetti saw; merely the cave that awaited the end of their walk!
Nobody in Kilbunny who'd ever known her niece Lucy had ever blamed Hetti Lafferty for the girl's wayward nature. Not one Kilbunny resident ever doubted that Hetti Lafferty had done all that any human could possibly have done with a rebellious niece who was indeed beyond anyone's care and control. Not even one mean-spirited person in Kilbunny blamed Hetti for putting the 7-year-old girl into care seven years earlier. Even when the act had been done and the rebellious child had been sent to the protection of the nuns in Limerick, everyone in Kilbunny shared the view that it had been done for the young girl's personal safety and had been in her best interest.
None of these facts however, seemed to be able to stop the bad feelings of guilt re-invading the body of Hetti Lafferty. However the situation had presented itself and however difficult it had been coping with young Lucy all those years ago, Hetti still blamed herself for not having tried harder before giving up on her niece. After all, Lucy was her dead sister's only child!
Then when her niece ran away from the Children's Home in Limerick and she'd been informed, Hetti blamed herself. Even though she knew that it had been her niece who'd run away, Hetti couldn't help but fear that 'running away' was a family trait which young Lucy had inherited; a family trait which had been frequently practised by herself and Lucy's mother long before Lucy had drawn first breath. There had been many occasions in their lives when both sisters would constantly flee the truth before facing and confronting the uncomfortable situation they shared.
Hetti and her younger sister, Lilly, had always been keen competitors throughout their early lives. Hetti was two years older than Lilly and had the facial features of the film actress Olivia de Havilland. She was clearly the more sophisticated and the more physically attractive of the two sisters. While two years age difference separated the growing sisters, the younger sister, Lilly, exercised no shame when it came to flirting with Hetti's boyfriends along the way. It was as though, pretty as she undoubtedly was, Lilly seemed to resent the constant distinctive labels of 'beautiful' and 'pretty' that were attached to each of them by the males of Kilbunny and surrounding area.
While there wasn't anything that Lilly could do to minimise her sister's beauty, there was however much she had learned to do in respect of making the most of her own 'pretty' looks. Through the relatively easy adoption of a 'coy' and 'innocent' developed look, along with a pout of her small lips, a change of lipstick and the creation of a few hair tussles that dangled across her shoulders, Lilly successfully managed to change her image of being 'pretty' to one of being sensuously 'provocative'. Hetti may have been the elder and the more attractively desirable of the two sisters, but what Lilly lacked in Hetti's stunning beauty, she now more than made up for in sexual appeal with the looks of a Lolita nymphet.
Her sister Hetti was a good Catholic woman who had no intention of ever sleeping with any man without first seeing a signed marriage certificate, feeling the gold band of a wedding ring on her third finger and experiencing a white church wedding with the full pomp and ceremony that only the Roman Catholic Church seems able to perform. Only after she had offered her spirit to God in such manner would Hetti Lafferty ever contemplate offering her body to any man.
Her sister Hetti was a good Catholic woman who had no intention of ever sleeping with any man without first seeing a signed marriage certificate, feeling the gold band of a wedding ring on her third finger and experiencing a white church wedding with the full pomp and ceremony that only the Roman Catholic Church seems able to perform. Only after she had offered her spirit to God in such manner would Hetti Lafferty ever contemplate offering her body to any man.
Hetti had met a young man called Frank Theakson in her twentieth year of life and to all intents and purposes, their subsequent three-year courtship strongly suggested that the couple were destined to one day wed. Hetti had even started making provisional plans and had started her 'bottom drawer'.
Her fiance, Frank, was a typical red-blooded Irish man and during his courtship to Hetti, he often tried to taste her feminine wares. Hetti however, was having none of it, not even the mild brushing of her clothed breast by Frank's straying fingers; let alone the loosening of a bra strap, the sight of a proud nipple or the touch of a fleshy thigh! Too often the frustrated Frank was obliged to have a cold shower upon arriving home with a stiffy or take refuge and relief in the sexual explicitness of one of those 'magazines for men'.
Then without an ounce of warning or anyone ever knowing why, the couple suddenly broke off their understanding. Frank, who was interested in becoming an engineer emigrated to America and Hetti effectively became a recluse within her parental home and the Kilbunny community.
Her fiance, Frank, was a typical red-blooded Irish man and during his courtship to Hetti, he often tried to taste her feminine wares. Hetti however, was having none of it, not even the mild brushing of her clothed breast by Frank's straying fingers; let alone the loosening of a bra strap, the sight of a proud nipple or the touch of a fleshy thigh! Too often the frustrated Frank was obliged to have a cold shower upon arriving home with a stiffy or take refuge and relief in the sexual explicitness of one of those 'magazines for men'.
Then without an ounce of warning or anyone ever knowing why, the couple suddenly broke off their understanding. Frank, who was interested in becoming an engineer emigrated to America and Hetti effectively became a recluse within her parental home and the Kilbunny community.
Two weeks following the breakup of Hetti's relationship with Frank, Hetti's and Lilly's father died from a massive heart attack, despite only being in his late forties. Mum quickly became severely depressed and went to pieces. It was during this period after her father's funeral when, without any prior warning, Lilly decided to leave home. Over the brief space of about three weeks, both sisters had found it extremely difficult to face each other, let alone speak civilly to each other. A personal rift had seemingly developed between them; one that even the death and loss of their dear father or the emotional breakdown of their bereaved mother could bridge.
One evening after a blazing row with her sister Hetti, Lilly packed a brown suitcase and walked out without once looking back at her sister or mother who were cradling each other in tears as they watched her walk down the street towards the railway station.
Four weeks later, her emotionally-disturbed mother ran out of the family cottage one night and straight under the wheels of a large bread van. She died instantly. Hetti tried, but was unable to locate her sister Lilly for her mother's funeral and being wholly unaware of her younger sister's whereabouts, she had no way of informing Lilly of the family's recent loss. Her mother was buried in Lilly's absence and ignorance of the event.
In so short a span of time, Hetti's world seemed to have fallen apart. First she and her young man had broken off their relationship and he'd emigrated to America soon after. Then her father suddenly died and her younger sister walked out, and finally her distraught mother was run down and instantly killed outside the family home. With nobody there to comfort and support her, it fell solely upon the twenty-two year old woman to pick up the pieces of her fragmented family unit and to cope with the multiple loss alone.
Hetti Lafferty had never once betrayed her family upbringing; she'd never once disappointed her parents' expectations or had fallen short in her Catholic faith and its teachings by giving herself to a man outside the sacrament of marriage. She never had and knew that she never would. For almost six months after her mother's death, Hetti considered joining religious orders and becoming 'a bride of Christ', but didn't seem to have the full commitment to go through with it. Yes, she had it within her to join Religious Orders and to endure any absence of earthly pleasures and the vow of chastity that may have been involved in such a change of life. She even possesed the required discipline that was necessary to become a devout nun, but nothing seemed able to drag her away from her current perceived family responsibilities. It was her job she believed, to stay anchored where she was in case or when her younger sister Lilly returned and needed her help. Also there was the family home; a place she could never abandon and leave unlived in.
Four weeks later, her emotionally-disturbed mother ran out of the family cottage one night and straight under the wheels of a large bread van. She died instantly. Hetti tried, but was unable to locate her sister Lilly for her mother's funeral and being wholly unaware of her younger sister's whereabouts, she had no way of informing Lilly of the family's recent loss. Her mother was buried in Lilly's absence and ignorance of the event.
In so short a span of time, Hetti's world seemed to have fallen apart. First she and her young man had broken off their relationship and he'd emigrated to America soon after. Then her father suddenly died and her younger sister walked out, and finally her distraught mother was run down and instantly killed outside the family home. With nobody there to comfort and support her, it fell solely upon the twenty-two year old woman to pick up the pieces of her fragmented family unit and to cope with the multiple loss alone.
Hetti Lafferty had never once betrayed her family upbringing; she'd never once disappointed her parents' expectations or had fallen short in her Catholic faith and its teachings by giving herself to a man outside the sacrament of marriage. She never had and knew that she never would. For almost six months after her mother's death, Hetti considered joining religious orders and becoming 'a bride of Christ', but didn't seem to have the full commitment to go through with it. Yes, she had it within her to join Religious Orders and to endure any absence of earthly pleasures and the vow of chastity that may have been involved in such a change of life. She even possesed the required discipline that was necessary to become a devout nun, but nothing seemed able to drag her away from her current perceived family responsibilities. It was her job she believed, to stay anchored where she was in case or when her younger sister Lilly returned and needed her help. Also there was the family home; a place she could never abandon and leave unlived in.
After inheriting the family's thatched cottage along with her sister Lilly, Hetti felt obliged to live in it as opposed to abandon it. For all she knew, her sister would one day return to reclaim half of her inheritance, although deep down she feared that she would never come back. Hetti determined to keep herself to herself and keep the family cottage in Kilbunny a monument to her deceased parents. Her dearly departed mother had nurtured the cottage gardens to the rear of the property for nearly twenty years and would have turned in her grave had she learned from the other side of this life that her cottage and family home had been sold on and that strangers now live in it or that the garden had been neglected and had overgrown. Indeed, both Hetti and Lilly had been born inside the cottage and one dog and two family cats were buried in the back garden beneath the soil of her father's cabbage plot.
Even the inside of her parents' cottage was religiously kept precisely as her dear mother had kept it for many years. Hetti didn't move one piece of furniture or change one thing about the cottage's appearance. If and when her younger sister ever returned, Hetti wanted her to find the family home precisely as Lilly had walked out on it, and if there was a spirit world and the ghosts of her dear parents decided to check up on the old house, in such spiritual circumstances, Hetti was determined to ensure that even her dead parents would find things exactly as they'd left it!
Some seven and a half months after walking out of the family home, Hetti's sister Lilly tragically died in childbirth, leaving behind her orphaned daughter, Lucy. Upon hearing of her sister's death, Hetti naturally felt obliged to rear the child in the Kilbunny family home. Inwardly, Hetti felt responsible for part of the heartache that had befallen the Lafferty family and she viewed the rearing of Lucy not only as being her Christian duty, but as a penance that the good Lord had bestowed on her to discharge, in order that she might properly atone for any past wrongs committed.
In spite of her inability to have helped her sister Lilly's only child Lucy on a long-term basis when the opportunity had presented itself, Hetti Lafferty now saw the orphan status of her grand nephew as one more opportunity to make amends. So she informed the authorities that she would formally adopt her grand nephew and requested that they draw up the necessary papers. After a few weeks in Waterford Hospital, the infant was discharged to the care of its Great Aunt, Hetti Lafferty of Kilbunny. From the very first moment that Hetti laid eyes on young Liam, he possessed that look of devilment in his eyes that indicated the prankster he would one day become.
Being a good Catholic, Hetti arranged to have the infant formally baptised at 'Saint Michael's Catholic Church' in Portlaw. She felt it to be better all round and was of the view that the ceremony would attract less gossip if the baptism was carried out in another parish away from the wagging tongues of Kilbunny gossip mongers. Besides, Portlaw was the parish where the infant first drew breath and his being alive at all was all down to the efforts and actions of its parish priest, Father Jacobs. The baptismal name of the infant was as indicated by the last action of Lucy Lafferty's scrawl in the snow, and so he child was duly baptised Liam Lafferty.
Father Jacobs was pleased to perform the baptismal service of the infant he'd saved. As he'd first discovered the infant naked, he felt it only fitting that Liam be baptised in the church font naked. All went well and the infant smiled broadly as his feet were submerged in the font water. Just as the parish priest poured the water over the infant's head, Liam decided to christen the baptismal font personally and urinated as he giggled and blew raspberries.
|
Click here for the next page
|
Click here for then previous page
|
