After picking Jack up from the train station, Peter drives to the graveyard. His son is looking well. The handshake on the platform was cold but firm. They make the short journey in total silence. Her grave is over in the far corner, beside the wall. A black tombstone with white lettering. Peter says a quick prayer out loud, as he always does. ‘Do you want to say a prayer, yourself?’ he asks. A shake of the head is the only answer. They walk back to the car. ‘We will go into town for something to eat,’ Peter suggests, ‘you must be hungry after the journey’.
They go to Brennan’s, a café on the main street. ‘Let’s sit beside the window,’ says Peter. A waitress comes over. Peter orders a coffee and scone. His son orders tea and some sandwiches. ‘I used to come here with your mother,’ says Peter, ‘she loved the cream cakes’. Jack does not reply. After the food arrives, Peter tries again. ‘I am glad we have this opportunity to talk now. It has been a long time,’ he says. His son looks up, ‘how could we have talked? You never visited me’. Peter hesitates before replying, ‘that is true but I have been busy here. You know how it is. Your sister did write after she moved to Manchester’. Jack turns away and stares out the window, ‘aye, I got that letter alright’.
Peter cannot stand the silence any longer. ‘Why did you have to do it, son?’ he pleads. Jack stares at him straight in the eye, ‘she dared me’. Peter hands start to shake. ‘She dared you!’ he cries, ‘only after you put the shotgun to her head’. An elderly couple at the next table get up and leave. Peter’s voice drops to a whisper, ‘you know it destroyed your sister’. Jack takes another sip from his tea, ‘I am paying the price’. A sickening feeling rises in Peter’s stomach. He pushes his cup away. ‘Do you not feel anything, Jack?’ he asks bitterly, ‘no remorse? no sorrow?’ His son sits upright in his chair, ‘I am sorry I have spent the last seven years locked up. It was all Mary’s fault. Running to Mam with her lies. You know how vicious those two could be’.
Later, Peter drives his son back to the train station. ‘I know you are out for a couple of days,’ he says, ‘you can stay here tonight if you want’. Jack shakes his head, ‘thanks, but I must get back. I want to surprise a lady with a visit’. His father slaps him on the back, smiling, ‘you were always one for the girls. Nothing had changed there’. On the train journey back, Jack tries to get some sleep. He has a long night ahead on the ferry to Holyhead. The journey after that is short enough. By midday he should be in Manchester. The surprise visit has been carefully planned. The long wait is nearly over.