er him and his friends, tagging along with him wherever he went. He al

stood the full extent of his struggle. Mam and Dad had only been seeing ea

s Catholic Ireland, life had always been a challenge for my broth

ed him. He was always finding something wrong with Darren, be it his hair

d our father coul

ent in the past, and nothing anyone said could get it

ame way Joey was born stra

roke my heart that he wasn'

hobic father was to

ted him for all the other terrible t

scriminating behavior toward his own s

had hit the roof. Months of heated arguments and physical altercations had resulted in

aside from the annual Christmas card in the

e a phone number o

ood as

ut on Darren was switched onto the younger boys-

e bookie's, our father was dragging

l of his atte

im, what with being

and I didn't excel at sc

I was just a mouth to

me up with, either. Dad told m

sixth time, I grew

gging for love from a man who, i

hough, and it was the reason I felt so muc

had his own stuff going on, with GAA, his part-time job at t

en around his neck, someone he was constantly having to look out f

brother's eyes another minute in that school. Passing him in the

the guidance teacher at BCS, Mrs. Falvy, even organized fortnightly counseling s

eighty euros per session, and having to censor my thoughts at my mother's request, I'

t feel

r felt

bear to watch my

r, so I sucked it up, slapped on a smile,

llying nev

ng st

ne day,

loods of tears, with my school jumper ripped down the front and my nose stuffed with tissue paper to stem the bleeding from the hiding

s on the boy they accused me of trying to seduce, and a

the day I

pped

ed pret

t sto

me into the house with a week's suspension under his belt for beating th

ne look at me and pull

the local credit union and took out a loan to pay the admission fees for Tommen C

ad to walk through the doors of that public schoo

hit my