By Edna McCabe

Part 2 - One Day There Was a Knock at the Door

One day there was a knock at the door and I heard my mother say, "Do come in". Who was it but Martin McCabe, all the way from Mullingar. I just kept staring as my mother spoke and said; "This young man tells me he's a friend of Matt, Joe, and your cousins Tony and Kevin, and your aunt and uncle at the race course."

Martin went on to sympathise about dad's passing and then he had a cup of tea with us and he promised to call again. I left him to the door and when he was leaving and he said, "I'll see you in the summer when you come to Mullingar." I told him I didn't think we would be going again and he said, "Oh yes you will, and I'll be there to meet you!"

Mum was very impressed that this young boy had taken time to call to see us. When he was gone I was rather sad, but to my surprise a letter came addressed to me that very week. This was the start of a very wonderful friendship and letters that came and went for 10 years. The letters ended but the friendship lasted forever.

Matt had now left the Dublin Wholesale News agency and had gone to Baldonnel to the Air Force. He was still very interested in radios and wanted to be a radio officer. Before too long he went off to a private air company in England. He flew everywhere and loved it. He was in one small crash and I remember he had to be cut out of the plane. It didn't bother him.

Joe left the Army and for a while worked in Swindon, Surrey. Then he returned home and worked in "Brittans" a big car company in Rathmines. Grace left school and came to work with me in Rooneys. She didn't like it and soon left to work in a library in the city. We had all more or less settled down except my mother. She never recovered after my dad died. She had to wash our clothes in a big sink and dry everything indoors. She cooked on a gas cooker but she never complained, she just got on with life. She kept talking about her two lovely boys until someone asked her, "Have you no daughter? Then of course she remembered that she had, in fact, two lovely daughters! We always laughed at that.

Summer came and we were all talking about holidays. Our aunts and uncle wrote to my mother and, instead of inviting her over for a holiday, they told her to pack up and come with the four of us to live in Portsmouth. We children refused, saying we didn't want to live in England. To this day I don't know why my mother didn't just pack our bags and insist that we all go to Portsmouth. In any event we never went to Portsmouth again; however, my mother kept in touch with our relations there.

During that summer my mother also heard from aunt Sara in Mullingar who invited us all to spend the holidays with her. It turned out I was the only one who went, and there at the station to meet me were my cousin Kevin and Martin. I remember we walked from the station to the racecourse. Kevin talked away while Martin kept looking across at me. As our eyes met there was a special feeling between us that would last forever. We had a long way to go. I really looked at him for the first time as a person. He was tall, very fair and he had lovely blue eyes, and he had a stammer. It took me some time to get used to the stammer but, worst of all, was his very bad writing. It took me ages to read his first few letters. Years later, when I asked him how he managed so well at exams he said he always used "printed" writing.

Anyway, when we arrived at the racecourse, there was my aunt Sara, Uncle Jim, Tony, Kevin, Bernadette and Josie. Tony was 18, Kevin 16, Bernadette 15 and Josie 11. I presumed Martin was 17 or 18 as my brother, cousins and all of the crowd that visited the racecourse were in the same age group. I was just 15. We were all delighted to meet again and when Martin was going home he told Kevin he'd be out again in the evening for a game of football but as he was talking to Kevin he winked at me! I was sorry for him having to walk all that way to town so I was happy when he came back on a bicycle! It happened that Martin was working on the racecourse for my uncle, so I saw him every day after that.

My cousin and I brought cans of tea to the lads working on the hay and they used to give us a ride on the tractor. That was a lovely summer. The boys went hunting and fishing and the girls could go too if they could keep up. Martin's family had a boat and he took Benny, Josie, and myself up on the lake. One evening a big wave came and he has great difficulty turning the boat. When the boys went hunting early in the morning Kevin would tie a string on his big toe and let it hang out the window. Martin would come along and pull the string to wake him. One morning there was no string and Martin lifted the window and who was there but me. I had Kevin's bed for the holidays. My screams woke more than Kevin.

A crowd used to go to the bog to help with the turf cutting, and I went at lunchtime with my cousins to take cans of tea and sandwiches to the workers. I remember I let the mugs fall and I broke some of them. So many people had to share the same mug even though there was nowhere to wash a mug. I hated the rough and ready life on the bog, especially when they stirred the boiling can of tea with a stick. I suppose I was a city girl at heart and a bit of a laugh to the boys. Martin, though, was always so nice and he used to gave me his clean mug to drink from first. The others had to wipe their mugs with grass. Looking back now I must say those were wonderful, carefree days. There was no talk of robberies and no such things as televisions or computers.

There were more changes the following summer. My aunt and uncle had moved to town but they still wanted me to come for my holidays. The surprising thing was that their new house was directly opposite Martin's. I couldn't believe it. We were delighted. Martin was now working in the post office and was in line for promotion. He had served time as a butcher for a while but decided to join the post office. Later on he worked in the sorting office, but at that time he was actually delivering letters to my aunt's house. Some other things had changed too. My cousin Tony had married Evelyn, Kevin had a girlfriend and nearly all the old crowd had paired off. Martin had joined the LDF, the Local Defence Forces, which is now called the FCA.

The first morning in my aunt's house I got my first present from Martin. He sent his little sister Lauri across with a huge bunch of flowers. He loved flowers and anything to do with nature. During that summer we went for long walks and he'd point out trees and flowers, and even pretty weeds. He inherited this love of nature from his dear mother. As a boy he had been ill with asthma and he had spent long summer days in the garden with her.

Martin's mother had 12 children. The first time Martin brought me to meet his family all I could see were people, all flying around this big kitchen and each doing something different. I was mesmerised. Martin's mother was a remarkable woman; she made almost all the clothes for her children. If she were alive today she would make so much money as she made lovely patchwork quilts and embroidered pictures. Her house was a treasure.

I'm sorry to say I didn't appreciate all I could have learned from Martin about nature. I was from the city and we didn't even have a garden. Whenever I hear those lovely words from "How Great Thou Art" I think of Martin:

Martin pointed out all these lovely things to me as we walked hand in hand for miles together. He was very near to God. It was strange because he was also so outgoing. He was in the boy scouts and boxing club in Mullingar and he'd even help getting the local dance hall ready for "hops" and other occasions. He never bothered going to the dances himself but he used to take his sister Maureen and he would end up in the bar! He was always there to take his sister home. Then she met her future husband, Kit, and that was that. Kit was in the boxing club and he became very famous when he knocked out the then current champion Jack Doyle.

Two years passed and I didn't see Martin but the letters that had started with "Dear Edna" and ended with "your friend Martin" now started "My dearest Edna" and ended with "Forever yours with all my love". I wrote pages to him about the great times in Dublin. I had started going to "hops" films and plays. We always hung about in a crowd and as my friends had boyfriends, they were always arranging someone for me. I can never say that I didn't mix around with boys but I never got that special feeling I had for Martin. However, I had great friends and kept them all my life.

Martin said later if he'd known it was going to be two years he'd have come to Dublin. We just couldn't make the same holidays together. His letters were not as rubbishy as mine. He'd say how things were going and get straight to the point. The year he didn't make it to Mullingar, I noticed a slight change in my aunt and Bernadette's attitude to Martin. I wouldn't say they lied, but they started saying things, sly things, about Martin. For example, they'd say how fond he was of Bernadette and (I didn't like this) what a pity he was always drunk! Then they'd say that his father and seven brothers would take the length of the road going to the pub. Tony and Kevin were never there when Aunt Sara started going on. One day my uncle Jim caught me on my own and told me not to listen to a word they were saying about Martin. He said, "Young Martin is the salt of the earth." Actually the things that were being said didn't bother me in the least and I never repeated them to Martin.

That year sadly Uncle Jim died. He went off to work on the racecourse where he had a massive heart attack and died on the side of the road. The same year I met the boy next door to my aunt, Andrew Cully. He was such a nice boy and we used to go together for spins on our bicycles. He knew all about Martin and he would try to dodge the Mac Cabes when I was with him. He used to say that the Mac Cabes would murder him. I thought that was so funny because I was mixing with all the lads in Dublin. During the time I was there he told me he was going to England and his family had a big party for him. I remember he sang "Galway Bay". My aunt encouraged my relationship with him and I slowly began to realise she wanted Martin for Bernadette.

Many years later Martin and I talked about this, it seemed he had been told all about Andy. As to the relationship between Martin and Bernadette; this was supposed to have developed when Bernadette's family lived on the racecourse. When Bernadette was going home at night from dances, she used to knock at Mac Cabe's door and ask for Martin. His mother would get him out of bed "to leave that little girl out the dark road". Martin couldn't be bothered repeating any of this to me. As to the stories about Martin, his father and his brothers going to the pub, this actually happened but Martin was stationed in Longford at the time and not home very often. This brings me to the army.

The Second World War had broken out and the government called in all the LDF. Martin was one of the first to be called for the regular army. They were told they'd all get their jobs back when the war was over, but Martin's job was gone and he stayed on in the army. He got rapid promotion and went from private to company sergeant in a very short time. He didn't try for the officer's course. We will never know if he would have got it. Anyway he said he'd rather be with the lads than in charge. He took care of boxing and he was a PE instructor; later on he took charge of the guns.

When I got home from Mullingar that summer there was a letter waiting for me from Martin. He was coming from Longford to see me the next day! I couldn't believe it, after two years! He arrived when I was at work and when I walked in the door it was as if time had stood still. We walked straight into each other's arms. Martin kept kissing me and hugging me. His kisses were like the gentle kiss of a baby. He hadn't changed at all but I had. His first words were, "What did you do with your hair?" I had my hair permed and I was wearing makeup, jewellery, high heels and nylons. Gone was the young girl he had left behind in Mullingar. It didn't take us long for us to know that in our hearts we were still one. It was the year when our emotions were at a high. We felt and did all the things young lovers did from the beginning of time. We went on long walks in the dark, looking at the moon and the stars. We sat in the back seat of the cinema where we could hold hands. There were heights-of-happiness and depths-of-despair, partings, joys and sadness. We were soul mates and we didn't want to be parted. We were going to love each other forever. Then came the moment when Martin had to go back to Longford. He nearly missed the train, we were holding on to each other for so long.

A very funny thing happened on the second day of Martin's visit. I have to tell you this. I still can't forget it. My brother Joe and Martin were in the sitting room chatting. I was in the kitchen with my mother when Joe answered the door. Joe had heard the knock and brought the young man who had asked for me straight in to the kitchen. I even heard him saying hello to Martin. I was flabbergasted. Who was it but the young boy who lived next door to my aunt Sara, and incidentally a neighbour of Martin's, Andrew Cully. It was the same Andrew who had been so kind to me on during my holidays. All I could say was, "Martin is here". "That's all right", he replied, "I came to see you".

I had to introduce him to my mother. He had tea and sugar for her. During the war years these items were rationed, so they made a lovely gift. Of course my mother made tea and Andrew chatted away to me as if there was no one in the other room. He said he was hoping I'd come to England with him the following morning! Joe and Martin fell around the other room laughing when they heard this. I told Andy that he must be mad and I managed to get him to the front door. I had to tell him I was seeing a friend that evening and I said goodbye and wished him good luck. I nearly collapsed when he was gone. Every time I started to talk Joe, Martin and my mother went into hysterics.

I decided I have to go and tell one of my girlfriends that Martin had arrived, so I got my coat and fled. This is hard to believe but after about half an hour with my friend, I started back and there was Andy again. He had followed me. This time he didn't even get inside the front door. I just said, "Go Andy please". Andy had told me he loved me and that he wanted me to come away to England with him. Just like that. I told him I loved Martin and would never love anyone else; so eventually he went away. Poor Andy I really did like him, he wrote for a while from London and then we lost touch. I heard he met someone and got married. I always hoped he was happy.

Martin came to see me regularly after that. One weekend he said he had something to say to me. As always he came straight to the point. He said, "You know I take a drink. Well it's not just one but quite a few". He told me he was trying hard to quit. As it turned it wasn't easy for him to change his lifestyle and his drinking went on for quite a while. He would hold out for 12 months, save and then blow it all again. He was always very careful on his weekends in Dublin and I never saw him drunk. He made no promise and I never asked him to.