What Dreams are Made of

By Edna McCabe

Part 10 - Changing Times

The coming of television had a big impact our happy, simple lives. Martin was not interested in buying one at first; until he missed the girls being around when he came home from work. He soon realised they were going to a friend's house to watch television; so he felt we had no option but to keep up with the other houses around. I took to television straight away and I loved watching the children's programmes with the kids. Even Martin had to admit that that he enjoyed watching documentaries about nature documentaries, as well as the sports and, of course, the news programmes. However the soaps and love films, they weren't for him. He'd say things like, "They meet in the morning and they are in bed that night" and "Do they have to eat one another to kiss?" When we'd all laugh at him he'd go off down the garden muttering, "Oh boys oh boys what is the world coming to?" Yet he didn't stop us watching, as he knew it reflected the world the children were going to live in. Somehow I managed to adapt to the new order; Martin was sad at the way the world was changing Talk of condoms was the last straw for him. He'd said, "They go out for a date with a piece of rubber in their pockets." When I said, "Well that's the way it is Martin", he used to put his hands up and said, "Stop, please, Edna. I don't want to know." His hate words were "sex", "contraception" and "partners".

In my still vivid imagination I could picture the procedure involved in using condoms and I thought it was hilarious. But Martin didn't want to know. In my heart I knew this nice man was still trying to protect me, even though I had come a long way from the time I first met him. Technology was slowly bearing in or our world, whether we liked it or not.

By now Grace had a nice quiet boyfriend, called Larry Grouden. We didn't meet him for ages and we wondered why she didn't bring him in to meet us. They used to park in his white van outside the door and the other three (and me) would peep through the curtains to get a look at him. I don't think they knew we were peeping, but perhaps they did. Martin would have killed us if he caught us peeping; so we scurried to our seats when we saw him coming.

Valerie, although five years younger than Grace, was now going to the "hops" and she always had a boyfriend. I often saw the younger two, Mary and Tina, traipsing along Valerie and her latest conquest.

At this stage we met Denis Byrne, through our friend Declan Murphy. Declan brought Dennis to our New Year's Eve Party. Denis was different from our other friends as he had long hair and a beard and he lived on his own. He loved a drink and he stayed out till all hours. But despite all this he became one of our best friends. Like Martin he had high principles and his word was his bond. Also, they had a mutual love of nature, the river and boating. They used to talk and argue for hours. What I saw was a lonely boy, who sad at times and angry with God and life. His mother was a devout Catholic who took care of the church and went to daily Mass. He also had two brothers, a sister and, of course his dad. His family all went to Mass every day before school.

It would seem Dennis had a happy life until his mother died. She was in a lot of pain during her time in hospital and then she died suddenly. Denis couldn't accept that a kind lady, who gave all her time to God and her family, could die like this. His dad never really got the loss either and in due course he too ended up in the local hospital. Denis went to see him every day until he passed on. After the death of his parent Dennis was an upset young man who didn't care much about anything. However, he kept his job as buyer in the curtain department in Burgess' and everyone knew him and respected him.

I think he only used one room in his lovely house but he had a welcome for everyone and he was always having parties. He often neglected himself and on one occasion he landed in hospital where he said Martin was his next of kin. When he was discharged he stayed with us until he recovered and got restless again. Then one day he was gone. He used to turn up at any time of the day or night. and on nights when the weather was bad I'd get around him to sleep on the settee. Next morning he'd have gone. I remember he often brought me a jar of "humbug" sweets and one Christmas he bought me a huge box of chocolates for the family on which he wrote, "To the best family in the world."

After some time Dennis set off for England where he joined up with the "hippies" and had a great time travelling around. We were concerned about him until one day, out of the blue; he turned up on our doorstep. It seems he had enough of travelling about.

Shortly after that he met his old boss up town. He simply said to him, "Get your hair cut, you're starting tomorrow." This gives an idea of how well Dennis was respected in Athlone. Indeed, around this time he got a great write-up in the Westmeath Independent. The heading went something like this, "Dennis Byrne returns to Athlone after a period of business experience in England." I tell you all this about Denis because he was to become a big part of our lives.