Guns & Roses Part I

Another true story.
Guns & Roses
There was a loud rat –a-tat on the door.
“ Almighty’’ exclaimed the Maisie.
“ Who on earth can that be” she said, clutching her hands to her heart.
“ Go open the door, Kathleen, and see who it is.”
Kathleen duly opened the door, and in dashed a boy of about 12 years, a son of one of the I.R.A. men, her sons colleagues.
“ Mrs. O’Toole, Mrs. O ‘Toole”, he cried. “ The Commandant sent me to warn you if you have anything incriminating in the house, get rid of it quick. I must be off as I have more calls to make”.
“ What am I to do” moaned the maisie. “ We’ve only got a yard, We cant hide or bury anything there. I have an idea, go into the parlour, Kathleen and fetch me the music case out of the piano stool, and empty it out, and you maddie, come upstairs and will have a look in Jacks room to see what we can find.”
There were two revolvers, and a box of rounds of ammunition under the bed in a suitcase.
“ Put them in the music case, Maddie, and both of you, go up to the Rev. Mother, in Weavers’ Square. Convent. She’ll know what to do ‘with it’’, said the maisie.
The two girls, Kathleen and Maddie set off at once for the convent. They didn’t pause as they usually did to look through the grating of the grain store in Ardee Street, to see the barefoot men threading the grain.
Just then as they walked along Ardee Street, an army lorry turned the corner of Cork Street, and bumped along the cobblestones of Ardee Street. Out of it poured a number of the ‘Irregulars’ or ‘’Black and Tans”, as they were known, who proceeded to form a cordon across the road.
With thumping hearts the girls decided to brave it out. “what ho me beauties, said one of the soldiers, who had a gamey eye. “Wot ave we got ere? Where are you two flappers off to?
“ We’re going to our singing lessons in the Weavers Square convent”, answered Kathleen (slightly braver of the two)
“yeh, must have a lot of music in the case” said the soldier.
“ Well we’ve brought our brothers Lunches along, as well as our own because we’ll be there a while”
“Give us a bit of a song then,” said the soldier with a grin.!

TO BE CONTINUED