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1            we liked the priest because once we saw him buy
2            an icecream cone
3            we were 9 years old then and when I went to
4            my best friend's house his mother was usually
5            drinking with his father
6            they left the screen door open and listened
7            to music on the radio
8            his mother sometimes had her dress pulled
9            high and her legs excited me
10          made me nervous and afraid but excited
11          somehow
12          by those black polished shoes and those nylons---
13          even though she had buck teeth and a
14          very plain face.


15          when we were ten his father shot and
16          killed himself with a bullet through
17          the head
18          but my best friend and his mother went on
19          living in that house
20          and I used to see his mother going
21          up the hill to the market with her
22          shopping bag and I'd walk along beside
23          her
24          quite conscious of her legs and her
25          hips and her behind
26          the way they all moved together
27          and she always spoke nicely to me
28          and her son and I went to church (puke from any gods)
 and
29          confession together
30          and the priest lived in a cottage
31          behind the church


32          and a fat kind lady was always there
33          with him
34          when we went to visit
35          and everything seemed warm and
36          comfortable then in
37          1930
38          because I didn't know
39          that there was a worldwide
40          depression
41          and that madness and sorrow and fear were
42          almost everywhere.