Far From Home. Anne Bennett

Kate said airily.

      ‘Oh, just hark at her,’ Susie said with a hoot of laughter. ‘Let me tell you, Sally, your sister was shaking like a leaf when she went on the escalator first.’

      ‘I was not!’

      ‘Yes, you were,’ Susie said. ‘I well remember it. Come on, Sally,’ she said, offering her arm for Sally to link, which she took gratefully. ‘Don’t let Kate get one over on you. Show her how brave you are.’

      ‘Right, I will then,’ Sally said, and stepped forward, boldly holding Susie’s arm.

      After the initial tingles of nervousness, Sally enjoyed the escalator, and went up and down quite a few times and on her own too before Kate and Susie could get her off it. ‘I’ve had such a lovely time already,’ she said as they hurried along. ‘And now I have the Bull Ring to look forward to.’

      THREE

      By the time the three girls reached High Street and the top of the incline leading down to the Bull Ring, dusk had fallen. Sally gasped as she surveyed the market below them. ‘Oh,’ she exclaimed, ‘it’s just like you said, Kate. Fairyland.’

      And it was, because every barrow in that large vibrant market was lit by gas flares, just as Kate had told her it would be. She smiled at her younger sister’s enthusiasm, and Susie led the way down the incline. And when they reached the cobbled streets of the Bull Ring itself, Sally looked around in some amazement at the swelling throngs of people all around her. The chatter, laughter and general buzz of the whole place rose in the air, punctuated here and there by the banter of vendors still plying their trade.

      ‘The traders do good business on Saturday night,’ Kate said. ‘You won’t see the flower girls, though. They usually stand round Nelson’s statue there,’ she said pointing. ‘If there’s lots, though, the others cluster around St Martin’s, the church over there.’

      ‘And that’s the Market Hall,’ Susie told her, pointing to the other side of the road where Sally saw stone steps leading up to an impressive-looking building, with arched windows to either side of the steps and supported with huge and ornate stone pillars. And if it’s all the same to you, we’ll make for there first, because I’m gasping for a cup of tea.’

      ‘Me too,’ Kate said.

      ‘But won’t they all have shut by now?’ Sally asked.

      ‘Not the ones in the Market Hall,’ Kate said. ‘Come on. By the time we have the tea drunk, all the entertainers will have started arriving.’

      Everyone was in agreement with that, and so they made their way through the market. Sally saw that the traders were selling all manner of things and all their barrows were mixed together, so one might be selling various cheeses, another fruit and vegetables, and they might be next to one selling bedding or towels. There were crockery and saucepans in baskets on the ground and various smells rose in the air. Sally was quite surprised at what Kate called banter between the traders and the customers. ‘Come on, darling,’ she heard one say as they passed a barrow selling greengrocery. ‘Christ, I’m giving the stuff away. Only a tanner for this big bag of tomatoes. Don’t tell your old man, but I’m only letting you have them at this price ’cos I fancy you.’

      Kate and Susie turned away smiling, but Sally was rather shocked. Market traders didn’t do that in Donegal Town. ‘He don’t mean it,’ Susie said, seeing the look on the young girl’s face. ‘He goes on like that to sell more of his stuff.’

      ‘And it works,’ Kate said. ‘And you have got to watch him because the best tomatoes might be on the top but the rest of the bag could be filled with bruised, squashed ones. We were taken in by that once or twice.’

      ‘We were,’ agreed Susie. ‘But we’re quick learners.’

      ‘Not half,’ Kate said as she mounted the steps to the Market Hall and opened the carved wooden doors.

      Sally stood on the threshold and looked about her. The Market Hall stalls had the same gas flares as those outside, and in the sputtering pools of light it looked a cavernous place with huge high ceilings. They were crisscrossed with beams, and long metal poles led down from the beams to help support the roof. High arched windows lined the walls. At a quick glance she saw that the goods for sale inside were similar to those sold in the open-air market; the smell was indescribable and so was the noise reverberating off the walls and ceiling.

      And then a little tinkling sound was heard and the noise in the Market Hall abated a little. ‘They’re waiting for the clock to strike,’ Kate said in explanation, pointing to the wall. Till then Sally hadn’t even noticed the clock, but now she saw that it was a magnificent structure made of wood. First a lady emerged and then three other figures that Kate told her were knights as the tune heralding the hour came to an end. Amid a breathless hush, the knights struck the bell six times. ‘Six o’clock,’ Susie said when it was over. ‘No wonder I’m hungry.’

      ‘I’m hungry too,’ Kate said. ‘What do you say to tea and teacakes all round?’

      No one argued with that, and they made short work of them. ‘Those were delicious,’ Sally said, licking at her sticky fingers. ‘I didn’t realize how hungry I was.’

      ‘That’s often the way until you start eating,’ Kate said. ‘And you’ll feel warmer with food inside you, anyway. It will be cold enough out there now that it’s fully dark.’

      ‘There’s other stuff to eat as well if you feel peckish,’ Susie said with an impish grin.

      ‘What sort of food?’ Sally asked.

      ‘Oh, lovely stuff,’ Susie said, ‘like jellied eels and whelks and that, but me and Kate never fancied anything like that.’

      ‘I don’t even know what they are.’

      ‘Seafood,’ Kate said. ‘Like that song, “Molly Malone”. You must know that one – she sold cockles and mussels and that sort of stuff.’

      ‘Yeah, I know the song all right,’ Sally said. ‘Have even sung it a few times, but I never knew what any of the things she sang about were, or looked like.’

      ‘You can have a peep tonight,’ Kate promised. ‘But if you don’t fancy those, there’s a man who bakes potatoes in a little oven and they are lovely with a bit of salt. If we are still hungry we can get one of those – honestly, they smell so delicious that you always feel hungry when you get the whiff in the air.’

      ‘That’s true,’ Susie said, jumping to her feet. ‘But right now we’re wasting time. Come on, it’s probably all happening in the streets.’

      The first sight that greeted Sally as they went out of the door and down the steps were the men walking around – seemingly effortlessly – on high stilts that their long, long trousers hid from view. ‘How do they do that?’ she asked in awe. ‘Specially on these uneven cobbles.’

      Kate shrugged. ‘Search me,’ she said. ‘And I’ve never seen any of them fall off.’ She linked her arm around Sally and said, ‘Come on, let’s show you the boxing ring set up.’

      At the boxing ring, a small man in a black top hat and red jacket was encouraging men standing in the crowd to try their luck at beating the champ for a prize of five pounds. The champ, a huge and glowering man, was broad and hefty-looking with arms like tree trunks and fists like giant hams. These could be seen plainly because he was naked to the waist, with tight trousers fastened around massive beefy legs, and he had a slight sneer on his face as he regarded them all. ‘Step this way, gentlemen,’ wheedled the little man in the jacket. ‘Impress the ladies – after all, five pounds is five pounds.’

      But though some of the men shifted uncomfortably on their feet, none stepped forward and Sally couldn’t blame them one little bit. She found the man unnerving. ‘Has anyone beaten him?’ she whispered as they walked away.

      Susie and Kate both shook their