Chapter 130: The Pack That Split

The shop was quiet for a long moment and then the whole of it was not.

The woman from the post office was the first. She stood up off the floor with her cup in her hand and she said, "There is a thing about a woman in a house on a road who set a fire in 1961. She is not a wolf and she is not a thing that a Court of Alphas can try and she is going to be in a court in Dublin and there is not a wolf in this shop who is going to be in that court. We are going to be in a room in Galway on the fourteenth and the whole of the file is going to be read out loud and there is not a thing in it that is going to put a woman in a house on a road in a court in Dublin."

"Eileen is in a room in Galway," I said. "She was taken off the gangway at Dun Laoghaire yesterday and she is in a room with a wolf on the door and she has been there since."

"For how long?"

I did not answer.

"There is a thing about a woman in a room in Galway," the woman from the post office said. "She is in a room with a wolf on the door and there is a lawyer in Galway who is going to be in that room before the week is out and there is not a wolf in the west of Ireland who has been in a court in Dublin. And there is a thing about a court in Dublin. It wants a witness who has seen the whole of it and who is still alive to say it. And there is not a wolf in this shop who was in that house in 1961."

"There is one," I said.

The whole shop turned round.

Arthur was sitting on the chair by the counter with his boots in his hand and his walnut face grey.

"There is a thing about me," he said, "that the whole of this shop has heard since the gangway at Dun Laoghaire. I was in that house in 1961 and I carried a can of paraffin and I did not ask what was in it. And there is a thing about a wolf of ninety one years old who is going to be in a court in Dublin. He is going to be in it and he is going to say the whole of it and then he is going to go home and he is not going to be in a room in Galway on the fourteenth because there is not a wolf in this village who is going to be able to get him to Galway and to Dublin in the same week."

The whole shop was silent.

"Then there is a thing I have to say," I said. "And I am going to say it and the whole of the shop is going to hear it and then the whole of the shop is going to decide what it is. The whole of it has been in a file and a court and a shop at five in the morning and the whole of it has come down to a thing that no wolf in this village has been able to do since 1961. It has come down to a choice between a room in Galway on the fourteenth and a court in Dublin and a hall on this coast." I put my hand on the counter. "And there is a thing about a choice like that. It is not a choice that a woman from Dublin can make. It is a choice that a co-op makes."

The whole shop was silent.

Tom stood up.

"There is a thing about a co-op," he said, "that I have been thinking about since the shore. It is forty wolves and a long table and a vote. And there is a thing about forty wolves who have been in a shop at five in the morning and who have heard the whole of it. They are not forty wolves. They are twenty who put a lamp down on a slip and eleven who walked out of a hall and nine who came down a coast on a boat in a storm." He looked at the whole of them. "And there is a thing about twenty and eleven and nine. It is forty and it is not a co-op. It is two co-ops and there is not a wolf in this shop who does not know it."

The whole shop was silent.

"Then there is a thing I have to say," I said, "and it is the thing that I have been putting off since the hall. The whole of the co-op is not going to be in that room on the fourteenth. There is going to be a co-op in it and there is going to be a pack outside it and there is going to be a wolf in a black coat who is going to be in it and who is going to be listened to. And there is a thing about a co-op that is split. It is a co-op that is going to lose." I put my hand down. "So I am not going to ask the whole of the co-op to be in that room. I am going to ask the wolves who have already chosen. And there is a thing about a wolf who has already chosen. He is a wolf who put a lamp down on a slip in June and who has not picked it up since."

The whole shop was silent.

And then the woman from the post office put her cup down on the counter.

"There is a thing about me," she said, "that the whole of this shop is going to hear and then I am going to go home and I am not going to be in that room on the fourteenth. I have been in this village all my life and I have been the post office and I have been in every kitchen in it and I have known since 1989 that there was a thing in that hall that no wolf was supposed to look at. And there is a thing about a woman who has known that for eight years and who has put a letter behind a counter and given it to a wolf in her hand and never once asked what was in it. She is a coward and she is a coward who has been a coward for eight years." She picked up her coat. "But there is a thing about a coward who is a coward for eight years and who is asked to be in a room in Galway on the fourteenth with the whole of it read out loud. She is a coward who is going to be in that room and she is going to be in it with the whole of the village looking at her and she is going to hear a thing that is going to make her ashamed in front of her own daughter."

The whole shop was silent.

"Then there is a thing I have to say," I said, "and I am going to say it before you go out of that door. You are not a coward. You are a woman who has been in a village for thirty six years and who has been told every day of it that a question is a dangerous thing. And there is a thing about a woman who has been told that every day of her life and who has just stood up in a shop at five in the morning and said the whole of it out loud. She is not a coward. She is the first wolf in this village who has said the word ashamed in front of a room."

The woman from the post office looked at me.

"There is a thing about the fourteenth," she said. "I am going to be in that room."

She went out and the door shut behind her and the whole of the shop was quiet.

And then Tom said, "There is a thing about the vote in June. It was thirty four to eleven. And there is a thing about eleven. They are not eleven wolves who are going to be in a room in Galway on the fourteenth. They are eleven wolves who have been in this village since 1961 and who have been taking the money and the boats and the moorings. And there is a thing about a wolf who has been taking the money and who is asked to be in a room in Galway with the whole of it read out loud. He is not going to be in that room. He is going to be in a kitchen with a woman in a black coat and he is going to be told what to say."

The whole shop was silent.

"Then there is a thing I have to do," I said, "and it is not a thing that a woman from Dublin can do and it is not a thing that a Beta can do. It is a thing that a wolf who was born in this village and who has been in the hand of the Alpha since he was fourteen can do." I turned round. "Cormac."

Cormac was at the back of the shop with his coat off and his wrist red and Mary beside him.

"There is a thing about the eleven," he said. "I know them. I have been in their kitchens since I was fourteen and I have been in the hall with them and I have been in the boat with them. And there is a thing about the eleven that no wolf in this shop has said out loud. They are not eleven wolves who are loyal to the woman in the black coat. They are eleven wolves who are frightened of her and who have been frightened of her since 1961 and who have been told that a wolf who says a word is a wolf who is going to be in a boat in the morning." He put his hand on the counter. "So I am going to go to the eleven. Not with a paper. Not with a file. With the thing I have. I am going to stand in their kitchens and I am going to say the whole of it and I am going to tell them what I did in that hall on the Thursday night and what I did in that boathouse and what I cut and what I did not do." He picked up his coat. "And there is a thing about a boy who has been in the hand of the Alpha since he was fourteen and who stands in a kitchen and says the whole of it. He is the only wolf in this village who is going to be believed by a wolf who has been frightened since 1961."

The whole shop was silent.

And then Mary said, "There is a thing about the eleven. I am not a wolf of this village and I do not know them and I have been in Killybegs all my life. But there is a thing about a wolf who has been told she is an heir. She is a wolf who has been in a room with a wolf on the door and who has shifted on a stone floor and who has been told the whole of it. And there is a thing about the eleven that I can do that no wolf in this shop can do. I can stand in a kitchen and say, I am the heir of Maeve and I have been in a room in Galway and I have heard the whole of it and there is not a wolf in this village who is going to be able to say I was not there."

Cormac took her hand.

"Then there is a thing we are going to do," he said, "and we are going to do it before the sun is up."

They went out of the shop together and the whole of the shop watched them go and the rain had stopped and the sky was gold along the edge of the sea.

And then Padraig came in from the road with his coat over his head and his notebook in his hand and his face grey.

"There is a thing about the eleven," he said. "I have been on the road since four and I have been at the north pier and the south cottages and the house by the church. And there is a thing about the eleven that the whole of this shop is going to hear before Cormac gets to the first kitchen. They are not in their kitchens. They are not in their houses. There is not a lamp in a window from the north pier to the church and there is not a wolf in the whole of the eleven who has been seen since the hall."

The whole shop was silent.

"Where are they?" I said.

"There is a boat missing from the north pier," Padraig said. "She is called the Kathleen and she is out of Dún Aonghasa and she is not at the wall and she is not in the harbor and there is a man on the pier who saw her go out at three o'clock with her lights off."