Chapter 138: The Shore That Remembers

We went down to the Kathleen at two in the morning and the whole of the pack came down to the wall with us and the whole of it was quiet.

Tom's brother was on the deck with the engine going and the lamp lit and the whole of the boat smelled of diesel and salt and the rope that had been coiled on her deck since the morning.

"There is a thing about the coast from here to Killybegs," he said. "It is eight hours in the dark with a wind coming up from the southwest and there is a rock off Achill that I have been going round since I was twelve. I can have you at the wall at Killybegs by ten o'clock and there is not a wolf on this coast who is going to see us." He put his hand on the wheel. "But there is a thing about the whole of it that I have to say before we go. There is a woman up that hill with a lamp and two men and a can. And there is a thing about a can. It is the same can that was carried up a hill in 1961 and it is the same thing that was in the cellar of that house in 1979 and it is the same thing that is in a court in Dublin and a file in Galway. It is paraffin and it is a fire."

The whole of the wall was silent.

"Then there is a thing I have to say," I said, "and I am going to say it before we get on that boat and the whole of this pack is going to hear it. The woman up that hill is going to do the thing she has been doing since 1961. She is going to burn the cellar and the book and the list of names and she is going to leave a house on a hill with nothing in it but ash and a door that was bricked up in 1981. And there is a thing about a woman who burns a thing. She has done it before and she has done it because a fire is a thing that does not leave a paper." I put my hand on the rail. "But there is a thing about a fire that she has not thought of. A fire in a cellar in a house on a hill in Killybegs is a fire that is going to be seen by the whole of the town and by the harbor master and by the guards and by the newspaper in Dublin. And there is a thing about a woman who burns a cellar at two in the morning in a town she has been coming to since 1979. She is not going to be able to do it quietly."

The whole of the wall was silent.

"And there is a thing about the shore," Cormac said. "It remembers."

The whole of us turned round.

"There is a thing about a shore that has been in a village for thirty six years," he said. "It has been taking the boats and the moorings and the catch and the quiet nights. And there is a thing about a shore that has been taking a thing for thirty six years. It has a memory. The tide comes in and it goes out and it leaves a mark. And there is a mark on the north side of the headland at Dún Aonghasa that I have been looking at since I was a boy. It is a line of stones under the water at the cove and there is not a wolf in the village who has been able to say what it is." He put his hand on the rail. "It is the old slip. The one that was there before the new one. And there is a thing about a slip that was there before the new one. It was used in 1961 and it was used in 1979 and it was used in 1981 and there is a thing under it that no wolf has looked at."

The whole of the wall was silent.

"Then there is a thing we have to do," I said, "and we have to do it before we go to Killybegs. Not after. Before. Because there is a thing about a slip that was used in 1961 and 1979 and 1981 and that has a thing under it. It is the thing that the whole of it has been buried under and it is the thing that a woman in a good coat is going to Killybegs to burn." I turned round. "Declan. The north cove at Dún Aonghasa. How long does it take to get there?"

"Four hours from here," he said. "And four hours from there to Killybegs."

"Then there is a thing about the morning," I said. "We are not going to be at Killybegs by ten o'clock. We are going to be at Dún Aonghasa by six and we are going to be in that cove at first light and we are going to find the thing that has been under that slip since 1961. And then we are going to be in Killybegs by the evening and there is not going to be a thing in that cellar for a woman in a good coat to burn because the whole of it is going to be in a case in Galway."

The whole of the pack went up.

And then Padraig said, "There is a thing about the shore that I have to say and I have been trying to say it since the telephone. The shore remembers because the shore is a thing that a wolf has been walking on for thirty six years. And there is a wolf in this village who has been walking on that north shore since 1961 and who has been in that cove and who has been under that slip and who is the only wolf alive who knows what is under it." He put his hand on the rail. "Her name is Maire and she has been the woman with the grey plait and she has been on that shore since 1961 and she has been carrying a vote that did not come and a thing she saw on a cliff path. And there is a thing about a woman who has been on a shore for thirty six years. She knows where the stones are."

The whole of the wall was silent.

"Then there is a thing I have to ask," I said. "Where is Maire?"

The whole of the pack looked at each other.

And then Nora said, "She is not in the shop and she is not on the wall and she has not been in the shop since the shore. I have been in the back room since the shore and there is not a wolf in this village who has seen her since the sun came up."

The whole of the wall was silent.

And then Tom said, "There is a thing about Maire that I have not said out loud and that the whole of this wall is going to hear. She is not a wolf who goes to a boat and she is not a wolf who goes to a hall and she is not a wolf who goes to a court. She is a wolf who goes to a shore. And there is a thing about a woman who goes to a shore when a pack is going to a court. She has been on that shore since 1961 and she has been waiting for a wolf to come and ask her a question." He put his hand on the rail. "She is in the north cove. She has been in the north cove since the sun came up and there is not a wolf in this village who has been down that track since the fire."

The whole of the wall was silent.

"Then there is a thing about the Kathleen," I said. "She is not going to Killybegs. She is going to the north cove and she is going to be there by six o'clock and there is a woman on that shore with a grey plait who has been waiting thirty six years for a wolf to come and ask her a question." I got on the boat. "And there is a thing about the whole of it that the pack is going to hear before we go. If there is a thing under that slip and if it is the thing I think it is, then the whole of the file in Galway is going to be a file about a house on a hill and a slip and a shore and a woman with a grey plait. And there is a thing about a file like that. It is not a file that a woman in a good coat is going to be able to burn."

The whole of the pack got on the boat.

And then, from the top of the wall, a voice said, "There is a thing about the north cove that the whole of you are going to want to hear before you go out of this harbor."

The whole of us turned round.

Owen was standing at the top of the wall with his cap in his hand and his coat over his arm and his face grey.

"I have been in the north cove," he said. "Not this morning. In March. I was paid to be there and I was paid by a woman in a good coat and there was a boat in the cove and there was a lamp on the wall and there was a thing under the slip." He put his cap on. "I have been carrying it since March and I have not said a word because a hunter who says a word is a hunter who does not get paid. And there is a thing about a hunter who has been carrying a thing since March. He is not a hunter who is going to be in a room in Galway on the fourteenth. He is a hunter who is going to be in the north cove at six o'clock in the morning with a lamp and a rope and a whole lot of things he has been trying not to say."