Roddy Doyle - The Guts

— Where?

— In the middle. I don’t care.

— Where’ll we meet?

— I don’t mind.

— Where’s good near you?

— Don’t know really, said Jimmy. — I’ll ask some of the younger ones in work. Then we can go somewhere different.

— That makes sense, said Darren. — And look.

— What? said Jimmy.

— I’m sorry — yeh know?

— You’re grand, said Jimmy. — Thanks. I’ll let you get back to your shoppin’.

— Duvet covers, said Darren.

— Brilliant.

— I’ll photograph them for yeh, send you the jpeg.

— Lovely, said Jimmy.

— Wednesday so.

— Yeah, great, said Jimmy. — I’ll text you the pub.

He stayed on the stairs for a while. He could hear the rest of them in the front room. Talking low, just a bit above whispering. He thought he heard a sniffle. Aoife, maybe, or maybe her mother.

He’d stay put for another minute.

He followed the boys into the bedroom and closed the door.

— Listen, lads, he said. — I’ve a bit of news.

Jesus .

The three of them stood in a huddle between the radiator and the bed. The boys were taller than Jimmy now. He felt like the kid.

— Don’t worry about this, he said. — It’ll be fine.

He looked from face to face.

— I’ve got bowel cancer.

They stared at him. They were waiting for the punchline but they knew there wouldn’t be one. Jimmy was the world’s biggest bollocks. What he’d just done was illegal — or it fuckin’ should have been.

The boys were still waiting to be rescued.

— So, said Jimmy. — So. I wanted to tell yis—. Jesus, lads, I’m sorry about this.

— It’s cool, said young Jimmy.

And that saved Jimmy; he could go on.

— It’ll be grand, he told them. — It’ll be a bit — I don’t know — inconvenient. For a while just.

— It’s cancer, said Marvin.

— Yeah.

— That’s not inconvenient, Dad.

— Yeah, said Jimmy. — Yeah. Come here.

He put an arm around each boy’s shoulders. He had to reach up to do it. He felt himself going, falling over, but they held him.

— I’ll be grand, he said.

They were stiff there, angry, frightened. Jimmy was talking right into the side of Marvin’s head.

— It’s not the worst of them, he said. — The cancers, like. And we’ve found it early enough.

— What’s that mean?

— It’s confined, said Jimmy. — It hasn’t spread, you know.

He could feel the boys trying to control their breath, trying not to push away.

— It can be beaten, he said.

— How? said Marvin.

He was the stiffest, the angrier one.

— Well, said Jimmy. — Chemo and surgery.

— What’s chemo? young Jimmy asked.

— Chemotherapy.

— I know. What is it?

— Chemicals, said Jimmy. — I suppose that’s the simplest way to — I don’t know.

They were still clinging to one another. He wanted to sit down.

— They nuke the bad cells — the chemicals, you know. Basically.

— Sounds good, said young Jimmy.

— I’m lookin’ forward to it, said Jimmy. — It’ll be like goin’ mad in a head shop.

The boys tried to laugh.

— I’m really sorry about this, said Jimmy.

He let go of them. They seemed to expand, to rise above him. He wanted them back. But he sat on the bed. They stood there in front of him. They were awkward, polite, lovely. And separate — they stood like young men who didn’t really know each other. They waited for permission to go.

— I’ll be grand, said Jimmy.

Marvin nodded. Young Jimmy was going to cry.

— It’ll just be.

— Keep an eye out for your mam.

— For fuck sake, said Marvin.

Jimmy laughed, delighted. He held his hands up.

— Sorry, he said. — Yis hungry?

They were starving. They were always fuckin’ starving.

— Sort of, said young Jimmy.

— Me too, said Jimmy. — But I’ll be tellin’ May and Brian about it — the news, yeh know. Downstairs. But I wanted to tell you first. I thought you could handle it.

— Man to man, said Marvin.

He was an angry kid.

— There’s no good way, Marv.

— S’pose.

— Boys, said Jimmy. — I love you.

— Love you too, young Jimmy whispered.

— Yeah, Marvin whispered.

Jimmy got up off the bed and hugged them again. They let go a bit, properly. They cried a bit. The snot flowed.

— Check your shoulders, lads.

They were back down and dry-eyed in time for the arrival of the Chinese. They all sat around the table. It was a bit of a squash — it had been since the older pair had taken off and become the world’s tallest Rabbittes, or Egan-Rabbittes. Aoife glanced at Jimmy. He shook his head; he’d wait till they’d finished eating. Young Jimmy looked pale, although he was still ploughing into the Chicken Cantonese Style.

— What’re you havin’, May? he asked.

Mahalia had come home two days before, a vegetarian.

— Leave her alone, said Aoife.

— I was only askin’, said Jimmy. — I’m curious.

— It’s okay, said Mahalia. — Chicken with lemon sauce but I’m taking the bits of chicken out.

— I’ll have them.

— Me! Brian shouted — he often had to. — She said me. Didn’t you?

— Yeah, said Mahalia.

Another problem. Brian was a bit heavy. They had a fat kid on their hands. It kept Aoife awake. But Jimmy knew she wouldn’t object tonight. Fill them all with sugar and monosodium glutamate; sedate the fuckers. That was the plan.

— I don’t know what to eat yet, said Mahalia. — So before you tell me there’s, like, bits of chicken in the sauce, I know, like.

— I wasn’t goin’ to say anythin’, said Jimmy. — I respect your decision.

— Okay.

— And so do the chickens.

— Has anyone noticed, said Mahalia, — that we’ve one of the funniest dads in, like, the whole country?

— Yep.

— Yep.

Brian looked at Jimmy and smiled, just to let him know that he wasn’t being treacherous, before he went —

— Yep.

— Poor Jimmy, said Aoife.

— Poor me.

— Can we’ve ice cream?

— There’s animal fats in ice cream, said Marvin.

— Fuck off.

— Mahalia!

— Sorry.

— Hang on, said Jimmy. — Hang on.

He waited.

— Forks down. Brian. Good lad.

He waited a bit longer. He smiled at Aoife, at young Jimmy and Marvin.

— I’ve somethin’ to tell yis.

— What?

— I’m gettin’ there.

Mahalia had bawled. She’d thrown herself at him before he’d got to cancer . But it had worked out fine. It was easier to work his way backwards, to explain why he wouldn’t be dying. She’d believed him — he thought she had. They’d have to see — because he’d been crying too as he spoke, as he’d stroked her head the way he’d always done, as she’d cried through his jumper and shirt. Aoife had cried. Young Jimmy had cried. Marvin had allowed himself to cry — he’d stood up first and walked halfway to the hall.

Brian hadn’t.

He sat watching everything. He didn’t blink. He held his fork, waiting for the okay to get on with his dinner.

— Alright, Smoke?

— Yeah.

— Good man.

Maybe he’d just believed Jimmy. He was still young enough; the older boys had been the same. They’d believed everything he’d told them. The word — cancer — meant nothing to him. Fried rice did, though.

— It’s a phase, he said later, in the bed. — He’ll be grand.

He didn’t believe it. And he didn’t believe it when Aoife seemed to be agreeing with him.