Page 78 of 56 Days
A beat of silence blooms and Ciara knows why: her big sister is weighing up the pros and cons of pushing her, demanding some plausibility to go with that embarrassingly flimsy excuse, which would also risk potentially ending this conversation before it’s even begun.
Siobhán ultimately opts for pretending to believe, for letting it go.
She always does.
“So what’s going on up in the Big Smoke?” she asks.
“Not much. Working and falling asleep in front of Netflix. Like everyone else, I suppose.”
“What’s Dublin like?”
“The opening scenes in something postapocalyptic, at the moment. You know when Cillian Murphy wakes up in28 Days Laterand everyone’s left London except for him? That. How is it down there?”
“Beats me. We’re barely leaving the house. Pat does all the food shops. There could actuallybezombies out there for all I know.” A pause. “What about your job? Do you like it?”
“It’s fine.”
“What does it involve?”
“What does itinvolve?” Ciara frowns. “Why would you ask me that?”
“Why wouldn’t you answer?”
So now it’s her turn to decide whether to push or pretend.
Ciara, too, goes for pretend.
“Right now it mostly involves making lists and looking at spreadsheets.”
“Sounds kinda boring,” Siobhán says.
Ciara knows her sister is just trying to get a rise out of her and she refuses to take the bait.
“It is,” she agrees, “a bit.”
“Then why did you run away to Dublin to do it?”
“Aren’t I lucky I did? I wouldn’t even have a job to go to if I’d stayed at home. The hotel is closed.”
“You would have your emergency pandemic payment, or whatever it’s called.”
“I’d rather be here.”
“Why do I feel like I’m not getting the whole story?”
“Because you always feel that way, because you’re paranoid.” Ciara doesn’t want to get into it with her sister, again. “Anyway. How’s Mam?”
“About the same. Or so I’m told, since we can’t visit her now. They’re trying to get iPads in, so we can FaceTime.”
“Does she know what’s going on?”
There’s a long pause before Siobhán answers.
“She has good days and bad.”
“What about...” Ciara doesn’t like to think about this bit; she has to force the word out. “Pain?”
“They keep her comfortable. She sleeps a lot.”
