Irish Winter Part 5
The next morning, the young men woke in the reverse position that they had fallen asleep in. Ian stirred, taking his arm from around Devlin, and the other man woke as well.
I have no idea what you want to tell me and why you are telling me that.
Neither was accustomed to sleeping with someone else and there were a few awkward moments.
Hey, we're in the first paragraph and I can already go off-tangent on something. YAY! I think I already mentioned how odd it is that both are only-children. /takes out 'This is Ireland in the 1920s-sticker/. Catholic contraception does not work that way. Granted: they're fathers are never mentioned so they must be dead BUT either the father died when Ian/Devlin were still very young, in which case it would have been very likely for their mothers to have re-married for the very practical reasons of needing somebody who earns money (we've seen that Ian's mother doesn't work and there is no mention that she ever has...but then there is no mention of her Christian name either because who cares about women and their thoughts and feelings in a gay romance?). In that case they really should have some half-brothers and sisters. If the father died at a point where Ian was already old enough to earn his own money...why hasn't he more brothers and sisters? (Yes there is always a possibility that there is a good reason for it...but two people just happen to have no siblings? I doubt it). But then you'd need to describe the characters of these people and as he's already failing to do so for the handful of people that have been introduced by name it's probably better this way.
tl;dr: please tell me again how poor you are, having your own room and your own bed /hits him with a copy of Angela's Ashes/
They get up, have breakfast and then go in town to see what results the actions from last night had. It's all very chaotic down there because the RIC is trying to find out who is responsible for the raid. Nobody knows it and even if they would, they aren't very keen on talking to the RIC. Random Colonel appears and makes threats if the culprits aren't named in the next 24 hours.
“Those weapons and the names of the men responsible will be brought to me in twenty-four hours time. If they are not, I promise you, reprisals will be taken against the people of Cork County. You will all be forced to talk in the same extremely artificial way I do.”
Ian & Devlin meet up with the other cardboard IRA-members and discuss what the guy might have meant with his threat. They come to the conclusion that they don't know, have no idea and have no choice but to wait and be prepared for everything. Or whatever.
Again we get random boring talk instead of actual feelings and worries. As it's really not my job to go through all the possibilities of thoughts Ian might have had after hearing the ultimatum I'll spare you that.
Shane tells Ian that they need even more medication as their next plan is a lot more dangerous. Then more discussions about what might happen if they all have to go into hiding and blah and this meeting goes on for pages and nothing really interesting happens.
Then Ian goes to the apothecary and nothing continues to happen. Ian pays his boss for the laudanum and gets more supplies (see what I did here? I used two sentences to describe the same thing the author needs a whole page for).
However we are spared an exact description of Ian's dinner. Instead we skip to the next day when the Black and Tans arrive again to make good on their promise. They grab four random men and threaten to execute them if the men who are actually responsible don't come forward.
After more boring discussions the Cork Brigade come actually to the conclusion that even though they all signed up for that 'Dying for the Irish Freedom'-bit, the poor sods who were taken away by the Black and Tans didn't and that perhaps they should try to do something.
Pacifist Ian has the solution:
After considerable thought and a couple of pints (ah where would we be without alcohol?), Ian came up with a suggestion. “What about this? We put up fliers where the Brits will see? We warn them that for every hostage they shoot, we’ll shoot two of theirs. It might at least delay the executions.”
Now that's a charming idea! And it's really a good thing that every single Brit that has appeared so far has been a complete bastard because otherwise readers might question the morality of a group that answers random shootings with MOAR random shootings.
Do I need to point out that once again Ian throws this suggestion out without the reader learning anything about his feelings.
In other words we have a main character who doesn't think twice about condemning people, he never met, to die.
But of course he is different from the British Colonel who also condemned some people he never met to death because the Colonel wants to kill good Irishmen while Ian only wants to kill worthless British soldiers.
(Yes, I know what I signed up for when I bought a book where both MCs are IRA-members...still, couldn't we at least get some doubts?)
Shane decides that even better than threatening to kill two Brits for every Irishmen is threatening to kill three Brits for every Irishmen. The suggestion is cheerfully accepted and everybody goes off to prepare everything needed for the plan. Ian and Devlin talk afterwards without actually conveying the gravitas of the decision they just made.
They distribute the flyers near the RIC-quarters (of course without getting caught or just getting in danger of getting caught) and meet up with Shane again.
“I just don’t know,” Devlin worried. “I don’t think we’re gonna succeed in saving the hostages. I think the Black and Tans will shoot ’em no matter what we do. Unless you want to attack the barracks tonight, I don’t see how…”
“That’s just what those bastards are waiting for us to do,” Shane interrupted. “They’re ready and waiting for us, don’t you see? We would be dead and they’d still shoot the hostages because no one gave us up as the attackers of the station.”
“So, either way the hostages are dead?”
“I’m afraid so, Devlin. They knew no one would give up a fellow Irishman for the raid, so they just planned to shoot four of us for the four we shot for shooting two of us. The circle has begun and it won’t stop with the morning sun. Have we got a counter for horrible clichéd expressions?”
So Shane saw it coming that the threat would have no effect and Devlin suspected it...only Ian was naive enough to think they might be able to save them...but neither the thought of four innocents dying because of their actions nor the thought of having to kill 12 British soldiers seems bothers him that much...he only points out that he won't be able to meet the others the next morning because he has to work...or no wait!
As Devlin and Ian walked away from the pub, a feeling of immense sadness overtook both as they thought of the young lad who was to die in the morning. It could have just as easily been one of them waiting in a dark, damp cell filled with fear.
Notice the singular? One of the hostages is only 18 but the others are older and who cares about old people? Apparently they're disgusting and it's not important if they die.
But yay! Somebody showed some emotions! That means we can go back to the important things, i.e. flimsy reasons for Devlin to spent another night at Ian's
“Ah, me mum, well, she has a friend staying over tonight and it’s better if I’m not there.”
“Your ma has a boyfriend?”
“Aye, something like that. He leaves food behind that usually lasts us for a couple of days.”
That will actually make sense later, so I'll just leave that for now.
Ian announces to his mother that he has invited another hungry mouth over for tonight and they talk about how little food they have.
Ian abruptly noticed how gray her hair was becoming. She looked ten years older than she really was and it saddened him to see the effect Ireland’s troubles had on her. The lack of nourishment was taking a toll on nearly everyone and he knew his mother was giving him food from her plate so he could continue to grow and remain strong. Great and he gives his food to Devlin. You are an idiot Ian.
Blah what will mother do if I have to hide?
With shoulders drooping under the weight added to the burden he already carried, Ian went out to the porch. Please tell me more about that poor Irish house that has a bloody porch.
Devlin now actually has some money to pay for the food. A whole pound in fact but he swears that he earned that. I am sure there is no dark secret connected with that.
/Random dinner-smalltalk nobody cares about/
Devlin takes a bath and Ian's mother decides that she is going to wash his clothes. That means Devlin has to walk around dressed with nothing but a towel! Oh noes!
“Your mum decided to wash my clothes tonight, so I’ll just have to sleep naked. I trust you don’t mind too much?”
Ian swallowed hard and managed to force out a few words. “No, I don’t care. Just don’t go poking me in the back with anything, that’s all!”
Hahahahaha! Poking in the back! Haha! Did you get the joke? Wasn't it hilarious?
And when was the last time we got an in-depth description of somebody's looks? That must have been PAGES ago.
Devlin was old enough to have quite a bit of hair on his chest as well as a little trail that ran down his stomach toward the object of Ian’s secret desire. As if deliberately teasing his friend, he bent over to pick up the towel, and Ian got a good look at a firm, sculpted ass. Devlin blew out the candle on the dresser and when he turned back to the bed, Ian saw that he was slightly aroused and his dick had grown in length.
At first I was not sure about which dick we were talking about here but it seems like it's Devlin's.
It took a major effort for Ian to look away as Devlin climbed into bed. Trembling, Ian leaned to blow out the candle on the nightstand. How many bloody candles do they have?
More akward flirting and
“Did you like what you saw?”
Ian didn’t know how to respond to this question. If he answered truthfully, he ran the risk of losing a friendship how exactly can waving your dick around and asking the other if he likes what he sees be interpreted as anything but flirting (honestly: I'm bad at reading these signs but I'd probably would have a pretty good idea what is going on) as well as everyone thinking he was a homosexual but yay for half an acknowledgement that being considered gay is not fun.
Ian wasn’t sure what he really wanted. He knew that he found his friend very appealing and that he wanted to touch his dick more than anything in this world right now. So he does know what he wants. He pretends to sleep but Devlin isn't fooled. He thinks about Ian and his own life.
After a year of searching silently, he had given up believing that there was someone in the city his age that might be interested. He was sick of selling himself to older married men in the towns around Cork to earn a little cash. He wasn’t proud of taking money from these men, but he and his mother needed to eat. Since she was doing the same thing, he figured that he might as well also. […] he had learned something from each. He now had sexual experience, but he wanted something more from Ian. He wanted Ian as a friend as well as a lover, wanted to share a life with him. Now he was almost certain he had a chance to achieve that goal because Ian has reacted so well to all his flirting, but he knew he would have to take it slowly.
Ian’s eyes were wide open and he was licking his lips nervously. What was Devlin doing? Was he trying to seduce Ian? Or was he just trying to find out if Ian was a poofter? […] He just knew Devlin would laugh at his hard-on like the boys who beat up suspected homosexuals at his school. A few of the more feminine lads simply moved away rather than deal with the daily harassment. Because whole families have nothing better to do than to move when one of their sons gets bullied. Ian didn’t want to be in that category, so he never examined his own feelings too closely.
And here was me thinking I could get through a whole chapter without switching into RAGE-mode. I was wrong.
Let me get this straight: He thinks he might be gay and his main worry is 'OMG I will get beaten up at school'. Now I won't deny that that is horrible, but that seems very much like a 21st century (western world) worry. In early 20th century Ireland I expect his reaction to be more like:
'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The priest told me that I will burn in HELL if I act on these feelings. He said it is unnatural and against God's will! What is wrong with me??? I'm a misfit. I must try as hard as I can to hide these feelings also because it is also against the law to act on them.'
(I also somehow doubt that 'bullying for assumed sexual orientation' was that much of a thing, I think they had enough other reasons for that).
Still no sex. Don't worry. It won't take long, now.