Always to Blame
Mister Hennessey wasn’t a bad teacher. In actual fact, he tried to do his job well and even tolerated his students. However, the man had his flaws. The truth was that he was biased. One day he had been writing something on the board with his back to his pupils and he said, “O’Keefe, I know you’re up to something down there. Don’t let me catch you.” The irony of the situation was that O’Keefe “wasn’t even in.” He was “at home with the mumps.”
Carelessness
Patrick had many friends but there were two who differed from the rest. Liam and Aidan seemed to be usual boys, but just like Paddy, the difference was that those boys didn’t have a mother for she was “dead.” They were talking about “having a dead ma” that day. Sinbad, Paddy’s little brother, “started crying,” for he didn’t like the topic but couldn’t do anything to make the older boys stop. The irony was that only a child—careless and naïve—could seriously consider the perks of having a dead ma. Of course, neither Paddy nor the other boys wished that their mothers were dead. They were so young that death seemed to be something impossible and distant.
Miracles
Patrick dreamt about “Adidas football boots” with “the screw-on studs.” He put it in his letter “to Santy” but he “didn’t believe in him.” According to Paddy, he only wrote it to him because his mother “told” him to and “because Sinbad was writing to him” too. Paddy’s brother wanted “a sleigh.” Patrick’s letter was “finished.” It was in the envelope but the mother wouldn’t let Paddy “lick the flap yet because Sinbad’s letter had to go in as well.” Patrick believed that it wasn’t fair. He wanted “an envelope of” his “own.” The irony is that he doesn’t believe in Santa, so it shouldn’t matter if they have one envelope or two separate envelopes for each boy.
