It can happen...

Brendan has come back to take over the lead in this story, completely. I had gone through this one section four times, not understanding what it was about until he calmly smacked be on the back of my head and said, "This is it." Then came a moment where he's 12 years old and standing outside a friend's door, having been all but kicked out of the house by the boy's mother for being a bad influence on her son when...

I just nodded and turned, not even trying to smile. I was numb to her words. I leaned against the railing and pulled out my last Blue. As I lit it, I heard barking from below and saw a pack of dogs chasing after a yellow tom cat. It was trying to escape them, but they managed to surround it in a corner and were howling and snarling and lunging, and the cat was hissing and spitting and clawing at them...and I held my breath. I wanted something to throw down to stop them but had nothing, so I figured the cat was a dead one.

Danny noticed and sighed. "I've seen that one chased a few times," he said. Not a pleasant creature. Looks like he's finally been caught."

"It's not fair, is it?" I murmured. "A pack like that against one."

"It's nature's way."

"Yeah. I guess. Would that it were not so."

I watched the beasts edge closer and closer to the tom, having their fun. He still spat and hissed and scratched at them, giving no hint of surrender. I wanted to turn away, but I couldn't. i felt it would be dishonorable.

The suddenly the tom turned into a whirling mass of fur and claws, startling the dogs. I hear yelps and whines and howls of pain...and poof -- the cat was gone.

"Jesus, Bren, did you see that?" Danny whispered.

I nodded, grinning. "Never count yourself down, eh?"

"I guess not," he said, then fired his own fag off my Blue.

I didn't want to move. I wanted to stand there, in homage. Watch the dogs wander around, hurt and confused. They thought they had beaten the little beast, but it had outdone them...and nothing could have pleased me more than to have witnessed it.

I looked up and across at the Guildhall, looking solid and uncaring. A symbol of all that was wrong in Derry. A Catholic town controlled by Protestants, without a care for those who'd been here a thousand years before them.Behind it, the Foyle whispered past, giving no thought to our pettiness and obscene behaviors. Nature's way was to let the strong destroy the weak? That tom had proven it a lie. I actually smiled at the notion that no matter how badly you seem to have lost, you could still beat your tormenters. It almost made me chuckle.

But then wee Eammon's Ma burst out the door, howling, "Why are you standing there, smoking? He's got asthma, you know! Are you still trying to kill him?"

"Ma, I'm fine," came from within.

I sighed, saluted her with my cigarette, and then Danny and I headed for the elevator.