Continued from Volume One -- Derry.
Seriously injured and having collapsed into Akinetic Catatonia, thanks to being caught in a horrific bombing, Brendan slowly rejoins reality to find six months have passed. While his severe physical injuries from the bombing have healed, he is now torn by sudden flashes of memories of that day, as well as arguments between his mother and PIRA over what to do about him. There were some who wanted to let him die, or be killed.
He learns he was taken to his Aunt Mari's home, in Houston. The story in Derry is that Brendan Kinsella left town before the explosion. They have the note he left his mother, the fact he got a UK passport and a job offer on a ship in Cork, and had bought a train ticket to Dublin. That he cannot now be located is of no concern; some day he may turn up, again.
In reality, he was snuck through immigration as a young Irish boy named Brennan McGabbhinn, using forged papers and a medical visa. His story is, he'd witnessed his father dying in an accident, which brought on heart trouble so got a medical visa in order to be treated by a specialist. It was his Uncle Sean, who owns a couple of bars in Houston, who used his connections in NORAID to engineer this. Reluctantly, it turns out.
So all this time, he has been kept in an attic room under another name...tended to by his aunt and unable to communicate with anyone. His cousins -- Scott, who's 18 and without a care in the world; Brandi, who's 11 and sees Bren as her possession; and Bernadette, who's 10 and tags along, mainly to annoy her sister -- know nothing of his past and treat him as if he's just a sick relative there for their amusement.
In steps and stages, Brendan...know known only as Bren...comes to realize all ties to his past have been severed and he has the opportunity to start life anew. Which both excites him and brings on guilt that the rest of his family is still trapped in the horror of The Troubles. But he cannot contact them or return without bringing trouble to everyone.
He starts to navigate between these issues as he tries rebuild his world, initially thinking he will remain in Houston, with his Aunt's family's support. He gets back to repairing things for the neighborhood maids and grounds keepers; finds a compatriot in Jeremy Landau, Scott's best friend whom he meets by accident and whose family lives just down the street; learns how to deal with the extreme heat and humidity of a Houston summer; and grows to believe he has found a place of safety in a city that is as wealthy and modern and alive, as Houston.
But slowly he comes to see that appearances can be deceiving.
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