Sweet as honey • James Maguire

1,5•IRA Bastard.

"Do you mind telling us what you're doing in there?"
Mary questioned the strange man in the boot, who we had just learnt was called Emmet. " oh, right. Well, during the last 24 hours, Crossing the border has become somewhat of a priority for me. So I did a bit of asking around. You know. Just on the off chance someone might be heading down that way and your name came up. There you have it." The man finished saying to us all. I looked around the group shocked at what I was hearing and seeing if anybody else is believing it. "Fantastic." Gerry responded in disbelief. "All right? Lovely to meet you." Emmet said while closing the boot.

"I'm in shock. It's insane." Erin told the group of teenagers. "I don't even think I fancy him." Michelle said. "What?" Erin asked very confused. " well it's obviously him. It's obviously my husband." Michelle said as if it was obvious. "Like it's just way too much of a coincidence" Michelle finished explaining as if we were all supposed to know what she was going on about. "Do you remember the whole 'us being in Grave danger' thing Sarah mentioned? Well, I think... I think this might be it." Erin told us all, near tears. "I thought you said fortune telling was medieval?" Michelle told the girl. "Yeah, well, something has made me reassess all that. What was it again? Oh, aye. The fact there is an actual Provo in the boot of our car!" the girl finished her mini rant as Clare slammed her book Into the floor dramatically. "Oh, no! I've lost my bookmark. Now I've lost my page. Oh, my God! This day just goes from bad to worse." Clare said, as if it were the end of the world. "Bit of perspective, maybe, Clare" Erin asked the girl, causing me to giggle. "I– I could grow to fancy him, I suppose." Michelle said, still talking about her supposed love Interest, who was still in the boot of our car. "Why doesn't someone just call the police?" James finally asked, making all of us look at him as if he had two heads. " because that's not how things work around here, James." Erin said, as if he were to know that. "how do things work here? how do they work? Will one of you please explain it to me please? Because sometimes I feel like I've gone through the fucking looking glass." James shouted angrily. "
Calm down, James." Clare told him. "Aye, that was a bit unnecessary" I told him, not appreciating being yelled at. "Aye, don't be such a dick, James." Michelle said, just as shocked as I was. Making the boy tut.

We all started talking again, just about random things until we were told we could carry on our journey. "Shh!" Erin interrupted mine and Michelle's conversation, as well as everyone else's. "Can you hear that?" She asked us. "Hear what?" Michelle whispered at the girl. "Ticking. It's...its...it's like a ticking sound." Erin told us making me listen close up. "Oh shit, I can hear it to" I said frantically looking around. "Oh, dear god." Erin said looking at the car.

Erin took off in a sprint towards her family "bomb! He has a bomb! Listen, mammy! Listen!" She said, holding her arms out in front of her mam. At this point Emmet had opened the boot And was looking at the family shocked. " oh, Erin, that's just the big clock." Mary said simply, making us all exhale a deep sigh. It was then that the adults came to the decision that we would take the man with us to the nearest diner, with grandad Joe driving him.

we're all sat down around a table in a restaurant, with Emmet on a smaller table next to ours. " it's aiding and abetting. We're talking serious jail time here." Gerry said to Joe. " well, it's a risk we have to take." Joe said while Orla was sleeping on his shoulder. " no, it's not, Joe. It's not a risk we have to take. It's a risk we shouldn't take." Gerry said, outraged. " don't you take that tone with me, boy." Joe told the dad of two. " he seems like a nice enough fella." Mary told her husband. "We have to walk away from this." Gerry whispered to his wife. "What if we can't?" Erin asked her dad. " what if we don't help him and he kills us all because we know too much?" Erin asked seriously. "I like him. I think he's a character." Orla said. Now awake from her position across from me.

Just then the waitress came over asking us for our order. After we had all told her what we wanted, we got back to the discussion. "Don't mind me. Just grabbing a knife." Emmet said before walking away, making Erin look very concerned. "Take it you haven't decided yet?" The strange man asked politely. "Just leave it with me, son." Granda told him, making me sigh and lean my head on James shoulder. "Aye, no pressure. I'll be over here if you need me." He told us, before walking back to his table. "What the hell does he need a knife for?" Erin questioned, as if it were the most unreasonable thing. "He's eating his lunch." James told the girl. I started to drift off to sleep on James shoulder, as Sarah and Michelle started to talk about the strange man.