Danny and the Demons

Chapter 4 - A Demon By Any Other Name

"Slàinte Mhath!" The sentiment voiced by Kyra and echoed by Danny as they clinked the necks of their beer bottles together, they both took a swig of their respective drinks and lowered the bottles. Kyra's to the stone slab at her feet, and Danny's remained in his grasp as he lay his forearm along the arm of his camping chair.

They both tucked into their takeaway chips, the only sounds for a moment were the rustling of the paper wrappings as they were unfolded and the crackle of the logs in the fire pit in front of them. They satin Danny's back garden on this balmy summer evening, camping chairs positioned on the patio with their backs to the house. The fire pit in front, they looked out over the lawn, to the scattering of solar lights with their inadequate but charming glow, placed among the bordering shrubs and perimeter fencing. Danny and Kyra had spent the afternoon assembling Danny's new furniture and disposing of the old. They were both reflecting on a job well done and they were celebrating their achievements with a takeaway and a case of beers while they sat out in the garden, watching the gloom of the evening slowly gathering around them as the stars appeared overhead.

Danny once again thanked Kyra for her help and she waved her fork in his direction dismissively, assuring him it was her pleasure to find out she was actually not that bad at DIY and now considered herself to be a Queen of the flat-pack. They laughed about their initial confusion over the instructions that folded out to a deceptively large size,how they frowned in unison as they scanned the large sheet for the instructions written in a language they could understand. The bags of screws and fixings that all seemed overwhelming at the start, too many pieces to the puzzle. They both slowly worked through each section of the instructions, with their valiant efforts to assemble said furniture, congratulating each other for being a good team mate and completing the job. "I'm starting to think I missed my calling, I could have been a carpenter." They both laughed at Kyra's optimistic enthusiasm.

"Talking about things that could have been...you know..." Danny said, offhandedly, while keeping his gazed fixed on his chips, as if this was a throw-away comment, even though the look of concentration on his face suggested otherwise. "I found out recently my mam originally wanted to call me Gabriel. Can you imagine?"

"Gabriel?" Kyra spluttered, the beer she had tipped into her mouth fought to escape back into the beer bottle, she took a moment to quell the laughter before she could swallow.

"Yeah," Danny mumbled, suddenly unsure of this conversation, he cast around wildly for another topic of conversation, a distraction. "Do you want another beer?"

Kyra replaced her bottle onto the ground with more force than she had intended to use,the liquid sloshing up the sides in a mini tidal wave. "In a bit,"she waved her hand dismissively, she wouldn't be distracted from this conversation so easily. "But...Gabriel?"

"...I don't think I want to talk about it, to be honest..."

"Tough! You brought it up you flannel, you can't mention something like this and expect not to talk about it...Gabriel."

"Howay."

"Now I need to know what your mam was on to even consider the name Gabriel – was giving birth to you so traumatic the doctors gave her enough drugs for her to think she had given birth to a 17th century oil painting?"

"Fuck off man." Danny laughed, despite his awkwardness.

"Gabriel though? Gabriel?"

"Yeah, alright...Iknow, it would have been bad..."