I looked round and saw that the Gerry Ryan table were still all on their feet, and others in the room were rising to theirs. Just incredible. When the Hollywood script is written this ending might be considered too schmaltzy. Tough. They wouldn’t be interested in this anyway—this happened.
So it was that a Triumphal Exit and not a Triumphal Entry was to prove the fitting climax to this strangely moving adventure. I was glad that I was to leave Ireland exactly as I had found it over the previous four weeks: warm, accommodating and enjoying a drink.
By the time I reached the taxi, my eyes had welled up with tears.
‘Are you all right there?’ said the cabbie as he opened the door for me.
‘Yes, I’m just happy.’
‘Oh right. Where to?’
‘Dublin airport.’
I was leaving Ireland. The affair was over, but the friendship had just begun.
Epilogue
Roisin hasn’t called.
THE END
Table of Contents
Author’s Note
Prologue
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
Epilogue
1998 - Round Ireland with a fridge Page 31