Paperboy
Page 22
But how was I going to break the bad news to Oul’ Mac? I was sure he would be angry, and I was certain that Mrs Mac would be absolutely heartbroken. I considered a written letter of resignation, but I realised that was not Oul’ Mac’s preferred method of communication. So I decided I would tell him face to face and man to man. I would even give my employer one week’s notice – not like other boys, who on their final day would simply tell him where he could stick his paper round.
When the momentous day of my resignation came, it started out like any other. Oul’ Mac arrived in the new dirty van with my forty-eight Belfast Telegraphs as usual. He pulled on the handbrake with a screech and, with the engine still running, got out of the driver’s seat, walked around the van in grumpy silence and opened up the rear doors to reveal a treasure trove of newspapers and glossy magazines. He then leapt into the rear of the van, cigarette in mouth, and dispensed the papers. I waited until the end of the paperboy queue that day. Oul’ Mac must have realised something was amiss because I had earned first place in the queue long ago.
When the other paperboys had all gone, I finally spoke to my employer, as he was cutting the familiar tight white string on my batch of Tellys. I took such a deep breath that I inhaled some of his copious smoke.
‘I’m leavin’, Mr Mac. I’m sorry, I’ve got too much homework to do now and … er, I’ll be doing GCEs and, um … there’s nothing wrong with doin’ the papers, and I go to clubs after school and can’t get home in time to do a good job any more, ye know, and I don’t want to let you down but I’m leavin’ next week, I’ll leave my paperbag into the shop next Saturday after the Ulsters and thanks for the job and I’ve got a Saturday job now instead …’ I spluttered incoherently.
A long concertina of ash fell from Oul’ Mac’s cigarette. For the first time ever, he patted me on the back, and his eyes sparkled a little.
‘Aye, all right, wee lad,’ he said.
I was a paperboy no more. My career had just taken off like Thunderbird 3. I was a breadboy now, so I was.
Acknowledgements
Ever since I was a boy I’ve had dreams of writing a book. Even when I was a paperboy up the Shankill in 1975, I daydreamed that one day a book would be published with my name on the front. To be perfectly honest, the dream was that the book would be an explosive science-fiction classic, with silver robots on the front cover, that would be made into a Hollywood blockbuster movie to rival Star Wars! I never imagined back then that one day my dream would come true, or that the book would simply be about being a paperboy up the Shankill in 1975.
So, as you can imagine, I am enormously grateful to everyone who helped to make that wee boy’s dream come true.
I will always be thankful for a happy childhood, for a loving family and good friends.
I especially want to express appreciation to my wife and soul mate, Lesley, for listening patiently to every word of every draft. I also want to thank my daughters, Beth and Hope, for demonstrating great tolerance while their dad was going on and on about what they call ‘the olden days’.
I want to acknowledge Susan Feldstein’s experience and remarkable skill, which she applied with great support and positivity, throughout the editing phase. I thoroughly enjoyed the process and learned a great deal about good writing.
Finally, I want to thank Chenile Keogh and Robert Doran from Y Books for believing in Paperboy, for all their hard work and warm encouragement and for working their magic to make my dream come true.
Biography
Tony Macaulay grew up at the top of the Shankill Road in Belfast. This experience has shaped his life. Tony has spent the past 30 years working to build peace and reconciliation at home and abroad. In the 1990s he developed and implemented local and international youth programmes on conflict resolution. In 2008, following his experience of living on and working on the peace lines, he developed a discussion paper proposing a process for the removal of the ‘peace walls’ in Northern Ireland.
Tony is also a writer and broadcaster and has been a regular contributor to BBC Radio Ulster. He married Lesley in 1986 and they have two children, Beth and Hope. Paperboy is his first book.
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Copyright
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
© Tony Macaulay 2011
Tony Macaulay asserts the moral right to be
identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record of this book is
available from the British Library
ISBN 978-0-00-744923-1
EPub Edition © 2011 ISBN: 9780007449248
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