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Mary
Margaret "Mary Margaret your father told me this very morning before he went to work that if I could not control my daughter I would pay a dear price. He means it girl!" Arleen O'Halloran pleaded with her daughter. "It would not be the first time he punished me for your behavior. He disciplines your brothers himself. 'Tis me he expects to look after his daughter." Mary Margaret O'Halloran was seventeen She was tall and beautiful with the glow of youth. Her blue eyes sparkled with a hint of mischief. A sprinkle of freckles arched across her nose. Auburn hair cascaded down her shoulders. The Sisters at St. Mary's High School said she sang with the voice of an angel. "Mother, what was father on about this time? What have I done that is so terrible?" "Mary Margaret, you and your friends have been seen in public in the company of some British sailors. You know very well what your father is upset about." "Mother, what is so wrong with having British friends?" "Don't do this Mary Margaret! You know very well how this family feels about the British and about Protestants." "Really mother! When will we all realize that we are humans and we are all made by the same God, we all pray to the same God, and......" Her mother cut her off. "You know that isn't true. The Protestants aren't like us. You know what your grandfather told you about Drogheda. What you learned in school this very year." "But Mother, Drogheda and all the other horrors Cromwell visited upon the Irish took place nearly four hundred years ago." "I mean it Mary Margaret. Don't be seen with those Protestant boys again or else. Your brothers are going to their model airplane club this evening. They have your father's permission to stay out late. 'Tis you I want home immediately after school. Do you hear me?" "Yes Mother, but I had planned to go shopping with Meghan and Colleen after school. We want to pick out dresses for....." Her mother cut her off again. "No! You come straight home today, you hear?" "Yes Mother." * * * * * Damon O'Halloran drove his brothers Myles and Delaney to school every morning and drove them home in the afternoon. Damon was nineteen. He worked part time loading and driving lorries in Belfast's warehouse district. Myles was sixteen and their youngest brother Delaney fifteen. All three of the boys had an interest in radio-controlled model aviation. They had an even more abiding interest in a radical group dedicated to ridding Northern Ireland of the British. The brothers had absorbed their grandfather's hatred for Protestants and anything British. Tonight they would not attend their model aviation club. Instead, they drove to a remote beach house on the road to Carrickfergus. Cameron Kennedy welcomed the O'Halloran brothers to the meeting. "Shamus MacElroy here is our explosives expert. He has a small sample of the stuff we will use for tonight's experiment. Damon, show us what you have." Damon removed a small package from his pocket. "These are the receivers and battery packs. All we have to do is connect these two wires to the firing cap and place it on the main charge. Here is the transmitter. A person can carry it concealed inside their coat." Myles and Delaney dug a small pit on the shore behind the house. Trevor Rafferty and Shamus MacElroy connected the wires from one of the radio receivers to the small explosive charge. The group gathered a safe distance from the pit. Delaney placed the model radio control transmitter inside his coat and ran an antenna wire down his coat sleeve. With both hands concealed in his pockets he triggered the device. WHUMP! A geyser of sand and gravel rose from the pit. Cameron looked at the others. "We bloody well got it right! We're going to kill some Brits. All right, let's build it." The group returned to the house. When they completed their work, Damon, Myles, and Delaney drove home carrying a small parcel under the rear seat of Damon's car. Damon assured his brothers. "No one will suspect a thing. We've never been involved in anything like this before. The authorities aren't watching any of us. I will pick you up as usual after school tomorrow. We will go to the harbor area and find the pub Cameron told us about. I will go inside carrying our little package under my coat. When I come out, give me time to get around the corner, and then Delaney will trigger the device. Myles you will have the car waiting in the alley in the next block. We should be home before the smoke clears." * * * * * Arleen O'Halloran finished clearing the breakfast dishes from the table. The boys were taking their time with a second cup of coffee. Damon looked across the table at Mary Margaret. "What in God's name could a good Catholic girl like yourself see in a British sailor like that Robbie Nelson?" Mary Margaret shot back, "Robbie is more the man than you will ever be Damon O'Halloran. He fought the Argies in the Falklands he did. He was a true hero he was. He rescued five of his ship mates from the flaming wreck of the HMS Sheffield when it was hit by an Exocet missile. The Queen decorated him herself she did. What have you ever done to make yourself a man Damon? Carousing with your friends, you think that makes you a man?" Damon glared at his sister. "Someday the Brits won't be allowed to set foot on Irish soil, you will see girl, you will see. Then an Irish lass like yourself will have to be interested in your own kind like you ought to be." Arleen interrupted, "Go along with all of you now or you will be late for school. Damon, bring your brothers straight home today. Your father will be home early and wants the family all together for dinner this evening." Damon responded, "We may be a bit late, but we will be here for dinner. I have a delivery to make after school hours. The boys will be with me. Don't worry, we will all be together for dinner." St. Mary's school day ended at three thirty. Meghan, Colleen, and Mary Margaret did not go directly home on this day. Instead they met Robbie Nelson and two of his ship mates in town. The six young people shared a passion for disco music. Robbie suggested a place he had been to a couple of times. It had a small dance floor and a good band. * * * * * Damon stopped his car in an alley beside some large dumpsters. The brothers O'Halloran took different routes but kept sight of each other. Damon entered the pub and went straight to the men's room. When he emerged he looked around at the crowd. British sailors mostly. "Good," he thought, "You Limey bastards will burn in Hell tonight." Damon left the Pub and walked away at a normal pace. He tried not to look around. The door of the ladies room swung open. Meghan, Colleen, and Mary Margaret emerged. Robbie took Mary Margaret's hand and led her onto the dance floor. The other couples joined them. * * * * * Cory O'Halloran came through the kitchen door and greeted his wife Arleen. "Another bomb went off in town today. I heard on the radio that it was in a pub where British sailors gather. I know how our people feel, but I don't agree with terrorism. I think a man should stand up and fight in the open. Let his true colors show. It's cowards who strike without warning and kill innocents who have nothing to do with the fight. God, how I would like to fight the British in an open war, but it just isn't to be." Arleen answered the door bell. "Cory, can you come here please, it is Father Shaughnessy and Constable Malloy." Their words tumbled out. Arleen sank into a chair. Cory stood frozen; immobile. "Your sons are in custody. They were arrested and charged with a terrorist bombing this afternoon. They have implicated three others. The police are looking for those lads even as we speak. Your daughter is among the dead. Her friends Meghan and Colleen were also killed. Can you come downtown to identify your daughter Mary Margaret?" End
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