CON:(coughing at length) Sure Master Robbie, I’m feeling terrible weak this mornin’. Didn’t I have a bad spell of coughin’. And my head hurts real bad.
ROBBIE: Did you see the fire last night, Con?
CON: What fire?
ROBBIE: The Barracks went up in flames.
CON: I was down in Raheen with my aunt.
ROBBIE: No you weren’t. You said you were not well and had to go home.
CON: Well, I did. When I got there, Ma said I must go and get some chickens from my aunt.
ROBBIE: Daddy said it was the IRA who torched the Barracks.
CON: How did he know that?
ROBBIE: Colonel Kernahan came by and asked Daddy to look out for the IRA. He said he’d been coming back from some shooting expedition of his and saw the flames. “Like shooting ducks” he called it. He claimed he had “winged one of the rats”.
