Fancy Free Here

‘She usually has a bottle of wine opened by the time I get in and she’s watching some game show she records,’ said McDaid.  ‘I say hello and make for the microwave.  There used to be more obstacles to pass before the microwave but as soon as we got the SKY TV in, that all changed.’

McDaid was one of the only married Murphy’s regulars I knew of.  Old bachelors and widowers were canon, it seemed.  Though there was never a feel of the forsaken about this place and its emancipated tribe.  No dead spirits here.  Hardened grumblers one and all with the toil of the long haul behind them, unconcerned were they with the fears that plagued my own shuffling generation.  I was probably the most pathetic of the fellowless present. 

‘But there’s not much talking goes on between us, son,’ McDaid continued, another lecture to take the sting out of my woes.  ‘She has her wine, her bingo, and her go-karting.  The usual.  I’m fine with a few jars in here each day.  To be honest, fella, you might be luckier than you think now with the missus gone.  You’re fancy-free.  I’m not trying to be bad, son.  No offense meant at all but you still have a lot of time ahead of you.  You’re not an old coot like me.’ 

‘Will you listen to this oul shite?’ said Taafe.  ‘Sure she has him whipped.’ 

Taafe lived the footloose fantasy all his life.  ‘Bed the bridesmaid, never the bride,’ he would say.  ‘Sure why would you want the hassle of all that shite?’  He didn’t seem like a happy man, but as I said earlier, not a care in the world, except when the legitimacy of his opinions were challenged.

I mostly felt a sense of belonging in the mahogany cave amongst the single-filers, released into the world, free to do as we pleased, only to convene in the nearest darkened pit to happily rankle and lament.  But it never lasted.  I’d eventually leave the cave and return to my own personal pit where the lights were off and everything was unplugged.  I’d put the microwave on, heat something up to eat, put the TV on, and sit down to watch some bullshit with the dead spirits.

 Ah, Emmerdale.  Fancy meeting you here.