Flamin’ Nora- Terra Incognita (2)

Flamin’ Nora- Terra Incognita (2)

 

“It is only Flamin' Nora, ma!” Said Moira

“Oh ignore her love, she is probably out of sugar again.” The mother replied.

The mist had almost cleared from the Dublin sky that morning.

Flamin' Nora was out doing her morning chores. A cup of sugar she had to borrow from Moira's household- the next door for the morning porridge. Then she had to visit the minimart down the street to buy some oats on loan for the porridge.

 

Flamin' Nora was given the nickname- Flamin’ for having a flying temper (She had set the mean spirited headmistress bonnet on fire a couple of times) to match her hair, as well as being of poorest of the gypsy stock living in Dublin. So, Moira said they were out of sugar and shut the door tight without a goodbye.

 

Moira was a girl of Nora's age; in the same school, one year short of leaving. They would probably have to start thinking marriage and a few kids soon after leaving the school.

 

Nora had no friends to speak of. Just her chores and her flaming temper!

With nebulous glow on her face, she fantasized about taking solitary walks in the woods. Being lost in a terra incognita.

With no chores awaiting her at the end of these walks; no crying siblings pulling her skirt for food. No parents requesting various ointments for their numerous ailments. Just Nora and her flaming head as a company, taking stock of all species in terra incognita. An antelope perhaps, or a nightingale or even a crimson mushroom of fairytales!

 

Or,  descend on the shore of mighty River Liffey and stare on hours on end at the river whose mysterious was unfathomable to Nora. The mighty river full of fish, tales and ships!

 

A shrill cry from one her siblings would make her snap out of her fantasies of solitary walks in a wood; in terra incognito. Swiftly, she would go back to doing her chores again.

 

After Nora left Moira's house; empty handed, she had  to device a plan to get hold of some sugar for the porridge. Mr McDarmouth from the local mini mart stopped giving them sugar on loan. 'Only the essentials' he  said after they failed to meet to deadline of payment an occasion. Nora's dad was laid off from his latest job; a kitchen helper in a big passenger ship due to having a bad back.

 

'Sugar is essential' Nora wanted to yell; all her young siblings had a sweet tooth. With fruit being scarce, a spoonful of sugar made the porridge go down well.

 The potato famine was on its tail end, though food was far from in abundance.

 

Flaming Nora lost two younger siblings to the famine.  She shed more tears than her parents did for deceased siblings as she was a substitute mother to them. 

 

 

Flaming Nora heard of a shopkeeper on the adjacent distinct- Terra incognita. She had never ventured out from the umbilical cord of the district she lived in. Never needed to; her school was at the end of her street. The health centre was two streets away. The shop she bought flour was five doors down from house!

 

This shopkeeper was called Nelly. She was an old lady, blind as a bat and said to have kept a couple of dangerous dogs; sometimes off the leash. So that only the adults would frequent her shop in desperate needs. She was more likely to give foodstuff on loan, though one had to endure the sharp end of her tongue or the sharp teeth of her dogs

 

So she set off on her adventure to obtain sugar for the porridge, Flaming Nora. The morning mist was all but cleared now. She calculated it would take her as little as half an hour to venture into Terra Incognita. Oh the thrill she felt in her stomach! This was almost akin to her fancies of venturing into a woodland. A solitary walk, taking stock of all the unknown s[ecies; the exotic- the aspen trees, the English oak or even a kestral. She was going to take stock of all the houses and road signs and sooty chimneys instead now. 

 

She took a left and ten minutes later she was out of the umbilical cord of her district in Dublin into the unknown. Yet all the houses looked familiar just like the houses of her own family and the neighbours lived in. Red bricks with narrow windows. 

 

The bed of River Liffey looked the same from the vantage point she was standing. River Liffey; the source of great mist cast over the city like a shroud each morning.

 

She took a left turn again, this time edging  closer to the great river. Though she knew, she was moving away from her destination.

Her stomach was churning both with hunger and the thrill. She had never been on the edge of the river before, not in her all sixteen years of being on this earth. The river ebbed and flew murky. The bed of the river was muddy with the smell of fish in the air. 

She smiled at her own blurry reflection on the river. With her weary green eyes, she looked much older than her sixteen year olds; almost a middle aged woman. The life had certainly dealt a bad hand to Flaming Nora; an Irish girl in the Victorian Era. Her graying long robe looked even grayer in the murky river.

 

She saw a passenger ship leaving the shores to New York in Newfoundland. She waved a gentle wave with a touch of jealousy in her heart for the passengers who would be weaving different lives in lands strange. Lives full of hope and future which this poverty stricken, sooty town couldn’t offer.

 

A few yards away, an old man with a young son was fishing. Nora always fancied the idea of fishing herself. Casting her net on River Liffey hours on end. Alone with her thoughts! Catching pikes or words at times!

Words were not Nora’s strongest assets. Whenever they failed her, she threw her punches around.

 

She walked toward the pair of men fishing with slow steps; tentatively!

Meanwhile at home, her parents cursed her liberally as their stomachs were churning with hunger.

“Hello there!” She adjusted her beige bonnet on her head which was once brilliant white.

“Well, hello yourself!” The older fisherman said without turning to face Nora. He was hoping to catch a pike that day to feed his family of four.

“Good day, sir?”

“The mist is cleared now!” He shrugged his shoulder, now turning to face Nora.

“Bleedin’ heck what a boney little lass like you doing here on her own!” He yelled looking astonished!

“Are you one of them runaway girls?”

“No, sir! I am from Dublin; born and bred!” She paused, “my folks were travelling folks once, but they have settled in Dublin, when ma got up to duff with me!” Nora was never a girl of correct phrases!

 

Nora had heard about the runaway girls; they were talked in hushed tones. They were peasant girls who ran to the cities for a hope of a better life. Some ended up as prostitutes in local brothels!

She would never want to associate herself with of those girls. Though often she fantasized about running away herself. Today was the closest she had ever came close to running away.

 

After a moment or so silence, she said, “do you catch many… I mean fish!”

“Sometimes!” the old fisherman shrugged his shoulders again.

The young one smirked. This was the first time he showed any sign of engaging with his surroundings.

Then he looked into the river casting the fishing rod deeper this time.

“Can I have a go?” She summoned up the courage finally, touching the young man’s arm lightly.

“Sure why not!” The young man withdrew the rod from the river and handed it over to Nora.

 

The adolescent boy towered over Nora. Though his hair matched Nora's hair both in flame and waves.

 

“Do ya come here often?”

“No me first time... Arghhhh I was on me way to Nelly's?”

“Nelly's?”

“The shop keeper!”

She replied with dews of sweat gathering on her translucent forehead.

 

After a brief moment, she rose on her feet and said, looking startled, "Oh sugar, I must dash off now. Me folks are waiting for their tea!”

And she pulled the fishing rode out of the river, which felt heavy. It was a pike. She was overjoyed.

 

“You can keep it, the beginners luck!” The youth said touching her arm lightly.

 

She blushed and walked away holding the pike in her hand.

 

The youth watched her go with his father patting his shoulder.

 

When Nora arrived at Nelly's shop, it was midday and she was panting; breathless

as she had been running all the way there.

 

The bull terriers showed her their sharp teeth chasing her around the perimeters of Nelly's shop. Nelly came out of her shop and with a whistle, she calmed down her dogs. 

 

"Whattcha want?" She yelled at the adolescent girl, squinting.

 

She was a foul looking lady with rotten teeth and wild grey hair, Nora observed.

 

"Excuse me, Ma'am I was here to buy some sugar for our porridge... " Nora stammered, "On loan"

 

"I don't give sugar on loan no more”.

The old lady replied tersely.

Then her squinting eyes caught the large fish in Nora's hand.

“Is that a fish in your hand?”

“Yes, I caught it this morning!” Replied Nora!

“You caught it yourself? Oh my! A bonny lass like you?”The old lady shook her head.

“Tell ya what if you give me that fish I will give sugar!” She said.

Nora weighed up the old lady's offer in her tired head for a moment or so.

 

Then she said yes. This was the first time Nora learnt the value of trading.

 

On her next visit to the banks of River Liffey

 

The youth asked her name.

 

“Nora ,” She said refraining herself from saying Flamin' Nora.

 

“I am Callum!” The youth offered his hand damp with sweat to Nora. 

She caught another pike on that visit and kept it.

 

 

 

 

Thereafter, she paid a visit to River Liffey every week after her chores fishing both for fish and words alongside her Callum from. She traded some of the fish for sugar and potatoes so that her folks were never hungry again. Flamin’ Nora, the first fisherwoman in town! “Who would have thought!” Her folks mused with a wide smile.

 

 

Callum would become her husband a few years later to whom she bore sons and daughters numerous. The old fisherman -her father in law helping them to raise the children! The young couple continued fishing for their supper and for trades. Sometimes they caught fish and sometimes they caught words. They became the most famous fisherman and woman in town.