The Con - Part 3

[otter]

For the next few minutes you could have heard a pin drop. Liam looked very relieved having unburdened himself of the cross he had to carry alone these past few days and he simply sipped his pint waiting for the others to say something. Sean, still leaning on the counter shook his head, silently muttering under his breath, the thieving bastard, the thieving lowly bastard. Sean had his own reasons for disliking Jimmy Egan. For six months he had dated Jimmy Egan's wife and he had bought the ring for her. Then the bastard Egan met her at a party and she soon lost interest in Sean, thieving bastard.

Father Brennan , eyes closed, was deep in thought. Finally he blessed himself, downed a whiskey and spoke.

'Right lads, vengeance is an awful sin but as Christ himself was a bit of a fisherman I am sure he will see fit to forgive us when our time comes. Jimmy Egan's son caught that trout fairly and without malice on his father's part, both ignorant of the fact that you had been hunting that trout for days. Had he accidently knocked someone down with his Ferrari we could forgive him. Taking another man's trout, even doing so unwittingly , is an act that must be punished and severely punished'

Sean nodded, 'Your'e right Father, hang the bastard, no hanging is too good, let's cut of his balls and feed them to the cat out back. He will be no use to the wife after that.'

Liam laughed but turned serious. ' No , I'm not looking for revenge, we all know that he is a nice man, few of his wealth are like that. I just needed to tell someone my story and feel the better for the telling of it. No revenge.'

'You are wrong Liam. Men like him are born lucky, not their fault, no matter what they turn to, it turns to gold. Sure, he is one of the good ones but men that are born lucky sometimes need to be reminded that others are not so lucky. You worked hard for that trout. it was yours and yours alone for the catching. No, we will have revenge and when I have it all figured out I'll let ye know the plan.'

'Good Father and don't be thinking for too long'; said Sean rubbing his hands together in glee.

'I don't know much about you Liam, what do you work at.'; asked Father Brennan.

'I'm a website designer. Work has been slow with the recession.'

Father Brennan's eyes lit up, the first threads of a plan forming in his mind. ' That might be useful Liam, website designer, very useful, very very useful.'

Liam wanted to turn the conversation away from revenge. 'James, do you fish at all these days'?

'No, I haven't cast a line in years. It's a long story'; he said glancing at his watch. 'What the hell, the horses will still be running to-morrow, another two pints Sean and a packet of cigarettes.'
Father Brennan went to the toilet, returned, lit a cigarette and composed himself.

'Liam, as sure as Christ was born the Son of God, I was born to be a fisherman as was my father before me and his as well. That trout in the picture was caught using my father's rod and the fly, a tying of my grandfather's. I never kicked a football as a young fella, I fished, I tied flies and I studied the river every chance I got.

When I was fifteen I hunted a trout as fine as that one. I had never seen a trout so big and for weeks I studied it as you did. She rarely fed during the day, even at dusk but I knew she was unlikely to ignore the easy pickings of the Sherry Spinners that would be falling at the beginning of July. Where she lay in deep water was perfect for mopping up these easy pickings.

Like you I had my plan but disaster struck. For the second night that week a small fall of Sherries occurred and she had fed a little. I didn't try for her, I waited for the hatches and the falls to intensify as they surely must do.

When I got home that night a visitor was in the kitchen, it was the local priest, Father Hickey. My father turned to me and said 'Liam, it has been decided, you are to become a Sky Pilot'. I grinned widely and told my father that I would love to fly a Jumbo Jet. 'No, Son a Sky Pilot is a priest. Your mother has your bags packed and you are off to Maynooth tomorrow to become a priest. I'll miss you son .' I cursed the Popes that tricked the mothers into believing they would go straight to heaven if they offered up one of their sons to be a priest, damn them all to hell.

So I never cast my beautifully tied sherry spinner to my trout'

'The bastards'; interjected Sean the barman; 'more thieving bastards, the world is full of them.'

to be continued

[Ripple]

You have me hooked.

[Moggie]

And me!!!

[mario]

this is absalutely brilliant keep it up, its like 50 shades of grey cant wait for the next chapter..eeeeeeeeeeee NOT THAT IVE READ IT :crap

[bushy palmer]

Only just caught up with this- this is really excellent.

Roll on the next instalment.