Jimmy's Hall

1

I say there'll be a crowd at the

house tonight for you, Jimmy, huh?

When did they let you out, Mossie?

Just a month ago, after the

new government came in, like.

How long did you serve?

Three years.

Awful tough on Angela.

We had to send our eldest one, Kate,

off to her auntie in Scotland.

- Is she back yet?

- Nah, I have to find some work first.

Sorry old state now, Jimmy, huh?

Meself and Tommy keep an eye on

the roof as best we can like, but...

Some ghosts in there, eh?

I still miss it.

Go on, Dixie.

Go on, Dixie. Walk on.

Well, now.

Whoa, Dixie. Stand there now.

Stand.

Mam!

James!

- You're back.

- How are you?

Too long. Too long.

I know. Sorry I didn't make

it back for Charlie's funeral.

Just been to the grave.

Oh, he was a good son, but this

farm is a mess without him.

Ah, you bastard.

God bless you, Jimmy.

Hey-hey!

Where's this bloody rogue?

I could smell you were back.

Great to see you. I can't

believe they let you out.

About bloody time. Did you get lost?

You were sorely missed, Jimmy.

Great to have you back.

Thank you, Finn.

- I believe you got married recently.

- I did.

There's some fierce desperate

women in Leitrim...

Well, Jimmy. Jimmy.

You must have been around the

world twenty times by now.

Well, thanks be to God you're

back here now with your mother

because, you know,

it was lonely here for her.

Very, very lonely.

I missed you so much.

Well, I'm home now to look after you.

It's great to see you all.

Lovely to see you, Jimmy.

What will you do with

yourself, Jimmy?

Well, I'll settle back down with Mam,

and I've missed the land.

- I want a quiet life now.

- Oh, I'll take bets on that.

- Eh? A quiet life.

- You're on! Ten to one.

I'll have some of your Yankee

dollars off you, boy, huh?

I'm gonna hold you to that.

Oonagh. Oonagh!

- For your children.

- Oh, thank you.

For you.

OK.

You look well, Oonagh.

A bit grey around the edges.

Still like a hungry whippet, though.

Why did you stop writing, Jimmy?

You know why.

How are the children?

Healthy. Full of spirit, thank God.

- And Fintan?

- A good, steady man. Loving father.

- You?

- Ah. Same as ever.

Nobody's the same

after ten years, Jimmy.

I have to get back. Thanks for these.

Hey, Jimmy.

He's very quiet.

Ah, give him time.

He's not the same man that went away.

- Ah, he'll settle.

- Will he?

He might. He might.

Far cry from New York, eh, Jimmy?

You don't get this down on Broadway.

And here you are back down the

same feckin' bog in Leitrim, huh?

- Wet feet.

- And a wet arse.

Aye, but nobody yelling orders

at ya. Can't beat that.

Well, word... word travels fast.

Must be a great relief

to see your son again.

It is.

- Is he well?

- He's very well, Father.

Thank you.

A lot of water under the bridge.

But, you know,

New York is a tough place.

It'll be quite a shock from city

life to our humble country ways.

Do you think he's matured?

Well, we all change, Father.

Wouldn't you agree?

Well, God willing, we all

change for the better.

Do you think he'll, er...

do you think he'll stay?

He was born in this house, Father.

The decision will be his.

I will leave that up to him.

You know, we've suffered great

violence in this country, Alice.

Yeah.

Brother against brother,

and neighbour against neighbour.

Scars on the heart,

they take a long time to heal.

But I... I sense a new atmosphere,

you know, of... of change.

Of forgiveness.

Would you agree?

Oh, I would agree, Father,

but there must be mutual respect.

Well, let's pray there'll be no

slipping back to the old ways.

Oh, by the way, tell your son

if the quietness of the country

gets too much for a man of action,

I have some excellent contacts in London

who could find him a very good job,

which, of course, would be a great

relief to a mother in these hard times.

Where would you be now

without a nice cup of tea, huh?

Absolutely lost, Father.

- Come on. Come on.

- Come on, boy.

Sorry to stop your fun.

Are you who I think you are?

Are you, J... Jimmy Gralton?

And who wants to know?

My name's Marie O'Keefe.

Daughter of Dennis O'Keefe?

He hates you with a passion.

Nearly had a fit when the

priest said you were back.

Did he now? Come on.

Dance away now.

Have you seen O'Keefe?

He left the Free State Army a few years

back there after his first wife died.

He was on his own

with Marie for a while,

and then he struck gold

and married into land.

He's mad as hell about the

change of government,

calling de Valera a communist.

Big shot now in the Army Comrades

Association. You know them?

Yeah, afraid they won't be

able to export to England.

Ah, bunch of fascists.

Stay well clear of him.

Nasty as ever.

And with a long memory.

- Jimmy!

- Jimmy!

- Jimmy.

- Whoa, whoa, whoa.

- Stop, stop, stop.

- What's all this, the Wild West?

Can we have a word?

- Well, are we under arrest?

- Not yet, anyway.

- Go ahead, ask him.

- I won't ask him. You ask him.

The hall, Jimmy. We've all

heard stories, lots of them.

My brother's been telling me the stories

of when he used to box in the gym.

Tommy, if the hall was fixed up,

you could do the woodwork lessons.

My uncle did the woodwork lessons. He's

one of the best carpenters in the town.

Tess could use the hall

for her art classes.

The paintings and

drawings are wonderful.

I met Sean yesterday,

and he still has all his poetry and

books from the foreign countries.

He said he'd do the lessons

again if there was a hall there.

He really wants to do it.

Please, Jimmy.

And the music by Molly and

the singing by Oonagh.

There's nothing round here for us.

There's no work.

There's nowhere for us to go.

We can't go to America

the same as yourself.

The rules of immigration

has changed. We're stuck here.

Stop going around in circles. Just

ask the man what we came here for.

We want to dance, Jimmy. Somewhere

where we won't be getting a guard...

or a priest poking

at us with a stick.

Somewhere warm. Please, Jimmy,

will you open up the hall again?

Aye.

It's falling to pieces.

It's not even safe any more.

You don't understand.

Come on, boy. Come on, boy.

Come on, boy.

Come on, boy. Come on. Come on.

At least think about it, will you?

Think about it, yeah?

So much for the legend

of Jimmy Gralton.

You better change the

name of the hall.

James Connolly will be

turning in his grave.

Right. Come on, up.

So, how long have you

been working at this?

Oh, for the past few months,

whenever the lads get a bit of free time,

in the evenings, at the weekends.

We're planning on opening in two or

three weeks, and we're on schedule.

Ah, Dessie, for Jesus' sake! Hello?

- Can I have one of these?

- Dessie! Come on!

I'm after milking six cows this morning.

I'm starved of the hunger.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph,

give me patience!

Look at him with the

sandwich in his mouth.

Up we go. How's that?

- Jesus!

- Shite! Shite!

The Tans burnt the church hall

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