Tommy followed Aidan to the entrance. He seemed determined, Aidan, like he wanted to get things over with, but then he accidentally kicked over a plant pot filled with damp cigarette butts and swore, and the old Aidan was back. They looked at each other, and then Aidan shoved the door and they fell from the gloom of the street into the small, packed pub. For a long second everything was both surreal and utterly calm – Tommy saw the room, the balloons tied in bunches to the exposed beams, people in fours and fives around the tables turning and noticing him, still uncomprehending, and a banner above the fireplace and underneath it, Stephen himself, a young man, younger in real life, wearing a yellow party hat. Gunshots ripped through the air. They were being fired at. Tables tipped and splinters flew from the panelling on the wall behind them. A light bulb popped. Aidan ran past Tommy towards the door with his hands over his head, dropping the gun. The sound of the gunshots was immense. Stephen Burke was crouching behind a table. All Tommy could see was the yellow party hat and a part of Burke’s head. He picked up the gun, its heat spreading though the small bones of his hand. Tommy squeezed the trigger. A neat section of Burke’s head disappeared, along with the side of his party hat, and he flopped bonelessly behind the table.

Aidan fills the kettle and switches it on.
          —It’s too cold in here, he says.
          Tommy says nothing.
          —A surprise party, says Aidan. —Yeh couldn’t fuckin write that, could yeh? What are the chances?
          Tommy stands up.
          —I’m goin the jacks, he says.
          Tommy walks across the hall in the dark, pushes open the door to the bathroom without turning on the light. He unzips and pisses and washes his hands and dries them. He stands in the darkness for a while. His mobile rings. It’s his mother. He sits on the edge of the bath and listens, nodding, then says goodbye.
          He heads back to the kitchen.
          Aidan looks up.
          —You on the phone? he says.
          —Yeah, me ma, says Tommy.
          —Any news about Sinead?
          —She had a boy.
          Aidan nods, then smiles. —Sound. Another little Tommy, so?
          —Yeah.
          But Tommy’s just found out that Sinead’s baby has Down’s syndrome. That’s the news. They didn’t know at first, the doctors or Sinead, his mother had said, it’s not obvious. They could’ve found out beforehand but Sinead didn’t want any tests, she was convinced everything would be fine. He’s beautiful, though, said his mother. Tommy, he’s gorgeous.
          —Just give me a minute, says Tommy.

4

  

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