Chapitre

The morning of Halloween arrived and Niamh, Sean and Conor were dropped off at Granny O’Loughlin’s house. They had brought their Halloween costumes in their travel bags, along with their night clothes.

“Hello children. I can’t wait to see what you’re wearing tonight. You can show me when we get inside.”The children trooped into the house behind Granny. As soon as they were in the kitchen they started unzipping their bags and pulling out their costumes.
“I’m going to be the Grim Reaper,” laughed Sean.“I’m going to be a mummy! It is good thing Mum is a nurse and has plenty of bandages,” said Conor, throwing rolls and rolls of bandages onto the table.“And I’m going to be a zombie. Will you help me put fake blood on my clothes, Granny?” Niamh asked, smiling sweetly at her grandmother.“They’re great costumes. I will help you with the fake blood later, Niamh. Now, the plan for today is, first of all we will prepare some of those games we were talking about before. You must help me decorate the kitchen too. Then we will have some cooked lunch. I will help you with the pretend blood then, Niamh. After that some of the neighbours’ children are coming to play some of the games and stay for their tea. We will go to church to pray for the dead, and then we will come back for you to get into your costumes. Charlie will drop you to the village where you can do some Trick and Treating, and then he will take you to the Halloween disco, and pick you up later. Now take your bags upstairs and when you come down we can start.”“Yes Gran!” answered the children, saluting her and clicking their heels.”“Go on you cheeky monkeys,” she laughed.The children ran upstairs, threw their bags on their beds, and were soon back down in the kitchen.
“Okay, Sean I want you to help me string some apples up to the rafter. Conor, you and Niamh fill up that plastic bowl with water to put apples into. Please be careful not to spill any water.”

Sean stood up on the table and tied lengths of string around the rafter, which ran across the kitchen ceiling. Gran passed him the lengths of string, and when Sean had them tied, she tied the apples to the strings by their stems.

Meanwhile Niamh and Conor, had thought about their task and had decided that it was easier to put the washing-up bowl on a small table, and then fill it up with jugs of water. They then put apples in the water. The apples bobbed up and down without sinking.

They all stopped for a cup of tea and biscuits and then set about decorating the kitchen. They hollowed out some pumpkins and cut out scary faces in them. Candles were put inside of them, to light later. Then they placed them on the window sills, looking outwards to frighten people.

“They used to do this with turnips long ago,” Granny said. “We didn’t have pumpkins then.”“That must have been difficult. Pumpkins are much softer to hollow out than turnips,” replied Conor.

Next, Granny and Niamh got some balls of wool and made elaborate cobwebs in corners, by criss-crossing the wool and sticking it together with sticky tape. The boys drew out some bat shapes on black paper with white chalk, and then cut them out. They stuck the bat shapes on the windows and the ceiling.

“Right! Time for lunch,” announced Granny. She took a casserole out of the oven that she had prepared earlier that morning. They ate it with slices of brown soda bread and butter. “That was delicious, Gran,” said Conor wiping his hand across his mouth.“Yes, it was yummy,” agreed Niamh, licking her lips.

Granny looked over at Sean and he gave her a thumbs up sign. She smiled to herself.

After washing up, Granny got the children to make toffee apples. They also cut slices of barmbrack and buttered them.

“Barmbrack is just like bread with dried fruit in,” observed Conor. “I like the fun of finding the things hidden in it,” added Niamh. “Gran, what are they again, and what do they mean?”“Well, a pea means you won’t marry over the next year, a small piece of cloth means you will be poor, a matchstick means an unhappy marriage, a coin means you will be rich and a ring means you will marry within one year,” explained Granny.“I hope I get the coin,” laughed Sean, “I wouldn’t mind being rich.”“Money isn’t everything,” remarked Granny. “Now Niamh, let’s sort out that fake blood.”

Niamh gave Gran a copy of a recipe for fake blood that she had printed from the internet. They read it together, and then got the ingredients of cocoa powder, icing sugar, water and red food colouring. They measured and stirred until they had produced some really realistic looking fake blood. The boys were very impressed with it.

Niamh ran upstairs to get her zombie clothes. The children had great fun smearing the fake blood all over the clothes, and left some to put on Niamh’s face and hands.

“Now, we will have to tidy up before the neighbours’ children come over,” said Gran beginning to gather bits and pieces to put away, or to wash. The children helped her clear up and get soft drinks and paper cups for the visitors.

Before long, Róisín, Maeve and Peadar O’Sullivan, and Niall and Kevin Farrell had arrived. Sean, Niamh and Conor had met them quite often and felt relaxed in their company, even though they went to different schools. Sean put on some music and started organizing the games, as he was the eldest.

First of all they tried to take a bite out of one the apples hanging on the strings. They put their hands behind their backs and tried to catch the swinging apples in their mouths. Niamh refused to play this game, thinking it was disgusting to share any apple that had been in somebody else’s mouth. Sean did try to make everyone stay with the apple in front of them, but as the apples swung to and fro, the children took a chance at taking a bite out of any apple that came near them. Peadar O’Sullivan caught one apple between his shoulder and chin, twisted his neck around and with difficulty, took a bite out it. He was declared the winner by Sean, and won a chocolate bar for his efforts.

D'abord, ils essayèrent de croquer une des pommes accrochées aux ficelles. Ils mirent les mains derrière le dos et essayèrent d'attraper les pommes qui se balançaient avec leur bouche. Niamh refusa de jouer à ce jeu, pensant que c'était dégoûtant de partager une pomme qui avait été dans la bouche de quelqu'un d'autre. Sean essaya de faire en sorte que chacun reste avec sa pomme devant lui, mais alors que les pommes se balançaient d'avant en arrière, les enfants tentèrent de saisir n'importe laquelle qui s'approchait d'eux. Peadar O'Sullivan attrapa une pomme entre son épaule et son menton, se tordit le cou et avec difficulté, en prit une bouchée. Il fut déclaré vainqueur par Sean et remporta une barre de chocolat pour ses efforts.

Next, was bobbing for apples. Again, Niamh refused to take part. Two people had a go at a time, as there wasn’t enough room around the washing-up bowl. Like the other game they had to put their hands behind their backs, and then had to dip their faces into the water and get an apple in their mouths. Granny wrapped towels around the children’s shoulders, so that they wouldn’t get too wet, and tied back any long hair. Even so, the children’s faces and fringes were dripping wet after their endeavours to grasp an apple between their teeth. Eventually they all managed to get an apple, mostly by getting the stalk of the apple between their teeth.

Ensuite, ce fut le moment de jouer à attraper des pommes dans l’eau avec les dents. Encore une fois, Niamh refusa de participer. Deux personnes essayèrent en même temps, car il n'y avait pas assez de place autour de la bassine. Comme dans l'autre jeu, ils durent mettre les mains derrière le dos, puis plonger leur visage dans l'eau et se mettre une pomme dans la bouche. Grand-mère enroula des serviettes autour des épaules des enfants, pour qu’ils ne soient pas trop mouillés, et attacha les cheveux longs. Malgré cela, les visages et les franges des enfants étaient mouillés après leurs efforts pour saisir la pomme entre leurs dents. Finalement, ils réussirent tous à attraper une pomme, la plupart, en attrapant la tige de la pomme entre leurs dents.

After that, they danced to the music Sean had put together, ate toffee-apples, buns and barmbrack.³ Roísín, Maeve and Niamh practiced their moves for the Halloween disco.

“Well, guess who’s getting married this year?” exclaimed Granny, pulling a gold ring out of the barmbrack. They all laughed, and all started looking for the other things in the barmbrack.“Phew! I got the pea, so I won’t be getting married this year,” shouted Conor.“Blast! I am going to be poor, as I got the bit of cloth,” said Sean, pulling a long face.“Na na na na nah! I’m going to be rich,” crowed Niamh, holding the coin aloft.“Hurrah, I got the matchstick,” laughed Roísín O’Sullivan.“But that means you’re going to have an unhappy marriage,” gasped Niamh.“That’s okay because I never wanted to get married in the first place,” declared Roísín. “Now I know I definitely won’t.”“Sometimes you’re better off staying single,” agreed Granny. “Now, we better tidy up and get ready for church. Your parents will be picking you up soon, Roísín, Maeve, Peadar, Niall and Kevin.” They all helped to clear up, said goodbye to the neighbours and waited for Charlie to pick them up.