Family Fortunes: The present I stole for my school friend was my crowning glory

I sat beside my friend Bernie Whelan in the Convent of Mercy Primary School in Borris-in-Ossory during the 1950s. We were an ordinary, small farming family trying to make ends meet, and so we did not receive pocket money.

One day I pondered what I would give Bernie for her birthday. I hatched a plan overnight and wrapped up my baby sister Monica’s tiny white shoes to give Bernie for her new doll, which she had received from Santa. I put a lovely ribbon around the parcel and made a birthday card.

My sister Teresa and I walked to school each day, about two miles away in the village. I was a little nervous with the shoes in the back of my school bag but delighted at the same time, because I had a present for my friend. I told Teresa my secret on the way.

“Our mother will be furious when she misses the shoes,” she said.

During class I took the parcel quietly from my school bag and presented Bernie with her present. She opened the parcel with great excitement and was delighted when she saw the little white shoes for her doll.

When I returned home from school my mother was busy making brown bread. Suddenly she asked: “Did anybody see Monica’s white shoes? I have searched all over the house for them.” We were silent for a while until Teresa said: “Oh, Mary gave them to her friend Bernie Whelan for her new doll as a birthday present.”

As my mother was in the middle of making bread, she hit me a slap with her wooden spoon and broke a bit off my front tooth accidentally. She ordered me to retrieve the shoes immediately.

You can imagine how I felt when I had to ask Bernie to return the shoes – how embarrassing that was – but as a true friend she did not mind and only laughed when I told her the story.

To this day I have a crown on my front tooth as a result.

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