Sinbad's sleeve was caught in the thorns. We got into the gap and looked to see if there was anyone coming to get us. We stopped when we got out of the fields onto the end of the road. I grabbed Sinbad's hand and ran and caught up with the rest of them. I looked back and there was no one after us but I didn't say anything. We could hear his asthma, and we all ran as well. We'd got a load of six-inch nails and a few bits of plank for making boats, and we'd been pushing bricks into a trench full of wet cement when Aidan started running away. Today, we were coming home from the building site. There's only four left, said Liam he was putting the packet back in his pocket. He got the remains of a packet of Toffo out of his pocket and showed it to us. He used up two rolls of toilet paper, Liam told us. Henno brought Liam to the teachers' toilet and cleaned him up and then he brought him to the headmaster's office and the headmaster brought him to his auntie's in his car because there was no one at home in his own house. He said it one morning and James O'Keefe wasn't even in. He'd be writing something on the board with his back to us and he'd say, -O'Keefe, I know you're up to something down there. The master, Mister Hennessey, hated James O'Keefe. James O'Keefe whispered, -If I did a gick in me pants he'd kill me! -Yeah. He didn't come back for ages and Liam didn't come back at all. He told us to fold our arms and go asleep and when we did he carried Liam out of the class.

He didn't shout or slam his desk with his leather or anything. He dirtied his trousers one day - the smell of it rushed at us like the blast of heat when an oven door was opened - and the master did nothing. Sinbad, my little brother, started crying.

Quigley! -Quigley! -Quigley Quigley Quigley! Liam and Aidan turned down their cul-de-sac. It was Missis Quigley's gate she was always looking out the window but she never did anything. Kevin stopped at a gate and bashed it with his stick. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha Roddy Doyle © Roddy Doyle 1993

Paddy clarke ha ha