Short Stories

D U B L I N PEOPLE Stage 6 Do you ever stare at strangers on a bus or a train, and wonder who they are and what they're like? A girl, going home from her job to an empty bedsitter, perhaps. She looks shy, unsure of herself, probably doesn't find it easy to make friends . . . Or a middle-aged man, with a cheerful sort of face — the kind of man who likes to have a drink and a joke in the pub with his friends. But now he looks irritable, depressed, maybe even a little guilty . . . Here, in short stories full of compassion and humour, Maeve Binchy takes us into the lives of two such people. Irish people, living in Dublin, but we would recognize them anywhere. Jo, newly come to the big city . . . and Gerry, a man with a problem. We share their anxieties and hopes, their foolishness, even their tragedy . . . Maeve Binchy (1940-) was born in County Dublin, Ireland. She is a journalist and a well-known author of several bestsellers, which include novels, such as Firefly Summer and The Copper Beech, and volumes of short stories. The two stories retold in this book are from her collection entitled Dublin 4. OXFORD BOOKWORMS Series Editor: Tricia Hedge DUBLIN PEOPLE Maeve Binchy retold by Jennifer Bassett O X F O R D U N I V E R S I T Y PRESS Oxford University Press Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP CONTENTS Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogota Bombay Buenos Aires Calcutta Cape Town Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madras Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi Paris Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw and associated companies in Berlin Ibadan OXFORD and OXFORD ENGLISH are trade marks of Oxford University Press ISBN 0 19 422705 7 Original edition © Maeve Binchy 1982 First published by Ward River Press Ltd, Eire 1982 This simplified edition © Oxford University Press 1993 Flat in Ringsend Murmurs in Montrose First published 1993 Fifth impression 1997 The moral right of the Author has been asserted No unauthorized photocopying All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Oxford University Press. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Illustrated by Susan Sluglett Please note that the two stories in this volume appeared in their original form in the collection of short stories by Maeve Binchy entitled Dublin 4. Printed in England by Clays Ltd, St Ives pic Exercises 102 Glossary 105 1 45 FLAT IN RINGSEND * Jo knew what she should do. She should get the evening papers at lunch-time, read all the advertisements for flats, and as soon as she saw one that looked suitable, she should rush round at once and sit on the doorstep. Never mind if the advertisement said 'After six o'clock'. She knew that if she went at six o'clock, and the flat was a good one, she'd probably find a queue of people all down the street. Finding a good flat in Dublin, at a rent you could afford, was like finding gold in the gold rush. The other way was by personal contact. If you knew someone who knew someone who was leaving a flat . .