Black Wreath by Peter Sirr

left my father’s house. But where can I go now?’
    Harry had no answer for that. His own life was hard, and he had no shelter to offer James. In this city, those who had position could do as they wished; the rest had to spend their days in labour or take to the ways of vagabonding or crime. There were no inbetween places, and the problem for James was that he didn’t belong to any class. His father had thrown him out of his house, but also out of the world he was born into. Andnow here he was, with no money, no trade, no foothold in the city. And the city didn’t take kindly to that. You had to be someone, you had to stay in the place it gave you.
    ‘I’ll keep my ears open, in case anything turns up. Maybe I’ll hear of a position somewhere.’
    ‘As what, though?’ James wondered. ‘As stray, as dispossessed heir … or maybe I should go for a chimney sweep.’
    ‘No, you’re too big for that,’ Harry laughed. ‘You’d just get stuck up a chimney.’ James’s friend thought for a minute. ‘Where will you sleep?’ he asked.
    ‘Phoenix Park,’ James said. He hadn’t thought about it until Harry asked, but the park seemed like the obvious refuge now. He knew his way around it and he would be able to find somewhere to rest.
    ‘There is one thing I can do for you,’ Harry said.
    ‘What?’
    ‘Meet me here in an hour or so,’ Harry said. ‘I’ve some more boots to shine, and then I’ll see what I can get.’
    After he had left Harry, James whiled away some time in the bookshop at the sign of the Bible, and then he hung about in a corner of Custom House Quay, watching the boats land and the men unload their cargos, or simply staring down at the dark river. He wasn’t sure how much time had gone by before Harry tapped him on the shoulder.
    ‘Don’t fall in,’ his friend said with a grin.
    Harry was carrying a closely wrapped bundle. ‘It’s nothing much,’ he said. ‘A blanket, a cap to keep the cold off, a bit of bread and cheese.’
    James looked at Harry with emotion; he hardly knew what to say. He knew Harry had very little, and these gifts represented a fortune. James touched Harry’s shoulder. ‘Thanks, old friend,’ he said. ‘One day I’ll repay you, you’ll see.’
    Harry smiled. ‘Don’t you worry about repaying me, you just worry about yourself.’
    James took the little bundle and took his leave of his friend. Then he crossed the river and made his way westward until he reached the Phoenix Park. A little way in he came to the thickly wooded area he had stayed in before. At this hour in the afternoon the woods were quiet except for birdsong and the rustlings of small animals in the undergrowth. He walked a good way further in, until eventually he came to a small and, as far as James could see, unoccupied clearing. He began gathering branches and brushwood to elevate himself a little from the ground. He knew from his previous stay in these woods how quickly the earth sucked out the body’s heat. When he had made a rough mattress, he unrolled his blanket. He broke off a piece of the cheese and ate some bread. Harry had even included a wine bottle with a little milk in it, with which he washed down his meal.
    By now it was dark, and James wrapped the blanket around him as tightly as he could and lay down. It took him some time to adjust his senses to the noises of the woods, and he kept leaping up every time he heard a twig snapping or an unfamiliar rustling in the trees. Eventually, tiredness overcame his fears and he drifted into sleep.
    Even though his sleep was light, he heard nothing. Hedreamed that the clearing was filled with sudden noise and that he was swept up from his makeshift bed by large and unfriendly arms which pressed him against a tree trunk while several blades hovered within inches of his throat.
    ‘And who might you be?’ a dream voice demanded harshly.
    ‘Run away from the law, have you?’ another shouted.
    ‘Or come to spy on us and report us,’ the