Observations placeholder

Joe Cassidy - The Diviner

I ran down the stairs so fast on my way out that I slipped at the landing window. As I picked myself up, I looked out and saw the neighbours who lived across the road. The man and his wife were walking slowly up the pathway together, their arms linked. As I glanced at them, my sixth sense kicked in. I saw a distinct picture of what had happened to them. It was like a newsreel in my head.
I could see that the couple had been in a crash. And the man who had hit them was drunk. I recognised the village where the crash was. It was Sallins. I called out to my mother as I rushed to the front door, and said, 'Mam! Mr and Mrs May.'
'What's wrong?'
'They're after being in a crash.'
'What? Are they hurt?'
'I don't think so.'
'Where was it?'
'Down in Sallins. And the man that hit them was drunk and their car is a write-off.'
'Who told you?'
'I don't know. I just know.' I went out then, and continued playing soccer.
A while later I was called in for my dinner. It was a beef stew with potatoes and carrots. When we were having the dinner, sitting around the kitchen table, another neighbour
from across the road came in. She said to my mother, 'Did you hear about the crash?'
My mother said, 'Where? What happened?'
The neighbour, who'd just heard from one of their children, told her. The couple weren't hurt, but they'd been really shaken and hadn't left the house since they'd been dropped home.
My mother looked over at me and said to the neighbour, Oh Joe - that fellow I don't know what to do with him'.
'What do you mean?' the neighbour asked.
'He told me that earlier on.  And he hasn't been talking to anybody'.