The Neighbour Who Cleared Snow From Every Elderly Home on the Street
The snow came down on a Wednesday night, the kind that makes Dublin look innocent for about six hours before it turns to grey slush and trouble. I live on a small…
The Stranger Who Helped an Overwhelmed New Mother Without Saying a Word
I had been a mother for seventeen days when I learned that crying in public feels different from crying at home. At home, the walls know you. The kettle knows you. The…
The School Caretaker Who Secretly Paid Students’ Lunch Debts
I worked as the caretaker in a small secondary school on the north side for nearly nineteen years. I won’t name it, because the school is still there and the children are…
The Taxi Driver Who Never Took Money From Cancer Patients
I met Martin outside St. James’s Hospital on a wet Tuesday morning when Dublin looked like it had been rinsed and left on the line too long. I had just finished my…
The Dog That Refused to Leave Its Elderly Owner’s Hospital Window
I first met Mr. Duffy because of his dog. Not the other way around. The dog was a scruffy little terrier called Moss, with grey whiskers, one folded ear, and the kind…
The Firefighter Who Returned Years Later to Meet the Child He Saved
I was twenty-nine when the call came in from Stoneybatter, and I remember thinking, in the foolish way you do before a bad thing shows its face, that I’d still make it…
The Café Owner Who Never Charged Hungry Children
I was nine the first time I walked into Mr. Kavanagh’s café with no money. It was a narrow place off Dublin’s northside, not far from the bus stop where my mother…
A Young Girl Started Leaving Warm Coats on Park Benches Every Winter
The first coat belonged to my daughter, Maeve, and it was far too small for her. Red, with a missing button and a hood shaped like a little bear’s head. She was…
The Woman Who Sat Beside Lonely Patients Who Had No Visitors
I first noticed her because she was always there before the kettle boiled. I was working as a healthcare assistant in a ward near the old side of the Mater, doing the…
The Teacher Who Bought Shoes for a Student Without Telling Anyone
I was thirteen when I learned that kindness can be quiet. Not the sort that arrives with speeches or a photograph for the school newsletter, but the sort that slips in through…