Oops!:blush: I've actually got two.
Okay so here it goes!
Daddy Shed, Mammy Shed, Baby Shed:p
About a month ago I arrived home after a late shift to the oddest scene. I walked into my house and proceeded into my living room to discover my parents, my older sister and one of her friends pauline sitting around my living room table. Whats odd about this you say? My sister NEVER sits in our house with my parents let alone with a friend. Immediately i know something was up. What startled me most was the worried expressions on their faces.
"Whats going on?" i asked them as i sat my bag down on the floor by the couch.
"What if they come back?" May mother queried with my sister. I stood there blankly looking form one to the other.
"What if who comes back? Whats happened?"
My sister looked at me and replied, "Theres been a bit of a funny but worrying incident." So my sister decided to fill me in with what had happened.
She had been sitting in her house next door with my niece when they heard someone standing at their front door talking on a mobile phone. She asked my niece who she thought it was or if she was expecting anyone. My niece told her no, but that the guy on the other side of the door sounded like a traveller.
" Ah here!" my sister snorted. "They better not be knocking here expecting us to buy carpet off them!" so she went to the door and pulled down the blind and shut the living room door.
For a few minutes everything was fine. Then all they could here was the sound of someone leaping over the back gate and into the back garden. Now my sister shares the same garden as my parents; her house having been built onto the side of ours. When she heard the sound of the Traveller jumping over the back gate she immediately ran into our house though the partition door that separated one kitchen from the other. She said all she was thinking was making sure our back door was closed.
Now all this while my mam is sitting in our living room watching tv, most likely corrie, completely oblivious to the fact that something was about to happen. As soon as my sister barges into the kitchen and goes straight to the back door, my mam is on her feet. She assumes that its started raining and Aileen has clothes on the line and goes to help. When she gets into the kitchen she finds Aileen not trying to open the back door, but making sure it was closed.
"Is everything alright?" she inquires as Aileen goes to the window and starts peeping out into the back.
"There's a Traveller in the back garden." she squeals. "Christ! He's after getting into the shed!"
"Which shed?" my mam asks.
"The one beside the sitting room window!"
My mam wanders into the sitting room and peers out the window. Its getting dark out at this stage, but there was still enough light for my mam to see what was going on out the back. She looks to the shed and all she can see is the Travellers fingers jutting out.
She gets herself into a panic and announces shes calling the Guards, which she does in a hurry and quickly tells them there is an intruder in our back garden.
She Puts down the Phone and tells my sister they'll be at the house soon.
Little did they realise there was already a squad car in the area, and they are knocking on our door in a matter of seconds.
My sister opens the door. Her jaw drops. There's not just one police car after pulling up out side the house but two. And to make the situation even more surreal, a special branch car turns up. A couple of Guardai are standing at the door and she letts them in. She explains to them what happened, and led them into the kitchen. My dad, who had been closed up in his den with his head phones on this whole time walks out of his room and into the kitchen with all the intentions of making himself a coffee. He looks on in amazement at the two guardai standing in his kitchen.
"He's in the shed." She tells them as she opens the back door. One of the Guardai looks out the back garden and see two sheds. One really big one which was full of junk from my dads hording days, with a wonky rotten door painted black that was standing open a jar, and a smaller regular wooden garden shed used to store the odd bike, a few pots of paint and lawn mower.
"Which shed?" he inquires as they step out into the back garden.
"That bleedin' shed!" She cries.
Both of the guards look to where she was pointing. She wasnt pointing at the two sheds that stood out against the cream painted, ivy covered back garden walls. No. She was pointing at a small, tiny little tool shed used to store a few small garden tools like the shears, trowels and weeding tools. You could almost discribe the shed as a small coal bunker.
The two guards walk over to the shed and lift the lid and find the Traveller cowering in the corner, scrunched up into a ball like a hedgehog. Aileen looks into the sitting room as they are hauling him out to see my mam inside talking to the other guards and the special branch. The two Guardai have the Traveller on his feet and start to bring him through the house and out to their car, where they then question him. The other police officers and the special branch head off as they arent really needed. Statements had been given by my mam and my sister at this stage. My dad is standing at the door with them, coffee in hand. The Guardai have the Traveller in the back of their car, one of them sitting in the car with him while the other is walking up the driveway toewards the frontdoor. Naturally the whole street is out curious to know whats going on.
With an amused grin on his face the guard turns to them and asks, "Do you know Mr Joyce?"
"Wha'? Him?" Aileen snorts.
"He says he knows you and that he came to visit." The Officer informs them.
Aileen, whos a fairly loudmouthed individual starts to cackle. "Wha'..! He came to visit me bleedin' shed then!"
The Guard chuckles and states that they are going to bring him down to the station, and heads on his way.
An hour later the door bell rings. My mam gets up off the couch, where she'd finally gotten comfortable again and goes to answer the door. Standing on the other side are two Travellers. They'd come on behalf of their brother to apologise.
"He didnt mean te disturb yeh." One of them states. "An' now he's te go te court in the mar'nin."
"I know nothing about him going to the courts in the morning. Thats got nothing to do with me. I havent said i was pressing charges. He shouldnt have been in my back garden." My mam informs them.
"But he wasn' up to an'in. He was just hidin is all. If he'd gone out to the road the Guards would have caught him."
And so the penny drops. The reason why the guards had been so wuick to get to the house was because they were already looking for someone. The Traveller who happened to be in our shed.
I couldnt believe what had happened. My mother was worried that the brothers might come back, or cause us some bother. Aileen was wondering should she get her locks changed, my dad was drinking coffee and Aileens friend pauline was laughing about it, telling them not to worry, nothing would come of it, and she knew from experience. Her husband is in the Joy.
All the while, after hearing the story, i was thinking one thing. He had three sheds to choose from. A big one, a middle size one and a small one. He choose the small one. Maybe it was just right?!;)
