Angela's Ashes
A Memoir
Chapter One
First Communion day is the happiest day of your life because of The Collection
and James Cagney at the Lyric Cinema. The night before I was so excited I
couldn't sleep till dawn. I'd still be sleeping if my grandmother hadn't come
banging at the door.
Get up! Get up! Get that child outa the bed. Happiest day of his life an' him
snorin' above in the bed.
I ran to the kitchen. Take off that shirt, she said. I took off the shirt and
she pushed me into a tin tub of icy cold water. My mother scrubbed me, my
grandmother scrubbed me. I was raw, I was red.
They dried me. They dressed me in my black velvet First Communion suit with
the white frilly shirt, the short pants, the white stockings, the black patent
leather shoes. Around my arm they tied a white satin bow and on my lapel they
pinned the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a picture with blood dripping from it, flames
erupting all around it and on top a nasty-looking crown of thorns.
Come here till I comb your hair, said Grandma. Look at that mop, it won't lie
down. You didn't get that hair from my side of the ... read full excerpt from: Angela's Ashes: A Memoir ebook
