Excerpt from "Paddy Colman"

An excerpt from my novel "Paddy Colman". It is a story of an Irishman misplaced in South America and caught up in its revolutions for independence -

...The Colman house was different now than it had been when Tereza placed her hand on the back of Paddy’s neck and pulled him toward her for that first kiss some fifteen years earlier. Paddy had thrived as a printer and the home was now full of new furnishings and the finer things of life.

The Colmans had changed too. Like most marriages, as the children grew older there was a lot less of Tereza sitting in Paddy’s lap in the parlor with her arms around his neck. They were parents well into their thirties now and the inappropriateness of it with growing children made it almost a thing of the past. Paddy missed it. It was a ritual that confirmed to him that this most precious of women loved him above all others and not participating in that ritual now deprived him of her sweet tenderness – the one thing he prized above all. He was buoyed by the understanding that Tereza missed it too but sometimes he questioned her reasons.

“Reasons!” Paddy thought. “That is a strange word for emotions that have no reason to them at all.” The fading practice of the ritual also had Tereza beginning to believe she was becoming less attractive to him and his denials did nothing to ease her concerns. Paddy tried to use an example and thought he had come up with a very good one. He rehearsed it in his mind until he had perfected it.

“A man goes to his wardrobe where underneath the clothes his shoes and boots are kept. Among these is the pair of boots, that given the choice of keeping the rest and discarding these, or keeping these and discarding the rest, he would keep these. They are strong and durable and have much life left in them. They are also soft and supple where they need to be and they feel good when he wears them. He is comfortable in them all day. They may not be as classy or as outwardly beautiful as many of the others, but he values them most of all. They serve him best and it is his hope they last longer than he does.”

The parable did not have the immediate effect he had hoped.

“So I am like an old pair of boots!” she fumed. She stewed for some time and Paddy wondered if he had inadvertently unleashed a beast he would never be able to subdue.

Her resentment of this parable was so intense that she thought on it for days until - suddenly she understood its meaning. There are men, like the Beau Brummels, so famous in that era, who would choose the newest prettier footwear always and cast the older footwear aside.

Then there were men like Paddy. These men loved their old boots and would wear them forever given the chance. It was overwhelmingly comforting to her, but it did not ease the fact she was getting older.

Another change occurred, gradually over time, so slowly as to almost not be noticeable. But an occasional event would suddenly and briefly reveal it.

Katy and Luisito were growing and it was gratifying to see how they developed.

Katy had all the grace and charm of her mother and was beginning to catch the eye of many of the local ne’er do wells (at least, that is how Paddy saw it).

Luisito was like – Paddy had hoped there was some of him that rubbed off - but it was obvious he had many of the characteristics of his late uncle and namesake. He could do a lot worse, Paddy thought...