Betheny Lynn Reid

I needed to walk today. Get out in nature. So I recreated a day trip out to Howth that Steve and I took, when was that? Gee, it was when Jack was three? Four?  Funny how I remember events of my life based on my son’s age.

The hike along the cliffs will be easier this time because I won’t have to have Jack on a leash. That was so scary before. One false step and he would have plunged down the jagged cliff rocks.

Well, not today.

It took me a while to find the Pearce train station. My GPS took me to the parking  of Council Housing. I was so confused.  I finally walked to the convenience store and asked the security guy at the door for directions. Fortunately, a young man, probably a Trinity College student from his looks (hate to profile people, but there you go).  He was terrific and explained how there is a way to reach the train station thru the lot but it was closed so, but gave me a better path down the street and around the corner.

Then the ticket I’d downloaded wouldn’t scan so I found a station operator who helped me out.

I was beginning to think maybe I wasn’t supposed to make the trip to Howth today.

Finally, I settled in for the thirty-minute ride to the coast just east of Dublin.  It would probably be a ten-minute ride if we didn’t stop in the little communities in between.  I was going to write in my journal when I overheard a white-haired couple talking to one another.

“You know a young man fell off the cliffs last week and died.”

“No. Where did you hear that?”

“I read it in the papers.”

“Well, I didn’t hear about it.”

The woman paused then said, “Just because you didn’t hear about it doesn’t mean it isn’t true. You always dismiss what I say.”

“No I don’t.”

I almost burst out laughing at the irony of his remark. I looked out the window and continued to listen to the couple who had Irish accents and were carrying small shopping bags from a local store.

“The man was in his twenties visiting from the States, I think. He stopped for a selfie but didn’t realize the soft peat just off the path wouldn’t hold him. They think the fall didn’t kill him, but it took so long before the coast guard could reach him that he’d died from his injuries.

She looked out the window.

“I hope he didn’t suffer.”

IDEA FOR CALLY’S ADVENTURES IN IRELAND

Would it be too mundane to have Cally solve this man’s death not as an accident but as a murder that she witnessed while walking on the cliffs herself. Maybe she was further away and saw the “accident.”  Saw the young man being pushed by those walking with him.

The story could be that the local officials don’t believe her testimony. Would she have photos?  It could be that the people who pushed the man to his death were politically connected/powerful/ something and so they were protected.

Hmmm….

I spent my day walking the cliffs taking photos of where the murder could have taken place.

It was perfect Irish day, chilly, then warm, sunny, then rainy, people speaking in hushed voices, sea gulls,

I did walk around the neighborhood some. Hilly and very nice homes. I’d heard this was the wealthy suburb of Dublin and the number of BMWs, AUDIs and a few Teslas support that review.  Could I live here?

Stopped in front of the seaside home where Yeats lived when he was young. 

There’s a story he would retreat to a nearby cave as a youth to stay over night or long days for mystical enlightenment.  I remember the tour guide, Rob, that Steve and I had those years ago telling us about it.  Rob had spent considerable time looking for that cave. I wonder if he’s found it by now.

Here’s Rob from a few years ago:

I ate pastries and had coffee at the Howth Market just off the train stop.  There were several good fish restaurants nearby, but I needed a table where I could sit and write as long as I wanted.

It started raining heavier late in the day, so I bundled up and walked the half block to the train station.  Didn’t even have to show a ticket. Was that because it’s the end of the line. Or because it’s a wealthy area and well, the rich never seem to live by the rules the rest of us do.