Circle of Friends (74 page)

The song was over and someone had started “Now Is the Hour.” They sang in exaggerated poses and mimes, in funny accents and pretense of huge passion. Benny looked into the fire.

It was peaceful here. There would be other nights like this. More like floating along than racing along. And as she saw the sticks move and huge showers of sparks fly up to the sky over the dark hills she couldn’t see Jack’s face.

All she could see were the flames and the sparks, and the long shadows out over the sand, and the edge of the sea with tiny bits of white coming in over the stones and the beach.

And the friends, all the friends sitting in a great circle, looking as if they were going to sing forever.

Since they were into sentimentality Fonsie said, they shouldn’t overlook “For ever, and ever, my heart will be true …”

The voices soared up to the sky with the smoke and the sparks and nowhere in the sky did Benny Hogan see the face of Jack Foley.

And Benny sang with the others, knowing that Jack Foley’s face was somewhere with all the faces around the fire, not taking over the whole night sky.

Maeve Binchy was born and educated in Dublin. She is the bestselling author of
The Return Journey, Evening Class, This Year It Will Be Different, The Glass Lake, The Copper Beech, The Lilac Bus, Circle of Friends, Silver Wedding, Firefly Summer, Echoes, Light a Penny Candle, London Transports, Scarlet Feather, Quentins, Nights of Rain and Stars
, and
Whitethorn Woods
. She has written two plays and a teleplay that won three awards at the Prague Film Festival. She has been writing for
The Irish Times
since 1969 and lives with her husband, writer and broadcaster Gordon Snell, in Dublin.