the O’Connors differently than himself. ‘D’you ever hear about the time he caught me smoking?’ he started, in an effort to show his uncle in a more positive light to his cousins. Every day after school, Robert had gone with his two friends, James Phelan and Peter Moran, to the park for a cigarette. The three always met at the same place: among the cluster of trees by the football pitches, where they decided it was secure away from the path. One day, the three had been standing there about five minutes, chatting away as usual. Then, for a reason Robert never actually found out, Frank had walked past on the path a few feet away. ‘My heart was in my mouth when I saw him,’ Robert recalled. ‘At first he didn’t notice us and I thought we were fine.’ Robert had still gestured to his friends to be quiet as his uncle passed, dropping his cigarette and stamping it out in case Frank did catch them. Just as he felt the chance of being caught had definitely passed, Frank turned around and met his nephew’s gaze. ‘I just walked towards him. All he did was shake his head and say: “Let’s go”.’ ‘He didn’t give out to you or anything?’ Sheila was aghast. ‘I genuinely thought he was going to murder me when we got home,’ Robert laughed. ‘I’ve never seen someone so angry and disappointed, and yet do nothing about it.’ ‘What? He didn’t even tell your mother?’ Jacqui asked. ‘Never even mentioned it to her. At least I assume he didn’t, because she never said anything to me.’ Robert thought about that silent, hellish walk home. In retrospect, he knew how that silence made him stop smoking for good, the feeling that he had completely lost his uncle’s respect forever. ‘It was strange – I could feel him wanting to punish me, but
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