ii

On Saturdays, Tony's father's morning ritual was to visit his sons who lived beside him to see if they had been having any problems with their cars. Her father-in-law began to pay more attention to her when Eilis bought a cheap car for herself, and asked her every time he saw her how the car was going.

‘It is turning out to be a bargain,' he said. ‘I had my doubts at the time. My wife instructed me to keep them to myself, but now that I have been proved wrong, I can speak freely.'

Each time Frank visited, his father came out to inspect his son's car, lifting the hood, checking the oil and the water, despite his wife's insistence that he not get himself dirty.

‘The best cars ever made stop dead in the street because their owners didn't check the oil and the water.'

If any of the cars needed attention, he recommended his old friend Mr Dakessian, the Armenian, who, he said, knew almost as much about cars as he did, which was just as well since Mr Dakessian owned a garage, the best one for many miles, with the most competitive prices and the friendliest service, if you could keep the man from discussing Armenian history.

‘The rest of them would insult your car and then fleece you,' the old man said. ‘Any problem with your car, you go to Dakessian.'

Since Eilis, at that time, was still doing the accounts for the family business, she dealt regularly with Mr Dakessian who looked after Tony and his brothers' cars. She found him as congenial and dependable as her father-in-law said.

—

One day when she was getting the oil checked in her car, Mr Dakessian gave her a book on Armenian history.

‘You're Irish,' he said. ‘You'll recognise it all. Around here, people just don't understand these things. Your father-in-law thinks I am making it all up. I tried to give him this book but he wouldn't take it.'

As she leafed through it, Eilis asked if Mr Dakessian, who she imagined was in his sixties, had actually been in Armenia when the killings happened.

‘I was born there, but I was three when my parents left. They were warned and got out just in time. I feel sad about it all, more than sad sometimes, especially watching my son Erik growing up here and knowing nothing about where he came from.'

His daughter, who Eilis often dealt with since she did the accounts at the garage, was about to get married.

‘She is marrying an Armenian and so the whole service will be in Armenian. It will be like we never left. Just for one day.'

‘Tony's family often behave like they never left Italy,' Eilis said.

‘They are lucky to have you to look after the money for them. I don't know what I will do when Lusin leaves. Erik has no interest in the business at all.'

On her next visit, Mr Dakessian told her that he had found a book on Ireland and what happened there was as bad as Armenia.

‘I always knew that, but now I have it in detail. I'll give you the book as soon as I have finished it.'

He told her again about his daughter leaving.

‘I don't want to advertise the job and have a stranger coming in. This is a family business and customers have been here for years. If you ever thought you'd like to move and work with the smell of exhaust fumes and the sound of cars revving then you would be welcome here. But you'd have to let me know soon.'

There and then, Eilis decided that she would accept Mr Dakessian's offer. She had been having difficulty getting Tony and his brothers to agree to a system of invoicing and accounting that she had devised. Enzo had complained to his mother that Eilis was trying to tell them how to run their business. His mother, in turn, had conveyed this to Frank who passed it on to his sister-in-law.

‘They want you to be more humble,' Frank said. ‘I know what I would do.'

‘What would you do?' Eilis asked.

‘They are my brothers. I love them. But I would not be caught dead working for them.'

Eilis knew that she should discuss the possibility of taking the job at the garage with Tony, but she was certain that he would want her to continue looking after the books for himself and his brothers. It would be hard to tell him that she had already made an agreement.

‘Start as soon as you can,' Mr Dakessian said. ‘You can learn the ropes from Lusin before she goes.'

‘And I would like to come to work at ten and finish at three every day,' Eilis said, ‘as Lusin does, and I would like to have four weeks' holidays, two of them unpaid.'

Mr Dakessian whistled in mock surprise and then mentioned the salary he paid his daughter.

‘I suppose you want more.'

‘We can talk about an increase after the first three months.'

Saying they had a deal, Mr Dakessian suggested that he would go and wash the grease from his hand so they could shake on it.