Mars Bar

In Keymarkets,

Mum takes her shopping

up to the till.

Hello, Eileen, says Mum

how's your Mum?

Eileen taps the numbers into the till

as she tells Mum

how her mum is.

Mum holds out her money.

She pays.

It's Saturday

and it's sweets.

I’ve got a Mars bar

in one hand

and a sixpence

in the other.

The woman behind us

 puts her basket down

on the checkout.

Eileen starts

tapping her numbers into the till.

I do not know what to do.

Mum calls me.

I go after her.

I still have the Mars bar.

I still have the sixpence.

In the car I get a very

sick feeling

in my stomach

when I eat the Mars bar.

I push the sixpence

right down the back of the back seat,

Mum turns around.

Are you all right? she asks.

I tell her about

how I am feeling sick

Mum says

Are you going to be sick?

I say no.

I do not tell her

about the sixpence.

On Sunday,

on the way to Mass,

I feel better

but I can't reach the sixpence - 

it has gone too far down.