Chapter 7 : Bread
Peter and Patrick stopped outside a baker's shop in the market place. Peter took out a shiny new, penny. He invited Patrick in to have a nice big, juicy meat pie. Inside the shop Patrick felt like he was in heaven.
Peter was a 'friendly, jolly man'. The baker was a 'very large, round man' with a 'red face and thick, black hair'. The baker was also getting ready to leave Ireland. He would like to sail for America or Canada or Australia or even China.
The baker lamented that things were going from bad to worse. They had already gone through three years of hunger and starvation. All the people wanted to do now is to escape. All the shopkeepers could not sell their things for people had no money to buy. Only the sick and the very old left behind. Everyone else had left Ireland.
The baker asled Peter whether he would be interested to buy his shop. Peter had no money to buy the shop. He planned to sailed to America. The baker hoped to meet Peter in New York one sunny day. He planned to be the best baker in the whole city.
The street outside the baker's shop was very crowded. There were many heavily armed soldiers everywhere. 'Hungry people' with 'desperate faces' were walking up and down the streets. There was an eerie and strange atmosphere in town.
Patrick was glad to leave the town. Peter and Patrick found a place to sleep under some bushes. The next day, it was raining heavily. The little girl was coughing badly. Peter decided to take the girl back to town to see a doctor or to a hospital. Peter and Patrick wished each other good luck and parted company with a promise from Peter, "I'll see you in America, Patrick".
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