O’Reilly needs a scapegoat for damaging the flowerbed. |
| (He said ’twas done by Leprechauns, that damage to her flower bed. His wife looked him dead in the eye; O’Reilly turned three shades of red.) Thus in the tree O’Reilly built a home for Leprechauns to stay. I shall believe in Leprechauns— for me, belief is good today! He did not hold to superstition; yet this time he embraced the odd. O’Reilly came home full of beer, and through the flower bed he trod. I drink too much, O’Reilly thought, and now impatiens I do in. I’ll feel the ire of my wife upon my head with rolling pin! But now the supernatural can be my lot of saving grace. I’ll tell my wife what I believe, and do it with a level face. (Therefore he had to justify belief in Leprechauns all right. He wanted to be sure she knew that Leprechauns were imps at night.) Then later on a neighbor called and asked why he talked to the tree. “It’s Leprechauns.” O’Reilly said… "My wife still gets the best of me." 28 Lines Writer’s Cramp 4-18-20 |