Cabra History.Com

‘I recently read a book titled “The Disappeared“. While pondering on this subject a thought came into my head and I remembered something from a long time ago. One morning in Finbar’s School the Teacher was calling out “The Roll” and he mentioned one name in particular and suddenly up piped this little voice “I’m here sir“. I remember thinking “Whose that” and looking across from my desk a Young Fella was sitting there next to Bernard Kelly that I had never seen before. The Teacher never said anymore and the class just went on as usual. But my little nosey mind just wouldn’t let it go and so out in the Yard I asked him who he was. He told me his name and that he was living with his Granny and that he wasn’t really from Cabra West. I now refer to kids like this as “The Just Appeared“, because it wasn’t only in my class that this happened, some kids just kept appearing and seemingly out of nowhere. There was a Young One that my sister used to play skipping with and she too “Just Appeared” and started playing with the other Young Ones on our road. Now, we never really questioned it at the time but it did seem odd that a family would suddenly have a boy or girl of 6 or 7 who had never been babies in that particular house. There was a bigger Young Fella that lived across the road from us and he too just appeared out of nowhere and was pals with my older brother for years. And then there was the twins, they just appeared as well and down the road from us two little girls just appeared. And it’s only now as I look back I wonder where all of these young children came from and how they just appeared on our road. There was two young lads in Finbar’s School who lived in the same house but weren’t brothers and they too just appeared on the scene, playing Marbles and Football with the other lads. I suppose now that many of them may have been adopted or were taken in by their Granny or Auntie because of family circumstances. We sometimes had them in our house too, because the Ma’ used to always take in any stray child from our neighbourhood and there they’d be sitting at our table eating a plate of stew or boiled cabbage. And it often happened too that we’d go to bed and a “Just Appeared” would climb in beside us, just out of nowhere and without a word of explanation from the Ma’ or Da’. The Ma’ would bring them into the bedroom and say “Here, move over there now and let this little fellas in, he’s freezing cold“. And that’s the way it was in our house. And then there were the Mammy’s and Daddy’s who just appeared as well, but I suppose that’s another story altogether…’