The Fourth Life of Sean Donoghue by Trish Hanan (children's books read aloud .txt) 📕

in the valley was getting rich off of Sean’s inventions.
After supper the two old men decided to lay down, it had been a long day and they were tired. Claire kissed them like she did Zack and they liked it.
“You two have a good nap and we’re having trout for dinner, you like that I know,” she told them with a smile. At thirty-eight she was still a stunner. Ryan grinned.
“As long as you get all the bones, I don’t like bones in the fish,” Danny complained. Claire laughed.
“We’ll get all the bones, Granddad,” she told him. They both stretched out for a minute and then Danny looked over at his brother.
“I’m cold, do you want to come over,” he asked and Ryan nodded.
“That’s strange cuz I was just thinking the same thing, I’m cold too,” he said and shivered. Ryan climbed into bed and under the covers. They lied with their heads on the same pillow and joined arms.
“Its strange how cold it is for June,” Danny remarked and Ryan nodded.
“Maybe we’re cold because we’re so old,” he said and his brother nodded.
“We’re had a good time these years haven’t we?” Danny asked. Ryan nodded again.
“Yeah, I really missed you when I went to Topanga, I loved Chris a lot, but he wasn’t a brother, no one is like a brother,” he told him. Danny agreed.
“Yeah, you were always the fun one,” he told him. “Colin was always Mr. Know-it-all and no fun at all and Adam was too young and then, well, he hit the tree and never woke up. Poor Mom, that really broke her heart. She wanted to write to you and ask you to come home but you had met Chris by then and were in love so she couldn’t.” Ryan sighed.
“I really miss Chris, I can’t wait to see him again,” he said softly. “Do you think when we get to heaven we’re old people or do you think our spirits can be any age we want?” he asked. Danny thought about it for a moment.
“I think our spirits can be any age they want to,” he spoke firmly. “They’re spirits; they can do anything they want.” They both smiled at that thought.
“Good, because I want to be young again with Chris, he was so handsome and he had the most beautiful blonde hair, he lost that when he got older. Of course I still loved him,” he said. Danny nodded.
“Betsy lost her teeth, her six front ones when she fell down, but I still loved her. Would be nice to see her smiling with all of them like when she was younger though,” he agreed. They both drifted off to sleep.
Some time later, both of them, one at a time, Danny first and then Ryan, gave a surprised little gasp, took a deep little breath and then died peacefully in his sleep. They were still clasping hands when it happened. And both had little smiles on their faces.
Sean smelled fish first thing when he opened the front door.
“We’re having fish for dinner, Ryan will like that,” he told his wife as he kissed her. His son Ryan made a face.
“I will not, I don’t like fish, I like steak,” he informed them. They both grinned.
“I meant Granddad Ryan, silly goose,” his dad told him and Ryan grinned, he’d known who he meant. They all looked at the set table.
“Where are the old men?” Sean wanted to know. Claire made a face at him.
“Don’t call them that, its rude,” she said and he grinned. Ryan and Danny laughed.
“I’ll get them,” Kalin offered and off he went. They sat down at the table and began to serve. He returned a few minutes later and they looked at him.
“They’re really sleeping hard, I shook them but they didn’t wake up,” he told them and laughed. “They’re both snuggled up in Danny’s bed; they look so cute; I didn’t want to disturb them.” Sean nodded.
“Let them sleep, we’ll save them some for later,” he suggested and they continued with dinner. Sean felt a deep twinge of fear when his son said he couldn’t wake them up but he didn’t say anything, what was there to do? It was dinner time anyway and if they were dead, that wasn’t going to change by the time they finished dinner so why interrupt everyone. Claire did notice her husband was quieter than usual.
“Is everything alright, you barely talked during dinner?” she asked as they got up. Sean nodded and kissed her.
“I think the granddads are dead,” he whispered in her ears. She gasped in shock.
“Oh, dear, do you really?” she asked, her eyes filling with tears. Sally noticed and came over.
“What’s wrong?” she asked and put her hand on Claire’s arm.
“Sean thinks the granddads are dead,” Claire whispered. Sally gasped and looked at Sean.
“Are you sure, Granddad?” she asked softly. Sean nodded.
“There’s only one way to fine out for sure,” he said and walked towards their room. The women watched with worried eyes and Carrie and Bill noticed and came over. They heard him gasp and now the children wanted to know what was happening. Bill went with Sean who was now bending over the bodies and he had seen enough bodies to know what he was looking at.
“Are they?” Bill asked from the doorway. Sean nodded and he waved him over.
“Look how they’ve got their hands clasped, isn’t that the loveliest thing you’ve ever seen?” he asked him in a tender voice, tears running down his face. Bill nodded and put his arm around his shoulder.
“I’m sorry for your loss, Sean,” he told him. Sean nodded.
“I had eighty-five years with my Ryan, that’s the longest I got with anyone, I was a very lucky man, he was so special,” he whispered. “Danny too, eighty-two years I had him. I can’t believe they’re gone.”
The boys were all sad that the two old men were dead and impressed that Kalin had touched a dead body. He was the man of the hour.
“How did it feel was it cold and gross?” his brother Bobby asked. Kalin shook his head.
“It was kind of stiff but I didn’t know they were dead so I didn’t take notes,” he said. All of the cousins were impressed though and the girls who had thought the young Kalin Donoghue cute before now flocked to him more than ever. Sean laughed about it, his wife shook her head.
“Why they all think touching a dead body something to brag about is beyond me,” she snorted. Sean grabbed her and sat her on his lap.
“That’s because you’re not a ten or eleven or twelve year old child,” he informed her. “Now think back for a minute when you were, now don’t you think that would have been slightly cool?” he asked her and she tilted her head for a minute.
“Yeah, you’re right, Kalin is cool,” she admitted and he tickled her. She laughed and they kissed. Zach came into the room and of course had to climb up and get kisses too.
They laid Danny to rest beside his wife Elizabeth in the Ridge cemetery and put a nice stone with the dates and, Beloved husband of Betsy on it and then Sean oversaw the cremation ceremony for Ryan. Everyone was shocked that this is what the old man wanted but if granddad said it was then they believed him. When Reverend Andrews found out, he tried to stop it but he was days too late and just raised a fuss.
“How dare you desecrate that old man’s body like that, my God, I can’t believe that he would want that done! What kind of savage Topangan ritual is going on in this valley?” he shouted and Sean just stared at him.
“For one thing, Reverend, you aren’t the minister in this valley, Reverend Peters is and he and Ryan talked about this a few times so he knows about it and he attended the service,” Sean informed him while the good Reverend gasped with shock. “Ryan and Chris both wanted this done to their bodies so that they could be buried together and made me promise to carry out their wishes and I have done so. You have no right coming in here and telling me what my granddad wanted, I know what he wanted because he told me. Now you need to go back to O’Brien’s Ridge and mind your own business.” Sean spoke calmly but firmly. Reverend Andrews stood up and pointed his finger at him.
“You are a heathen, Sean Donoghue, and one day you will burn in hell for your sins, you are Satan incarnate on this earth,” he declared in a loud voice and trembling in anger he walked out of the house. Sean looked at his wife and sighed.
“Not this again,” he said with disbelief and she looked confused. So he had to explain about Father Zucker and Ted Stevens who had said the same thing about him when he and Ryan had first returned from Topanga.
“First the St. Charles Church and now the Freedom Church, my goodness, Sean, you really have a way of making holy men anger,” she remarked and giggled. He hugged her and laughed.
No one was laughing the next year when both the St. Charles Church and the Freedom Church both announced that they would no longer perform marriages between two men or two women as such unions were against God because no children could naturally come from them. An outside force was necessary to produce a child and therefore bigamy, adultery or some other sin was necessary to produce a child in a Fey union. They didn’t come right out and say that being Fey was against God but everyone knew that’s what they meant. Sean was furious.
“What right have those priests and those pious bastards to tell anyone else how they should live their lives, they can’t have any children so now Fey people can’t?” he yelled. Claire shook her head.
“It’s the Church, Sean, you can get mad but you can’t fight the Church,” she reasoned. He tried to think of a way but he couldn’t so he did the next best think, he stopped supporting it and he stopped going. And his entire family did and all al their friends. And the people who worked for them did, when Sean Donoghue spoke, the people listened. Soon the Freedom Church in Sweetwater had only a few people every Sunday and Reverend Peters didn’t know what to do. He had heard the rumors about Sean Donoghue disagreeing with Church doctrine but he could hardly believe that one man could make such a difference.
But it did and it spread to the Ridge where Church attendance dropped to an all time low. And Sean wrote editorials to the Chronicle and signed his true name and they printed them because he paid for them and they loved controversy and this was a good one. Church attendance everywhere began dropping as Fey people and their friends began to protest. Huge crowds gathered outside the Cathedral in Ennis where the Cardinal gave his speeches every other Sunday holding up signs and chanting things like, ‘the Cardinal is Fey’ which pissed him off, mainly because it was true.
Sean organized marches