0 km to belfast
We got the train out to Helen's Bay this afternoon. The beach off the postcard. Grey water, grey sky, a man with a dog, and Bridie.
She has a thermometer on a string now. She got it after I told her about Vic. She lowered it in off the rocks and said ten and a half, like it was a gift.
I wore the white cap. Two more flowers fell off while I was putting it on. Bridie laughed so hard she had to sit down on the sand.
She walked straight in up to her waist and then she was gone, swimming, out past where it was any use standing. I went in after her. The cold took all the air out of me, and then the bottom went from under my feet about where she'd been, and I kept going.
We didn't swim far, and we didn't count.
On the train back she asked for the red book. She found the next clean line and wrote the date, and Helen's Bay, and a 0. Then she handed it back to me and looked out the window at the Lough the rest of the way.