The Boy Number Eight Who Sat at the Parlour Door
On Sundays, one of the jobs for some of the boys was to sit by the front door waiting for visitors. This was the main entrance leading to the parlour. We would have to sit there and wait for visitors to arrive. When someone did knock on the door, you would ask who they had come to collect, then one of the boys would rush off to tell the nuns.
The visitor would take the chosen boy for a day's outing and return them by the end of the same day. The boys would sit at the door in hope that someone would come for them. The boy known as Number Eight sat many times at this door, but the knock was never for him. No one ever came for the little boy known as Number Eight, and he never had a day out with a visitor.
Number 8 had a real name...John Brian Killeen Note: John Brian Killeen was always known as 'Terry' by his friends in St Mary's Home.
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