i met Betnadine at All Hallows RC school she was slim, beautiful long black hair, enormous brown eyes, and desperately pretty and incredibly shy . Flanked by her two brothers she stood in the entrance hall of the school. The Headmaster Nr Doyle grabbed me by the ear as i tried to sneak past and whispered menacingly into my ear “ show these NICE children around the school”. Which i did , i remembered thinking I am going to marry her one day and telling myself not yo be stupid . She was fragile even then and i was just a skinny , ginger haired boy eith a birthmark . 

School was unremarkable , i was not academically mindedrvrn of i was in the top set , Bernadine  was the model pupiland worked hard . I tried to kiss her at a party for one of our friends butshe wasnt having any  of it , she would dance with ne but thst was it . My god she coukd talk , her shyness gone she would unleash this torrent of consciusness on poets and , Khalil Gibran was one of her favourites .  She didnt have eyes for me then she had a mad crush on Frank just as most of the girls did .But we were friends , she was relativrly well off , my family werent , we went to youth club, church , school together that was it . I left at 16 and she stayedon gof her A levels . Guiseppi and others were boyfriends and her heart was bruised by the ups and downs of teenage romance. I was away with the Police cadets , griwingstronger , more confident and having girlfeiends of my own.