My word
‘Now is my way clear, now is my meaning plain.” When the adult Noel first finds TS Eliot’s lines, he remembers the year his own way cleared and multiple things became plain.
It comes when he’s 9, 10, and he’ll do anything to stay in the gang. Anything.
He’ll tell lies. He’ll stick notes in Mrs Byrne’s letterbox, reading “YOU OLD BITCH”. He’ll tie a Jumping Jack to someone’s cat, then light the fuse, the way Terry reckons he did one Guy Fawkes. Anything.
Noel knows he barely belongs. He’s too combed, too cherished. Plus, when Terry
