Summary of chapter 1

In chapter 1 of Bernard Mac Laverty's Cal, we get our first information about the protagonist Cal McCluskey. The story takes place in Northern Ireland not far from Belfast. He and his father Shamie, who are both Catholics, live in an estate of Protestants. His father has a job in an abattoir as a slaughter. Cal doesn't like to be in the abattoir because of the smell there, which he can't stand. Cal himself tries to get in contact with a woman called Marcella.
He goes to the library where Marcella works only to see her. Afterwards he gets the information from his father that her name is Marcella Morton. Cal remembers what he and Crilly, an old school friend, did to her husband one year ago. Cal has a guilty conscience because of that.
In chapter 1, Cal and his father Shamie get the second warning from the UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force, a militant Unionist group), but it is the first warning mentioned to the reader. The warning says that they should move away as soon as possible otherwise they will be burned out. But Shamie doesn't want to move, he even says: "No loyalist bastard is going to force me out of my home. They can kill me first." This statement is typical of Shamie and his cussedness.
The chapter ends with Cal lying in his bed and dreaming of a beautiful woman falling out of the window and he cannot prevent her fall.

by Patrick & Erik

The following chapters: Two, Three, Four, Five