Kathleen And The Communion Copter

By Avril O'Reilly

Kathleen is worried about her First Holy Communion. All the children in her school are making a huge fuss of the day. The children are buying special outfits, planning hair-dos and hiring castles and cars. One girl is even going to hire a Communion Copter. But Kathleen’s mum thinks making a fuss is ridiculous and insists Kathleen wears a very dull, tasteful dress.

Kathleen does not want to be the plainest girl there so she decides to “bling” her rosary beads. She is going to customize them to make them special.

Will that be enough to make her Communion Day special or will the Communion Copter put everyone in the shade? In the end everyone is surprised at what really matters most on the day.

Many Irish people get into a pre-Communion tizz. Don't panic! The book will help girls and their families to prepare for a First Holy Communion. It takes a light-hearted look at the pressures that the modern Communion can put on families. There is a gentle message about the meaning of Communion and a warning against getting carried away with the (admittedly very enjoyable) commercial and superficial aspects.

You might recognise some of the characters from my Auntie Books. This book is also on KINDLE with drawings on every chapter and on Amazon as an audio book..

• Language: English
• Publisher: Avril O'Reilly
• Release date: Nov 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781311226280

Avril O'Reilly

I have been making Auntie Books on Smashwords. They are very short books for aunties ...we can drop in and visit our nieces, nephews, kids of friends....whip out the smart phone and read an entire book while the attention span lasts. An Auntie Book should be no more than 1,250 words. I am delighted that Smashwords lets me make Auntie Books.I have started a series about life in an Irish village school on Smashwords. My book "Kathleen and the Communion Copter" features a little girl, named Kathleen, and her family and extended family and her friends. As well as the book there are light-hearted short stories about Kathleen's little brothers, Tommy and Teddy. The Aunties also appear in short stories about their adventures and misadventures as loving but incompetent baby sitters.My full length book about the First Holy Communion has been translated into Spanish for the Latin American market. It is on Smashwords as "Kathleen y el Helicoptero de la Primera Comunión'.

Book preview

KATHLEEN AND THE COMMUNION COPTER

By

Avril O'Reilly

PUBLISHED BY:

Avril O'Reilly on Smashwords

Kathleen and the Communion Copter

Copyright © 2013 by Avril O'Reilly

This book remains the copyrighted property of the author and may not be reproduced, scanned, or distributed for any commercial or non-commercial use without permission from the author. Quotes used in reviews are the exception. No alteration of content is allowed.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

*****

Many thanks to Connie Keefe.

She always liked my writing.

*****

Contents

Chapter One. Patrick’s Street

Chapter Two. Fitting On

Chapter Three. The Communion Copter

Chapter Four. The trip to Bandon

Chapter Five. Online Shopping

Chapter Six. Super Saturday

Chapter Seven. The Holy Communion Clean Up

Chapter Eight. Blinging the Beads

Chapter Nine. Show and Tell

Chapter Ten. Dresses

Chapter Eleven. On the Day

About Me

Chapter 1

Patrick’s Street

Kathleen and Nan Knowles were standing on Patrick’s Street watching a man doing a huge drawing on the pavement. Oh, Kathleen said Nan If I had a wall big enough I'd take that home. That's pure art. It was a drawing of angels in Communion dresses flying over Cork city.

Nan and Kathleen were in town to see what they could find for Kathleen to wear for her First Holy Communion. It was not until May but the school had already started doing special classes and masses. Nan had decided that the ladies of the family should put some thought and attention into the clothing for the day. Kathleen had stayed in Nan and Granddad Knowles’ house the night before and now they were waiting for mum to join them.

Time's moving on said Nan scrolling through numbers on her phone. I wonder where your mum is. It's not like her to be late for a shopping trip

Kathleen could tell from Nan's voice that she was leaving a message. We're outside Cashes just across from Cudmores she was saying. She always called shops by their old names. Cashes was now called BT's and Cudmores was Cael's Nails. What's Cudmores? Kathleen asked. The loveliest grocers in Cork. I wish I could show you the beautiful displays of fruits and sweets they used to do. This time of year they would have Christmas cakes and...oh it's your mum. She sounded delighted but her expression changed quickly. There's a problem with your brothers, she whispered while mum's voice squeaked through the phone. Tommy and Teddy were six and three and a bit. They were troublesome, even when they weren't trying to be. Teddy is where? Nan was saying A gymkhana? In Belgooly? Chasing a horse-box? Why?

Oh, dear said Nan "We have a problem. Your dad went to the garage for milk with Teddy. There were horseboxes parked at the garage and Teddy is after climbing into