A Memory of Our Dad Robert(Bobby) McCrudden We were five boys who were very close, we enjoyed our own company, and we were a force to be reckoned with in the streets of Ardoyne. “When you fight one McCrudden you have to fight them all!” My father would always say. We lived by that creed for many years the phrase became part of our young lives. Times beyond number one of us would get a beating in the rough streets of the Ardoyne. No mater the outcome or what was on TV; it was always “Coats on” and back out in the streets to dish out the punishment on anyone who would dare take on a McCrudden. 10 o'clock was our bedtime. When the minute hand crawled its way to the apex of the face of the clock, dad would announce "U.P.T.O.B.E.D.". Off to bed we would all march, we would play, talk, and read comics as we settled in for the night. Those were wonderful days of childhood innocence that I will cherish forever. Frank was the oldest; for one Christmas, he got a blue plastic lantern that would shine pictures of Doctor Who or space aliens on the bedroom wall. Frank would shine his lantern and tell us fantastical stories of aliens and space monsters right out of his head. Sometimes we would jump from one bed to the other doing somersaults in the air. One evening we bounced around like raving lunatics until dad had to come upstairs to order us to stop. “Get yerselves to Bed! Ye edjits the ceiling is bouncing and ye’d think the devil himself was swinging on the light shade!” We scrambled into bed and settled down for the night. The lantern produced, we had a Space adventure. Sleep stole me away before we returned to earth. The next morning we gathered around the kitchen table for breakfast. The ceiling creaked and shuddered, there was a heavy wooden crack then a thud, we were covered in dust and plaster and broken polystyrene ceiling tiles. Dad and Frank rushed to get a big piece of wood to stop the rest of the ceiling from caving in. When we got back from school, there was a big metal “I” beam in place to hold up the broken house. A few weeks later, we were back bouncing all over the beds again.