The Lieutenant of Inishmore

At another spot on the side of the road, Mairead sings “The Patriot Game,” an Irish ballad. She is wearing makeup and waiting for Padraic. Mairead calls Padraic Lieutenant, and he recognizes her as the young 11-year-old who begged him to take her with him when he “left to free the North” (32) five years ago. She flirts and comments that she has grown up since then, but Padraic notes that she has only gotten taller, and he thought she was a boy in lipstick until he realized that she was a girl, which hurts Mairead’s feelings. Mairead comments that girls must be throwing themselves at him in Ulster, but Padraic insists that he has no interest in “social activities that don’t involve the freeing of Ulster” (33). Mairead tries to convince him to take her to a dance or a movie, but he refuses. Padraic remembers her gun from five years ago too, and he makes a joke about cows.

Mairead gets angry that no one will stop talking about the cows and that no one even mentions how impressive it is that she managed to take out their eyes from 60 yards away.