The Searcher

Cal goes to visit the Reddys on the mountainside, on the pretext that he has wet his sock and needs a new one. While there, he encounters Trey’s younger siblings and his mother, Sheila. Sheila is guarded and unemotional, brushing off Cal’s attempts to make small talk with her. Cal gets to the subject of Brendan by saying that he would like him to do the electrical rewiring in his house. When Sheila confesses that Brendan has run off, Cal makes up that his own daughter ran away too, to encourage Sheila to open up. Sheila reveals that Brendan dropped no hints about leaving, only confessing that he “was […] sick of having nothing to do” and having no money to buy the things he wanted (118). Her story thus checks out with Trey’s, although Sheila believes that Brendan will come back on his own accord.

Later, Mart reveals that one of his sheep was killed and had its eyes taken out. He wants to spend the nights in the wood by Cal’s house to spy out the creature that is attacking his sheep.

Cal goes to collect the firearm that is like his grandfather’s to catch rabbits. He also checks out the bus timetable, which has buses going to Dublin and Sligo and judges that Brendan must have gotten a ride to his destination.