capricorn one

When the revel was at its height...
"Thankfully we have contraception in Ireland now," said Rowena.
I waited to see would anyone else deign to touch it.
No takers.
"There were seventeen kids in your family Rowena," I said slowly. "I'm just wondering which of your brothers and sisters you'd have preferred not to exist. Because none of you would be here if contraception culture had taken hold a few decades earlier. Even if we look around this room, you've just erased a whole lot of people. Uncle Throg was number eight in his family, so he's gone. And his children. And the grand kids. Aunty Mary's gone. There were nine of them. So she's history. That's a big wipe out to chalk up to the condom brigade. Frances might still be around. She was number three in her family. She might have got in by the skin of her teeth. But her mother was number five. So if the contraception fetish had been in vogue back then, there's no Frances either. And her kids are gone too of course. Annie was number four. So she's gone. And her kid. And I was number five in my family so there's no me. Which is a pity. Because I'm such a nice guy."










Footnote 1: Shortly following this exchange, the ghost of Jonah Lewie entered the room with two attractive-ish girls and began singing: "That's why you'll still find him in the kitchen at parties."

Footnote 2: "Number Five is alive." - Allie Sheedy note.