February 4, 1982 (Kilkenny, Ireland)

I remember it quite well. It was just before the shearing of our sheep in 1982. Me man and I, ye see we keep sheep. We’ve always kept them on our farm out in Kilkenny. Connor and I celebrated out thirtieth wedding anniversary that year. I was rather used to Connor going out in the early morn and coming in late in the evening. 

Ye see, he tended the sheep and the land, and I kept the home. We work well together that way. It was a normal life ye see. On a Monday morn, Connor met me in the kitchen where we had our normal breakfast. A farmer needs to eat well before he heads out to work. We sat at the table in the quiet, Connor was reading the local newspaper. I had made fried potatoes, eggs, sausage and fresh tomatoes with toast. 

After we finished breakfast, I suppose it must have been about 6 am. We took our morning tea outside in the early sun. We spoke about the recent goings on in Kilkenny; the O’Connelly boy had been making trouble in the village. Scaring the local folks at night, teasing the cattle and the like. 

Two weeks prior, Sean O’Connelly had let all of Farmer O'Malley's cattle out. That boy kept saying he didn’t do it, but we knew that child is always causing mischief.

We live outside the village, about 5km on our farm, so we never had any trouble. Until May of 82. Our nearest neighbour, Farmer O’Malley’s farm was about 3km away from our farmhouse.  Just as every morning at around 6:15 while Connor and I had our tea O’Malley rode by on his tractor. 

We waved, he waved back, and that was that. Connor kissed my cheek and told me he’d be in at 12 for lunch. Then he headed out into the fields. 

Now, I'm just an old lady, but I remember that day. It was such a strange day. After Connor had gone to the fields, I started my routine. At 6:45 I cleaned the kitchen and started making fresh bread for lunch. 

That usually took me about 30 minutes; then I would head to the back of the house and do the washing from the day before. At around 7:30 as I was hanging the wash I heard a loud bang in the house and noticed the power went out. 

I went inside to the meter closet and reset the fuses, and the power came back on. In these old farm houses, the fuse will blow once in a while, but it happened so much that day. At least once an hour. 

I was taking care of my house, dusting, cleaning, cooking. And at around 9:30 am my daughter Adelaide rang the phone. She rang every Monday to see how we were doing. We had a nice chat on the phone; my grandbaby had learned to walk that morning. Adelaide was excited to tell me about it. 

We spoke for 30 minutes, and then I went to check my bread. That’s when the fuses blew again. So I reset them and went to the kitchen. My bread was ready, and I took it out of the oven. 

I prepared lunch for Connor at 11:30. I set the table, two plates, two glasses, knives, forks. Ye know the basic meal stuff.  I had fresh bread, fresh cheese, and butter. I poured two glasses of milk and made a fresh pot of tea. 

Connor normally comes in around five minutes to 12 for lunch. But this day he didn't. At quart over 12, he wasn’t there yet either, so I thought there must have been something wrong with one of the sheep. 

I waited for until 1 pm, and then I went out to the sheep shed to see what was going on. Just as I was walking out of the house, the fuses blew again. This time, I left them, I thought I'dflipped the switches when I returned to the house. 

I walked out of the house and took a left towards the barn. The barn is about 500 meters from the house. Usually, our dog Johnny greets you as you approach the barn, but he didn’t this time. 

There was nothing strange in the barn, but Connor wasn’t their either. So I got on the scooter we kept for getting around the land and went out to the fields. I saw the sheep grazing in the field as usual. 

But I couldn’t find Connor or Johnny anywhere. The sun was shining, there were plenty of white clouds in the sky. It was just a normal day, but this is not normal behavior for my Connor. When he leaves the farm, he tells me. 

I checked all 3 of our fields, and they were nowhere on the land. So I went back to the house. Ye see, I wasn’t worried, my Connor is a strong man, I was sure he was fine. Once back at the house, it was now quarter to 2 pm, I flipped the fuses, and cleaned up the lunch. 

I rang Farmer O’Malley to ask if he had seen or heard from Connor this morning, but just like me the last time he saw Connor was while we were having tea earlier in the morning. 

Between 2 pm and 5 pm I rang several people, the Dr, Adelaide, I rang Jonas at the feed store. No one had seen Connor. I rang Constable O’Brien, but he hadn't heard from Connor either. 

At 5:15 the fuses blew out again, and I walked to the back of the house to the fuse box and flipped the switches. As I did that my Connor burst in the front door, he did not look like my Connor at all. His overalls were ripped at the knees, and his white hair was a disheveled mess. His eyes were wild, and he was talking fast and sounded very confused. 

When I asked him where he had been all day, he said he really couldn’t remember. He told me he thought someone had hit him on the head when he was in the barn because it heads hurt and he could not remember anything about the day. He said woke up in the barn just before he came back to the farmhouse. 

I still believe it was the O’Connelly boy up to no good; I had searched the whole barn, and my Connor wasn’t there. 

Sincerely,

Dela Bryne