Cold moon and homecomings

The boy took ten hours to get home but rode the covid wave from Newry to Mirepoix via Dublin, Bordeaux, Toulouse and Bram.
Almost 16, almost 6 foot, his neck peppered with hickeys and his heart full of love for the girl he'd left behind.
Tierna, pretty, funny, South Armagh Catholic, pupil at Our Lady's where the girls wear ankle length pleated woolen skirts.  Gab's description of her pulled me back to my teenage years when my Ma threw Edna O'Brien novels at me in the hope that, by reading them, I would be aware of the dangers of sex and pregnancy (none of which I took on board).   
Gab picked up the guitar before putting his bag down. He de-stringed it, lovingly removed the autumn dust that had settled into the frets and played deep into the night.