The Problem With Oliver

The short story is about a girl named Fionnuala, whom goes to a local school, and she has a boyfriend named Oliver. She can't tell her mother about Oliver, because she believes that her mother won't let her see him, if see knew. Her mother is Irish, and therefore Fionnuala knows that she probably won't like the name "Oliver". She tells her mother, that she is going to practice with her orchestra, when she is in fact going to see Oliver. They have a leprechaun tree in their yard, that covers their entire house, and Fionnuala wants her mother to cut it, but her mother won't, because it's a hawthorn tree and Irish folklore believes that the fairies live in hawthorn trees, and that they will take a terrible revenge, if you damage their home. Fionnuala and Oliver had talked about having sex, so Fionnuala finds it a good idea to take the key from Grainne, to their beach hut for the next day, but then she wonders if it's really what she wants. The next day, the key is gone, and Fionnuala runs out in the rain, and into a phonebox. She calls Oliver, and tells him that it can't be tonight, because her mother knows about it. And when she gets back home, her mother is gone, but she has left a letter that says, that she can bring him home tomorrow, because she would like to meet him.

Fionnuala

Fionnuala is a teenager, who is deeply in love with Oliver and it seems like she is spending all her time on him. Her mother once told her not to give them what they want, because it would save her a lot of trouble later on, and even though, the relationship between her and her mother isn't that good, she still listens to her mother's advice, and wonders if having sex with him is the right thing to do, because she knows that it's wrong to do it, just to do it, and not because you actually want to. But she thinks, that she is far too old not to have done it, so maybe she feels pressured to do it. She is very embarrassed of her mother, because she is so into all these Irish myths.