Jackie is a young boy who is due for his first confession before receiving his first Holy Communion. He lives with his mother, father, sister, and grandmother. The grandmother is an embarrassment to Jackie; she walks around barefoot and carries a jug of porter around with her most of the time. Jackie’s sister, Nora, is awfully rude to him, and gets a penny from the horrible old woman every week. Jackie feels guilty about hating both his sister and his grandmother, so he does not want to confess his sins. He is sure that they will send him straight to damnation.
Jackie fakes a toothache to get out of confession, but then his teacher arranges for him to have another. Nora walks him to the church, taunting him. Then he goes in to confess, and confesses to attempting to kill his sister and Grandmother. To his surprise, the priest doesn’t damn him eternally, but instead agrees with Jackie that his sister and grandmother are horrible. But he explains to Jackie that killing his grandmother would not be worth it. Then he walks Jackie out into the church yard where Nora is waiting for him. She asks about his penance, and he only had to say three Hail Marys. Also, to Nora’s displeasure, she finds that the priest has given Jackie candy.