“Coming up Roses”
Ireland, present day
Jess, a traveller in Ireland, comes across a small church on the road to a small rural village. Kildogan. He sees a statue of ‘Our Lady of Good Hope and places a coin on the offertory plate. He falls asleep on a pew.
He wakes and observes JONTY and MO, talking to the statue. JONTY is complaining to the statue about his family’s impoverished state. JESS considers what he has heard and reclaims the coin he donated earlier.
JESS continues his journey and comes across JONTY and MO again. JESS offers them some food. They get talking and JONTY proposes that JESS stay the night at his house.
JONTY and MO’s family are very poor. JESS is introduced to the mother, CATHLEEN. The family wait hopefully for the father, PATRICK, to come home with news of a new job.
PATRICK is at the pub, plucking up the courage to go home and tell his family bad news. He has missed out on the job that he was going for. JIMMY, a scruffy wily man also in the pub, tells PATRICK that a friend of his has just died. He says that the friend has left a fertile allotment of land in the town and that he is interested in selling it or letting it out.
JIMMY exaggerates the fertility of the soil and potential of the land. PATRICK offers him six pounds for the monthly rent.
PATRICK returns home. PATRICK explains the transaction to his family. CATHLEEN is convinced that JIMMY is a liar and that PATRICK has been tricked. Sure enough on visiting the allotment, the family discover that it is overgrown, infertile scrubland.
JESS talks JONTY out of beating up JIMMY as retribution. MICK, the barman, explains to JESS that JIMMY’s so called ‘dead’ friend is actually alive but in jail. JESS tells JONTY and MO that he has a plan to get one back on JIMMY.
JESS telephones JIMMY and says that he is a solicitor ringing on behalf of JIMMY’s jailbird friend. He hints that a large sum of money is buried on the allotment in Kildogen.
Meanwhile. PATRICK and CATHLEEN are unaware of JESS’ shenanigans. The family have a go at digging over the allotment but it is tough going. All of a sudden JIMMY arrives, agreeing that the family is aggrieved, and offers to give them their money back for the land. PATRICK, somewhat bewildered, agrees.
Into the night, JIMMY digs up the whole allotment in search of the so called hidden money. JESS, JONTY and MO appear and tell JIMMY that he has been tricked. JIMMY cannot help but laugh at the deception but asks that it go no further. The kids agree to this, but on one condition.
Consequently, JIMMY gives the family free use of the allotment. MICK offers PATRICK a job at the bar until the allotment starts to produce crops that they can sell.
JESS comes back to the little church some months later and finds a large tomato on the offertory plate. He takes the tomato and drops a coin on the plate before he leaves.
