Kathleen: The Celtic Knot

• Late!
• Mother Rosario
• Brown Bread
• Polly
• Flying
• The Letter
• A Plan
• The Conversion of Russia
• Miracles
• Bad News
• Scarlett O’Hara
• Cottage Industry
• Celtic Knots
• Curtains
• The Cake from Jacob’s
• Then and Now: Ireland

Late!

“Wake up Kathleen!” The hiss jolts Kathleen awake and she turns her ear away. She doesn’t want to wake up from her dream. But the voice persists and she irritatedly opens her eyes. She’s in her own bed that she shares with Madge, Patsy, and Lily. Mam is shaking her shoulder and hissing her to wake up. Her eyes flutter open and Mam quiets her down. Her mother tells her to whisper so she doesn’t wake everyone else up. It’s only four o’clock in the morning but her mother has to go out. Young Jimmy O’Brien came for her. Apparently, Liz is in a bad way and she needs help.

Liz is Jimmy’s older sister. Her mother explains that it’s Liz’s time. Kathleen’s mother is a midwife. Not an official one, but this is their area of Dublin, near the center in a neighborhood called Pimlico, and she’s always sent for when a woman needs help in the night. In the daytime, they can send the Jubilee nurse, but at night, people call in Mam.

Liz is a young girl, not one of the married women that Kathleen’s mother usually attends. But because she’s not married, they shouldn’t be telling the whole world that she’s having a baby. Kathleen is instructed to get the children up and give them breakfast and make sure they all get to school. Kathleen will need to get up early to help them. Kathleen’s father will mind Eddy, the baby. Kathleen has to pull out the damper on the fire and then put the porridge on the fire. When Kathleen starts to ask questions, Mam reminds her that children should be seen and not heard.

This sentence is the one that Kathleen hates most in the world. She likes to be heard. She seems to always have questions bubbling up inside her and she wants answers. Do nuns wear shoes? If they do, how come they don’t make any sound when walking? If Mr. de Valera, often called Dev by the people, was against the government in their Civil War and his side lost, how come he is now in charge of the government? If Saint Patrick is a Catholic, how come the Protestants called their cathedral after him? If only married people have children, how can Liz O’Brien, who is not married, be having a baby?

But whenever Mam doesn’t want to answer a question she has all sorts of tricks for wiggling out of it. Kathleen will have to ask Polly. Polly always has an answer for everything. To tell the truth, Polly may make up the answers half the time, but that’s better than not answering at all like other grown-ups.

Kathleen tries to go back to sleep, but she’s so nervous about not getting up on time that instead, she just lays in bed with her eyes wide open, not daring to turn in case she wakes up her younger sisters. She gets out of bed to creep to the kitchen to check the clock multiple times. On the third time, it’s almost seven. She raises the blind next to the bed and sunlight floods the room. She hurries away to put the porridge out. They have to leave for school by half past eight.

The porridge is horrible. It’s cold, glutinous, and it’s not the lovely or creamy or steamy stuff that Mam usually prepares. How is Kathleen supposed to transform it from this glue-like substance into food? Patsy crosses over and asks where Mam is. Kathleen says she’s out. Patsy asks if it is one of the First Fridays? Sometimes mother slips out early in the morning if she’s “doing the First Fridays.” This means going to Mass on the first Friday of the month for nine months in a row. Then, you will be in God’s good books and you could ask for just about anything. Mam usually asks for Da to get a job. That works, but it never lasts long. The factory closes or there’s a strike or he gets sick.

Just then, the girls smell something. Kathleen runs to the kitchen half-dressed, but it’s no good. The porridge is ruined, bubbling away fiercely on the hot range top, half of it stuck to the bottom of the pot. The whole place stinks but Kathleen can’t open the window because the top pane is cracked. If it falls out, they’ll freeze to death from the cold or starve to death from having spent their food money on glass. Kathleen cracks open the door. Da appears from the other room. It’s not really a separate room. It used to be an area of the kitchen with a curtain across at night, but Da put up a wooden screen to make it more private. He comments that Kathleen Murphy is a disgrace. She must go cover herself. Kathleen is wearing her slip. She can feel herself going scarlet. She races into the bedroom and puts on the first clothes she can find, an old gray skirt and a blue cardigan. When she comes out, she apologizes for wasting the porridge. He comments that it could happen to a bishop.

Unfortunately, they can’t have anything for breakfast today. If they eat more oatmeal, then there would be no porridge tomorrow. Kathleen can feel her stomach rumbling already. But the worst part is that her sisters will have her life for burning the porridge and making them all go to school hungry.

Then, Da peeks in the lid of the bread crock. There’s half a loaf. He comments that if she cuts it thin there will be enough for everyone. Bread is better than nothing. He tells her to go get the rest of the girls, and he’ll put on the pan to make some fried bread. Kathleen checks the clock. It’s nearly eight.

Patsy and Madge are fully dressed but Lily can’t do the buttons up properly. Kathleen fixes Lily up, but then she has to make Madge undress again because she forgot her bodice. Bodices are horrible, but Mam always says that if they don’t wear their bodices from September to June, they’ll catch their death of Old Moany. That’s her joke word for pneumonia. Kathleen doesn’t really know what pneumonia is, except she knows that you catch your death of it.

Kathleen brushes all of the girls’ hair as they wail and squirm. They all have short hair, cut just below their ears with fringes across their foreheads. It’s supposed to be easier to keep. Kathleen has long hair, which is a murder to brush in the mornings. She uses a blue ribbon for Madge, a green one for Patsy, a yellow one for Lily. Kathleen isn’t very good at bows, but she does her best. By the time they’re all done, it’s a quarter past eight, and Da has a small pile of fried bread on a plate. He halved the slices to make the bread go farther.

When Patsy spills grease on her blouse, Kathleen goes to hunt for another one. She brings out a shirt of her own that will do, even though it’s a little big. Patsy says she doesn’t want to go out like that, she’ll look like a tinker. Now Da’s cross. The countryside, where he’s from, is filled with people who roam the countryside looking for odd jobs when farmers are their busiest. There’s nothing wrong with that, and it’s rude to call them “tinkers.” Now Patsy is crankier than ever. Kathleen rushes to find Patsy’s other blouse, which is worse for wear, but at least it’s better than the one with the streak of grease.

Now it’s half past height and the dishes aren’t washed. Da says he’ll do them as the girls rush off to school. Just then, Eddy appears out of the other bedroom. He stands sucking his thumb. Kathleen can tell his nappy needs changing, but she doesn’t say a word. Hopefully Da will do it after they leave.

A few distractions later, at ten to nine o’clock, they clatter down the stairs and out the door. They pass the toilet just inside the street door opening, and pinch their noses. The passing drunks use it during the night, and it stinks permanently. Kathleen’s family never uses it. They have a chamber pot in the bedroom, but mostly they train themselves to hold on till they get to school. Mam used to say that the house toilet is full of germs, but when Kathleen was younger, she thought it was a slang word for “Germans.” They had heard about the Germans from their granda who fought in the Great War. Now, there’s that Hitler fellow who’s always yelling on the wireless and he doesn’t sound very nice. But even without the threat of Germans, Kathleen wouldn’t have wanted to use the toilet anyway.

They fly through the streets, their school bags bouncing on their backs. They’re nearly at school and going like the clappers when Madge falls at the curb and cuts her knee. Without time to wash it, Kathleen whisks out her hanky and spits on it. Madge doesn’t want spit on her knee, so Kathleen says spit is good for healing. If Kathleen lets her go to school with dirt on her cut, she might get blood poisoning. Blood poisoning is worse than pneumonia. It runs through you and then kills you stone dead in a matter of hours. Kathleen can hear the school bell clanging.

The school bell gives the final clang as the girls get to the gate. A nun is just coming over to lock it. The nuns always lock the gate at bang on nine, and if you’re not on the right side of it, you’re in trouble. Kathleen dives forward pushing the other three ahead of her into the closing gap. They lurch and stumble but make it to the other side. But Kathleen doesn’t. Kathleen puts her hand to open the gate, but the nun rattles the bars.

The nun says that there’s no pushing on the gate. It’s after nine. Then, a clock starts up and rings the bell. Kathleen knows it couldn’t have been nine o’clock when the nun closed the gate. It’s Sister Eucharia, the one who never smiles. Her face looks as if it’s made out of bacon fat—dirty white and featureless. She pulls a large man’s pocket watch out of her starch white bib and holds it out. It shows a minute past nine. The church clock must be slow or else Sister Eucharia’s watch is fast. The old rip, she could have given Kathleen the benefit of the doubt.

Kathleen slumps against the locked gate, feeling the cold iron against her forehead. It’s her third time to be late this term, and that means she used up all her chances. Now she’ll be in for it.

Mother Rosario

When all the girls finish filing into the school, Sister Eucharia comes back to the gate to let Kathleen in. Kathleen is sent straight to Mother Rosario’s office. Mother Rosario greets Kathleen icily. Everyone says the head nun is strict but fair, although Kathleen had never noticed the fair part. Kathleen apologizes for being late. Mother Rosario says that if the girl has an excuse, she should speak up now. Perhaps it can be overlooked just this once.

Kathleen can’t possibly tell Mother Rosario that her mother had gone out in the night to attend a birth. Nuns don’t understand that type of thing. They have no children and they live in a convent. Things like birth, babies, getting her sisters’ hair brushed in the morning, helping Da make breakfast, it was all too difficult to explain. Telling Mother Rosario all of this would only bring shame to her family. Helplessly, Kathleen offers that Madge fell and cut her knee. Mother Rosario sees right through her excuse, and clarifies that Madge fell because they were running late and running to school instead of sensibly walking. Then, Kathleen says that Patsy got grease on her blouse. Mother Rosario doesn’t believe this either. So, Kathleen admits that she burned their morning porridge, so they had to make fried bread instead, which is what led to the greasy shirt.

Mother Rosario points out that it seems like Kathleen is blaming everybody but herself. She’s reflecting her tardiness onto her unfortunate family. Kathleen feels tears running down her face. Kathleen closes her eyes, holds out her hand, and waits for the belt of the slat. But nothing happens. She is sure that she would be hit for her disobedience. She opens her eyes and Mother Rosario is looking at her. Mother Rosario says she’ll have to talk to Kathleen’s mother. She can’t have girls coming late to school with no reasonable excuse and looking like a wreck of the Hesperus.

Kathleen looks down. She’s still wearing the old clothes she threw on in a rush. She had forgotten to change into her school skirt and blouse. And with all the fuss about brushing her sisters’ hair, she had forgotten about her own. Her hair is all tangled and she can feel knots under her fingers.

But Kathleen’s mother being sent for is the worst possible punishment because it means she’ll be in trouble at home as well as school. Mother Rosario says that Kathleen doesn’t understand. Mother Rosario reaches into her skirt and pulls out a clean, starchy, blue-and-white-checked handkerchief and holds it out to Kathleen. Kathleen doesn’t take it, so Mother Rosario dabs Kathleen’s cheeks, nose, and mouth herself. She tells Kathleen to keep it for the day. Kathleen, nodding, promises to herself to rub and scrub it until it’s a perfect, crisp square again. The nun continues that she needs to talk to Kathleen’s mother to make sure everything is all right at home. She just wants to be satisfied that there’s no trouble.

Kathleen cannot bear the thought of Mam being humiliated by the nuns asking about their personal life. Kathleen is dismissed to go to her class. She’s told to tell her teacher, Miss Glynn, that she will not be punished. Then, Mother Rosario opens a tin on her desk and extracts a bull’s-eye. Kathleen ought to eat it fast so it’s gone by the time she reaches the classroom.

The sweet peppermint flavor spreads immediately into Kathleen’s mouth. Kathleen thanks Mother Rosario and leaves.

Brown Bread

Mam is furious that she’s being summoned to school. She doesn’t know who to be more annoyed with, Kathleen or Mother Rosario. Mam has a good mind to give Kathleen a walloping. Apparently, Kathleen can’t be trusted to behave herself at school and not be drawing attention to herself. Kathleen apologizes. She seems to only be saying sorry these days.

Kathleen begs her mother to not be rude to Mother Rosario. If any of the mothers stand up to the nuns, they take it out on the children. She doesn’t want to risk getting into deeper trouble.

Mam insists the regular mothers are as good as the Mothers any day. But Kathleen knows that’s not how the nuns see it. Everyone knows that nuns are harder on children that come from the tenements than the children that come from the Artisan Dwellings. The nuns have a better chance of making something of those girls than of the daughters of the poorest classes. And Kathleen is from the poorest class. Everyone knows that those from the poorest class will marry young and produce broods of sickly, dirty children. And many of those children die young. Mam pulls on her best Sunday coat and puts on her smart black hat. She picks up her handbag for show, since the bag is empty, and begins walking to the school.

Kathleen trots along beside her wishing that the day could be over already. She tries to give instructions to Mam about what to say to Mother Rosario. Kathleen’s little sisters tag along behind. Kathleen tells her mother not to say that she was at a birth. Mam will make a holy show of her.

When they get inside, Mam calmly explains to Mother Rosario that she had to attend to a neighbor in an emergency in the middle of the night. And that is why Kathleen was late. Kathleen looks at her feet and lines up her two brown toecaps and stands very still. Mam says that it was a confinement and that young Liz was hemorrhaging. Kathleen blushes. Hemorrhaging means blood. Why did Mam have to mention blood?

Mother Rosario cuts Mam off mid-explanation. She explains she just wants to make sure everything is all right at home. She heard that Mam’s husband is out of work. Mam explains that the factory closed down. He had a good job as a foreman until the closure. Mother Rosario suggests that Da can work in the convent gardens a little bit. Just a few hours a week. But he can do it in his own time when it suits him. Their gardener is getting up there in age, and may retire in a year or two.

Kathleen knows that Da wouldn’t think much of that. But they say beggars can’t be choosers. Mam says she’ll mention it. Mam reassures Mother Rosario that Kathleen is just fine. Kathleen just asks so many questions.

Mother Rosario continues that she believes Kathleen is talented. Mam is surprised. This is the first time either of them had heard such news. Kathleen is terrible at school, always getting her sums wrong. Her handwriting is mediocre, and the teacher never asks her to read out her compositions out loud. She also always comes in last on sports day, too.

Mother Rosario clarifies Kathleen’s musical. That may be true. Kathleen is always humming and warbling, but she never thought of it as being musical. Everyone in her family sings. Irish songs, like “Molly Malone” and “Are You Right There, Michael?” They learn songs off of Polly’s wireless like “Stormy Weather” and hymns, such as “Sweet Heart of Jesus.”

Mother Rosario asks if perhaps they have a piano at home. Kathleen winces at Mam’s tone when she responds that she doesn’t. Mother Rosario suggests that Kathleen can practice on one of the school pianos if she wanted to take lessons. It would help develop her talent and encourage discipline. Mam is skeptical.

Mother Rosario changes direction and says that maybe instead of music, Kathleen would prefer dancing lessons. Irish dancing of course. It’s part of Our National Heritage, and many girls do it. It’s a lovely accomplishment for an Irish girl and it gives them an interest and keeps them out of harm’s way.

Mam is not very keen on “Our National Heritage.” Her family had all been on the treaty side in the Civil War. The pro-Treaty people, like Mam’s family, had wanted to settle with Britain after the War of Independence. But the anti-Treaty people, led by Mr. de Valera, thought the agreement with Britain wasn’t favorable to Ireland and wanted to keep on fighting for a better deal. The Civil War happened before Kathleen was born of course, when her parents were young. But Mam still doesn’t trust Dev, who was very big on Our National Heritage. Mam half-believes that Irish dancing, Gaelic football, and the Irish language had been invented single-handedly by Dev to make out that they were more Irish than they really were. She’s wrong about that, of course, but that’s the way her mind works.

Da is a Dev man. He’s delighted with the new constitution Dev brought in after the Civil War, but he has to keep his views to himself when Mam gets up on her hobbyhorse and starts in on politics.

Kathleen hopes to goodness Mam isn’t about to give this pet lecture of hers to the nun. The last thing Kathleen wants is for the two of them to get stuck in a political argument. Luckily, Mam tones it down a bit. She explains to Mother Rosario that they aren’t very Irishy-Irishy in the house. She says they believe the Irish and English need to live like neighbors and forget the past. The trade wars between them are only hurting the Irish people.

Mother Rosario chuckles. Kathleen had never heard her laugh before. She comments that Mam is well-informed. But perhaps, she has no actual objections to Irish dancing. Mam agrees. Kathleen, listening to the two go back and forth about the benefits of Irish dancing, thinks it sounds quite like brown bread: “good for your bowels as well, in all probability.” But Kathleen says nothing.

Finally, Mam agrees with Mother Rosario. Maybe they can give it a try.

Mother Rosario lists out some of the other students who do it at: Annie Ruane, Brigid Mullane, and Tess O’Hara. Kathleen winces again at this list. Those three girls are the snootiest girls in the class. She’s not going to like being lumped in with them. Her own friends, Angela and Nell, would desert Kathleen if she took up with them. Besides, they’d all been dancing since they were six and will be better at it than Kathleen will ever be. She tries to catch Mam’s eye to shake her head, but Mam is looking at Mother Rosario. And all because Kathleen burned the porridge.

When Kathleen tells Da what happened, he laughs. It could be worse. At least she didn’t land herself a job as an assistant gardener to an old fellow with arthritic knees.

Polly

Polly laughs when she hears what happened. Polly is supposed to be called Aunty Mary because she’s Mam’s sister, but she won’t answer to “Aunty.” She says it makes her feel too ordinary. When Kathleen thinks about it, she’s sure Polly is Kathleen’s best friend and Kathleen is Polly’s, too. Angela and Nell are good pals, but they’re only twelve, like Kathleen. Polly is nearly twenty—the height of sophistication, glamorous and full of fun. She wears bright red lipstick and silk stockings and smokes up the chimney so Mam doesn’t get the smell. Polly flies around the place, always singing and cracking jokes and cheering everybody up. She drops into the Murphy house most evenings on her way home from Jacob’s, the biscuit factory where she works, and some days she brings a bag of broken biscuits with her and they have a feast.

In general, employees aren’t allowed to take the biscuits out of the factory. They can eat as much as they want at Jacob’s, but they can’t take any home. Polly told Kathleen that there’s random searches of the workers as they leave in the evenings, and if they’re caught, they’re fired. But, an employee can buy a bag of broken biscuits very cheaply. The thing is, they never know what’s in the bag. It can be Lemon Puffs or Café Noir or Toytown Iced or Kerry Creams, or a mixture. But everyone gobbles them up regardless.

Everyone loves to hear Polly’s laugh. She always keeps everyone entertained with gossip about the people she works with and little incidents that happen. Rows between the workers and bosses, pigeons flying into the biscuit dough, and practical jokes that the workers play on the newest staff members.

Polly says that Kathleen will be amazing at Irish dancing. She’ll be flouncing and bouncing and kicking up her feet like a hen with fleas. But Kathleen doesn’t feel like laughing. She’s afraid of the snobby girls, Tess and her friends. They’ll show her up and make Kathleen look like a fool. It’s all just a big embarrassment. To change the subject, Kathleen asks Polly about Shamy Macnamara. Shamy is “after” Polly. He has his heart set on marrying her, but Polly will have none of it. She says there’s not a man in Dublin that’s good enough for her and that’s a good thing. Otherwise, she’d have to marry someone. Instead, she can be her own boss all her life and have her own income and won’t be worn out having millions of babies.

Polly and Kathleen conspire to be old maids together. They’ll live without men, they’ll paint their toenails red, and they won’t have to darn anyone’s socks. They’ll be ladies of leisure. They’ll have brandy flips for breakfast and colecannon for tea and they won’t call the king our better. Except on Saturdays.

But even if Polly was going to get married, she wouldn’t marry Shamy Macnamara. He’s not very handsome, and has an annoying way of hanging his head and looking at his feet at the first sign of trouble. Polly is seeing a different man named Bill, with broad shoulders and dark eyes, as handsome as Rhett Butler. Rhett Butler is from a book: Gone with the Wind. Polly says she got it out of the circulating library. The main character is named Scarlett O’Hara. Da points out that O’Hara is an Irish name, even though the characters are all American.

And just as quickly as the conversation about the book started, the conversation changes again. This time to Da’s chance to work with the nuns. Polly warns Da that the nuns will have him crawthumping all over the place. Devotions and missions and novenas and the Lord knows what. Da will be destroyed going to church. Listening to the conversation, Mam says that going to church never hurt anyone.

Just then, Polly tells Kathleen that she brought something. She slips a small gold tube into Kathleen’s hand. She says it’s only half-used. She got a new one, a color that suits her better, but this one is still good. And it’ll look terrific on Kathleen with her red hair. Kathleen looks down. It’s lipstick. She’s too young for lipstick, but she’s dying to see what she looks like with it on.

She whispers to Polly to go to the bedroom with her. When they get there, Kathleen watches as Polly mimics putting a coat of lipstick on her lips. Polly stretches her lips and pretends to apply a coat on herself. She doesn’t bother with a mirror. Then, she chomps down on a scrap of newspaper, leaving bright red lip marks like kisses on the margin from the layer of lipstick she applied earlier that day. Now, it’s Kathleen’s turn. But she’s changed her mind. She says Da will kill her if he sees it. She’ll have to try some other day.

Flying

When Kathleen asks Tess how much they pay for dancing lessons, Tess says they pay nothing. Kathleen will have to go along with them to Mrs. Maguire’s Irish Dancing School after school. Mrs. Maguire is dumpy, stocky, and wears an extraordinary dress made out of brown canvas that goes to her ankles. Kathleen thinks she looks like a sack of potatoes. Mrs. Maguire doesn’t look as if she can dance a single step, and certainly not in that outfit. Kathleen has never seen her lift a foot, and she soon learns that all teaching is done by verbal instructions. So Kathleen learns by watching the other more experienced dancers.

Mrs. Maguire batters tunes on an old upright piano. Some keys are dead, and when she hits one of them she hums the note loudly to make up for the missing noise. She mainly plays two tunes: “The Rakes of Mallow” and “The Irish Washerwoman.” She counts from one to seven, over and over again. At first, Kathleen doesn’t know what’s going on, but she soon gets the hang of it. She holds her right foot out precisely in front of her left with the heel well up, the arch exaggerated, and all toes clenched. Then, she is off. When the dancing starts to click in her brain and body, she starts into action on the first beat like a shot off a shovel. One leg chases the other as if she’s skipping up an invisible staircase, her skirt bouncing merrily in rhythm with the music, till she comes down again and the opposite direction on the next count of seven.

Kathleen feels like she’s flying. It’s better than swinging on the swing boats at the carnival and stealing a ride off the milkman’s cart. By the end of class, Kathleen is hot, sticky, and out of breath. Tess O’Hara makes a joke that Miss Twinkletoes probably thinks she’s great. Kathleen bends down to switch her shoes. Mrs. Maguire had loaned her a pair of dancing poms because she’s new and didn’t have her own. They’re a little big, but Mrs. Maguire had given her cardboard insoles to stuff them out. Kathleen responds that she doesn’t think she’s great at all, but she does enjoy it. Tess spitefully says that it’s not supposed to be enjoyable. It’s supposed to be a lesson.

As Kathleen passes the piano to leave, Mrs. Maguire asks her for ninepence. Kathleen blushes scarlet. She thought the lesson was free. Mrs. Maguire huffs. Her face is as red as Kathleen’s. Mrs. Maguire asks how she’s supposed to make a living without getting payment. It’s ninepence per lesson or seven-and-six a term, which is twelve lessons. Kathleen has never even seen seven-and-sixpence all together in her life. Her mother certainly wasn’t going to be able to fork out that kind of money. A few steps away, Tess and Annie are pointing and whispering to each other. Kathleen blushes even harder. They are positively rich, compared to Kathleen.

Mrs. Maguire briskly says that Kathleen can bring payment next week. Kathleen stutters, and says that she probably won’t be able to come next week. She’ll bring the ninepence as soon as she can. Kathleen fetches her gabardine raincoat from the bench by the door, and walks out. She doesn’t look back, but she can hear the stifled giggles of the other girls.

Kathleen runs home through the darkening streets and pounds up the stairs to their rooms. She flings herself onto her bed and buries her face in the cotton of the pillowslip. After a while, her cheeks cool down and she can lift her head. Her face is bright pink in the cracked mirror. It doesn’t go with red hair and freckles. When Kathleen’s mother learns that the dance class cost ninepence, she is outraged. She could feed a family for a week on ninepence!

Kathleen says she doesn’t intend to go again. She didn’t have a good time. Kathleen’s mother is glad to hear that Kathleen won’t be going again. But, she’s more concerned about how to get the ninepence for today’s lesson. Kathleen is astonished. Can they not manage just one little ninepence?

Just then, Da comes in. He was just coming from his first shift working in the convent gardens. He says it wasn’t so bad, and he earned three-and-sixpence for himself. It’s no fortune, but it’s an awful lot better than no three-and-sixpence.

Kathleen’s mother asks him to hand it over, and hands Kathleen ninepence for today’s class and tells her to bring it to Mrs. Maguire immediately. Never let it be said that the Murphys don’t pay their debts. Mam apologizes to Kathleen; she won’t be able to continue taking the dancing lessons. Da passes Kathleen an extra penny. She can get herself a fizz bag on the way home.

Kathleen flies out the door, back down the stairs and over the streets back to Mrs. Maguire. As she walks, Kathleen realizes she’s very sad. She had been saying that she didn’t want to take lessons, but that was a lie. She did care, and she did want to dance. And she felt like she was good at it. It was cruel that she had just discovered this lovely thing only to have it snatched away as soon as she got a taste.

The Letter

The next day, it is all over the school. Tess O’Hara didn’t waste time when she saw a chance to make a fool of someone. Tess loudly announces that the best part was that Kathleen thought the lessons were free! What is poor Mrs. Maguire supposed to live on if she doesn’t charge anything for the classes? Of course, it’s free for the O’Haras because her Daddy works for Guinness’s. The same with Annie and Brigid. But Guinness’s pays for the lessons. It’s not free to everyone.

Angela and Nell are full of sympathy. They hold the skipping rope for Kathleen all through sos as a special treat. They turn the rope over and over, while Kathleen skips over it. The plaits in her hair fly around her shoulders. It’s much easier for her to skip with her hair in plaits. Kathleen can see her skipping without being bothered by Tess annoys Tess and her pals.

Kathleen tries to pretend to herself that she doesn’t mind. She wasn’t too upset anymore about Tess and the others setting her up. But she does mind about having to miss the dancing lessons. She loves the dancing and the feeling of flying.

The next Wednesday is Irish dancing day, and by that time, Kathleen had put it all behind her. As Kathleen is putting on her coat to leave, Brigid Mullane comes back into the classroom. She says she has a note from Mrs. Maguire. Mrs. Maguire wants Kathleen back. Apparently, Brigid had read the on her way back from the dancing school.

The note says that Mrs. Maguire is prepared to offer Kathleen a free term of dancing lessons. She looks promising, and is light on her feet. If Mrs. Maguire gives her a chance and she does well, maybe her family will be able to see their way to reaching an arrangement as regards to the matter of fees in the future.

Kathleen stares at Brigid, her mouth hanging open. Brigid explains that Mrs. Brady’s school won a lot of medals at the feis last year. Mrs. Maguire is dying to win more this year, but a couple of her best dancers have left. Liz O’Brien was great, but she disappeared.

Kathleen doesn’t know what “light on your feet” means. As far as she knows, she has the same weight on her feet as she does sitting down. Nell comes up to her, and says that Kathleen is great. They always knew that. Angela says that they will tell Kathleen’s Mam that she’ll be late. Still in a half-daze, Kathleen follows Brigid out of the classroom.

When they get to class and the music starts up, Kathleen waits for the downbeat of her dance to start. And when it comes, she finally knows what it means. The floorboards seem to disappear out from under her. It’s all airy and feathery, like walking on water. Kathleen kicks and twirls, flying in time with the music into a different world. She was no longer Kathleen Murphy, the poor girl from the tenements. She’s a Celtic princess, and she’s going to dance her way to stars on airy-fairy feet, free as a bird.

As time goes on, dancing isn’t always like that. As her love for dancing grows, it eventually gets more difficult. The steps got more intricate, and the order of steps are harder to remember. Mrs. Maguire endlessly grounds over the same two or three basic tunes lesson after lesson.

At home, Kathleen dances around the bedroom as she dresses in the mornings and wrestles with tangles in her hair. Kathleen’s sisters throw pillows and shoes at her to put her off the beat, anything to get her to stop dancing. Kathleen feels like the little girl in the story with the shoes that won’t let her be still. Her feet are enchanted.

Even at night, her feet twitch as she goes over the steps in her head. When that happens, Patsy and Lily grab her toes from the other side of the bed and tickle the soles of her feet. Over and over, she dances in her head listening to a tune only she can hear.

A Plan

By the middle of the term, Kathleen can do slip jigs, sailor’s hornpipes, hard reels, and other dances, too. She learns fast because she loves it, and the more difficult the steps get, the greater effort she puts in to master them. The hornpipes are Kathleen’s favorite. She wears hard shoes for the hornpipe, and she loves the leisurely pace and the rap of the hard shoes on the boards. She can let your body go looser, instead of having to keep the top half completely rigid, like in the jigs.

Tess O’Hara teases Kathleen every chance she gets. Kathleen thinks she’s jealous because she’s doing so well. Every now and then, Mrs. Maguire thumps down on the piano keys with her arms making a terrible crashing sound. Mrs. Maguire yells at Tess to leave Kathleen alone. But Kathleen has gotten used to Tess and her carrying on so in the end, she doesn’t even notice it anymore.

Mrs. Maguire had picked her team for the feis by now, and Kathleen is one of the first to get a place on it. Kathleen knows Mrs. Maguire is relying on her to do well. That makes her nervous and proud at the same time, so she simply nods and says that she will do her best.

Brigid was entered in the feis, too, but Mrs. Maguire said she isn’t sure that Tess and Annie are up to scratch. They’ll be given more chances over the next few weeks to prove themselves. Tess and Annie mutter a lot about that. They say Mrs. Maguire has it in for them. Mrs. Maguire only enters people that she thinks can win medals.

As they’re leaving, Mrs. Maguire announces that she wants all of their mothers to ensure they get the finest Irish dancing costumes in Dublin for the feis. They will need to wear black lisle stockings, nice costumes, and green if possible. They should have knee-length or shorter dresses, with Celtic decorations and a brat. Mrs. Maguire will give them Maguire School of Irish Dancing pins specially made in the style of the Tara brooch.

Tess O’Hara doesn’t need to make any snooty comments to Kathleen on this. She knows perfectly well that Kathleen doesn’t have a hope in the wide world of getting hold of a dancing costume good enough to represent Mrs. Maguire. Kathleen stumbles home, going over and over in her mind what Mrs. Maguire had said, trying to find a solution for the costume problem. And by the time she gets to the front door she’s made her decision. She will say nothing to her mother about the dancing costume or the feis. It would only annoy and upset her. But Kathleen has a plan. She’s not sure if it’ll work, but it’s the best she can think of.

The Conversion of Russia

Sister Eucharia is a great believer of miracles. Mam is a great believer of miracles as well. Although Kathleen doesn’t have time to do the First Fridays, which takes nine months, she does have time to do a quick novena, which is completed over nine days. Sister Eucharia is very impressed to find Kathleen in the convent chapel every morning before school, lighting candles to Saint Bernadette. Bernadette was a poor girl growing up, before she became a nun later in life. Kathleen supposes she chose Saint Bernadette because of the poor girl connection. Perhaps Saint Bernadette also remembers doing miracles, since she’s a newer saint.

Kathleen did an awful lot of jam-jar hunting so she’s been able to put a penny in the box next to Saint Bernadette every morning. By the time her novena is complete, she’ll have spent ninepence. It’s what a dancing lesson would cost if she had to pay for it.

But by day six, there’s still no sign of a dancing costume at the foot of her bed. She expected it would be like a present from Santy on Christmas morning. By day seven, there’s still no sign of a dancing costume. By day eight, Kathleen decides that God must be holding out for a supreme sacrifice. Kathleen decides that if her costume appears, she’ll be a nun when she grows up, just like Saint Bernadette. Because Kathleen doesn’t mean to get married at all, she figures she could enter the convent after a while.

By day nine, Kathleen’s very disappointed when the dancing costume still does not appear. There’s a chance that God is waiting for Kathleen to do the last day of novena, so she gets up as usual and goes to light her candle to Saint Bernadette in the church. When Sister Eucharia comes and asks her what she’s praying so hard for, Kathleen explains she’s praying for a dancing costume to wear in the feis.

Sister Eucharia is silent for a moment as she tries to figure out what to say, until she finally says that Kathleen is very bold. She grabs Kathleen by the elbow, yanks her up and steers her into the corridor. Sister Eucharia explains that miracles are sacred gifts from God. If Kathleen asks for a miracle, it should be of a worthy purpose such as a healing of a sick person or the Conversion of Russia. Kathleen ought to be ashamed of herself for wasting good prayers on an Irish dancing costume.

Kathleen is dismissed to go to her classroom, and told that she better not be caught praying for trivialities ever again. Kathleen is glad it’s her ninth day and she’s done with her novena. She certainly wouldn’t want to meet Sister Eucharia in the convent chapel ever again.

Miracles

The next morning, Kathleen is scared to open her eyes. The nine days are up, and she made an enormous promise. Surely God can’t fail to answer her prayer. But when she opens her eyes, Kathleen sees there’s no sign of a dancing costume. How can that be? Can Sister Eucharia be right? Is God angry for her asking for such a trivial thing? Maybe it’s more serious than that. Maybe God doesn’t want Kathleen to be a nun. Maybe she’s not worthy.

And worst of all, the feis is in three weeks, and Kathleen still doesn’t have a costume. When Kathleen trudges into the kitchen for breakfast, her mother looks up at her. She tells Kathleen that she heard that Kathleen was picked for the feis, and she was never told anything about it. Mam is beaming. Kathleen isn’t sure how to react, but she chances a smile. Mam doesn’t wait for her to say anything, but says that she’ll need a dancing costume for the feis. They get all dolled up in those Gaelic League clothes, those Irish dancers with harps and shamrocks and goodness knows what. They’ll have to make sure Kathleen is as well-dressed as the rest of them.

Kathleen’s heart rises. Mam is in. She doesn’t seem worried about the expense at all. Kathleen should have told Mam in the first place and saved herself from the row with old Sister Eucharia and all the worry. Mam says that she’ll go to Frawley’s this morning to see if they have remnants for the costume. Kathleen stands on a chair while Mam looks her over and takes measure of her with her eyes. Six yards should do it. Kathleen says the shawl on the back is called the brat, and the skirt will have to be full with pleats. If Mam cuts it carefully, she might get away with just six yards.

Kathleen is beaming, delighted with how things are turning out. It’s like a true miracle. This is God’s way of answering her prayers. Kathleen should have realized that God wasn’t going to send a beautiful costume out of nowhere by magic. That only happens in stories. This was God’s way of getting her a costume.

The only issue is that now Kathleen is going to have to be a nun when she grows up. Maybe she should have held her fire and just told Mam about her problems in the first place. Then she wouldn’t have needed a miracle. Kathleen probably signed away her life for nothing. But anyhow this is no time to be worrying about that. It’s time to be planning her costume.

Bad News

After school, Kathleen rushes home to see if Mam has got the material for her costume. Mam responds that she hasn’t gotten it yet, but she found some lovely soft light wool, sky blue. Kathleen rushes to say that dancing costumes are supposed to be green. Everyone will be wearing green. Mam says that Kathleen will be different. It’s a lovely shade of blue. Mam also says that there was nothing suitable in the remnant bin. She looked in a few places, but she kept coming back to the lovely material in Frawley’s. But it’s expensive at full price.

Kathleen’s heart drops. What’s the point in building her up if there’s not going to be a costume after all. Mam continues on to say that the bolt of fabric is nearly finished. If one more person buys the makings of the dress, the remainder will be too short to sell off the bolt and they’ll have to add it to the remnant bin. Mam says Kathleen will need to keep an eye out for it. Kathleen will need to come the long way from school every day to check on it. As soon as it appears in the remnant bin she must race home to tell Mam and Mam will give her the money to buy it.

Every day, Kathleen does as Mam says. But the bolt of sky blue material stays on the shelf. Mam is right, it is very lovely, so Kathleen doesn’t even mind that it is not green. But nobody wants to buy any of it.

One evening, Mam goes to bed early, saying she doesn’t feel well. Kathleen promises faithfully that when she wakes up the next morning, she won’t burn the porridge. When Kathleen brings breakfast to Mam in bed the next morning, she says she can’t touch it. She goes into a fit of coughing. Mam said she thinks she’s getting something. She has a fever as well.

When Kathleen brings her a cup of tea, Kathleen asks her what happened to Liz O’Brien. Mam tells Kathleen that she went to England to get away from the wagging tongues. The wagging tongues are people that think a poor girl who has a baby and no husband is a bad girl. She gave her baby to the nuns. Mam explains that the nuns find good homes for poor babies.

Kathleen realizes that clearly there’s more important things in the world than Mrs. Maguire’s chance of medals at the feis, but Kathleen doesn’t want to know any more about that.

The days drag on and Mam still hasn’t gotten any better, and the sky blue material still sits in the store window. The owner keeps asking if she’s going to ever buy the material, and eventually, Kathleen just tells him the whole story. He laughs when he hears it. He says that as soon as the last person buys the fabric off the bolt, he’ll hide the remainder behind the counter so no one can buy it. The man says that he has a daughter himself, and he knows how hard it can be when she wants something very badly.

One morning, when Kathleen goes into her Mam’s room with a cup of tea, she’s much worse. Her eyes are staring, and when Kathleen talks to her, she doesn’t answer. Da comes in and tells Kathleen to go to Mrs. O’Brien for help, and to bring Eddy to Mrs. Conlon, who will have to watch him for the day. Mrs. O’Brien is an old friend of Mam’s, and her children are all grown up except Jimmy, who’s nearly fourteen. She’ll be able to sit with Mam all day if needed.

Mrs. O’Brien throws on her coat over her apron and runs with Kathleen to the house. The girls sit on the stairs with their school bags on. They’re afraid to go to school in case something dreadful happens. Mrs. O’Brien tells them that Mam is going to be just fine, and the best thing the girls can do is to go off to school. Kathleen knows Mrs. O’Brien is lying and that Mam isn’t fine at all.

Even so, on their way home from school, Kathleen stops by Frawley’s. When she gets there, her heart gives a skip. The blue fabric is no longer on the shelf. That means someone must have bought a length of it, and the shop owner is saving the remnant.

Kathleen goes into the dress shop, and the bell rings. The shop owner says that there’s bad news. Immediately, Kathleen wonders if he heard Mam has died. But he continues. The last person who came in bought a whole lot of the whole blue material. There’s not enough yards left for Kathleen.

Although Mam isn’t dead, the rest of the material has been sold. It seems as if something dreadful has happened. Mam is sick, the feis is coming up, the money to buy material, Tess O’Hara’s gloating face, and Liz O’Brien and her baby. Kathleen feels as if her head is going to burst. Sister Eucharia was right. God didn’t like the way Kathleen prayed for the costume and this is His way of punishing her. Kathleen runs out of the shop with tears streaming down her face and dashes home.

Scarlett O’Hara

As Kathleen runs home, she makes a new bargain with God. She apologizes to him for praying for the dancing costume. She says she’ll pray for the Conversion of Russia next, but maybe right now she needs to pray for Mam to get better. If He’ll make Mam better, she’ll forget about the costume and the feis. She’ll give up dancing all together and stay home on Wednesdays to help Mam do the mending.

When Kathleen gets home, Polly is there, sprinkling sugar on the bread for the little ones. Kathleen flings her arm herself into Polly’s arms. Then, she sits down at the kitchen table and pushes aside a slice of bread and butter and folds her arms. She has a good cry. Polly comforts her. She sends the children outside so she can talk to Kathleen one on one.

Kathleen says that Mrs. O’Brien called the Jubilee nurse. They said that Mam will be fine. They won’t have to send her away to a sanatorium or anything. A sanatorium is where they send someone if they get tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is a killer disease, and everyone dreads it. As Kathleen processes the mention of a sanatorium, she can’t work out whether Mam actually has tuberculosis or not. You can’t ask a question like that outright. It’s worse than mentioning childbirth.

Polly gently reassures Kathleen that Mam is getting better. In fact, Mam is the most popular woman in their neighborhood. Three of the neighbors have already been around with beef tea and barley water. She’s well looked after and she’s going to get better.

When Polly asks why Kathleen was late getting home, Kathleen dries her eyes, and tells Polly about the material at Frawley’s. When Kathleen mentions that she won’t be able to get her costume at all, Polly says it’s just as well. She couldn’t have gotten on stage in a sky blue costume. Dancing costumes have to be green.

Kathleen reminds Polly that now she’ll have no costume at all. But she doesn’t want one anyway because Mam is so sick and Kathleen just wants her to get better. Polly strokes Kathleen’s hair and then starts to chuckle. Polly says she’s reading Gone with the Wind with Scarlett O’Hara in it. In the story, Scarlett needs a fancy outfit, but she has no money. But, she does live in a gorgeous big house. So, she eyes up the lovely velvet curtains they have in the big fancy drawing room, and takes them off the window and makes them into a beautiful gown with a matching muff and the cutest little hat.

Polly says that she has lovely green, wool curtains at home. She made them last year when Uncle Pat won a little bit of money on some horse betting. Kathleen says that she can’t possibly let Polly use her own curtains to make a dancing costume for Kathleen. Polly says that she can do it without Kathleen’s permission. They’re her curtains, so she can do what she likes with them.

Kathleen chuckles. She explains that Sister Eucharia said that God would punish her for praying about the costume. If Sister Eucharia hears that Kathleen was going to the feis dressed up in a pair of curtains…

Polly laughs, too, and then they hug. When Kathleen takes tea into Mam’s room, she’s looking a lot better. Very pale, very tired, her eyes huge in her head, but she’s able to talk. And when Polly comes in joking around, Mam is able to give a faint little smile. It delights Kathleen to see Mam smiling so much, that Kathleen breaks out in a beaming smile herself. Maybe Mam really is going to be all right.

Cottage Industry

Polly is as good as her word. The next evening, she brings over one of the curtains, and she drapes it over Kathleen to see how it suits her. Kathleen looks gorgeous. Da thinks they’re both mad, trying to make a dress out of curtains. Polly says she’s enterprising. Mr. de Valera would be proud of them, producing homespun dancing costumes. They’re a proper little cottage industry. Da snorts, and pretends to be irritated. But Kathleen can see he’s trying to stifle a laugh.

By the end of the evening, the structure of the dress is in place. It’s held together with pins and tissue paper and things marked on it with white thread. Kathleen is terrible at dressmaking, so she doesn’t really follow it.

Meanwhile, Mam is not doing any better. She’s not worse, though. She coughs a lot, she seems to be at a certain level of illness. It’s as if all her strength has been sapped away, and without it, she can’t make the effort to get well again.

Celtic Knots

The night before the feis, Polly finally finishes the last stitches on the costume. Kathleen gathers up the dress. It’s wool is thick and soft, and Kathleen can hear a quiet crinkling sound as she smooths down the skirt. Polly inserts a piece of stiff lining at the waist to give it some body.

A minute later, Kathleen comes out of the bedroom with the dress on. Polly says she looks lovely. Green is her color. Madge and Lily and Patsy all gather around and pat Kathleen down, and Kathleen wriggles a bit inside the dress getting used to the feel of it.

Polly says it’s a little bit plain. A little shamrock or something would be nice, but surely they can’t have everything. Kathleen is so happy that she doesn’t even mind not having a shamrock.

Polly picks up the brat which is lined with a piece of yellow saffron silk casing from Mam’s best wedding present eiderdown. Kathleen knows that people won’t see much of the underside when it’s on, but it looks pretty all the same.

Kathleen grabs the two Tara pins that Mrs. Maguire gave her, and they pin the brat to the shoulders of the dress. Kathleen does a little skip of excitement. Polly says all she needs now is a touch of geranium lipstick. Kathleen says that it isn’t right for an Irish dancer to wear lipstick. It’s not the cha-cha she’s doing.

Kathleen goes to show Mam the dress. Mam is sitting with her pillow tucked in behind her for support. Kathleen hasn’t seen her sitting since the first day she got sick.

Mam says that Kathleen is simply a vision. Her costume is lovely. And Polly has worked a miracle with those curtains. And even better, Mam says she’s finally turned a corner. She feels as if she could do heaps and kill dead things. But, the one thing she needs right now, is her workbasket.

Mystified, Kathleen goes back into the kitchen to get the large wicker workbasket from under the dresser where it’s kept. Mam says that while she was waiting for the blue material to become a remnant, she started to gather some colored embroidery threads. And she has some nice little Celtic knot patterns that she traced out of a library book.

Mam pulls out a fistful of colors, purple, yellow, red, and white, and spreads them out on the bedspread. Then she reaches back into the workbasket and brings out a piece of greaseproof paper which is penciled with two simple but beautiful designs of interlocking loops.

Mam says that if Polly and Kathleen can thread the needles, she’ll have no trouble with the embroidery. It will only take her an hour at the most.

It ends up taking more than an hour, even with Polly and Kathleen doing the threading and handing Mam the colors as she needed them. She looks drained by the time she’s finished, but the green dress has been transformed from something quite nice but rather ordinary into a beautiful Irish dancing costume. The Celtic knot on the bodice glows with color and brings the dull green of the fabric alive. It’s a costume fit for a dancing champion topped off with Polly’s green beret. They stick the feather from Mam’s best hat on the side.

Kathleen glows with pleasure. Maybe God wasn’t cross with her after all. Mother Rosario always says their prayers are often answered in unexpected ways. There’s no doubt about it—a person never knows what He is going to do next.

Curtains

Angela and Nell are on the very first bench at the front of the Father Mathew Hall. People have strewn coats and scarves and bags all along the bench, keeping places for people. Kathleen waves at them and sends Lily, Madge, and Patsy up to join them. Kathleen is sorry that Mam won’t be there, but Polly promised to do her best to come. She had important business to see to first, but she’d try to make it. Kathleen can’t imagine anything more important than the feis, but grown-ups like Polly obviously had other priorities.

Mrs. Maguire is resplendent in gold and black, and on her shoulder is a huge Tara brooch, like the ones she made for her dancers. Her hair isn’t combed off her face as usual, and is instead worn in a loose ribbon, piled up with magnificent curls and wisps. She looks a bit like Queen Maeve, or maybe Queen Maeve’s mother, as Brigid whispers to Kathleen.

However, Mrs. Maguire is having conniptions behind the stage. One or two of the older girls had “the audacity” to put color on their faces to darken their cheeks and lips. Mrs. Maguire threatens to send them home and never let them darken her door again. They might as well have burned the Irish flag or joined the British Legion, as far as Mrs. Maguire is concerned. Kathleen is glad she hadn’t let Polly talk her into wearing that lipstick of hers.

The girls with short hair have parted it neatly and put green ribbons in it. Kathleen’s hair is done in ringlets, after a night of torture with her scalp all stretched and sore. But now the ringlets are cascading down her shoulders.

Tess O’Hara appears with Annie. They were allowed to enter the last moment mainly because Mrs. Maguire didn’t want their mothers making a fuss. Tess is wearing a gorgeous, soft, sky blue wool costume with a matching brat and a pretty little tam-o’-shanter perched on her head. She has her sister Betty with her, wearing the same outfit. So that’s what happened to Kathleen’s lovely blue material. The O’Hara’s had nabbed it and made up matching outfits for the girls. There’s no doubt it’s a lovely color, but now Kathleen can see that it isn’t right for Irish dancing costumes. Green is much better.

Tess takes one look at Kathleen and says to her friends that she can’t believe Kathleen Murphy’s costume is made from a pair of curtains. Tess does a little twirl as she shows off her soft blue dress. Kathleen just continues on brushing her hair. She swings her head forward to hide her face and says nothing. Kathleen had learned long ago that the silent treatment is the best way to deal with Tess.

Kathleen is very nervous about the competition. With Mam being so sick and all the fuss about the costume, she’d missed the last couple of dancing lessons before the feis, and she hadn’t danced at home for ages. The more Kathleen tries to run through the steps in her head, the more terrified she becomes.

When Kathleen’s name is called, Kathleen feels a rush of fear and her stomach sinks to the floor. Mrs. Maguire hisses and pokes Kathleen in the back. Kathleen stumbles out onto the stage, her legs suddenly feeling as if they’re made of putty. And there is still no sign of Polly. Polly is going to miss Kathleen’s dance, if she can manage to move her feet.

Kathleen closes her eyes and whispers, “Saint Bernadette, don’t let me down.” And then she opens her eyes and looks down at the crowd. It’s a big, moving, babbling blur. Maybe Polly is out there somewhere, but Kathleen is glad she can’t see her.

Kathleen puts her weight on her left foot and stands with her right foot poised. As soon as she hears the squeezebox leading into her tune, everything that happened over the past few weeks flies out of her head. The split second the bar note sounds, Kathleen leaps into action. She dances her heart out. She kicks and soars and prances and whirls and steps and twirls and springs and flies, tripping, skipping, skimming, and sailing all over the stage. She is completely oblivious to the audience, the hall, even the adjudicator. She is filled with the joy of the dance and doesn’t give a rattling toss about Tess O’Hara and her sky blue frock and her snooty ways.

When the music stops, of course Kathleen does, too. And suddenly, she is worn out. A terrific noise suddenly starts up out of nowhere. Kathleen thinks maybe the roof is coming down or a thunderstorm has started up. Then, she realizes that the noise is applause. A thundering clapping and stamping of feet and rocking of chairs. It is all for Kathleen and her dance. Kathleen does a little curtsy and then flits lightly off stage. As she leaves, she can hear people saying that she’s a champion.

Mrs. Maguire comes up to Kathleen when she gets off the stage and shakes her hand. Mrs. Maguire says she did very well. Kathleen is her star pupil, and she’s proud to be her teacher. Kathleen smiles at Mrs. Maguire. She’s not used to having her hand shaken, and certainly isn’t used to people being proud to be her teacher. When Mrs. Maguire moves away, Kathleen spots Polly, hanging back. Kathleen waves and Polly comes running forward and scoops Kathleen into a tight hug. Polly says she only got to see the end of it, but Kathleen was brilliant.

Polly and Kathleen find two chairs near the back. They still have to sit through the other competitors in Kathleen’s group. Some of them are good, but Polly keeps whispering they’re not as good as Kathleen Murphy. When all the dancers are finished, there’s a long delay while the adjudicator scratches her head and writes things down. and at last, she stands up on stage and starts a big long speech about standards and the importance of Irish dancing to the soul of the nation.

But at last, the adjudicator starts to announce the medalists, beginning with third place. Brigid Mullane. Kathleen claps like mad. She’s delighted for Brigid. Brigid isn’t her favorite person, but she likes her well enough. If she wasn’t in Tess’ gang, she and Brigid might even be friends. Then comes another girl Kathleen doesn’t know from Mrs. Brady’s dancing school.

As the adjudicator comes close to announcing the winner of the first place medal, Kathleen stops and whispers to herself that she says she doesn’t expect to win, and she’s just glad enough to have gotten through it. But even if she does win, she can’t promise to be a nun because she doesn’t think she would make a good nun. And then suddenly, Kathleen’s name fills the hall. Kathleen has won the first place medal!

The hall erupts. Polly pinches Kathleen’s elbow in excitement and screeches that she did it. Kathleen stands up and makes her way through the cheering crowd to the front. She gives Nell and Angela and her sisters a big grin as she passes them. When Kathleen stands next to the adjudicator, she whispers in her ear that the public wants to hear from her. Kathleen isn’t prepared for this. What’s she going to say?

Kathleen stumbles to make her voice loud enough to be heard, but when she finally does, she says that there’s a rumor going around that her costume was made of a pair of curtains. A ripple of laughter goes through the room. But Kathleen isn’t embarrassed. Instead Kathleen says that the rumor is true. There’s more laughter and a few whistles. Kathleen ends by thanking Polly and her Mam.

Polly follows Kathleen out. Polly says it’s goodbye to any dignity for the Murphy family now. They’ll all go down in history as the people who dress their children in household drapery. Kathleen says that she doesn’t feel mixed up or sad about it. Tess O’Hara thinks she can have one over on Kathleen by passing remarks about her and her family. But if Kathleen just says, “That’s right. My dress is made out of a pair of curtains,” then it takes the harm out of it.

Chuckling, Polly says Kathleen is absolutely right. And now it’s time to go home because Polly has a cake waiting at the house. Kathleen asks if it’s a cake from Jacob’s. Everyone knows that Jacob’s makes the best cakes in Dublin. But they’re very dear, so people only have them on special occasions. Polly says that Kathleen will have to wait and see.

The Cake from Jacob’s

When everyone gets home, Mam is up and dressed. She’s sitting in an armchair by the window, looking pale, but with a little smile on her lips. When they come through the door and Mam asks them what happened, Kathleen says that they’re all very tired. It’s a long walk from Church Street to Pimlico. Mam and Dad continue to push her to talk about how she did at the dance. The girls all stand around and stuff their fists into their mouths to keep them from laughing. Madge, nodding, says that Kathleen did quite well. Patsy shrugs and says she didn’t do too bad. Only Lily, who can’t keep it in anymore, shouts out that Kathleen won a medal. She dances around the room holding Eddy’s hands. Perhaps she’ll be a great dancer someday, too.

Kathleen pulls her medal out of her coat pocket. It has a lovely Celtic design on one side, and it gleams and shines in the light of the afternoon sun. Mam smiles and says that Mother Rosario was right when she said Kathleen was talented. They’ll have to sew the medal on a sash right away. Da says that this is only the first of many.

Polly says that while this may be true, but they’ll have to have their tea first. There’s a large cardboard box standing on the table. Kathleen can’t figure out how Polly had known she was going to win. Polly opens the box and draws out the biggest white cake she has ever seen. It’s covered in smooth white icing, decorated with perfect icing rosebuds and silver balls.

Everybody stares at it. None of the Murphys have seen anything like it. Polly says it is a wedding cake. A Jacob’s wedding cake. In fact, Polly got married that morning at the six o’clock morning Mass. The whole family erupts in questions and then crowds around Polly.

Kathleen stands back. She feels let down with a clunk, as if someone said they were going to take away her medal and give it to someone else. What was Polly thinking of? What about their lovely plans to be old maids together? Kathleen turns away and tucks her metal into a drawer in the dresser. It’s lost its shine for Kathleen. Polly calls her name and Kathleen turns around. Kathleen can’t say what she feels, but she has to say something. She says that she hopes Polly and Bill will be happy together.

Polly shakes her head. She didn’t marry Bill. She married Shamy Macnamara. Kathleen is very confused. Polly explains that Shamy is a grand man, and they’re going to go to America. Polly will be like Scarlett O’Hara in no time.

Mam is shocked. America is a terrible long way away. Polly explains that next month, they’re to go to America on a ship. Two red spots of excitement are high on her cheeks. Shamy has an uncle over there and he can get them both jobs. They’ve already bought their tickets, and they’ll have a cabin all to themselves. Polly says they waited until Mam was well, but Lent is starting next week and then they can’t be married for a whole six weeks and the ship would have sailed without them. So six o’clock this morning was the only time the priest could fit them in. But Polly didn’t want to announce that she was getting married on Kathleen’s big day! It would have taken the wind out of Kathleen’s sails entirely.

Kathleen dabs at her eyes and tries not to sniffle. She doesn’t want to cry on Polly’s wedding day. But the announcement had taken the wind out of Kathleen’s sails, even if Polly had tried not to. Kathleen asks what happened to Bill. Polly seemed to really like him. Polly quietly says that he was no good. He’s a right bowsie, and had been two-timing her.

Just then, Polly changes the conversation and starts shouting out orders. Madge is sent to get the best china they have. Lily is set to put out the cups. Da is told to wet the tea. But Kathleen notices that she is not in the tea preparations.

As everything is moving around the house, Polly comes over to Kathleen and says this is what grown-up people do. They make a life together. Polly doesn’t actually want to spend the rest of days making biscuits and being poor. This is a new start for her. And Shamy is a good man and he loves her. Kathleen hugs Polly. She tries to forgive her for abandoning their plans to be old maids together. Polly is right. She can’t live on fantasy anymore.

Seconds later, Shamy arrives. He’s introduced by his real name: James Aloysius Macnamara. Shamy looks at the ground the whole time. He’s dressed up in a brown suit and stiff collar, and he doesn’t look very comfortable. He shakes Mam’s hand, looking red. Polly hands him the bread knife and says they have to cut the cake together. It’s how the whole marriage thing is.

Together, they cut the cake. It makes a groaning sound as the knife slices through it. Da picks up a teacup, and toasts to the bride and groom. They chink their cups and drink, trying to look as pleased as they can for Polly.

Then, Polly turns to Kathleen and says, “And the Irish dancing champion! The first-place medalist, heading for stardom.”

After the family finishes cheering for Kathleen, she takes the opportunity to try to ask Polly a question. If Polly is a Mrs. now that she’s married, but yesterday she was a Miss, and if Shamy is a Mr. and he’s married now too, why wasn’t he a master yesterday? Polly thinks for a minute, and then she responds, “Ask me no questions, and I’ll tell you no lies.” Polly is turning into one of those grown-ups who won’t answer questions! It must be a marriage that does it.

Kathleen knows that she will miss Polly terribly, but surely she’ll be home on holidays sometimes. and maybe Kathleen can go over to America to visit her when she gets older. Kathleen isn’t going to give up on her dreams just because Polly has decided to become Mrs. Shamy Macnamara. When she is an old maid, Kathleen’ll need space for her dancing classes in her house. Kathleen’s going to be a better teacher than Mrs. Maguire, and she’ll teach girls how to fly while only charging a shilling per lesson. She’s not going to be poor any more than Polly was. And most importantly, her home would be garnished with gleaming Irish dancing metals that she’d won at feiseanna all around the country. She’s going to be a medal millionaire!

Then and Now: Ireland

Discusses what it was like growing up in Ireland in the 1930s. Topics include:

• How Irish dancing and the Celtic Revival were Ireland’s way of reclaiming and celebrating its culture and history after centuries of occupation and rule by Britain
• Irish were divided over the treaty where Ireland declared independence from Britain
  • Unionists wanted to rebuild an alliance with England
  • Nationalists wanted total independence from Britain
  • Ireland was so divided it split into two states: Northern Ireland which remained part of the United Kingdom and the Irish Free State, or Eire, which severed all political ties with Britain
• Eamon de Valera drafted the Irish Free State’s first constitution
  • de Valera believed that encouraging traditional Irish dance, music, and design as well as use of the Irish language, or Gaelic, reinforced Irish identity and was good for the Irish
• Many of the Irish were already poor before the Great Depression made them even poorer
• The Catholic church was a huge part in peoples’ lives, and most children attended Catholic school
• Today, Irish people live all over the world and keep their heritage alive through Irish music and dance
• Irish dancing has also grown in popularity worldwide
• The Republic of Ireland (what the Irish Free State became) is a vibrant country that celebrates its Celtic heritage