The Celtic Knot

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 claims it makes her feel too ordinary. And she hates being called Mary, even though that’s her real name.

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. Whenever children spot Polly with a bag under her arm on her way home, they chorus after her, “Hey, Missus, have you any broken biscuits?” and Polly always calls back, “Well, why don’t you mend them so?” It’s an old joke by now, and everyone knows the answer is coming, but they ask anyway, every single time, just for the fun of it.

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 declares 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 insists 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 colcannon for tea and they won’t call the king their better. Except on Saturdays. On Saturdays, they’d have tea with sticky buns and cream cakes and chocolate éclairs in Bewley’s Café.

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. If Polly got married, she’d want to marry a different man, with broad shoulders and dark eyes, as handsome as Rhett Butler. Rhett Butler is from a book: Gone with the Wind. Polly explains 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 remarks 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 explains 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.

Kathleen whispers to Polly to go to the bedroom with her. Polly points Kathleen toward the mantelpiece, where a bottle of Lourdes holy water stands in the shape of a statue of the Blessed Virgin, her blue sash painted down the front of a milky white dress, the screw cap shaped like a beautiful crown of spiky points. Polly says that will do for a mirror, since there isn’t a proper one to spare.

Polly chomps her lips together to spread the color evenly, then hands the tube to Kathleen for her turn. Before Kathleen can even get the cap off, she realizes that she’s changed her mind about trying the lipstick. Da would kill her if she tried it. She’d rather wait for a day when he’s out of the house entirely. Polly only shrugs, flings herself back onto the bed with a giggle, and cycles her legs in the air, wriggling her stockinged toes.