Kathleen: The Celtic Knot

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.