Kathleen: The Celtic Knot

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.