Kathleen: The Celtic Knot

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.