Kathleen: The Celtic Knot

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.