Polly pushed her plate aside. ‘I couldn’t,’ she said. ‘I’ve had enough excitement for one day.’
She turned to me then, and waved her teacup again and said out loud, ‘And the Irish dancing champion! The gold medallist! Miss Kate Lightfoot Delaney, the Pimlico Prancer, headed for stardom!’
‘Stardom!’ said Da with a laugh.
‘Don’t laugh, Tommy Delaney,’ said Polly, ‘that girl will go far, you mark my words.’
‘The Pimlico Prancer!’ I said. ‘Don’t dare to say those words outside this house, Polly Macnamara, or my life won’t be worth living.’ But I was pleased all the same, and I couldn’t stop smiling.
‘It will,’ said Polly, ‘you’ll see. You’re going to have a great life, Kate Delaney. You will leave the Tess O’Haras of this world in the ha’penny place, just like you did today. But there’s one thing – never again will I make you a dress out of a pair of curtains. That’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience!’
‘Like getting married,’ I said.
‘Like getting married,’ said Polly.
‘Polly?’ I asked. I’d been getting a few answers to my questions lately, and I thought I might try another one. ‘If you’re a Mrs, now that you’re married, but you were a Miss yesterday, and if Shamy is a Mr and he’s married now too, why wasn’t he a Master yesterday?’
‘Well!’ said Polly, and she thought for a minute. Then she said, ‘Ask me no questions, and I’ll tell you no lies.’
She was turning into one of them – the grown-ups who won’t answer questions! It must be marriage that did it, I thought.
Maybe I’d stick with being an old maid in a garret after all, even if Polly wasn’t going to keep me company. Yes, that’s what I would do. I’d miss Polly dreadfully, but she would surely be home on holidays sometimes, and maybe I could go over to America to visit her when I got older. I wasn’t going to give up on my dreams just because Polly had settled for being Mrs Shamy Macnamara.
No! I was going to stick to the plan. It would have to be quite a big garret, because I’d need space for my dancing classes. I would paint my toenails any colour I liked and be a grand lady right here in the Liberties of Dublin. I wasn’t going to bother my head going to Bewley’s for tea – I would send out to Bewley’s for sticky buns any time I felt like it, and they would send everything around on a tin tray with a Japanese lady on it, and I would give the messenger boy threepence for his trouble. And that famous garret of mine was going to be stuffed full of gleaming Irish dancing medals that I’d won at feiseanna all over the country until it was sparkling like a treasure cave.
I wasn’t going to settle for being poor when I grew up any more than Polly was. I was going to be a much better teacher than Mrs Maguire and I would charge a shilling a lesson. And anyway, I was going to be a medal millionaire!
About the Author
SIOBHÁN PARKINSON is one of the most highly acclaimed children’s writers in Ireland. She has won numerous awards and her books have been translated into several languages, including French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Danish. Siobhán lives in Dublin with her husband Roger, a woodturner, and their student son Matthew.
OTHER BOOKS BY SIOBHÁN PARKINSON
Breaking the Wishbone (for older readers)
Amelia
No Peace for Amelia
Sisters … no way!
Four Kids, Three Cats, Two Cows, One Witch (maybe)
The Moon King
Call of the Whales
The Love Bean
Copyright
This eBook edition first published 2012 by The O’Brien Press Ltd,
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First published 2006
Originally published as Kathleen The Celtic Knot
by Pleasant Company Publications, 2003.
eBook ISBN: 978–1–84717–400–0
Text © copyright Siobhán Parkinson 2006
Copyright for typesetting, design, illustrations and editing
© The O’Brien Press Ltd
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Parkinson, Siobhan
Kate
1. Folk dancing, Irish - Juvenile fiction 2. Poverty - Juvenile fiction 3. Dublin (Ireland) - Juvenile fiction 4. Ireland - History - 1922 - - Juvenile fiction 5. Children’s stories
I. Title II. Parkinson, Siobhan. Kathleen
823.9’14[J]
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Editing, typesetting, layout and design: The O’Brien Press Ltd