Authors: June Ahern
“
Annie misses Granny,” June said.
“
Och, stop blethering about grandas and grannys,” Cathy mumbled, keeping her eyes on the girls.
Maggie went towards the front of the line, slowly walking past Mother Superior and shooting her a dazzling smile. She stepped in between a gangly freckled-face girl and a short blonde. The freckled girl made a face and elbowed her out of the line. With a sad face, Maggie walked solemnly back to the tall nun. Standing in front of the principal, she whispered something and pointed at the insulting parties without looking at them. The tall nun had to bend low to hear the new pupil. Upon hearing the complaint, Mother Superior snapped up broom-straight with nostrils flared wide. She narrowed her eyes at the offenders and took the new student
’s hand, placing her in the very front of the line. Maggie gave Mother Superior a gracious smile.
“
Maggie won, huh?” June said excitedly.
Cathy didn
’t answer her as she moved along the fence until she had a better view of Mary, who had disappeared between the two lines. Mary walked slowly, head hanging between her hunched shoulders. Her mother imagined Mary’s face was blushing a hot, embarrassed red. Without paying attention, Mary swayed over to the boys’ row and bumped into a big boy who immediately pushed her backward. Startled, she almost fell, but regained her footing. She dropped her newly bought school supplies and swung a fist upward with all her might, catching the big bully squarely on the jaw. He stumbled into his jeering friends who quickly propelled him back into the chubby girl.
“
A fat girl beat you up!” they laughed loudly.
June gasped.
“Them are proddy boys, huh Mammy?”
No response was needed for June to begin scurrying around to pick up small pebbles on the sidewalk.
“We’re gonna have to beat them bad boys up,” she murmured to herself.
Before Cathy could run to interfere and before the bully and Mary got to round two, a leprechaun-sized nun with a beaked nose and black habit billowing behind her rushed to the dueling students. Swiftly, she dug her talons into Mary
’s shoulders with a fierce grab that caused her to screech from pain. She pushed her into the girls’ line and reprimanded the other students with a wagging finger. Cathy would learn later that the little nun was Sister St. Pius, Maggie’s third grade teacher. The nun was known for not having to use many words to keep the students in line. Her looks alone could defeat the most rebellious students and the children knew better than to question her authority.
Silence fell across the schoolyard. Cathy wondered if the Mother Superior tolerated the fearless little nun
’s method of quelling the pandemonium. She was sure that there were some students who needed it, but wished it hadn’t happened to Mary on her first day of school.
Mother Superior
’s head turned minutely toward a round nun standing to the side of her. The round nun shook her head ever so slightly. From that interaction, Cathy had hope the Mother Superior would take pity on Mary and not punish her further for fighting with the boy.
The two lines began to move toward the school doors. June gaily waved good-bye to the passing students, some of whom snuck a tiny wave back to the little girl. Cathy took hold of June
’s hand and led her across the street toward the church.
Mother and daughter stopped at a small garden at the side of the church. A bronze fence gave the garden a sense of privacy. In it was a statue of Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin surrounded by spring flowers in early bloom, which added to the beautiful serenity of the small, sacred space.
In quiet respect, mother and daughter entered the garden. The sunny day created an aura of peacefulness and the only sound was the soft murmur of children saying a morning prayer at the school across the street. Cathy knelt on the lovely wooden prie-dieu in front of the statue.
June looked up to the serene face of the Our Lady, whose palms were opened outward in a welcoming gesture. The little girl felt a beckoning from the statue’s gentle smile. Her mother indicated to her to kneel. Slipping her hand into her cardigan pocket, Cathy took out crystal blue rosary beads and began to pray. Copying her mother, the girl bent her little head, although she was more interested in the small white and yellow daisies next to her. Peeking up at her mother, she gingerly extended her hand to pull out a flower, tugging it gently until it surrendered to her. She raised the flower as an offering to Cathy who was deep in prayer. Nudging her mother, she whispered, “Mammy. Mammy!”
The faint sound of June
’s voice broke Cathy’s concentration. Gradually, she opened her eyes to see a yellow daisy in front of them. She accepted the gift. June then yanked on her mother’s sleeve and pointed up to the sky. “Look. See the angel watching us?”
Cathy looked dreamily upw
ard to the sky. Maybe she did see some form in the clouds that could be wings. Or, she wondered, could it be an image of Helen in the clouds? It all seemed so surreal and peaceful to Cathy. It was the way she wished her life to be from now on.
“
It is an angel,” June chatted away. “See her face, long dress and wings.”
She looked at her daughter
’s little face, stroking it with a finger. “Yes, I see a wee angel with red hair right in front of me.”
Exasperated by her mother
’s remark, June shook her head and encouraged her mother to look more carefully. “Look again, Mammy! No, not at me! At the sky. That’s my angel. She follows us.”
“
Oh yes! Of course, I see her red hair.”
“
Yes, you’re right. Her hair is like mine,” June said, smiling up to her mother, happy she could see her angel, too.
“
Do angels have a mammy?” June asked.
“
They have Our Lady. She’s the Blessed Mother to everyone,” Cathy answered.
With a lighthearted feeling, Cathy stood up and offered an invitation.
“I think it’s going to be a hot day. Come on, let’s get an ice cream.”
It was such an unusual offering that June
’s rosebud mouth fell open in surprise. “In the morning?”
Her mother laughed gaily and said in a hushed voice,
“Shh. It’ll be our wee secret, angel.”
She took June
’s hand, leading her out of the magical garden and toward an enjoyment of one of life’s simple pleasures; cold ice cream sprinkled with brightly colored candy seeds on a warm spring day.
* * * * *
THE NOVENA
THE SCENT OF pot roast
and boiled potatoes filled the kitchen while constant chatter bubbled throughout dinner. Each of the older girls vied for a spot to showcase her achievements. Annie piped in first about her excellent grades in arithmetic. Then Maggie told how her artwork was chosen for display in the school hallway. Mary said she was the dodge ball champion.
“
Good going, girls,” replied their father, motioning to his wife to pass the salt.
June announced,
“I saw Helen today.”
Silence hit the room with a thud. At the end of the table her tired father perked up,
“What did she say?”
Although Cathy knew
Jimmy really was trying to be patient with the girls, she still worried his temper could flare at any time. She decided to take his attention elsewhere.
“
Would you like some more meat?” she quickly asked him.
He grunted an answer as she hurried to the stove to fill the empty meat platter. With her back to the family, she tried to calm her growing fear. Her stomach began to
tighten. She hoped desperately June would stop talking about the day’s events. But she didn’t.
“
Me and my angel went to see Our Lady in the garden. She’s a real angel! Huh, Mammy?” June insisted on telling her story.
“Mammy, did you take June to the garden today?” Annie asked.
“
I told you, just me and my angel went.” June wanted to be seen as a big girl.
Jimmy
’s silverware fell to his plate, which accentuated the interruption. “Stop fibbing. Finish your dinner––all of you,” he yelled.
“
Daddy, I’m not…” June tried to explain.
“
That’s enough. Take your plate to the sink,” her father ordered.
June stood up, scowling
and scraped her chair across the linoleum, not caring whether it bothered her father. She passed in front of her mother without looking at her and walked out of the kitchen.
Cathy breathed easier as she watched her daughter leave the table. She knew June wasn’t lying. She just didn’t want her daughter to tell the family June had also gone missing earlier that day. If she did, then Jimmy would know she wasn’t always watching her child, which was true at times. On some days, after the older girls left for school, Cathy would sit for hours, lost in memories, staring out the bay windows at Twin Peaks in the direction of the ocean.
Earlier that day June had wandered off, crossing busy Market and Castro Streets to reach the garden at the Holy Savior Church. And that
’s where Cathy had found her.
As she stood staring out the windows, in the back of her mind she had heard June
’s voice, but not her words. When she finally turned to look, she realized the flat was quiet. June wasn’t there. She peered down the backstairs to the yard, but she didn’t see her. She checked the time and realized her daughter might have been gone for up to two hours.
Quickly, Cathy walked down Castro Street and went from store to store to ask if anyone had seen her chatty little daughter.
“Not today,” they said. Feeling more frantic as the minutes ticked on, she felt tears burn behind her eyes. She hoped June would be waiting for her sisters outside the school.
As she approached the school, Cathy looked to the church across the street. And there, behind the garden
’s fence, was a flash of red hair. She opened the gate and saw June kneeling on the prie-dieu talking to the statue of Our Lady. Her face lit up when she saw her mother. She cheerfully waved a tiny hand at Cathy, while the other was filled with daisies.
“
Mammy! Angel and me got daisies for you. An’ she wants you to be her mammy, too!”
Angry with her daughter for disappearing, Cathy jerked her up by the arm so hard that all the flowers fell to the ground.
“Bad girl!” she yelled, smacking her daughter’s bottom.
Immediately repenting her outburst, she dropped to her knees and pulled June into a tight hug.
“You wee bugger!” she cried. “I’ve been sick with worry! Don’t you ever do that again or I’ll have Daddy skelp you. Hear me?” She was sure the threat of receiving a spanking from Jimmy would make her daughter realize the seriousness of leaving the house alone.
June pushed her mother away and said crossly,
“I told you that me and my angel were going to find you flowers,” and then marched away in a huff.
Cathy began to give a retort, then remembered that she had heard June
’s voice in the background as she mulled over her heartaches.
In protest, June kept at a distance all the way home and didn
’t say one word. Cathy looked at her daughter’s red hair and agreed with the old saying––redheads have hot tempers.
“How’s about a cup of tea?” Jimmy’s voice snapped Cathy back into the present.
She picked up his cup and went to the stove for the teapot. The girls
had finished their dinners and left their parents alone in the kitchen. After serving him tea, she went back to her chores. The only sound in the kitchen was the clanking of dishes and silverware as Cathy washed them.
She turned from the sink and caught Jimmy looking at her.
“What?” she asked, ready to hear she’d forgotten something he needed.
“Nothing. Just looking at you
.”
She wiped a strand of hair from her eyes and picked up the pots from the stove.
“I wish I had a smoke,” he said. He had kept his promise to his wife and given up smoking when they moved to America.
Not wanting to talk about his nasty habit, she began a conversation about the girls
’ school. She told Jimmy that she volunteered to bake several items to help raise money for the school’s sports program.
“Ye
never had to do that at their school back home,” he said.
“
I’m trying to fit in,” she answered. “It makes things easier for the girls. Maggie says they get teased a lot about the way they speak. And of course, then the girls get in fights.”
“
That’s my girls,” Jimmy remarked.
“
We didn’t want them to have to fight anymore. Anyway, it doesn’t look good. The nuns will think they’re troublemakers.”
Cathy didn
’t mention she also wanted to fit in. She was awfully lonely and she missed Granny B’s presence and Patsy’s good-natured friendship.