A tree grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith [127]
And it was nowhere on record that John Nolan had died a drunkard.
* * *
Katie used the twenty-five dollars to buy mourning clothes. She bought Neeley a new black suit with long pants. It was his first long-pants suit, and pride, pleasure and grief fought in Neeley’s heart. For herself, Katie got a new black hat and a three-foot widow’s veil according to the custom of Brooklyn. Francie got new shoes which she had been needing for a long time anyhow. It was decided not to buy Francie a black coat as she was growing fast and it wouldn’t fit her next winter. Mama said her old green coat would do with a black band around the arm. Francie was glad because she hated black and had worried lest her mother put her in deep mourning. The little money left over after the shopping was finished was put in the tin-can bank.
The undertaker came again to report that Johnny was at his funeral parlor and was being fixed up fine and would be brought home that evening. Katie told him, rather sharply, not to give them the details.
Then the blow fell.
“Mrs. Nolan, I have to have the deed to your lot.”
“What lot?”
“The cemetery plot. I need the deed to get the grave opened.”
“I thought that was all in the hundred and seventy-five dollars.”
“No, no, no! I’m giving you a bargain. The coffin alone cost me…”
“I don’t like you,” said Katie in her blunt way. “I don’t like the business you’re in. But then,” she added with her amazing detachment, “I suppose someone has to bury the dead. How much is a plot?”
“Twenty dollars.”
“Where in the world would I get…” She stopped short. “Francie, get the screwdriver.”
They pried up the tin-can bank. There was eighteen dollars and sixty-two cents in it.
“It’s not enough,” said the undertaker, “but I’ll lay out the rest.” He held out his hand for the money.
“I’ll get all the money together,” Katie told him. “But I’ll not turn over the money until I have the deed in my hand.”
He fussed and argued and finally went away saying he’d bring back the deed. Mama sent Francie over to Sissy’s house to borrow two dollars. When the undertaker came back with the deed, Katie, remembering something her mother had said fourteen years ago read it slowly and carefully. She made Francie and Neeley read it too. The undertaker stood first on one foot, then on the other. When all three Nolans were satisfied that the deed was in order, Katie handed over the money.
“Why should I want to cheat you, Mrs. Nolan?” he asked plaintively as he put the money away carefully.
“Why should anyone want to cheat anybody?” she asked in return. “But they do.”
The tin-can bank stood in the middle of the table. It was fourteen years old and its strips were battered.
“Do you want me to nail it back down, Mama?” asked Francie.
“No,” said Mama slowly. “We won’t need it any more. You see, we own a bit of land now.” She placed the folded deed on top of the clumsy star bank.
Francie and Neeley remained out in the kitchen all the time the coffin was in the front room. They even slept in the kitchen. They didn’t want to see their father in the coffin. Katie seemed to understand and did not insist that they go in and look at their father.
The house was full of flowers. The Waiters’ Union, which had thrown Johnny out less than a week before, sent around an enormous pillow of white carnations with a purple ribbon running diagonally across it on which were the words in gold letters: Our Brother. The cops from the precinct, in memory of the capture of the murderer, sent a cross of red roses. Sergeant McShane sent a sheaf of lilies. Johnny’s mother, the Rommelys and some of the neighbors sent flowers. There were flowers from dozens of Johnny’s friends that Katie had never heard of. McGarrity, the saloon keeper, sent a wreath of artificial laurel leaves.
“I’d throw it in the ash can,” said Evy indignantly when she read the card.
“No,” said Katie gently, “I can’t blame McGarrity. Johnny didn’t have to go there.”
(Johnny owed McGarrity over thirty-eight dollars at the time of his death. For some reason, the saloon keeper said nothing to Katie