The Friendship Of Alanna, Part One Of Two

Hello,

It's Mandy here.

Thanks for joining me tonight.

We're going to be listening to a second story about Alana Costello,

Written by Kathleen Norris.

The story is called The Friendship of Alana.

But before I start reading,

Please feel free to go ahead and make yourself really comfortable.

That's great.

I'll begin.

New white dress is it?

Said Mrs Costello in bland surprise.

Well,

My,

My,

My.

You'll have dad and me in the pool house.

She had been knitting a pink and white jacket for somebody's baby.

But now she put it into the silk bag on her knee,

Dropped it onto the floor,

And with one generous sweep of her big arms,

Gathered Alana into her lap instead.

Alana was delighted to have at last attracted her mother's whole attention after some 10 minutes of unregarded whispering in her ear.

She settled her thin little person with the conscious pleasure of a petted cat.

What do you know about that dad?

Said Mrs Costello absently as she stiffened the big bow over Alana's temple into a more erect position.

You and Tess could wear your Christmas procession dresses,

She suggested to the little girl.

Teresa apparently absorbed until this instant in what the young Costello's never called anything but the library book.

Although that volume changed character and title week after week,

Now shut it abruptly,

Came around the reading table to her mother's side and said in a voice full of pained reminder,

Mother,

Everyone will have new white dresses and blue sashes for superior's feast.

I bet you superior won't,

Said Jim frivolously.

From the picture puzzle,

He and Dan were reconstructing.

Alana laughed joyously but Teresa looked shocked.

Mother,

Ought he to say that about superior?

She asked.

Jimmy,

Don't you be pert about the sisters,

Said his mother mildly.

And suddenly the mayor's paper was lowered and he was looking keenly at his son over his glasses.

What did you say Jim,

Said he.

Jim was instantly smitten,

Scarlet and dumb,

But Mrs Costello hastily explained that it was but a bit of boys nonsense and dismissed it by introducing the subject of the new white dresses.

Well,

Well,

Well,

There's nothing like having two girls in society,

Said the mayor genially,

Winding one of Teresa's curls about his fat finger.

What's this for now,

Somebody graduating?

It's mother superior's golden jubilee,

Explained Teresa,

And there will be a reunion of alumni and plays by the girls you know and duets by the big girls and needlework by the Spanish girls.

And our room and sister Claudia's is giving a new chapel window,

A doll or a girl,

And sister Liguri's room is giving the organ bench.

And our room is giving a spear,

Said Alana uncertainly.

A spear darling,

Wondered her mother.

What would you give that to superior for?

Jim and Dan looked up expectantly and the mayor's mouth twitched.

Alana buried her face in her mother's neck where she whispered an explanation.

Well,

Of course,

Said Mrs Costello presently to the company at large.

Her eye held a warning that her oldest sons did not miss.

As she says,

It is a ball all covered with islands and maps,

Dad.

A globe,

That's the other name for it.

Ah yes,

A spear to be sure,

Assented the mayor mildly and Alana returned to view.

But the best of the whole program is the grandchildren's part,

Volunteered Teresa.

You know,

Mother,

The girls whose mothers went to Notre Dame,

They're called the grandchildren.

Alana and I are,

There are 22 of us in all and we are going to have a special march and a special song and present superior with the bouquet.

And maybe Teresa's going to present it and say the salutation,

Exulted Alana.

No,

Margaret Hammond will,

Teresa corrected her quickly.

Margaret's three months older than me.

First,

They were going to have me,

But Margaret's the oldest and she does it awfully nicely,

Doesn't she,

Alana?

Sister Celia says it's really the most important thing of the day and we all stand around Margaret while she does it.

And the best of it all is,

It's a surprise for superior.

Not a surprise like Christmas surprises,

Amended Alana conscientiously.

Superior sort of knows we're doing something because she hears the girls practicing and she sees us going upstairs to rehearse,

But she'll pretend to be surprised.

And it's new dresses all round,

Eh?

Said her father.

Oh yes,

We must,

Said Teresa anxiously.

Well,

I'll see about it,

Promised Mrs Costello.

Don't you want to afford the expense,

Mother,

Alana whispered in her ear.

Mrs Costello was much touched.

Don't you worry about that,

Lovey,

Said she.

The mayor had presumably returned to his paper,

But his absent eyes were fixed far beyond the printed sheet,

He still held tilted carefully to the light.

Margaret Hammond,

Whose girl is that then,

He asked presently.

She's a girl whose mother died,

Supplied Alana cheerfully.

She's awfully smart.

Sister Helen teaches her piano for nothing.

She's a great friend of mine.

She likes me,

Doesn't she,

Tess?

She's three years older than you are,

Alana,

Said Teresa briskly,

And she's in our room.

I don't see how you can say she's a friend of yours.

Do you,

Mother?

Well,

Said Alana,

Getting red.

She is.

She gave me a rag when I cut my knee,

And one day she lifted the cup down for me when Mary Dean stuck it up on a high nail,

So none of us could get drinks.

And when Sister Rose said who's talking,

She said Alana Costello wasn't,

Because she's sitting here quiet as a mouse.

All that sounds very kind and friendly to me,

Said Mrs Costello soothingly.

I expect that's Dr Hammond's girl,

Said the mayor.

No,

Sir,

Said Dan.

These are the Hammonds who live over by the bridge.

They're just two kids,

Margaret and Joe,

And their father.

Joe served the eight o'clock mass with me one week.

You know,

Jim,

The week you were sick.

Sure,

Said Jim.

Hammond's a nice fella.

Their father scraped his chin with a fat hand.

I know them,

He said,

Ruminatively.

Mrs Costello looked up.

That's not the Hammond you had trouble with at the shop,

Frank,

She said.

Well,

I'm thinking maybe it is,

Her husband admitted.

He's had a good deal of bad luck one way or another since he lost his wife.

He turned to Teresa.

You be as nice as you can to little Margaret Hammond,

Tess,

Said he.

I wonder who the wife was,

Said Mrs Costello.

If this little girl is a grandchild,

I ought to know the mother.

Ask her,

Tess.

Teresa hesitated.

I don't play much with her mother,

And she's sort of shy,

She began.

I'll ask her,

Said Alanna,

Boldly.

I don't care if she is going on 12.

She goes up to the chapel every day,

And I'll stop her tomorrow and ask her.

She's always friendly to me.

Mayor Costello had returned to his paper,

But a few hours later when all the children except Gertrude were settled for the night,

And Gertrude in a state of milky beatitude was looking straight into her mother's face above her with blue eyes,

Heavy with sleep,

He enlightened his wife further concerning the Hammonds.

He was with me at the shop,

Said the mayor,

And I never was sorrier to let any man go.

But it seemed like his wife's death drove him quite wild.

First it was fighting with the other boys,

And then drink,

And then complaints here and there and everywhere,

And Kelly wouldn't stand for it.

I wish I'd kept him on a bit longer myself,

What with this having the two children and all.

He's got a fine head on him,

And a very good way with people in trouble.

Kelly himself was always sending him to a range about flowers and carriages and all.

Poor lad.

And then came the night he was tipsy and got locked in the warehouse.

I know,

Said Mrs Costello,

With a pitying shake of the head as she gently adjusted the sleeping Gertrude,

As he had a job since,

Frank.

He was with a piano house,

Said her husband uneasily,

As he went slowly on with his preparations for the night.

Two children has he,

And a boy on the altar.

It is hard that the children have to pay for it.

Alanna will find out who the wife was.

She never fails me,

Said Mrs Costello,

Turning from Gertrude's crib with sudden decision in her voice,

And I'll do something,

Never fear.

Alanna did not fail.

She came home the next day,

Brimming with the importance of her fulfilled mission.

Her mother's name was Harmonica Moore,

She announced.

She could be depended on for unfailing inaccuracy in the matter of names.

Teresa and the boys burst into joyous laughter,

But the information was close enough for Mrs Costello.

Monica Moore,

She exclaimed.

Well,

For pity's sake,

Of course I knew her,

And a sweet dear girl she was too.

Stop laughing at Alanna,

All of you,

Or I'll send you upstairs until Dad gets after you.

Very quiet and shy she was,

But the lovely singing voice.

There wasn't a tune in the world she wouldn't lilt to you if you asked her.

Wow,

The poor child,

I wish I'd never lost sight of her.

She pondered a moment.

Is the boy still serving Mass at St Mary's,

Dan,

She said then.

Sure,

Said Jim,

For Dan was absorbed in the task of restoring Alanna's ruffled feelings by inserting a lighted match into his mouth.

Well,

That's good,

Pursued their mother.

You bring him home to breakfast after Mass any day this week,

Jim.

And Tess,

You must bring the little girl in after school.

Tell her I knew her dear mother.

Mrs Costello's eyes,

As she returned placidly to the task of labelling jars upon shining jars of marmalade,

Shone with their most radiant expression.

Margaret and Joe Hammond were constant visitors in the big Costello house after that.

Their father was away looking for work,

Mrs Costello imagined and feared,

And they were living with some vague lady across the hall.

So the mayor's wife had free reign and she used it.

When Margaret got one of her shapeless leaky shoes cut in the Costello barn,

She was promptly presented with shining new ones.

The way I couldn't let you get a cold and die on your father,

Margaret dear,

Said Mrs Costello.

The twins' outgrown suits were found to fit Joe Hammond to perfection,

And a lucky thing I thought of it,

Joe,

Before I sent them off to my sister's children in Chicago.

The mayor himself heaped his little guests' plates with the choicest of everything on the table when the Hammonds stayed to dinner.

Margaret frequently came home between Teresa and Alanna to lunch,

And when Joe breakfasted after mass with Danny and Jim,

Mrs Costello packed his lunch with theirs,

Exulting in the chance.

The children became fast friends,

And indeed it would have been hard to find better playfellows for the young Costellos,

Their mother often thought,

Than the clever,

Appreciative little Hammonds.

Meantime,

The rehearsals for Mother Superior's Golden Jubilee proceeded steadily,

And Margaret,

Teresa and Alanna could talk of nothing else.

The delightful irregularity of lessons,

The enchanting confusion of rehearsals,

The costumes,

Programme and decorations were food for endless chatter.

Alanna,

Because Margaret was so genuinely fond of her,

Lived in the seventh heaven of bliss,

Trotting about with the bigger girls,

Joining in their plans and running their errands.

The grandchildren were to have a play entitled By Nero's Command,

In which both Teresa and Margaret sustained prominent parts,

And even Alanna was allotted one line to speak.

It became an ordinary thing in the Costello house to hear the little girl earnestly repeating this one line to herself at quiet moments,

The lions,

Oh,

The lions.

Teresa and Margaret in their turn frequently rehearsed a heroic dialogue,

Which began with the stately line uttered by Margaret in the person of a Roman princess,

My slave,

Why art thou always so happy at thy menial work?

One day,

Mrs Costello called the three girls to her sewing room,

Where a brisk young woman was smoothing lengths of snowy lawn on the long table.

These are your dresses,

Girls,

Said the matron.

Let Miss Currie get the lengths and neck measures.

And look,

Here's the embroidery I got.

Won't that make up pretty?

The waists will be all insertion pretty near.

Me too,

Said Margaret Hammond,

Catching a rapturous breath.

You too,

Answered Mrs Costello,

In her most matter-of-fact tone.

You see,

You three will be the very centre of the group.

And it'll look very nice.

You're all being dressed the same.

Why,

Margaret,

Dear,

She broke off suddenly.

For Margaret,

Standing beside her chair,

Had dropped her head on Mrs Costello's shoulder and was crying.

I worried so about my dress,

Said she shakily,

Wiping her eyes on the soft sleeve of Mrs Costello's shirt waist,

When a great deal of patting and much smothering from the arms of Theresa and Alanna had almost restored her equilibrium.

And Jo worried too.

I couldn't write and bother my father,

And only this morning I was thinking I might have to write and tell Sister Rose that I couldn't be in the exhibition after all.

Well then now,

You silly girl,

You see how much good worrying does,

Said Mrs Costello.

But her own eyes were wet.

The worst of it was,

Said Margaret,

Red-cheeked but brave,

That I didn't want anyone to think my father wouldn't give it to me.

For you know,

The generous little explanation tugged at Mrs Costello's heart,

You know he would if he could.

Well of course he would,

Assented that lady,

Giving the loyal little daughter a kiss before the delightful business of fitting and measuring began.

The new dresses promised to be the prettiest of their kind,

And harmony and happiness reigned in the sewing room.

To be continued.