The Master Butchers Singing Club-Chapter 13-SPOILERS
This was a very long chapter, and the summary is equally long----but there was not time or inclination to do this chapter justice. There was just so much happening. But this is the best I have. I still don't know if Delphine and Fidelis are truly in love or not. I am not sure if they know either. Delphine is drawn to him, and loves Markus so much....but Fidelis I just don't know. Fidelis is lonely, and Delphine is intriguing to him....but love, I don't know.
Chapter 13 – The Snake People
Delphine had always been furious with her father, Roy, for his drinking. When she would ask him why he drank, he said “to fill the emptiness”. Once, she knocked him down and yelled “everyone does everything to fill the emptiness”, and he took this to heart---and felt a relief that other people were empty too. His emptiness came from the loss of Delphine’s mother, and he never got over that. He did things to fill the emptiness, but nothing worked like alcohol. It was obvious that a relapse was coming. It started slow, and he stayed away from the house, Delphine, and the spirits of the dead from the cellar. She was unaware that he was drinking again.
When Delphine got back from Chicago, she went to Step-and-a-Half’s shop to ask for Tante’s job. But she was told that the only reason Tante had been hired was because she felt sorry for her. She asked why the uppity people from the butcher shop were always coming to her for work. Delphine got mad at that and told her that she wasn’t going to beg to sell that ratty old crap. Step-and-a-Half said that was more like it. Then she told her that she didn’t need to work. She just needed to get rid of her father, leave him to himself, and go somewhere else. She told her that the whole town felt sorry for her.
She went home and crawled into bed to catch up on sleep she had lost on the Chicago trip. When she got up, she decided that she would not go looking for her father, and would go to see how Markus was doing and bring him dumpling soup. She realized that she was almost out of money and would not have enough to pay the monthly bills.
When she got to the shop, it was in a mess---dirty, milk not refrigerated, fingerprints on the meat case. Markus was still in bed, but was in a good mood and grateful to be home. He ate the soup, then fell asleep. As she walked out to the store, she heard someone say that the lumberyard needed a bookkeeper. The next morning, she headed to the lumberyard. On the way, Roy ran out of an alley, stark naked. When he saw her, he tried to get away. She chased him all over town, until he was headed to the grade school, where she finally tackled him.
She took Roy home and called the doctor. When Roy was asleep, she headed back out to apply for the job, only to find that the job had just been filled that morning---and they asked her to keep her father away from there so he didn’t build a fire and burn the place down. The doctor came and said that Roy’s liver was shot. He told her to wean him off the alcohol, as she had done many times….and when he died, just throw him in a packing crate and bury him, don’t waste any money on a funeral.
She continued to look for work, and finally found a temporary position as a file clerk in the courthouse. It was dry, boring work. Work was boring, life was boring, and she got used to the rut and routine. (I have heard this before, when life was going easy for her and it was all routine---and she was content with that.)
Fidelis was shredding cabbage to make sauerkraut, and kept thinking there was something he had to do that was more important, but couldn’t figure out what it was. The feeling got so strong and he was obsessed with what it could be. Finally, he went outside to think----and realized it was not a chore, he had not finished his conversation with Delphine….but could he dare.
Delphine was reading, something she had become obsessed with since she found that there was a small library in the courthouse that lent out books. She began to think of herself as a character in a novel---what was her story? What would happen next? She had never liked the word “contentment”, she thought it was associated with failure. But she felt content.
Late at night, there was a knock on the door. She never had visitors. She looked out and saw Fidelis on the porch. She was afraid there was something wrong with Markus, but Fidelis said he was ok and sleeping and was not sick. She invited him in. They chatted. He told her that he had gotten a letter from Germany and the boys were in school and in a government youth program. He told her that Tante had decided that her American sewing machine that she had brought over was inferior to the German models. But she didn’t want to hear about Tante…how was business? He didn’t have time to wheel and deal---and she said it was important, that it would make or break “us”. What was she saying!
Fidelis asked her if she knew if Cyprian was coming back----startling her. She said no. He said that he had given him enough time. He looked helpless. It was like two glaciers colliding, slowly smashing together, and buckling. She cut back hours at the courthouse and came to help at the butcher shop. They moved slowly, she was still keeping a distance. They finally decided to marry in four months. But there was still no passion or intimacy. They didn’t even tell Franz and Markus. Finally one day she pushed him to tell them. Markus said he already knew, and Franz figured it out before they told them. They asked if the twins would be coming home. Fidelis said he had written and sent money for them to return.
Franz told them as long as it was announcement time, he was going into the air corps. They were upset, but he was so excited and happy. There was no war, yet, but he wanted to be ready when it happened. He wanted to be a pilot, but he was miserable…Mazarine had meant the “no” she had said to him. He loved her so much and she ignored him.
They were married with no guests, no cake, no flowers. She kept to her same old routine as before---working at the courthouse, going to the butcher shop, nursing Roy, and reading. She headed to her house one day when Cyprian returned. He was sitting on the porch. She was glad to see him, hoped that he knew something about Clarisse, but she was uneasy….she hated that she realized she was susceptible to Fidelis’s jealousy.
She said she wanted to know about Clarisse. He told her he didn’t know about Hock. She told him about it on the train to Minneapolis. And that was when he decided to part ways with her, and that was the last he knew of her. Cyprian came in the house and sat and talked to Roy. Roy told him that he had a new partner in his act, The Snake Man.
Delphine and Markus went to see the act. They had huge spiders and a python, did balancing. The show was excellent. The whole town loved it, and she found herself popular with everyone wanting to know more about the act and how they did it. They wanted to know when he would be back, and she said never---and he never was.
Roy was still on bed rest, and getting weaker. Delphine continually asked about her mother. She wanted something. Finally one night, he told her he would tell her the story. Minnie had come from up north, she was an Indian/French woman. She was descended from chiefs on the Indian side and kings on the French side. He said that her story was incredibly sad.
When Minnie was eight, the Indians were starving and freezing---mostly women and children with a few defeated warriors and the chief dying in a wagon. The came to a church on Christmas Eve. They begged for help, but got turned away. They continued on. They came upon the Seventh Cavalry, who told them to go under a white flag to a military camp near Wounded Knee. They would be sheltered there. They went and set up camp where they were told. In the morning, a shot rung out. Chaos erupts, women and children are gunned down. Women are shot while holding up their babies. Minnie starts to walk away while all of this is happening. Maybe because she is light-skinned, they let her walk away---and she kept walking until she got to a mission. And that is all he knows.
But she had wanted more----what was her mother like? Was she happy to have a daughter? Did she love Roy? Was that the truth?
Roy was slowly dying. One day, he said “stop looking at me”, but her back was to him. But he was talking to Porky Chavers. He said “I never sang your part, stop banging on the floor…..He never quit knocking. I didn’t know the family was there too. I could have justified Porky.” She was shocked…Roy said that he had sent Porky down to get ginger beer. Maybe I shut the door, I don’t remember….Delphine went out onto the porch, thinking of running away….feeling sorry for herself.
The county nurse found Roy dead, staring at the blurred photos of Minnie. After the funeral, there was a dinner at the church hall. Delphine saw Mazarine, and asked her to come out for some air. She told her that everyone dies…and that Franz loves her, and she loves him, and that she should write to him and tell him.
She decided to keep Roy’s house. Fidelis came over when she was cleaning it out and she told him, and said sometimes, she would stay there. He picked her up in his arms and carried her to the bedroom….she pulled away and told him that she was the daughter of a murderer. He considered this, and considered that he was a murderer too---in the war. He made love to her.
Germany was now an enemy and the Germans were changing their names to English names. They decided to stop singing German songs in the club. They ended up singing morbid songs. When everyone left, Fidelis sat alone and sang German songs. He realized that his sons in Germany were now enemies.
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