The Master Butchers Singing Club-Chapter 7-SPOILERS
This thread is set up for discussion of the book by Louise Erdrich, and will be posted chapter by chapter (as I finish them or if you want to participate, you can post an OP for the next chapter). This way, we can see how our opinions of the book and characters change or not over time. If you are joining the discussion, stop after each chapter and post before going on so you don't have more information than anyone else reading this.
Chapter 7 - The Paper Heart
We find out that Fidelis and Eva's son, Markus, had a crush on Ruthie Chavers---who died in the cellar. He had hidden in his pillow several keepsakes from her: notes and trinkets and a Valentine heart made on store-bought red paper with sparkles on it and one word, "Love" written on it.
Markus often would have trouble falling asleep, and one night he hear mumbling and saw a light down the hall at his mother's room. He quietly went to the doorway and saw his father kneeling beside the bed holding Eva's foot with his forehead resting on her ankle and his shoulders were shaking. He realized his father was crying silently. Then his father stood up, tucked in the blankets, and Eva opened her eyes and smiled---a smile Markus will always remember. Then Fidelis started to sing her favorite song to her.
Delphine had been taking care of the household chores as well as the store, but she knew that she would not stay on after Eva was gone. She prepared all their best clothes for the time when Eva's funeral would be, and she knew it was coming. They prepared a last birthday celebration for Eva, and Tante showed up. As usual, she was nasty to Delphine, and rudely asked Delphiine how much more Fidelis was paying her to take care of Eva. Fidelis walked up without Tante knowing it, and Delphine said "Not one flat dime, you hypocrite sow" to her. Not another word was said by Tante or Fidelis, but she could have sworn that he smiled. Delphine had never told him that Tante was the one who stole Eva's morphine.....and she didn't know why, but knew that it was beneficial to hoard information for a time when it is needed.
Eva was going downhill fast, and Eva spent most of her time taking care of her---and the boys had a lot of freedom since she was not paying attention to them. They spent most of their time in the woods behind the house. The dog, Schatzie, stayed outside Eva's door guarding her. Eva died slowly, in agony. Morphine did no good. The night she died, Eva was sleeping on the floor at the foot of the bed, as she had for weeks. The night she died, she was thrashing as if she were running---like the first day Delphine had ever seen her racing with her son. Then she went still. She told Delphine about Franz's father---and how he did not know that Fidelis was not his father. She had said this before, as well as instructing her to marry Fidelis and how to take care of the boys. Delphine was alone with Eva when she died.
Delphine called the Strub's Funerary. Fidelis and the boys were mourning Eva until they got there. When they were ready to move her out, Markus broke down and ran over and kissed her ankle, just as his father had, and started to wail.
Somehow, Roy Watzka, Delphine's father, got sober. He said that he was haunted by what had happened in the cellar more than he was haunted by the delirium. He started to fix up the house, painted it, refinished floors, filling in the cellar. Delphine had been very busy with Eva's boys right after her death and it was shocking that Roy was taking care of things, including fixing her breakfast. He even fixed up the chicken coop and got some chickens. They got a stove and icebox.
She had quit working at the meat market, and Tante had taken over the household there. She had free time and fixed the house up beautifully, like Eva's had been. But she was afraid to relax, expecting things to fall apart on her again. Life was never easy and comfortable for her. But she was grateful, since she was so emotionally drained from losing Eva. She was glad that she didn't have to deal with drunks and fights and no money.
Markus showed up one night all bruised and beaten. Fidelis was out of town. The next morning, Tante came looking for him. Delphine told her she hadn't seen him. She was not polite to Tante, and did not invite her in, and she left in a huff. She promised Markus he could stay there until his father came back. He was grateful but worried about the chinchillas, and his brothers, since Tante had no idea how to cook. She fed them crackers and cheese. Markus would not sleep on a bed, and she realized that he was wetting himself at night----getting up early and cleaning the floor under him and his underwear. This was new, it had never happened before. She realized this was the reason for the beatings.
Delphine promised him she would go check on the chinchillas, and when she got there, they had no water and were close to death. She had to revive them with an eye dropper, then she got the younger twins to show them how to feed and water them. They didn't seem all that interested, so she convinced them that these animals would be worth lots of money, and money meant buying the things they want. When they got the concept of these animals equalling buying things they wanted, they were serious.
Delphine and Cyprian had another sexual encounter. Wild dogs were howling, and she asked him to make love to her. He had dreaded this day, and had come to the conclusion that it might work if he pictured men while doing it. He truly did love Delphine, but sex with a woman just did not excite him at all. But he did it. Then she did something that shocked him---she did what she had seen him doing with the many in the park. He forgot she was a woman.
The next day, Fidelis showed up. His clothes were all rumpled and his pants were stained...which was not common for him. He had always dressed immactulately. This gave her pleasure to see that Tante was so incompetent. He said he had come for Markus. She blew up at him for letting that bitch beat Markus. She asked him in, stalling for time. He asked her when she was coming back. He said that Tante couldn't handle things alone. But she said she would only come back if Tante was gone. That would be a betrayal of family that he could not do. She asked if Markus could stay there for a while longer, since it would be easier on Tante not to have him to deal with, and he agreed.
Delphine often thought of going back out on the road, and wondered where the investigation was going into the death of the Chavers. They were still supposed to stay in town until the sheriff said they were free to go. She decided to see how that was going. The sheriff started to discuss the red beads found ground into the floor by the cellar, asking her if she and Cyprain had costumes for their show. The sheriff still had a delusion that Clarisse would sooner or later marry him....and he started to ask about her. She told him that he should leave Clarisse alone because she hates him....then quickly regrets it.
She remembers a dress that Clarisse had----with beads all over it. She goes to the funeral home and tells Clarisse that she has to talk to her somewhere safe. They go down to the embalming room and Delphine asks her about that dress. She tells Clarisse that she has to get rid of that dress and explains the way Sheriff Hock is thinking. It is possible that he will use this as leverage to "convince" Clarisse to marry him, or else. Delphine agrees to burn the dress and goes to get it since Clarisse is busy---but she decides to bury it instead because the beads would melt but still be able to be found, and it would look bad that it was burned now.
Delphine asks Cyprian if he likes boys the same way he likes men. He is appalled. She says that before she sends Markus back to Tante, he has to learn how to "piss". Cyprian says of course the boy can already piss, and she says no, not good enough. He had to learn self-control by doing things like learning to write his name in the sand. This is brilliant, Cyprain cannot believe she would come up with this, and he agrees to teach him. And it works, he doesn't wet at night.
But that is all she has to teach him, because Fidelis shows back up. His clothes even look worse, his pants are shrunk, he has no socks, and he has lost weight and looked haggard. He does not exude the power and energy he always had. He says one word: please. This is something he does not use. He tells her that he has told his sister to leave. She is torn---her life is so orderly and peaceful right now, and she enjoys that. But she also thinks of Eva, and how much she wanted her to take care of things. She agrees, but sets all the terms, and then she shakes hands with him, like a man would.
This still does not give much information into Fidelis. I feel like I know everyone else so well, but not much about him. I feel sorry for him, and I am sure he would hate that. He is a very proud man, and this must be difficult for him. And I am so glad that life has finally started to go well for Delphine.....she had so much trouble all her life. Will it continue?
= new reply since forum marked as read
I understand. When you finish will you at least give us the highlights?
I noticed that there are a LOT of people looking at these posts, even if none of them are posting. The views are much higher than I expected for a post with spoilers. I guess they are just curious as to how this is working???
Anyways, I will keep going since I started this, no need to fear, Little Star. You will know this book when I am done. And I think that I will know it better than any other book I have read too.
