Al Capone Does My Shirts: Chapter 37: Carrie Kelly Summary & Analysis

Moose goes to bed later, thinking mean things about Mr. Purdy and the Esther P. Marinoff. He thinks of Natalie back in Santa Monica. She lived in the family’s back room and on Gram’s porch, while Moose got to go out and play. Moose will get to graduate, marry, and have children, while Natalie won’t. He thinks of all the treatments Mom has tried, none of which have worked—except, he realizes, Mrs. Kelly. Natalie has a life on Alcatraz for the first time ever.

So the next morning, Moose calls Mrs. Kelly and thanks her. He asks if she truly believes the Esther P. Marinoff will help Natalie, and Mrs. Kelly says she does—and she believed Natalie would be accepted. She does suspect Natalie’s age had something to do with the rejection, but she promises to keep trying to help. Then, Mrs. Kelly tells Moose that Natalie adores him—when Natalie starts to drift away, Mrs. Kelly can often bring her back by asking about Moose. Once Moose hangs up, he knows he has to do something. He realizes that loving someone means doing things that don’t make sense to other people. Is this how Mom feels?

Later, Moose seeks the warden out at the cell house. The warden leads Moose to a bench, and Moose asks if the warden can pull any strings to get Natalie into the Esther P. Marinoff. The warden says he can’t, but Moose asks if perhaps Al Capone could help. The warden seems exasperated and explains that he can’t allow that because Al Capone is just another prisoner here—he was sent here in the first place because the prison in Atlanta let him bring in furniture and silk underwear. Moose argues that the warden himself said to think hard about breaking rules—and he has, and he thinks this is an appropriate time. The warden disagrees. Enraged, Moose says the warden doesn’t want kids to think, but the warden threatens to fire Dad for that. He adds that, “[t]he world isn’t going to kiss your boots because you learned to think.”