Calico Christmas at Dry Creek

by Janet Tronstad

  “Whoa!” Jake recoiled as he saw what someone had done. The people inside were all standing around the edges of the room, looking uncomfortable and staring because, right there in the center of the schoolroom, from the front of the room to the back, someone had painted an ugly black stripe. The stripe divided the room in half. On one side, the painter had crudely lettered Miles City. And on the other, he or she had painted the words, Dry Creek.

  Jake closed the door as quickly as he could and faced his family. “We’re going home.”

  “What’s wrong?” Elizabeth asked as she turned with him.

  Jake shifted the baby he was holding so he could guide Spotted Fawn and Elizabeth with his other arm. “I’m taking all of you to the wagon. You can wait there while I talk to some people about something.”

  Elizabeth hesitated for a minute and then reached out her arms to take the baby from Jake. “We can manage. I’ll take the girls and we’ll wait for you there.”

  By now, Jake saw his friend Higgins riding into town at a slow gallop. Then he saw Wells, pounding hard behind him. They were clearly heading for the schoolhouse, even though they’d never shown any interest in going to any of the church services that had been held there in recent months.

  Virginia and Annabelle were starting out into the street, but they held back to let Higgins and Wells pass.

  “Go to Elizabeth,” Jake called out to the women as he pointed to his wife.

  Then he turned his attention to the men.

  Higgins pulled his horse to a stop beside Jake. “You been inside?”

  Jake nodded. “Enough to see what’s been done. How did you know?”

  “Annabelle sent Tommy out to tell us. He’s putting his pony away now. We figured you might need some help.”

  Jake looked over at the wagon. He couldn’t make out what any of the women were saying, but his heart sank when he saw the hand gestures Annabelle was making. She was clearly telling Elizabeth about the black dividing line. His earlier words about half of the school lumber being his must have prompted someone to do this. Even without the hand gestures, he would have known what was being said by how stiff Elizabeth’s back became.

  Higgins and Wells both climbed off their horses.

  “Well,” Higgins said as he rolled up the sleeves on his shirt. “Do we divide the room into three? I’ll take the men on the right. Wells can take the middle. We’ll show them what Dry Creek people are made of.”

  Jake shook his head. “It’s a church. Besides, violence isn’t the answer.”

  “Violence was sure the answer when it came to the classroom,” Higgins protested. “I told Elias Barker that he’d be sorrier than a treed cat if he ever did anything to Spotted Fawn again. Then I gave him my grizzly growl. The boy turned white enough that I figure he got the message.”

  “He might have heard what you said, but it didn’t change his mind so it didn’t really solve anything,” Jake said as he pointed to the wood-frame structure in front of them. “Just like all the talking I’ve been doing. And now we’ve got the line right across the room in there.”

  All of the men stood and looked at the building.

  “Don’t seem fair that we can’t fight because it’s a church,” Wells finally said. “It’s a schoolhouse most of the time.”

  “You shouldn’t fight in a schoolhouse, either,” Elizabeth said as she walked up behind them. “Besides, it’s nothing to be afraid of. It’s only a bit of paint.”

  Jake hadn’t realized Elizabeth was there. He turned to look at her.

  “Oh, I know its meanness and spite at the same time,” Elizabeth added. Her jaw was set and her eyes blazed with determination. “But we can’t just go home and let them win. What kind of a message does that send to the children of this town?”

  Jake realized he hadn’t been thinking about the other children. He just wanted to protect Spotted Fawn. Like it or not, though, those children would be his niece’s classmates. And maybe her neighbors for the rest of her life. Letting someone get away with that black line was bad for the whole town.

  “Hey, something sure smells good,” Wells said.

  Spotted Fawn had just walked up with the basket of doughnuts. Annabelle and Virginia were walking beside the girl.

  “It’s our doughnuts,” Spotted Fawn said. “Elizabeth says they’re a peace offering.”

  Spotted Fawn looked up at him with a fragile hope in her eyes and Jake realized he needed to say something to encourage his niece. “If Elizabeth thinks they’ll bring peace, we’ll give it a try, won’t we?”

  Spotted Fawn gave a slight nod and then she looked over at Elizabeth.

  If Jake hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn’t have believed it. But he watched as Spotted Fawn squared her shoulders and then lifted her chin in the exact same way Elizabeth had done just seconds ago.

  Jake might have a dozen enemies on the other side of that school door, but his heart was warm just the same. Maybe an Eastern lady had something to offer his nieces that he hadn’t expected. He knew she had plenty to offer him.

  This time, Jake opened the door so that he and Elizabeth could enter the schoolhouse together. Elizabeth carried the baby and Spotted Fawn, with her basket, followed close behind. By now, folks had sorted themselves out and were sitting on the Miles City side of the stripe. The benches were empty on the Dry Creek side.

  Usually, people didn’t even seat themselves this early. They stood and talked with each other until the reverend came. Jake would guess the good man wouldn’t be here for another five minutes and maybe longer the way the roads were since the light snow that fell last night had already melted and turned the ground soft.

  There were muddy footprints on the floor and the smell of wet wool in the air. Someone would have to scrub the floor before school tomorrow, but that wouldn’t do anything to help that black painted line now.

  Elizabeth put her hand on Jake’s arm to caution him or he would have started to demand some explanation of how anyone could have let this happen. A wave of muffled voices greeted them as they walked up the aisle. Jake wasn’t feeling too kindly toward his neighbors, but he tried not to show it. He even nodded to a few of the men; they didn’t bother to nod back. Then he ushered Elizabeth and Spotted Fawn to a bench near the front on the Dry Creek side. He heard Higgins and Wells slip in behind him.

  At least, Jake thought to himself, he knew who his friends in this town were. He looked across the aisle. Most of the men over there were merchants, except for Mr. Walls, the banker. All of them wore suits, though, even the barber who’d cut Higgins’s hair. Jake hadn’t really noticed before that none of the rougher element in town came to church. There should be some down-on-their luck miners somewhere. And the man who ran the livery stable. He knew dozens of Psalms by heart and was always quoting them. Where was he?

  There was some rustling of skirts and Jake turned around to see Annabelle join Higgins and Wells on their bench.

  There was more talking on the other side of the aisle.

  Jake smiled at his friends. “Thanks for joining us.”

  “No need to thank me and Wells,” Higgins said. “We both live on the creek, too. It’s our home as much as it is yours.”

  Wells nodded.

  Jake looked over at Annabelle. The store clerk’s color was high.

  “You live in town,” Jake said to her softly. “You don’t have to do this. I know you don’t like trouble.”

  “Injustice is what I don’t like.”

  Jake smiled. “I guess that means we’re all forgiven?”

  Annabelle nodded. “Mr. Higgins tells me he’s giving up wolfing and I’m not one to hold a person’s past against them once they’ve turned over a new leaf. Besides, if I can stand up for a wolf, I can certainly stand up for a little girl.”

  Jake turned to Higgins. “You’ve given up wolfing?”

  Higgins cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Now that I’m getting some learning, I figure I can do something else.”

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nbsp; Jake nodded. “Good. That’s, well, good.”

  Times were definitely changing here in the Territory.

  Elizabeth looked around her. She was stunned by Annabelle’s decision to sit with Higgins. The woman was still wearing her mourning black. Her husband hadn’t been dead for all that long. The other woman didn’t look guilty about it, either. Of course, sitting with a man wasn’t the same as marrying one as Elizabeth had done. And Annabelle’s husband had been gone for a couple of months instead of a couple of weeks. No, Elizabeth decided, it wasn’t the same at all.

  Just then a man stood up on the other side of the room. The man was well-past fifty, bald and he wore a vest that stretched over his large stomach so tightly that the buttons were in danger of coming loose. The man’s suit was gray and Elizabeth watched in fascination as he pointed a finger across the room. “Annabelle Bliss, I believe you’re sitting in the wrong place.”

  Oh, dear. Elizabeth saw Annabelle press her hands together until the knuckles were white. There was still a pale strip on her finger where she’d taken off her wedding ring.

  Annabelle whispered. “That’s my boss. Mr. Broadman. He’s the manager of the mercantile.”

  “Maybe you should go over,” Elizabeth whispered back. She didn’t want Annabelle to lose her job over this. After all, the other woman didn’t have a husband to support her now so she needed that income to take care of herself and her son.

  Annabelle just shook her head, took a deep breath and then stood up. “You know I can’t abide injustice, Mr. Broadman. If you want to fire me over that, then you’re welcome to do it right now. Just remember, I’m a good employee and you—you won’t have anyone to open the store tomorrow if I’m not working.”

  Elizabeth decided Annabelle was the bravest woman in the room. She stood there in her black wool dress, the material so heavy that it fell limp from the waist. The dye in the cloth was uneven and there was no sheen to the black like most mourning dresses would have. She must have made the dress hurriedly from what material she could find at the time. There wasn’t even a touch of lace anywhere to relieve the somber lines of it. And yet Annabelle’s shoulders were straight and her eyes challenging, even if her breaths were quick and shallow.

  A brown-suited man stood up on the other side of the aisle. “If you want to talk injustice, you need to talk to my sister. She lost her husband to them Indians.” He pointed to Spotted Fawn. “And my sister isn’t the only one to lose a loved one to the savages. Decent folks shouldn’t have to be reminded of that sadness when they sit down in church.”

  “These are only two little girls,” Annabelle shot back. “And one’s a baby. They haven’t done anything to anybody.”

  A woman in a feathered hat stood up on the other side. “Haven’t done anything! That one there almost scared my little Susan to death, carrying on like she did behind the school. Giving some wild war cry and waving that piece of branch around. It’s heathen ways is what it is—heathen, I tell you.”

  Just then there was a loud bang from the doorway.

  “Enough!” Reverend Olson roared. He stood in the open doorway, with the gray overcast sky behind him and his black coat jacket moving slightly from the breeze coming through the door. “Is this any way for the children of God to act? And on the day of the Lord! You should be ashamed.”

  Everyone grew silent, even the children. Elizabeth looked at Jake sitting next to her. He certainly seemed relaxed in the midst of all of this shouting. Didn’t he know fistfights could break out at any minute? Matthew would have left the room by now, or crawled under the bench.

  Elizabeth gasped. She was horrified at her thoughts. Men were brave in different ways. She shouldn’t compare one to the other. She was being disloyal and it was shameful. She needed a new dress. A nice black dress would do, something like the one Annabelle wore. The dead deserved some respect and she intended for Matthew to get what he was due. A person shouldn’t just slip out of this life without someone grieving for him.

  She moved a little farther away from Jake, just in case anyone was paying attention to how close she was sitting, which she could see no one was.

  If Jake hadn’t felt Elizabeth move a little farther down the bench, he would have clapped his hands after the reverend’s speech. He didn’t want to embarrass his wife with his actions, though. Not that everyone else wasn’t staring at the minister just as much as Jake was. Even Spotted Fawn was caught up in it. Reverend Olson took his time looking over the crude line that had been painted down the middle of the room and the markings on the wall telling people where to sit.

  “I want to talk to whoever did this after the service,” the minister said. “In the meantime, I want everyone to know it will not be tolerated, especially not in the house of the Lord. Now, I’m going to ask everyone to get up and change the place where they are sitting. And I expect a goodly number of people to be on both sides of that line when we’re finished, just like it used to be.”

  No one moved.

  “You can’t tell us where to sit,” a woman’s voice called out from the Miles City side.

  The room was silent for a moment. Jake thought he recognized the voice and he was right. It was Mrs. Barker who stood up and adjusted her hat.

  The reverend looked over the people again before finally saying, “If you’re not willing to sit with your neighbors, no matter what the color of their skin, I’m going to ask you to leave the house of the Lord today.”

  Jake heard a series of gasps from men and women on both sides of the aisle.

  “You can’t ask us to leave church,” Mrs. Barker finally said. “This is—well, it’s church.”

  Reverend Olson smiled a little sadly. “I’m not asking you to leave. I’m asking you to stay in the grace of God and in good fellowship with your neighbors.”

  “I’ve never heard of such a thing,” Mrs. Barker protested as she stepped out into the aisle. “This is our church. It belongs to this town.”

  “It’s God’s church,” the minister replied. “It belongs to Him.”

  “Well, God’s church will be empty then,” Mrs. Barker said indignantly as she walked down the aisle to where the reverend stood. “You can’t have a church with no people, remember that. And don’t come complaining to me when the parents vote not to pay you for your work at the school, either.”

  Mrs. Barker turned to those still sitting on the benches and pointed her finger at them. “The rest of you, if you care about the future of this town, you’ll get up and follow me out of here right now. We can’t have Indians walking around like they belong here. If the railroad people see that, they’ll never make us a stop. They’re looking for civilized towns where their passengers will feel safe. No one feels safe with Indians sitting right next to them. Besides, it just isn’t right.”

  With those words, Mrs. Barker walked straight out of the church. A flash of lightning streaked across the gray sky that showed through the open door, but no one paid it much attention, not even when the thunderclap followed. It only took a few minutes for most of the rest of the people to follow her out. Some of them stopped to murmur a few words to the reverend on their way, but none of them turned back to sit down again.

  “Poor fools,” Jake muttered to himself as the last Miles City person closed the door on their way out of the building.

  Jake looked around and counted a total of nine people still inside. The reverend, himself, Elizabeth, Spotted Fawn, the baby, Annabelle, Higgins, Wells and Virginia Parker. The young woman surprised him. She was sitting in the back on the Dry Creek side, looking unsure of herself. Jake started to say something to her when the door opened again.

  Annabelle’s son, Tommy, walked in. The boy’s hair was wild and his shirt had come untucked from his pants. Jake didn’t know where the boy had been, but he could see his eyes grow wide as he walked down the aisle and looked around.

  Jake was prepared for a question about where the people had gone, but the first thing the boy said was, “Do I smell doughnuts?�
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  Jake grinned. At least some things never changed. “You sure do. And we have plenty to share, too.” Jake looked up at the minister. “After the service, that is.”

  The Reverend Olson walked forward, too. He looked tired. “I think we have a few minutes for the boy to eat a doughnut before we begin the service. I wouldn’t mind sitting a bit myself and having one, either. My wife wasn’t feeling good so she didn’t come this morning.”

  “Come, sit with us,” Elizabeth spoke as she stood up and then looked at the girl next to her. “Spotted Fawn, can you help me pass out some of our doughnuts?” Elizabeth glanced back at the reverend. “You’re sure there’s time?”

  He looked to the back of the room and addressed Virginia. “Does that work with your solo?”

  “I’ll be ready to sing whenever you want me to,” the young woman said from where she sat. “Any time is fine.”

  Jake thought Virginia still looked a little unsure of herself, sitting alone in the back. He supposed she hadn’t trusted her welcome enough to sit with the people of Miles City, not now that she was playing piano in that saloon of Colter’s.

  He nodded and smiled. She was welcome to sit with them—that much was for sure.

  “I always look forward to your singing,” the reverend said as he sat down on one of the benches. “You’ve got a lovely voice.”

  Jake was glad Elizabeth wasn’t as fragile as Virginia. Once Elizabeth had gotten past her determination to meet the angels right away, she’d always seemed to have her feet planted squarely on this earth. He appreciated that.

  “Can I go get my friend?” Tommy asked after he’d taken a bite of his doughnut. “He won’t want to miss out on this.”

  The reverend nodded. “Just get him back here quickly.”