To the Copper Country

by Barbara Carney-Coston

  Mama started clearing away the dishes. “Mihaela, you’d better go keep an eye on the boys.”

  As Mihaela stepped out the door, a rag ball hit the side of her head. “Ow!”

  “Oops, sorry. I didn’t mean for it to hit you.” Luka wore his impish grin. “But I guess we’re even now for the water you dumped on me.”

  Blaž wandered toward her. “M’aela hurt?”

  “I’m fine.” Mihaela rubbed the spot where the ball hit. “I’m supposed to check on you.” She threw the ball back.

  Luka kicked the ball hard. “I’m big enough to take care of myself.”

  “Me, too,” Blaž said.

  Mihaela laughed. “Oh, Blaž, I know you’re big enough.” She made a face at Luka. “Promise to just stay here and not get into trouble? Don’t go into the woods.”

  “Why? Where are you going?” Luka asked.

  “For a walk. I won’t be gone long.” Mihaela went close to the house and called through the screen door. “Mama, the boys are fine and I’ll be back soon.” Not waiting for her mother’s response, she started down the path.

  11

  Into the Forest

  Mihaela began to skip, then broke into a run. Her bare feet pounded the soggy ground and she pumped her arms hard. She hadn’t run since she’d left Croatia. All those days on the ship and then the train. It felt so good to have space and fresh air to move through! At the sound of gulls scolding overhead from nearby Lake Superior, she looked up. All the storm clouds had passed, and the sky was again a deep blue.

  The birds’ cries were strident and boastful. “What are you bragging about?” she shouted, as they swooped around her. One landed, and Mihaela ran toward it.

  Defiantly, it stood its ground and cawed.

  “Ha!” she challenged.

  The gull flew just a little ahead of her on the road, calling shrilly. Then the bird did it again.

  Mihaela ran forward as the gull flew on, while other gulls landed nearby. She wanted to join the game, and she moved farther and farther down the road. Soon, the cabin was a speck in the distance. No other houses were close-by.

  Mihaela came to an overgrown wagon track. “Where do you suppose this leads?” she asked her bird friends.

  “We know, we know!” they seemed to answer, bobbing their heads as they flew around her.

  Mihaela stood still for a moment. She knew she should be getting back to the cabin. But she also wanted to play, even if it was only with birds.

  One of the gulls circled closer. “Caw, caw!” It dared her to enter the woods.

  Mihaela couldn’t resist.

  The forest grew densely on both sides of the overgrown path. Birches and evergreens filtered the light into soft beams, and the pine needles made a thick bed beneath the trees.

  Mihaela breathed in their fragrant scent. She loved the quiet stillness, broken only by the sounds of her footsteps and the birds in the distance. It reminded her of her secret place in Croatia. As the path twisted and turned, she noticed wildflowers growing in small pockets of sunlight. She stopped to take a closer look. Maybe one of those plants could help Papa.

  She bent down and peered at the pools of light. The first revealed mushrooms, but not ones she recognized. She remembered one of her lessons with Mama: “All mushrooms can be eaten, but some only once.” Better not take a chance. Then a small patch of green leaves with long parallel veins caught her eye. It looked like plantain, a plant she knew from Croatia that had many uses. She gently broke off several leaves and put them into her dress pockets. Even though her everyday blue dress had faded to a soft gray, the mended pockets were still sturdy. How she loved having pockets! She could tuck herbs and plants in them, along with any other small treasures she found.

  As she turned, she noticed another path beneath the trees that went deeper into the forest. She followed it for a while and came upon a small open meadow. Moths hovered over tall plants with flat white blossoms. She paused to take a closer look. The stalks held tiny flowers in a fuzzy cluster and the green leaves were large and wrinkly. Maybe they would be useful, too. At least the flowers were pretty. She picked several and held them in her hand.

  The gulls had stopped calling to her, but now she heard something else. She froze for a minute. Could it be a bear? She was about to cry out when she realized it wasn’t an animal noise—it was a people sound. Was there another cabin nearby? Maybe there were children there.

  Mihaela quickened her pace. She had to find out.

  12

  A School Visit

  As she edged closer to the sound of voices, she heard a bell ringing. Clang, clang, clang, clang. It rang over and over.

  She moved toward the direction of the sound. She was at the edge of the forest now and saw a wooden frame building. Mihaela watched from a distance as children swarmed around the door, then scattered. Some were older and some were younger than she was, and a few carried books. A school!

  Mihaela waited, watching the children take different routes to go home. She ducked behind a tree as two girls close in age walked past her. Their clothes were different from hers, with more buttons and trim, but they wore their hair in braids, just like she did. What did they learn? Did they get to read a lot? She wondered what it would be like to be with them. Would they be nice and want to be her friends, or would they laugh at her clothes and her lack of English? Her birthday was almost here, and she had no one to tell. Seeing the girls reminded her how much she missed Katarina.

  Mihaela lingered. She wanted to peek inside and try to imagine what it would be like to spend her days there. Reading new books and learning the answers to all her questions would be heaven. She found herself taking one small step and then another, inching closer. When she was sure all the children had gone, she tiptoed to a window at the back of the building. Inside, she saw a large room with a wooden floor. Sitting in neat rows were different-sized desks—small ones in the front, larger ones at the back. The desks were made of wood, and a seat was connected to each desk. The larger desks had a bottle of ink sitting on the right side in a little well. Would she ever be able to sit at a desk like that? At the front of the room, a blackboard was covered with white chalk writing, and a red, white, and blue flag hung from a pole in one corner. Shelves holding books lined another wall. All the books were arranged by size and color. She had never seen so many books! What kind of information did they hold? Did students get to read all of them? Her eyes lingered on a large desk that held a pile of papers. When a woman walked into the room, Mihaela froze. She must be the teacher. Could she see her peering through the window?

  Mihaela admired the teacher’s crisp white blouse and long skirt. Her hair was swept up in a bun and held with pretty combs. As the teacher started to sort the stacked papers, she paused, and then looked toward the window.

  Mihaela drew a quick breath.

  The teacher hesitated a moment, then smiled and continued sorting papers.

  Mihaela exhaled. She struggled to tear herself away. Her family was waiting.

  She started back and spotted some wild onions growing near the road. As she tugged on their green stems, the white bulbs came out of the damp ground easily. She grabbed a handful. They were good for remedies and to eat. Mihaela ran home along the path she had followed earlier. She couldn’t wait to show her mother the plants she had gathered and tell her about the school. “Mama, look what I found!” she called as she opened the front door of the cabin.

  But no one was there.

  13

  Bees

  Cries rang out from the backyard. Mihaela ran through the cabin and out the kitchen door.

  Mama held Blaž on her lap. A wet cloth lay across his forehead while she used a thin piece of bark to scrape welts on his face and neck.

  Luka stood nearby, tears streaming down his face. He cradled one swollen and red arm with his other.

  “Mama!” Mihaela cried. “What happened?”

  “Bees!” Mama started to massage Blaž’s chest as he wheezed n
oisily. “The ball hit a hive. They’ve both been stung many times. Blaž is having trouble breathing.”

  Blaž’s face was swollen and his lips were tinged with blue.

  “Oh, no!” Mihaela looked from one brother to the other.

  Luka moaned. “Lots of stings.” His right arm was an angry crimson. Mihaela could barely stand to see them. She was supposed to have been looking after her brothers.

  “I don’t have anything to treat Blaž,” Mama said.

  The herbs used for bee stings had been lost at the train station. Mihaela dug into her pockets and pulled out everything she had just found in the woods. “I picked some herbs and leaves. Maybe one of these will help.” She handed the plants to her mother and looked more closely at Luka. He was covered with fiery welts.

  Mama first chose the wild onions. She split the small white bulbs with her finger, and rubbed them gently over the worst of Blaž’s stings. Then she tore up the leaves with the veins— the plantain plant—and gently pushed the pieces inside Blaž’s mouth. “Try to chew those, Blaž.”

  He made a face but did as he was told.

  “Mihaela, get me some water.”

  Mihaela grabbed the bucket and sprinted to the pump. She raced back.

  Mama tore up more of the green leaves and chewed them herself, then stuck the pulp on the stings. She chewed more and added water to make a paste, then applied the paste all over the boys’ welts. After a few minutes, she put her ear against their chests.

  Blaž whimpered, but his breathing had improved a little.

  “Here, Luka, you need to chew this, too.” Mama helped him with pieces of the plant. “Let’s get the boys inside.” Mama picked up Blaž while holding Luka by the hand. “They both need to stay quiet. Help me take them to their beds.”

  Mihaela was eager to do anything she could.

  Mama propped up Blaž with pillows behind his back. “Mihaela, sit right by him while I check on Luka’s stings. Keep feeding him small amounts of the plant.”

  Mihaela held one of Blaž’s hands in hers while she gave him more of the plant. “Try to chew this, Blaž.”

  His lower lip trembled. “Hurts.”

  Mihaela nodded and patted a part of his hand that wasn’t swollen. She glanced over at Luka, and saw that his left arm still held many stingers. Mama was trying to remove the stingers by scraping them off with the thin piece of wood. He winced as Mama removed one after another.

  Mihaela lifted up Blaž’s shirt to check his back. “I think there are a few more stingers left here.” She took the piece of wood from Mama and removed them.

  “That’s good, Mihaela. I’m going to make some more of that poultice. I’ll be right back.”

  Mihaela finished checking Blaž, then walked over to Luka’s bed. “I’m sorry you got stung. I should have been there.”

  Luka shook his head. “The hive was hidden in a tree. The ball hit it and the bees got mad. Bad luck.”

  “Why did they attack Blaž so much?”

  “He was right next to the hive when it fell from the tree. They swarmed him. I ran over to try and make them go away.” Luka cringed. “Poor Blaž. He got more stings than I did.”

  Mihaela looked at all the welts on Blaž. There were several on his neck, some on his ears, and a big red welt just visible under the brown hair on his head.

  “Mama got most of the stingers out of him first, because he couldn’t breathe.”

  Mihaela started to cry. “Oh, Luka. I feel awful for both of you!”

  Mama returned with more of the poultice and two glasses of water. “Mihaela, why are you crying?”

  “I’m sorry about what happened. Maybe if I had watched the boys, they wouldn’t have been stung.”

  “No use talking like that. I am concerned that you went off alone, though, without telling me first. Remember, your father said there could be bears.”

  Mihaela shuddered.

  Mama applied the rest of the poultice to Blaž and Luka, and then gave them each a glass of water. She stayed until both were breathing normally.

  “Just lay still now, boys.” Mama turned to Mihaela. “Come. We need to talk.”

  Mihaela followed her mother into the kitchen. The heavy chair made a scraping sound as she pulled it out and sat down. She didn’t know what Mama was going to say.

  Mama went to one of the kitchen drawers and returned with her pen, the ink bottle, and a piece of paper. She eased onto another chair. “Mihaela, the plants we’ve been using for Papa aren’t working. We need to find something to help his eyes, right away. He told me this morning he can barely see. The oil we got at the store wasn’t really what I had hoped it would be.”

  Mihaela’s heart skipped a beat. Mama’s face was drawn and taut. Poor Papa!

  “The plants you found today are very good, but still not what will cure him. I can’t leave the boys now to go search. But you can.” She sketched quickly. “Did you see either of these on your walk?” She handed the paper to Mihaela.

  Mihaela looked at the drawings. “I’m not sure. Two plants?”

  “Yes. Back home, goldenrod grew in open fields.” Mama pointed to the first picture. “It has yellow flowers in large clusters on single woody stems. Musk mallow might be along the road, or at the edge of woods.”

  Mihaela saw that the second plant had five petals in a funnel-shaped flower. “Is it pink or white?”

  “Either color.”

  Mihaela picked up the paper and put it in her pocket. “Should I go now? Are the boys all right? What about me helping you get dinner ready?”

  “I think the boys are recovering. Thank God you found those plants!” She shook her head. “I’ll manage with dinner. Take a pot and use a stick to hit it if you hear animal sounds that worry you. Make as much noise as you can to scare things away. Finding these herbs is the only thing that will save Papa’s eyes.”

  14

  Discovery

  Mihaela stepped out the door and ran as she had never run before. Gripping a pot and clutching the paper with the plant drawings, she raced down the road. She kept checking the sketches while her eyes scoured the ground. “Yellow flowers, in the sun,” she repeated. “Pink petals, near the woods.” She had to find the plants that would cure Papa’s eyes.

  She paused for a moment while her eyes adjusted from the bright light of the road to the shadows of the forest. She reached down to find a big stick for banging against the pot. Her ears strained to hear anything that might signal a bear as she checked the forest floor. Drooping plants she hadn’t noticed before were coaxed up by the slanting rays. Late-afternoon sun filtered through in narrow patches. She moved slowly, careful not to step on anything but pine needles. Earlier, she had noticed wild onions as well as plantain. Now, as she moved from place to place, she saw plants with hairy stems and clumps of fuzzy white flowers. She saw more mushrooms and tightly curled ferns. She saw purple clusters topping thin stems. But not the plants she needed.

  As Mihaela moved farther into the woods, she heard her gull friends, high overhead. They were circling about, calling to her. “You’re no help!” she shouted at them. “What am I going to do?” She tried another path, then another. The woods were so dense here only small mushrooms poked their spongy heads from the ground. Her breath came in short, quick gasps. These Michigan woods were so unfamiliar!

  The gulls had gone and the air was still. She heard twigs snap. An acorn falling, she told herself. Then another snap, louder. Mihaela clutched her pot and stick as her heart skipped a beat. When she heard more crackling snaps, she banged her pot with as much force as she could and moved away from the sounds. She cocked her head once more to listen and saw a flash of black fur moving into the shadows. Her mouth went dry and her heart pounded.

  She was scared of bears. She was scared that she wouldn’t be able to help Papa. She was scared of this strange new life. Aunt Ida had warned her she would need to be brave to make this trip. But all she could feel inside was a quivering fear.

  Scramb
ling over fallen logs and sharp roots, she turned and twisted until she found a path. Her skin was scratched, and mosquitoes and black flies buzzed around her head.

  In the distance, Mihaela heard a whistle. Papa’s mine shift was ending and he would be home soon. Her shoulders sagged. What was she going to tell her mother? How could she let everyone down? She retraced her steps as tears burned her eyes.

  When she reached the road, she ran again.

  Mihaela passed the mine entrance as some of the miners were coming out, and she kept her head down, rushing by them. She never stopped looking for the plants, but her tears made it hard to see.

  She slowed when she reached the backyard of the cabin. Walking over to the pump, she splashed cold water on her hot face. Sounds of Mama clanging pans in the kitchen and dinner smells filled the air. The water from the pump cleared her eyes, but her stomach felt like she had swallowed stones. Her chin touched her chest as she gripped tight fists. “I can’t give up!” she growled. “I won’t!”

  When Mihaela raised her head, she noticed a large cylindrical shape lying on the ground at the edge of the yard. It was the beehive that Luka’s ball had knocked down. She dropped her pot but held on to her stick and walked toward it cautiously. The hive was cracked open, and something golden was oozing out. She used the stick to check for bees. They had all gone, so she rolled the hive over and found a good way to lift it up. As she crouched to grip the ends, something beneath the hive caught her eye. Mihaela began laughing, crying, and shouting all at the same time. The hive had fallen on a small patch of the yellow flowers she had been looking for. As she looked around, she noticed another cluster growing right at the edge of their yard.

  Mihaela’s cries brought her mother flying out the door. “Now what’s wrong?” Mama called as she ran to her. “What are you doing with that beehive?”