“He is teaching me the ways of running a lumberyard, filling orders, waiting on customers, that kind of thing. I would rather be out in the woods, but he needs the help, and Tante Soren treats me like one of her sons. They had three boys, but one died a few years ago. One works for the railroad, and the other is married and lives in Minneapolis. They did not want to work in the lumberyard. But Onkel said business slows down in the winter, and if I want to go be a lumberjack, fine, just so I come back in the spring.”
Ivar asked, “Did you do much lumbering in Norway?”
“Nei. The lumberyard runs its own mill, and I work on that. But out in the woods? That’s where I’d rather be. I want to learn how to do it all well.”
Nilda asked, “Have you heard from home?” Do you have any news from Norway?
“Ja, my brother and sister both want to come, so I am saving for their tickets. They are too.”
Nilda smiled. “Sounds like us last year.”
Signe came outside without the baby. Kirstin must have fallen asleep. And since Onkel Einar was not yelling, he was probably asleep as well. Signe asked their guest, “Are you taking English classes?”
“Nei, but I’m picking up a lot from work. I hear there is going to be a house-raising as soon as you are ready. Do you mind if I come help? We are closed on Sundays.”
Nilda grinned. “You think we would turn down a pair of willing hands?’
“You never know. I mean, I’ve heard rumors.” Petter looked away.
“About Onkel Einar. Ja, we know.” Nilda shrugged. “But right now he is laid up from an accident.” Ivar snorted, but she ignored him. “It will be better when we can move to the new house.”
Petter and Ivar chatted on, but Nilda found herself thinking surprising thoughts. A strong young lad who wanted to learn lumbering, and Onkel Einar’s woodlot, and . . .
They heard the jingle of harness and hooves clopping before Mr. Hechstrom stopped his horse by the house.
“You want to come in for coffee?” Rune asked as he climbed off the trap.
“I better get on home. You’ve got the copy of the contract, so we’ll start hauling the lumber out so as to be ready when you are.” Mr. Hechstrom called, “Come along, Petter, we need to get on home.”
Petter climbed nimbly up over a wheel and into the seat. “I’ll see you again soon.”
Nilda had the feeling he was speaking more to her than to Ivar, but Ivar answered, “Perhaps you can stay for dinner or supper when you deliver the lumber. Meet the rest of the family.”
“Perhaps.” Petter settled into the trap beside his uncle, and the two of them waved as they trotted down the lane.
“What a nice surprise.” Nilda watched the trap disappear into the evening.
“Maybe he would want to work here in the winter?” Ivar asked.
“You think Onkel Einar would pay a real crew what they are worth?” Nilda asked. “Real crews expect to be properly paid, not to give away their labor because of family ties.”
Ivar looked at her in the dim light from the doorway. “You never know what will happen between now and then. You just never know.”
Chapter
27
Dear Mor,
Thank you for your letter. I have to apologize for not writing more often since we arrived. Life here is full of challenges as we try to keep up with the regular summer work, and now they are working on Rune’s house whenever possible. I’m not sure if I told you that Onkel Einar had an accident with a new team of horses hitched to the disc. He injured his head in the fall, and he is very angry that he cannot be out cutting down the big trees.
Nilda felt like saying a lot more, but she wanted to get the letter in the mail the next day when she and Signe went to Benson’s Corner for their language class. The thought of the class made her tap the end of the pencil on her chin. Signe had been teasing her that Mr. Larsson spent a good part of the class looking at her. Surely that wasn’t so, but it did make Nilda watch him more closely, so that their glances often intersected. Strange.
She returned to her letter.
Ivar is helping in so many different ways. I did not realize how very adaptable he can be. He and Bjorn have become a good team, both in the woods and on the farm, while Knute spends his time with both, along with taking charge of splitting wood for the kitchen stove. Leif is busy taking care of the farrowing sows, their babies, the hens and chicks, and his baby sister. I wish you could see her laugh and wiggle when he comes near. She has a lot to say, if only we could understand her.
Tante Gerd is able to do more around the house all the time. One day she even went out to the garden to pick lettuce for supper. I think she misses being outside. She set Kirstin in the wagon and brought her along.
Rune and Signe will have a wonderful, big house when it is finished. People from the church have promised to come help with the house-raising, in spite of Onkel Einar telling everyone to stay off his land. I still have no idea where all his anger has come from. It might be easier if I understood what is behind it all. Rune and Signe do not know either, but they are making friends at church and in the community.
I still long for the mountains at home, the seter, and all our family. How I wish you and Far would come here. Norway might as well be in another world. How is your garden doing this year? What is happening with the newlyweds? Uff da. Now I am getting more homesick than ever.
Oh, we will set up the loom at the new house when it is built. And Tante Gerd said we would get a small flock of sheep before fall. Leif is so excited that we will have lambs next spring. More babies for him to take care of.
Remember the young man that we met on the ship that I wrote about? He works in Blackduck at the lumberyard. He and Ivar were talking about working in a logging camp this winter. Ivar would get paid extra if he took one of our teams to work there too. They have not talked with Onkel Einar yet, though. There is plenty of time to talk about that before they would leave. I am sure Bjorn would want to go along too, but he is needed here. They are felling more trees with Ivar here even though Onkel Einar is laid up.
This letter is growing into a book, so I will stop now. Greet everyone for me, for us. I am not the only one who dreams of home, although this place is becoming home too. Please write soon, and I shall try to do better.
Your loving daughter and the rest of the family here,
Nilda Carlson
She folded the pages and tucked them into an envelope. Writing the address on the front led to wiping away a tear. In spite of sniffing and swallowing, more tears followed. She laid her head on her arms, and let both tears and thoughts flow. She’d never see her family again, never hold the babies born, inhale the fragrance of home, trek in the mountains, hear the spring freshets leaping down the creek beds, card the wool, spin and weave with her mor.
She cried for a while without making noise so as not to wake the others who needed their sleep so badly. Carefully, she stood and stepped outside onto the porch. Sinking down on the steps, she stared up at the stars arching across the azure sky, the same stars she had seen at home, but which somehow seemed closer there. She wiped her eyes on her apron. Fireflies danced, a cricket sang, and the breeze kissed her cheeks, drying the tears. She inhaled the fragrance of turned earth in the garden, the faint touch of pine, the barnyard and chicken coop, and sighed.
Pushing herself up to her bare feet, she ambled to the outhouse, then returned to tiptoe up the stairs and slip into bed without waking anyone else.
“Are you all right?” Signe’s whisper tickled her ear.
“Ja.” I will be by morning.
A verse floated through her mind. “Weeping endures for the night, but joy comes in the morning.” Surely this was true and always would be.
Late the next afternoon, she and Signe hitched Rosie to the cart and trotted down the lane to attend their language class. Since they had missed the last one, they practiced their lesson from the week before all the way to the church. Not that they hadn’t practiced dur
ing the days, but some things needed more time.
Signe stumbled over a phrase, then repeated it three times. “I am not very good at this,” she moaned.
Nilda clucked Rosie into a slow trot. “You’re doing fine, better than some of the others.”
A picture of Mr. Larsson at the front of the class leaped into her mind. Don’t be silly, she told herself. Why would he ever be interested in me?
“Do you have the letters?” Signe asked.
“Ja.” Nilda patted the bag on the seat between them. “And the grocery list to give to Mrs. Benson. Good thing she doesn’t close early in the evening.” Only the clip-clop of trotting hooves rose with the dust of the road.
When they entered the sanctuary of the church, six other students were talking with Mr. Larsson. When he heard them enter, he looked up with a smile that widened when he saw who they were.
“Welcome back. We were about to start.”
“Takk.” Nilda and Signe slid into the pew behind the others.
The teacher handed each of them a sheet of vocabulary words and phrases. “I’m sorry, I should have given you these on Sunday.”
Nilda took the paper. His smile sparkled in his eyes, and she smiled back. He certainly had nice eyes, something she had noticed before. “T-takk.”
The students were laughing more this evening, even when they stumbled on their responses. Nilda and Signe joined in, Signe nudging her when she caught Mr. Larsson smiling at Nilda.
“I told you so,” Signe whispered.
Nilda felt like fanning her face as the heat rose up her neck. Good thing they were sitting behind the others instead of in a circle like they had before.
“Thank you all for coming,” Mr. Larsson said at the end of the class. “And for working hard at learning English. I have a couple of short stories I would like you to read. You won’t know all the words, but I think you will understand anyway. I would like them back at the end of our sessions so I can use them with the next beginning class.”
“Will we continue into the fall?” one of the two men asked.
“Yes, until it gets dark too early for those who come farther.” Mr. Larsson looked at Nilda again. “I am thinking of having a Saturday class until the snow makes things difficult. The longer we can go, the more quickly you will become comfortable speaking English. Please use your new vocabulary when you are talking at home. That is not easy, I know, but that is why we will be working more on phrases and conversation. In another two weeks, we will speak only English during our class time.
Nilda rolled her eyes along with the groans of the others. Signe sent her a look of near panic.
“Now, please, you will do fine. We will keep our conversations simple, using words and phrases you have learned. You will have a good time, really. Tonight we will say our farewells in English.” Mr. Larsson switched to English and repeated what he had just said. “Good night, and I will see you next week. Now repeat that with me.”
They did, and then said the same to each other as they walked down the aisle and out the door.
Signe and Nilda paused on the steps. “Look at the sunset.” Nilda pointed to the bands of brilliant oranges and reds fading to lavender and pinks on the flat clouds above.
“Those are cirrus clouds,” Mr. Larsson said behind them. Then he said the same in English.
“Cirrus?”
“Yes. That word stays the same.” He nodded to them, and they repeated the words with him.
Nilda gazed up at the sky. “It’s so . . . vakker.”
“Yes, beautiful.” Mr. Larsson looked right at her.
“Ah, ah . . .” Nilda fumbled for words.
“Thank you.” Signe’s grin made Nilda want to poke her, but instead she headed for the horse and cart. Since when was she shy and tongue-tied like that? Nilda, my girl, behave yourself. You’ve had men smile at you before. What is so different now?
Signe hummed on the way home as if she had not a care in the world.
They were just turning into their lane when Nilda finally huffed. “I do not want to hear another word about this.”
“About what?” If innocence had a face, it was Signe’s.
Chapter
28
Leif burst into the clearing in the woods where the men were working. “Far, come quick, Onkel Einar fell.”
Rune called Bjorn to take his place on the crosscut saw. “You and Ivar finish this. Come for dinner at noon if I am not back. Knute, keep on limbing the tree you are on.”
Rune caught up with Leif, who had started back to the house. The two of them jogged all the way, and Rune had a hard time catching his breath by the time they reached the steps to the porch.
Nilda met him at the door. “I don’t think he’s hurt badly, because he is awake and furious that we won’t help him get up.”
“How did it happen?”
“I was walking with him to the chair by the window, and he stumbled. He tried to grab me, but I couldn’t stop his fall.”
“Any idea why he stumbled?” When she didn’t answer, Rune turned to look at her.
She heaved a sigh. “He wanted Gerd to help him, but I couldn’t let her do that, or they might both go down. He wasn’t angry until he stumbled. Well, he was still Einar, but he was not yelling at me.”
“I told you—”
“Rune, he actually asked for help.”
“Miracles do happen,” Rune muttered as he crossed the bedroom to the man swearing into the floorboards. “All right, Einar, let’s get you up.”
“Tried walking to the window, and look what happened.” He pounded his fist on the floor. Another string of expletives followed.
“Okay, let’s get you up on your hands and knees.”
“What, you want me to-to crawl over there?”
“Not a bad idea, really, but I was going to bring the chair here so you can use it to help you.”
“Just get the chair.”
Nilda plunked the chair down beside him. Rune held it steady as Einar gripped the seat, dragged his uncooperative legs under him, and made it up. He twisted to sit, but he kept his eyes closed, barely shaking his head. “Will this dizziness ever go away?” The pauses between each word showed that though his speech had improved, it was not by many degrees.
Rune wisely kept his mouth shut. “The window or the bed?” he asked softly after an extended period of silence.
“Bed.” When Einar was settled back against the pillows, he glared at Rune. “Go back to the woods, I—won’t yell at that Nilda. No need to send for you.” The effort to talk cost him, Rune could tell.
“It is almost dinnertime. The boys will be up to eat soon, and I will go back with them.”
“How—how many trees?”
“Two down. Two more this afternoon.”
Einar groaned. “I should be out there.”
“As soon as you are strong enough.”
“Walk out to porch after dinner.”
“We’ll see how you feel.”
Einar declined dinner, but for a cup of coffee and a piece of bread. Nilda slipped some laudanum into the coffee at Rune’s suggestion.
“I will help him out to the porch when we come back to the house,” he said.
“What if he wakes up and insists?”
“Do not try to stop him, but don’t help him either. I know that is hard-hearted, but the three of you should not have to pay for his stubborn mistakes.”
The boys came in from the woods for their meal, and Leif hopped up from the table as soon as he finished eating. “Got to get back to the barn. Daisy is going to start having her babies any time now.” He jumped down the steps and ran for the barn.
Knute headed for the woodpile to bring in an armload. “We need to split wood tonight too.”
Nilda waved him off. “You get out to the woods. I’ll take care of the woodpile here.”
“Well, I’ll be,” Rune purred. “And here I was going to ask you to come and start limbing or dragging branches.”
&n
bsp; Nilda smirked at him. “I’m thinking about that.”
“Not really.” Rune gave her a big brother is right look.
Nilda smiled with a wide-eyed look of innocence. “We’ll see,” she called out over her shoulder.
Ivar clapped his older brother on the back. “You might not want to order her around. She has a stubborn streak two feet wide, or so Mor says. Come on, let’s go knock down a couple more big trees.”
When they returned, Leif and Nilda had the chores done, Einar was seated in the rocking chair on the porch, and supper was ready. Split wood not only filled the woodbox but lay in a neat stack by the chopping block.
“Kirstin likes the sound of wood chopping,” Signe said with a smile. “Put her right to sleep.”
“She could hear it clear in here?” Rune asked.
“No, she was on the porch in her rocking chair.”
“I see. Is it about time for Einar to come in?”
“Ask if he wants his supper out there. I’ll bring him a tray.”
Rune got a yes from Einar, which was unusual, so he took out a tray with chicken and dumplings, bread and butter, and coffee and got him set up. When the rest of them had finished eating, he found Einar asleep with his chin on his chest, but the plate was clean. After getting him back to bed, Rune and his crew headed for their new home’s cellar.
“We’re going to need eight flat rocks to go under the vertical posts, so Knute, you and Leif take the horse and wagon to the rock piles and search some out. There are a couple in that pile behind the machine shed, I know, and two more piles out on the southwestern corner of the hay field. I’d go there first. The flatter the better, but we can flatten them with a chisel if we need to.”
The boys climbed up on the wagon seat and urged the horse out to the hayfield. They knew where the rock pile was, since they had thrown many of the rocks on it. Dusk was dimming the land when they returned with six.
Rune and the others had hauled the posts and joists down into the hole and were measuring and sawing two-by-tens into twelve-foot lengths on the saw horses. Rune looked over the rock collection the boys threw down into the hole.
A Breath of Hope Page 23