Until We Reach Home

by Lynn Austin

  There was no doubt at all in Sofia's mind. "I think this job is an answer to our prayers. God found it for us-and He will be with us."

  Elfin gently cupped Sofia's cheek in her hand. "You sound so much like Mama."

  It didn't take Sofia long to gather her belongings, but she had one very important thing she needed to do before leaving the boardinghouse for good. While her sisters were still upstairs, Sofia carried her satchel down and went outside to talk to Aunt Hilma, who was pinning clothes on the line. She pulled out Ludwig's Bible and showed it to her.

  "Aunt Hilma, a friend will be coming here to get this Bible. He gave it to me for safekeeping. His name is Ludwig Schneider, and-"

  "A German man?"

  "Yes. He doesn't speak Swedish, but he will be asking for me by name, so will you please tell him where I am so I can return this to him?" She held up the Bible, then quickly stuffed it back into her bag. Her sisters would be coming downstairs any minute. "It's very important that he finds me and gets his Bible back. Please?"

  "I don't like the idea of a strange man-"

  "He isn't a stranger. He's a friend. And a good Christian man." The back door opened and Elfin and Kirsten came out, carrying the trunk.

  "Thank you, Aunt Hilma," Sofia said. "Thank you for everything."

  "I'M SORRY, BUT I need to rest again." Elin set down her end of the heavy trunk and leaned against it for support. Her illness had left her feeling weak and wrung out. She and her sisters had decided to take turns carrying the trunk on the walk back to the mansion, and it bothered her that she was unable to carry her fair share of the load. "I wish I didn't tire so easily."

  "I don't mind stopping," Sofia said, flexing her fingers. "My hand keeps cramping around the leather handle."

  "I thought we were finished lugging this thing around," Kirsten said, giving it a kick. "Too bad it didn't fall overboard in the middle of the ocean. Do we really need all the stuff that's inside?"

  "Maybe not now," Elfin said, "but someday we'll have our own home again."

  She thought of all the items she had carried for so many miles. The copper coffee kettle brought back memories of Mama. So did the book of hymns. Mama's fingers had embroidered the linens, every stitch a labor of love. Papa's carved wooden utensils helped her picture his work-hardened hands. The silver candlesticks had belonged to their grandmother, and Elin had fought with Aunt Karin over who would keep them. The items in the trunk were not very costly. Their value was only in the memories they evoked.

  Elfin had stopped to rest in front of a shop on one of the Swedish neighborhood's main thoroughfares, and she saw Kirsten gazing longingly at the items on display in the window. "Wouldn't you love to go inside and look around?" Kirsten murmured.

  "Go ahead," Elin told her. "I'll stay out here with the trunk."

  Kirsten looked at her in surprise. "Do you really mean it?"

  "Yes. You can go inside, too, Sofia."

  The three of them were about to begin a life of hard work in a difficult situation, and Elin wanted to give her sisters a few moments of pleasure. Sofia and Kirsten had changed since beginning their journey, so perhaps it was time for Elin to change a little, too. After all, she wasn't their mother. The giddy excitement she saw on her sisters' faces as they opened the door and disappeared inside made Elin smile.

  She sat down on the trunk to wait, watching the traffic go by. Once again she was struck by the city's energy and vitality, almost as if it were a living thing. Life here in Chicago was so different from the life she'd left behind-and so different from the one she had imagined.

  "You should see all the things they have for sale!" Sofia said when she and Kirsten came out of the shop a few minutes later. "And the variety! In one display alone, they had a dozen different styles of hair combs."

  "And they have an entire counter full of things that only cost five cents," Kirsten said. "The shop girl says that the five-cent coin is called a nickel. And since there are 100 cents in a dollar and we earn four dollars a week, I figure we can buy-"

  "We can't spend any money until we pay back what we owe," Elin said.

  "Not even a little bit?"

  "We can't take a chance, Kirsten. We don't know how long we will be able to keep this job."

  "But we're going to need some spending money, Elin," Sofia said. "We'll need to buy things like soap and-"

  "Writing paper and stamps," Kirsten added.

  "You're right. I'm sorry. I don't want to end up like Aunt Hilma, worrying about money all the time." She lifted one end of the trunk and waited for Sofia to lift the other. They started walking again.

  "The women in America dress so beautifully, don't they?" Sofia said as they made their way through the crowds. "Everyone looks like one of the rich ladies back home."

  "And the gowns are so colorful," Kirsten said. "You should see the ones that were for sale in that store back there. You can buy them already made. Nobody has to sew it for you."

  "But if it isn't sewn for you, how do you know it will fit?" Elin asked. "People come in all different sizes-look how different the three of us are."

  "Small ... medium ... and large," Kirsten said, smiling as she pointed first to Sofia, then to Elfin, then to herself.

  "You aren't large," Elfin said, laughing. "You're ... buxom. I could use a few more curves like yours."

  "I love all the fancy hats the women wear," Sofia said. "I wish I could buy one with flowers on it."

  "I hate wearing a hat," Kirsten said, making a face. "But I do wish we could dress like the American women do. We look so old-fashioned!"

  "Mrs. Anderson said she's going to give us clothes to work in, remember?" Sofia said.

  "Don't get your hopes up. They won't be like the pretty ones in these windows, I'm sure."

  Elfin felt exhausted by the time they returned to the mansion, and she still hadn't even done an hour's work yet. She dreaded the prospect of dragging the trunk all the way up to the third floor. But just as they reached the back door, a bedraggled-looking man who had been digging weeds out of one of the flowerbeds hurried over to them.

  "Here, let me help you with that. It looks heavy." Like nearly everyone else Elfin had met in Chicago, he spoke Swedish. With his raggedy clothes and shaggy beard, it was difficult to tell how old he was, but Elfin guessed he was in his fifties.

  "We could use some help," she said, "but you may change your mind when you find out that this trunk has to go all the way up to the third floor."

  "Oh, that's no problem," he said, tipping his cap to all three of them. And it wasn't. He hefted it onto his shoulder with ease and followed Elfin up the back staircase to their room.

  "I'm Mr. Lund," he said after he'd set it down.

  "And we're the new servants. I'm Kirsten Carlson, and these are my sisters, Elin and Sofia. We're so grateful for your help."

  "Nice to meet you. Young Mr. Anderson hired me to clean up the yard. It's very overgrown, as you can see, but I can tell that it was beautiful once. I'm afraid it's going to take more than one man to make it look that way again, but I'll do my best. So, I guess I'll get back to work now."

  "We should start working, too," Elin said as Mr. Lund clomped down the back stairs.

  Kirsten collapsed on one of the narrow beds and pulled off her shoes. "Why? What's the big hurry? I think we should take our time so we can stay here longer."

  "Isn't that deceitful?" Sofia asked. "We'll be cheating Mrs. Anderson if we don't work as hard as we can every day."

  "But if she doesn't want to move, then the longer we take to finish, the longer she can stay here. We'll actually be helping her."

  "But she is paying us to work, and-"

  "Listen," Elin said, stepping between them, "this house is so big and there's so much work to do, it's going to take us forever no matter how hard we work. Let's change into our uniforms and get started."

  The closet that Mrs. Olafson had shown them smelled strongly of camphor-as did the men's and women's uniforms hanging inside it.


  "The Andersons must have had a lot of servants at one time," Sofia said. "Look at all these clothes."

  Kirsten pulled out one of the long, gray gabardine skirts and held it up in front of her to test the length. She wrinkled her nose. "Ugh! They smell old. I don't want to smell like this."

  "With all the cleaning and dusting we have to do," Elin said, "we'll smell worse than this once we start working. We can launder them on the next wash day, but we'd better change into them for now. Mrs. Anderson told us to."

  They took a few minutes to sort through the closet, looking for skirts and bodices that might fit them. The wrinkled aprons that were worn on top might have once been white but were now limp and yellow with age. When Elfin and her sisters had each found garments in their sizes, they went back into their room to change.

  Elfin grabbed her satchel to look for a kerchief to tie over her hair, but when she opened her bag she found a book lying on top. She had never seen it before. She lifted it out and saw another strange shape beneath it, wrapped in a gray flannel cloth. She pulled out the wooden lump and, much to her surprise, found a violin and bow beneath the cloth.

  "Where did this come from?" she asked.

  Sofia's eyes grew wide. "Be careful! That's mine! That's my bag." She took the violin and bow from Elfin, then snatched up the book.

  "Yours?" Elfin asked in disbelief. "But-but where did it come from?" She knew that Sofia hadn't brought a violin with her from Sweden.

  Kirsten stopped buttoning her blouse and came over to look. "Sofia! That belongs to the German man. Why did you take his violin?"

  "What German man?" Elfin asked. Fear raced through her.

  "I didn't take it, Kirsten. He gave it to me. He asked me to take care of it for him." The tender way Sofia handled the instrument baffled Elfin.

  "Why did he give it to you?" Kirsten asked. "That doesn't make any sense."

  Elfin was standing right beside her sisters, but they were both ignoring her. "Sofia! Whose violin is that?" she asked, raising her voice.

  Sofia seemed reluctant to answer. "It belongs to a friend of mine named Ludwig Schneider. I met him on Ellis Island and he ... we ... we became friends." She carefully rewrapped it in the flannel cloth, handling it like an infant.

  "But why do you have it?"

  Sofia took a moment to reply, and when she did her chin jutted stubbornly. "The immigration officials weren't going to let him into the country because he has a crippled leg, so he decided he would swim-"

  "Oh, Sofia," Kirsten said. "He can't be serious. It's much too far to swim. Besides, there are so many ships on that river that it would be dangerous-"

  "That's why he asked me to take care of it for him. I gave him Uncle Lars' address, and he's going to find me when he gets to Chicago to get his things back."

  "You trusted a stranger with our address?"

  "It's the other way around, Elfin. He trusted me with his violin. I wish you could have heard him play. He's a very gifted musician. But America has a stupid rule that you can't immigrate if you're crippled, and Ludwig has an injured leg. It isn't fair, because there are plenty of jobs he could do if they would just give him a chance. I'm sure he could make lots of money playing his violin."

  Elfin stared at her, wondering what to think. Sofia held up the strange book. "He also asked me to take care of this. It's his Bible. He's a good man, Elfin. And besides, you had no business looking in my bag in the first place."

  "It was an accident; I mistook it for mine. I'm sorry." Elfin was surprised to see tears in Sofia's eyes as she tucked the Bible back into her satchel and set it on her own bed.

  Elfin was keeping a secret from her sisters, so why should it surprise her if her sisters kept secrets from her? But what if this German man was scheming to take advantage of Sofia's innocence and vulnerability? Maybe she and her sisters weren't safe here in America after all. She hoped Sofia's chance meeting wouldn't end in disaster.

  "I think we'd better get to work," Elfin said, summoning her strength. "We don't want to give Mrs. Anderson an excuse to fire us."

  "Especially on our first day," Kirsten added.

  They finished dressing and went downstairs to the kitchen, where Mrs. Olafson was fixing a lunch tray. "Don't you girls look lovely in your new outfits-or should I say old outfits? Would one of you like to carry this tray upstairs to Mrs. Anderson when it's ready?"

  "I will," Kirsten said.

  "I didn't realize that it was noon already," Elfin said. "All we've accomplished is moving in."

  "How big did you say this house is?" Kirsten asked.

  "It has more than twenty rooms-not counting the servants' rooms on the third floor."

  "Let's see .. ." Kirsten said, counting on her fingers, "if we spent two days cleaning each room, it would take us only forty days-no, that's not long enough. We need to work for at least ten weeks to pay back the money we owe."

  "Longer if you count spending money," Elin added.

  "Did you see all of that woodwork in the dining room?" Sofia asked. "We could never clean and polish all that wood in two days-not to mention the furniture and the silver and-"

  "Where do you think we should begin, Mrs. Olafson?" Elfin asked.

  "Well, first you should eat your noon meal. I fixed enough for the three of you, you see. After that I would start with the rooms she is most likely to use. The morning room behind the stairs, where the sun comes in. She likes to sit in there. And the dining room. She does use it for guests from time to time, but right now the silver is a mess and the dishes need to be washed and the rugs hung out and beaten and ..." The little woman paused to take another breath, then gestured to the kitchen table. "But sit-eat, eat."

  Mrs. Olafson's fish chowder was the best Elfin had ever tasted. The rye bread was still warm from the oven. Elfin hadn't felt so full or so satisfied since leaving home.

  "I'd like to start with the dining room," Sofia said after they'd finished. "I think it must look beautiful beneath all that dust. If you show me where to find the silver polish, Mrs. Olafson, I'll be glad to start with that."

  After lunch, Elfin dragged herself into the dining room behind Sofia and Kirsten. Sterling silver serving pieces covered the top of the sideboard-chafing dishes and a coffee set; dishes for condiments and fruit and butter; salt and pepper shakers, a pickle caster, a mustard pot, and even a silver toothpick holder-all black with tarnish. Elfin opened the cupboard doors and found even more silver pieces, along with a set of bone china dishes and enough silverware to serve twenty people. She covered a corner of the table with an old cloth to protect it and helped Sofia pile all of the pieces in one place so she could begin.

  Kirsten hauled in a bucket of warm soapy water and began washing the mahogany-paneled walls. Elfin followed behind her with a rag and furniture polish. As she worked, Elfin couldn't stop thinking about Sofia and the mysterious owner of the violin and Bible. It was so unlike her sister to befriend a stranger. She had always been so timid and shy. What had brought about this change in her? Sofia had been reading Mama's Bible every night, too, and reminding them to pray before they went to sleep. Was this the reason for the change, or the result of it?

  Elfin suddenly realized that Sofia was humming while she worked. She used to love to sing and had a beautiful voice, but Elfin hadn't heard her sing since everything started falling apart back home.

  The humming turned spontaneously into song. Sofia chose their mother's favorite hymn, "Children of the Heavenly Father." Elfin stopped polishing and closed her eyes to listen.

  "'Though He giveth or He taketh, God His children ne'er forsaketh; His the loving purpose solely to preserve them pure and holy.' "

  Tears blurred Elin's vision from the beauty of Sofia's voice. It seemed like a miracle that she was singing at all. Elfin was afraid to speak, afraid to make Sofia self-conscious. But she longed to hear more.

  "That was beautiful, Sofia," Kirsten said when she stopped. "It's so good to hear you sing again."

  Sof
ia smiled shyly, her cheeks turning pink. "When my friend Ludwig played his violin for me, his music gave me hope and courage."

  Kirsten dipped her rag in the bucket and wrung it out. "We sure could use a lot of each," she said softly. "I don't think our new life in America is what any of us had hoped for or expected, is it?"

  "But in spite of everything," Sofia said, "I'm happy."

  "Then sing some more," Kirsten coaxed. "Maybe we'll sing with you."

  It took them four days to clean the dining room. They had to ask the gardener for a ladder so they could wash the cobwebs off the crown molding and clean the chandelier and wall sconces. Mr. Lund also helped them move the table and chairs aside and carry the rug outside so they could beat it. Then they put everything back into place again.

  When they were finished, the dishes and silver serving pieces gleamed. Elfin could see her reflection on the polished tabletop. With the chandelier and sconces lit, the room sparkled. She and her sisters stood back to admire their work.

  "I knew there was a beautiful room beneath all that dirt," Sofia said.

  "And now we have only nineteen more rooms to clean," Elfin said.

  "By the time we get to the last one, the first one will be dirty all over again," Kirsten said. "At least we'll never be out of a job."

  "Yes we will," Sofia said. "Her son wants to sell the house, remember?"

  The sound of the front door chimes echoed through the hallway. Elfin hurried to open the door, and the moment she did, the woman on the doorstep pushed past her and breezed inside, talking loudly and rapidly in English. She was beautifully dressed and appeared to be in her forties, with the fair hair and skin coloring of a Swede, but her colorful clothing and elegant hat were those of an American woman.

  Elfin held up her hand to interrupt the stream of chatter. "Excuse me, ma'am, but I just arrived in America a short time ago and I haven't learned English yet."

  "Oh. I see," the woman said, switching to Swedish. She was only a few inches taller than Elfin, but the way she scrutinized her with narrowed eyes and upturned nose made Elfin feel very small.