Spring's Gentle Promise

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Spring's Gentle Promise Page 20

by Janette Oke


  “ ‘I will rejoice in the Lord—the Lord God is my strength,’ ” I kept repeating over and over. Oh, what a freedom! I could finally let go. I could shift my heavy load onto another’s shoulders. Somehow— somehow God would work it out. Somehow He would see us through. Maybe we wouldn’t keep the farm—but if not—well, He’d help us to manage without it. Somehow!

  By now soft snoring reached to me from the other bunks and I knew the men around me were getting much-needed rest. Yet I continued to inwardly pray and praise until late into the night. When I rose the next morning, it was with new strength.

  When I picked up my pick and shovel and fell into line, the task had not changed—but my attitude had. God was in charge now—I would simply wait for Him. But for now—for now I was on the payroll of the government. They expected a full day’s work. All through the morning the sound of rhythmic blows sounded on the gravelly banks around me. The work continued on the irrigation canal gradually worming its way across the barren and desolate prairie land. By this time in the season, the sun had climbed higher in the sky and beat on our backs with intensity, making us sweat heavily with each swing of the pick or scoop of the shovel. Men complained of the heat as ferociously as they had complained about the cold.

  “Wish it would rain,” grumbled a voice to my right. “Sure would be a relief from this dust.” I wasn’t the only one who often lifted his eyes to the sky, but still no clouds formed.

  I lifted my pick again to let it strike the ground with a dull thud. My back ached, my shoulders ached, my arms ached. I was about to swing again when a voice stopped me. Someone was calling my name.

  “Jones,” I heard again. “You’re wanted.”

  I hoisted my pick and shovel and followed the beckoning hand. One never dared leave tools behind. You were useless on the job without them, and there simply was no money to replace them should they disappear.

  “The phone!” shouted the messenger. “Over in the foreman’s shack.”

  I flipped my pick and shovel over my shoulder and started at a jog for the building, my insides churning. Who would be phoning me and what possible message could they have?

  With a trembling hand I picked up the receiver. There was a crackling in my ear.

  “Hello!” I hollered into the mouthpiece.

  “He—lo,” came back a broken response. It was Grandpa. My whole body froze. Something must be terribly wrong. He wouldn’t squander money on a telephone call unless it was extremely important.

  “That you, Boy?”

  “It’s—it’s me. Josh,” I managed.

  “Hang on!” yelled Grandpa.

  I was about mad with anxiety. Why would he call me and then say “hang on”? Then another voice came on the line.

  “Josh?” It was Mary. I felt great relief. At least Mary was all right.

  “Josh?” she said again.

  “Mary! Mary, what’s—”

  “It’s raining, Josh.” Silence. “It’s raining.”

  I looked out at the clear, hot afternoon sky. There wasn’t a cloud in sight. No—wait! Way to the northwest I could see clouds against the distant horizon.

  “It settled in right over us. It’s been raining for three days now. I waited to call until I was sure it wasn’t just a shower. I—” But then Mary began to weep.

  There was a bit of a pause and next thing Grandpa was on the line again. “Rainin’, Boy,” he informed me. “Third day. Just comin’ down like ya haven’t seen in years.” He chuckled. “Clouds still hangin’ over us. We near got drowned comin’ into town.”

  “Sun’s still shining here,” I managed to reply. I was trembling now, still hardly able to believe the report.

  “Maybe it’ll move yer way after it’s finished with us,” Grandpa chortled.

  Then he spoke words that I will never forget. “Come home, Boy,” he said.

  “Come home?”

  I heard him swallow. “We already got some crop in.”

  “Crop?”

  “Yep.”

  “Who?”

  “Mary an’ me. Some of it’s showin’ already. This rain will really bring it.”

  “How’d you—? Where’d you get the seed?” I floundered.

  “Bought it.”

  “Bought it how? Where’d you get the money?” I asked, unable to grasp what Grandpa was saying.

  “Mary gathered it—somehow—she’s been savin’ pennies. Little bit each month from what you’ve sent. I don’t know how she did it, but she managed to git herself quite a little pile.”

  “But surely that wasn’t enough to—” I could imagine the small bit of seed those few dollars would buy.

  “Well,” confessed Grandpa, “she—she also sold the silver tea service.”

  “What? Where?”

  “Some lady—out-of-towner. Seemed to want it real bad. Took a mighty fancy to it. Paid a good price, Mary said.”

  I was too stunned to speak. I knew how much that tea set had meant to Mary. For a moment I just stood there, thoughts whirling round and round as I tried to take in everything Grandpa was telling me. The silver tea set—gone. Mary saving, planting. A crop already in the ground and growing. It was all too much— too much for me.

  The realization of the cost of the call finally got me talking again. “Is she still there? Mary?” I asked.

  “Yep,” and I heard Grandpa hand her the phone.

  “Mary?”

  “Yes.” Her voice was no more than a whisper.

  “Mary, I’m coming home.”

  There was only a little sob, caught somewhere in Mary’s throat.

  “I’m leavin’—I’m leavin’ right now.”

  “Oh, Josh,” sobbed Mary.

  “Mary—I love you.”

  I hung up the receiver then and turned to the foreman at the desk. “I’m leavin’,” I informed him. “I’m going to pack up my gear and will be right back to pick up my pay. Someone else can have my spot on the crew.”

  He nodded. It was done ’most every week. An exchange made.

  I ran all the way to the bunkhouse. I was going home!

  I’m goin’ home! I exulted. Back to my wife—my Mary. Back to my family. Back to my farm. We hadn’t lost it. The rains had come. Sure, things were tough. Sure, we had a ways to go in order to rebuild, but we still had our home—our land. We were going to have another chance. God was giving us another chance for seedtime—and harvest!

  EPILOGUE

  THOUGH THE STORY OF Josh and his family has been totally fictional, readers like to feel that they know a little about what happens to the characters in the future. So let’s travel on and add a bit to the family story.

  Though the years following the drought were difficult for the Jones family, Josh eventually became known as the best and most prosperous farmer in the area. But with the increase in crop production and the rebuilding of his herds, Josh never did flaunt or waste his wealth. Besides Camellia in Africa, he eventually shared in the support of nine other missionaries.

  To the family were born six children. William and Daniel were joined by Andrew, Violet, Irene, and Walter. Andrew was the one to farm the Turley home place. And like his father and mother before him, he too became actively supportive of missionaries, among whom were three members of his own family. William went to Sierra Leone, Violet to Japan, while Daniel pastored a small mission church among the Canadian Indians. Irene married Phillip Moresby, the son of the doctor who came to take Doc’s place. Phillip trained as a physician and joined his father in the family practice. Walter, Josh and Mary’s youngest, eventually was lost in the Korean war.

  All five of the remaining Jones children married. To Josh and Mary were born twenty-three grandchildren, and they saw the arrival of seventeen great-grandchildren to bless their old age.

  Grandpa lived to be ninety-six, but Uncle Charlie left behind his arthritis-ridden body at the age of seventy-four.

  The family has scattered now. With the passing of time and the mobility of our age, they no
longer cluster about the home farm. Where do they live? Well—here and there. Perhaps—just perhaps—you share your neighborhood with some of them.

  Books by Janette Oke

  ACTS OF FAITH*

  The Centurion’s Wife • The Hidden Flame

  CANADIAN WEST

  When Calls the Heart • When Comes the Spring

  When Breaks the Dawn • When Hope Springs New

  Beyond the Gathering Storm

  When Tomorrow Comes

  LOVE COMES SOFTLY

  Love Comes Softly • Love’s Enduring Promise

  Love’s Long Journey • Love’s Abiding Joy

  Love’s Unending Legacy • Love’s Unfolding Dream

  Love Takes Wing • Love Finds a Home

  A PRAIRIE LEGACY

  The Tender Years • A Searching Heart

  A Quiet Strength • Like Gold Refined

  SEASONS OF THE HEART

  Once Upon a Summer • The Winds of Autumn

  Winter Is Not Forever • Spring’s Gentle Promise

  Seasons of the Heart (4 in 1)

  SONG OF ACADIA*

  The Meeting Place • The Sacred Shore • The Birthright

  The Distant Beacon • The Beloved Land

  WOMEN OF THE WEST

  The Calling of Emily Evans • Julia’s Last Hope

  Roses for Mama • A Woman Named Damaris

  They Called Her Mrs. Doc • The Measure of a Heart

  A Bride for Donnigan • Heart of the Wilderness

  Too Long a Stranger • The Bluebird and the Sparrow

  A Gown of Spanish Lace • Drums of Change

  www.janetteoke.com

  *with Davis Bunn

 

 

 


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