Fields of Gold Beneath Prairie Skies

by de Montigny, Suzanne;

  Lea nodded, understanding all too well.

  “So Guy traveled the rails back and forth across Canada looking for work. Sometimes he’d get a job for a few months, send money home, and then he’d move on, going from one province to the next. Oh, how I’d worry about him every time he left. I’d heard stories about fights in the camps and how men were beat up and left to die. And just as I began to despair, he’d show up at the door. Of course, you can guess what happened every time he’d come home.”

  Lea’s eyebrows raised, questioning. “What?”

  “Another baby.”

  The two women covered their mouths as they erupted into knowing giggles.

  “But it must have been tough bringing up so many children on your own,” said Lea.

  “Well, yes and no. There were plenty of cousins who gave us clothes. Sometimes they weren’t always in the best shape, but it’s amazing what one can do with a thread and needle and a patch here and there. And Guy’s sister lived close by, so we had lots of help from her. And, of course, as the other kids grew older, they helped too.”

  “So how did you end up here?” asked Lea.

  “On one of Guy’s trips, he stopped in Swift Current where he joined some men in a hobo camp. And as they ate their beans around the fire, he heard one of them say the government was building an irrigation project near Val Marie. The men were pretty excited and several of them planned to set out the next morning. Guy knew he had to get a jump on them, so he rose in the middle of the night and walked all the way here.”

  Lea’s eyes widened. “He walked?”

  “Of course. There was no train to Val Marie. What else could he do?” She shrugged. “And when he finally arrived, there was already a long lineup for the jobs. Anyway, to make a long story short, he was the last one hired. And since it was an ongoing job, he sent for all of us.”

  “But that must have been expensive, bringing you all here—eleven children!” Lea said.

  “Twelve….” Marie-Ève winked. “There’s another one on the way.”

  Lea gasped. “Oh, my!”

  “I kept saving a little bit in a jar each month. It wasn’t much, but after a while it added up. No one knew about it except Guy and me. So what about you, Lea? We always wondered what happened to you. Remember how we tried to exchange addresses just as the train was leaving? And neither Guy nor I could find a piece of paper to write on?”

  Lea nodded and let out a sigh. “It was hard, to say the least.” She recounted the story of how they’d worked for the Gilberts before acquiring their own homestead, about the hardships of clearing the land, and of the hopelessness of the drought. Her voice lowered to a whisper when she relayed what happened to Emma, Palma and Roger, wiping helpless tears as she spoke.

  Marie-Ève dabbed her eyes too as she listened. Taking Lea’s hand in hers, she squeezed it. “You poor thing. But everything turned out for the best, hein? You had six children and now this beautiful little girl.”

  Lea gazed down at her baby and ran her fingers through her hair, admiring her cherubic face. “Yes, my little Yolande. I had her in November.” She tipped her head toward Pol. “That’s my oldest one over there,” she said. “His name’s Pol. He’s fifteen. He’s helping Napoleon finish the dam.”

  “You’re building a dam?” asked Marie-Ève. “But I thought Nap was working on the irrigation project with Guy?”

  “Yes, he is,” Lea explained. “He’s building the dam after work and on weekends.”

  “On weekends!” said Marie-Ève. “But doesn’t he ever get time off?”

  “Not much. But he doesn’t care. Not when the government’s offering three hundred and fifty dollars for it. He’ll do anything to get a hold of that kind of money.”

  “Wow! Three hundred and fifty dollars! That’s a fortune!”

  “It sure is, and it’s awfully welcome after years and years of living off our garden…and the government.” Lea’s face reddened at her confession.

  “It’s okay, Lea,” said Marie-Ève. “We’ve all had to accept help one way or another.”

  “I know. It’s just that Nap is so proud. He doesn’t want anyone to know.”

  Marie-Ève placed an arm over her friend’s shoulder. “Lea,” she said, her voice earnest, “Don’t be so hard on yourself. The Depression has been difficult for everyone. I think you’ve done quite well.”

  Lea nodded. Could it be true they’d succeeded despite everything?

  When Lea left Val Marie that day, her heart soared. Perhaps she’d lost Cécile, but now she’d found Marie-Ève, and she knew they’d pick up their friendship where it left off.

  One day, Pol ran to the house, a letter in his hand. “Maman!” he shouted. “It’s from the Government of Canada!”

  Lea abandoned the bread she’d been kneading and raced to meet him. Could it already be the cheque they’d awaited? After all, the government officials had already given their mark of approval, impressed by the work Nap had done. “Let’s see.” Grabbing the envelope from him, she frowned. “Why has it already been opened?”

  “I’m sorry, Maman,” Pol said. “I couldn’t wait. I had to look.”

  Lea took the contents out and read it. She let out a whoop.

  “What is it?” Lilian jumped up from the floor where she was having a pretend tea party with the younger children. The others turned, their eyes wide with excitement.

  “It’s the cheque from the government!” She waved it in the air. “Three hundred and fifty dollars!”

  “Three hundred and fifty dollars?” repeated Lilian.

  “Yes!” Lea cried. “Three hundred and fifty dollars!”

  The cheque passed from Lilian to Claire, then back to Lea again.

  “I wanna see it too,” said Denis.

  “Okay.” Lea held it down to his level until the boy seemed satisfied.

  “What are we going to do with all that money?” asked Claire.

  “I don’t know, but let’s surprise Papa tonight.”

  “Yeah!” said Denis.

  When Nap returned that evening from the irrigation project, a beautifully decorated store-bought cake graced the table. “What’s the occasion?” he asked. “Another baby? It says Congratulations. Congratulations?” He eyed each one in turn, searching for a clue.

  Lilian’s finger flew to her lips, a warning for the younger children to keep quiet, but Denis leapt forward.

  “We got the money, Papa!” he shouted as he jumped in his father’s arms.

  “Denis!” cried Lilian.

  “What money?” Napoleon asked.

  “The three hundred and fifty dollars,” said Claire. “It came in the mail!”

  “Blabbermouths!” Lilian took the cheque from its spot on the cabinet and handed it to her dad.

  Nap’s eyes rounded as he read it. He broke into a wide grin.

  “So what are we gonna do with it?” asked Lilian.

  “I know exactly what we’ll do. We’ll build the new house, the one I’ve been promising all these years.” He slipped his arm around Lea’s waist and kissed her.

  “A new house! Yay!” shouted Claire.

  “Yay!” The younger children copied her.

  The family sat down to dinner, chattering about the details of the new home now that providence had smiled upon them.

  “We’ll build it in town,” said Napoleon, poking a piece of potato with his fork. “That way no one will ever have to miss school again because of the snow.”

  “But what about the farm?” asked Lea.

  Nap laid down his fork and finished chewing before speaking. “I know a fellow who’s looking to rent land. He says he’ll plant and harvest the wheat. I could offer him two-thirds of the crop in payment and keep a third for us.”

  “That sounds fair,” said Lea.

  “And perhaps Pol could help me build the house since he’s not too keen on school anymore.”

  Pol gave a sheepish smile. “Okay.”

  A few days later, Nap surprised them a
gain when he gathered the children around him and announced, “I bought a lot in town behind the school today.”

  The family broke into excited chatter.

  “But that’s not all. I also bought a small house that we’ll move to the site. We can live in it while we build the new one.”

  The kids nearly burst with excitement.

  “Pol, how’d you feel about starting the basement tomorrow…instead of going to school?”

  “Sure,” said Pol, smiling.

  Within a week, they’d prepared the small cabin to be moved. Nap and Pol built the formations for the foundation using rocks encased in cement. When they were ready, they transported the temporary dwelling onto the land, moved in, then began planning the rest of the structure. Nap bought a second shack, dismantling it for the lumber. Each day, he and Pol took the wood to the site where they stored it until needed.

  When the time came to extend the small house they lived in, Lea set up a tent beside the cabin where they spent the summer months until it was ready.

  The new house was the envy of everyone in town. Painted white, it had two front windows, and was decorated with scalloped shingles. Inside, were three bedrooms—one for the girls, one for the boys, and one for Lea and Nap. The living room was large enough to host plenty of company, though it would be difficult to hide Nap’s buffalo berry wine from the RCMP now that they were living in Val Marie. But best of all, the kitchen had a pump so they wouldn’t need to fetch water from the well.

  Lea lovingly painted the walls and stenciled them with images of roses. She made curtains for each of the windows with flour sack fabric—pink and blue blossoms for the girls; cowboys and horses for the boys; and for her own room, men and women dancing beneath umbrellas. But the best part about the new house was the outdoor facilities. At last, she could throw away the hated bucket! What a luxury! Lea felt as though she were back in Belgium. She couldn’t wait until Nap built the small barn in the back for King and Queen.

  One night, as they sat outside, watching the children play, Napoleon took her hand in his and asked, “Are you happy now, my love?”

  “You mean because of the house?” asked Lea. “Of course!”

  “No, I mean the rest. I never did fulfill my promise to you,” he said. “I promised you a successful farm, and now I’ve gone and rented it to someone else.”

  Lea’s fingers closed around his. “You haven’t broken your promise, mon homme,” she said. “We can still see fields of wheat that stretch out as far as the eye can see. And the skies are still splendid. It’s just we’re not living on the farm anymore. And I’d much rather be here than in Europe with everything that’s happening with Hitler.”

  She thought of the second-hand radio Nap had bought and how they’d listen to the news each night about how Hitler had stolen Austria, torn up the Treaty of Versailles, and redrawn the map of Europe. War was imminent at the hands of such a tyrant.

  “And you don’t mind if I support the family doing carpentry?”

  “Of course not,” she said. “You’re very good at it, so why not?”

  They sat in silence for a time, watching the children. Pol would soon be old enough to join the forces should Canada join the resistance against Hitler. And before long, Lilian would be dating. But the other kids would keep her busy for years to come. Yolande crawled up to her and pulled herself up, her little fingers clutching Lea’s dress. Lea bent down and took the little girl in her arms.

  Her thoughts traveled to the graveyard in Ponteix where the twins and Roger lay. A familiar hurt tugged at her heart. She’d had difficult times for certain—the solitude, the loss of children, the drought, the grasshoppers, the dust storms, Cécile’s death, Claude’s suicide. But in the end, she had a great deal to be thankful for—seven healthy children, a house, and a husband. She leaned back and watched the movement in the sky. Tall, blackened clouds promised rain.

  “Dark castles of hope in the sky,” she whispered.

  “What did you say?” asked Napoleon.

  “I said everything is perfect as pie.” And with that, she reached over and kissed her husband’s cheek.

  The End

  Epilogue

  My grandparents, Leopoldine and Napoleon, never returned to farming. Napoleon continued to support the family in his chosen trade, carpentry. Eventually, they moved to Alberta, and then to Chilliwack, British Columbia, where they retired. Though Leopoldine did indeed thrust her head in the coulee in frustration that day, in actual fact, she didn’t attempt suicide. Pol never told his father what he had witnessed. Leopoldine was thrilled beyond words when her sister Palma finally immigrated to Canada in 1959. She never saw the rest of her family again.

  Dr. Onil Lupien was the first pioneer doctor in Ponteix, Saskatchewan. He worked tirelessly to look after the good people of his town. In 1943, he diagnosed his own throat cancer. During the last three years of his life, he continued to do his hospital rounds wheelchair bound. He died in 1946 and is buried in the Ponteix cemetery.

  Pol joined the air force during WWII where he finished high school. He attended medical school at the University of Ottawa. He married Pierrette Joanisse and had four children. They settled in Chilliwack, B.C., where he practiced medicine for almost thirty years. Influenced by the example of Dr. Lupien, he was renowned for his compassion and devotion.

  Lilian married Art Ring who ran a successful pig farm in Alberta until their retirement in Chilliwack. They had four children. She now resides in Brooks, Alberta.

  Claire studied psychiatric nursing, but abandoned her studies to marry Clarence Hala, as was the fashion those days. They had four children. Suffering most of her life from ill health, Claire died at fifty-one from complications of leukemia. She is sorely missed to this day.

  Denis studied geography at UBC. Always lured by the mountains, he never lost his childhood affinity for climbing. He starred in a Calgary documentary about mountaineering, and his photograph appeared in several magazines. He lives in Chilliwack.

  George joined the air force and later became a building contractor in the Fraser Valley. He married Beverly Novak and had four children.

  Georgette married Ed Evans after living and working on her own in Alberta. They settled in Cache Creek, B.C., where he worked as a carpenter for the school board. They had five children.

  Yolande married John Chambers after a brief courtship of two weeks. They owned their own appliance business in Chilliwack. They had four children and are still happily married to this day.

  Emma, Palma, and Roger lie buried in the Ponteix cemetery. Carrying the loss of these three children to the grave, Leopoldine and Napoleon were never able to speak of them, their emotions too overwhelming. So moved was I by this story that I traveled to Ponteix to lay roses on their grave.

  Other Suzanne de Montigny books published by BWL Publishing:

  A Town Bewitched

  (winner of the Dante Rossetti Award for Best Coming of Age Novel)

  The Legacy (Shadow of the Unicorn, Book 1)

  The Deception (Shadow of the Unicorn, Book 2)

  The Revenge (Shadow of the Unicorn, Book 3)—Coming soon

  Suzanne de Montigny loved writing stories as a child, creating her first novella at the age of twelve. She has kept it on her shelf between her textbooks and novels all her life. As an adult, she pursued a career in music education, teaching school for twenty years. It was there she discovered she had a knack for storytelling. When her father passed away in 2006, she developed an overpowering urge to begin writing again. She has received awards for her “Shadow of the Unicorn” series and her young teen novel, A Town Bewitched.

  She lives in Burnaby, B.C. with the four loves of her life, her husband, her two boys, and Buddy the bichon frisé.

  Please visit Suzanne’s website at:

  www.suzannedemontigny.com

  You can also find her at:

  https://www.facebook.com/unicorngirl52?ref=hl

  And you can follow her on Twitter at:

&n
bsp; https://twitter.com/sfierymountain

  And last but not least, here is her blog:

  http://suzannesthoughtsfortheday.blogspot.ca

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  Berton, Pierre. “Dionne Quintuplets.” The Canadian Encyclopedia. The Canadian Encyclopedia, 04 Mar. 2013. Web. 03 May 2017. .

  Brennan, J. William. “Regina.” The Canadian Encyclopedia. The Canadian Encyclopedia, 23 Sept. 2012. Web. -5 Oct. 2016. .

  Cafasso, Jacquelyn. “Body Lice Infestation.” Healthline. Healthline Media, 15 Oct. 2015. Web. 15 July 2017. .

  Canada, Library And Archives. “Land Grants of Western Canada, 1870-1930.” Library and Archives Canada. Library and Archives Canada, 25 May 2017. Web. 06 Apr. 2017. .

  De Montigny, Joseph Leo Pol. My Story. Chilliwack, B.C.: Published by the Author, 2006. Print.

  Dyck, Bruce. “Dirty Thirties: Fact and Myth.” The Western Producer. The Western Producer, 28 July 2005. Web. 10 Jan. 2017. .

  English, John R. “R.B. Bennett.” The Canadian Encyclopedia. The Canadian Encyclopedia, 21 Feb. 2008. Web. 19 Nov. 2016.