Two huge dogs who looked like twin grey wolves with shaggy coats and long pointy ears bared their sharp white teeth. Although they stopped barking at Uncle Leo’s command, they still whined and sniffed and jostled about while everyone got out of the car.
Sophie held onto Maman, using her as a shield between herself and the scary dogs.
“Antoine! It’s been years!” boomed the big fanner, as he clapped Papa’s shoulders. He hugged Maman under one arm and Grand’maman under the other. “And all these kids are yours? My, you’re one lucky man! All these sons!”
Papa nodded and proudly presented his boys. “This is my oldest, Joseph. Then there’s Henri and Arthur. The baby is Zephram. And here is my girl, Sophie. She can push a stalled car with the best of them.”
“You had car trouble?”
“Some.”
Uncle Leo shook hands all around. His hand was huge and rough but Sophie thought he had a kind twinkle in his grey eyes and a hearty grin for everyone.
“Well, don’t stand out here in the cold. Entrez, entrez! Come on in,” he said. “Claire’s got a big stew simmering on the stove all ready and waiting. And for dessert, she’s made you her special tarte aux bleuets.“
As Sophie followed her brothers to the farm house, the two dogs seemed to be stalking her. She turned back, and narrowing her eyes, gave them such a fierce Star Girl stare, they slunk away into the shadows.
Soon the whole family was sitting around the big kitchen table and Aunt Claire ladled rich stew into bowls for everyone. She was as small and quiet as Uncle Leo was big and boisterous, but she made Sophie feel welcome when she smiled at her as she handed out warm crusty buns.
“Come now, Claire. Sit down and join us,” said Maman.
“Oh no. I’ve already eaten,” said Aunt Claire. “I’ll make us some tea. Would you children like some milk?”
She filled their cups with milk from a big enamel pitcher.
Sophie had felt sleepy in the car, and though supper woke her up for a while, by the time the blueberry pie arrived for dessert, she was having trouble keeping her eyes open.
The last thing she remembered was the light from the oil lamp in the centre of the table blurring as she put her head down on her arms and then Papa carrying her to a cool couch to sleep for the night.
The next day, Sophie held Zephram’s hand tight as she tried to hurry him along the road home from the Lafleche General store.
He protested.
“You don’t have to hold his hand the whole way, you know,” said Arthur.
“Do too. I promised Maman. After what happened at the bridge at Grand’maman’s place, I’m not taking any chances with him ever again.”
Arthur made a funny noise with his mouth and Zephram laughed. “Artie, Artie,” he sang and put out his other hand for Arthur to hold. He tried again to pull his hand away from Sophie but she wouldn’t let go. She’d hold his hand all the way back to Uncle Leo’s house, even if he did like Arthur more than he liked her.
“Besides, I don’t like the creepy way Uncle Leo’s dogs are following us,” she said when she noticed the dogs behind them. “They’ve followed us all the way to the village and back.”
Arthur looked back over his shoulder at the dogs who were slinking behind them like two wolf-shaped shadows. “You’re such a scaredy cat, Sophie,” he scoffed. “They won’t hurt us. They’re just curious.”
Zephram stopped to examine a worm in a puddle at the side of the road.
“Come on, Zephie. You don’t have to stop and examine every single worm.” Sophie pulled his hand.
“Worm,” said Zephram pointing to the pink worm. The gravel road had lots of puddles and lots of worms.
The sun glinted off the new eagle badge Arthur had just bought at the store. He’d pinned it on his Jughead hat.
“They were nice at that store,” said Sophie. “I didn’t expect them to speak French way out here in Saskatchewan, did you?”
“Uncle Leo said lots of French people live around Lafleche. That’s one of the reasons they bought their farm here.”
“It was nice of Aunt Claire to give us a dime each to spend at the store just for delivering her eggs,” said Sophie.
“What a waste to spend your whole dime on a comic.”
“But it’s a Star Girl comic,” said Sophie, holding her new comic book closer. “I’ve never seen this one before.”
“You’re crazy about those Star Girl comics.”
“And you’re crazy about that stupid Jughead hat!”
He made another noise at her with his mouth and Zephram laughed again.
Sophie flushed and looked away across the fields. She saw a tall white house with smoke billowing out its chimney. “Isn’t that Uncle Leo’s house?”
“Yep. And look, there’s Joseph up on the barn roof,” said Arthur. “He and Henri get to help fix the roof just because they’re older. Papa never thinks I’m big enough to do anything like that.”
“Why don’t we take a short cut across the field? We’d get there a lot faster,” said Sophie.
“All right,” said Arthur.
They swung Zephram over the ditch beside the road and scrambled through some tall weeds and under a barbed wire fence, careful to hold the barbs away from their skin.
Sophie saw the dogs jump over the ditch and follow them through the weeds, although they kept their distance.
It was a big field of uneven ground with holes in it.
“Gopher holes,” said Arthur.
Sophie held her comic close and looked around the field, but she couldn’t see any gophers, just a small pile of dirt beside each hole. There wasn’t any new grass growing yet but at the edge of the field were some spindly bushes and lots of pale grass left over from last fall. The ground was soft and sandy rather than muddy. It wasn’t at all like the black Manitoba gumbo that had stuck to her shoes.
Sophie noticed something on the horizon move. She stopped and looked closer.
“It’s only a couple of cows sitting there, chewing their cud,” said Arthur.
Sophie nodded but gripped Zephram’s hand firmly. One of the cows raised its head and looked at them. It blinked its long lashed eyes and went on chewing. Behind it, another cow stared at them too. Then it struggled clumsily to its feet and grunted at them.
“Come on. Hurry,” Sophie said, her heart beating faster.
The cow nodded its head up and down. It was a huge black animal with two long sharp horns on its big head. It stared at them with dark angry eyes.
Sophie could see its breath streaming in two thin clouds from its nostrils. It started making loud snorting noises at them and pounding the ground with its giant hooves.
“Artie, are you sure that’s just a cow?” said Sophie in a tiny quivery voice.
Her brother swallowed hard and stammered, “That…that’s no cow! That’s a bull! Let’s get out of here!” He tugged Zephram back toward the fence.
Sophie whirled around to dash back too. “Oh no! He’s coming after us!” she squealed. “Hurry! Hurry!” She grabbed Zephram’s hand firmly and sprinted for the fence.
They dragged Zephram between them racing over the uneven ground. Sophie could feel the ground vibrating under the bull’s angry hooves. The fence was too far away! They’d never make it! The bull’s hooves stampeded closer.
Sophie tripped in a gopher hole and sprawled on the ground, dropping her comic and pulling Zephram and Arthur on top of her. Zephram howled and she grabbed her comic and held it in front of them like a shield. The angry bull was almost on top of them!
Then out of the corner of her eye, she saw two wolf-shaped shadows burst from the bushes at the edge of the field. They were barking fiercely. Uncle Leo’s dogs! They lunged at the bull and it swerved to avoid them.
Sophie scrambled up and leapt for the fence, dragging her brothers.
“Shove Zephie under!” she yelled.
Together she and Arthur pushed Zephram under the fence and he rolled away in the long gra
ss. Sophie dove toward the fence but the bull was right behind her. The two dogs were in a frenzy, yelping and growling at its side. She squealed and squeezed under the barbed wire. Arthur was right beside her. They made it through just before the bull reached them.
The bull pulled up short at the fence and bellowed at them. Sophie felt its hot angry breath and hid her face behind her comic.
The dogs continued to bark and growl at the bull. When it turned on them, they slunk under the fence, narrowly avoiding its slashing hooves. The bull stood on the other side of the fence and pounded the ground, bellowing and glaring at them all, its dark eyes wild.
Sophie’s insides felt like jelly. Zephram was cowering behind her back, crying. She turned away from the bull and hugged him. “It’s all right, Zephie,” she whispered, trying to catch her breath. “You’re not hurt, are you? We’re safe. We’re all safe from that big old bull.”
Arthur patted Zephram’s back. “We’re okay. We’re all okay,” he said over and over. Amazingly, his Jughead hat was still on his head but his glasses were all lop-sided. He straightened them and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Then he called to the dogs. “Come over here. Come on.”
The dogs came and allowed the kids to pet them. Their dark fur felt bristly. Zephram stopped crying and started to giggle when they licked the tears from his cheeks. Sophie didn’t even mind when they licked her face as well. Their tongues tickled her chin.
“Good dogs. Good dogs,” she said stroking their foreheads between their pointy ears. The dogs panted, wagged their long tails and whined a bit. Then, they turned away and trotted down the road, two dark shadows again.
Sophie brushed Zephram off. She held one of his hands and Arthur took the other and they followed the dogs the long way home down the road.
ALBERTA QUICK FACTS
Motto: Fords et Liber (Strong and Free)
Alberta was named for Queen Victoria’s fourth daughter, Princess Louise Caroline Alberta
Population: 2,957,400 (1999)
Size: 661 190 sq. km
Capital: Edmonton
Main Industries: Oil, ranching, farming, mining
Flower: Wild Rose
Bird: The Great Horned Owl
Tree: Lodgepole Pine
History:
First Nations people have lived in the area now called Alberta for many years where they hunted bison, moose, and deer. Europeans began exploring the area in 1750 and soon trading posts were built along the rivers. The Canadian Pacific Railway, which was completed in 1885, encouraged settlement by wheat farmers and cattle ranchers. In 1905 Alberta entered confederation. In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, prices for wheat and cattle fell, forcing many people to leave their farms. Some turned to coal mining. In 1947, oil was discovered at Leduc, after which many other oil fields were also found in the area.
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Uncle Leo and Aunt Claire saw the LaGrange family off early the next morning and they continued their journey west. They drove all day through the flat prairie, through small towns like Gravelbourg, Swift Current and Leader, until they left Saskatchewan and entered the rolling hills of Alberta in the afternoon.
“Only one more province to go. We must be almost there,” said Sophie from the back seat.
“We’re almost there because we’re almost there because we’re almost.…” sang her three big brothers until she thought she’d go crazy.
Off in the distance she saw a strange contraption. It looked like a giant bird bobbing its head up and down, poking its long bill into the ground.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“Must be a pump, pumping up natural gas or oil,” said Papa. “I read that two years ago they made a major oil discovery at Leduc which is just north of here. Look, there’s another pump on the other side of the road.”
After leaving the highway, they bounced along a lumpy gravel road where they saw plenty of oil wells and pumps in the rolling fields. Then Sophie saw three figures on horseback approaching from another dusty field. Cowboys!
“They’re rounding up the cattle,” said Arthur who was sitting beside her.
“Look. That one’s got a hat and a lassoo and everything,” said Sophie. The cowboy roped a calf, jumped off his horse and wrestled it to the ground.
“They must be branding the calves,” said Arthur.
A few minutes later she saw a sign: “Welcome to Drumheller, Alberta. Home of the Dinosaur Trail.”
“Dinosaurs?” said Sophie. “They have real live DinosaurT rail.”
“Don’t be crazy,” said Arthur. “Dinosaurs died over a hundred and sixty million years ago.”
“They’ve discovered some dinosaur bones near Drumheller in the badlands,” said Papa.
“What’s the badlands?” asked Arthur.
“That’s what they call the land around here because it’s so dry they can’t grow anything on it.”
“Could we see the dinosaur bones?” asked Sophie.
“I’ll check,” said Papa.
They stopped at a gas station and were given directions to a small museum on the outskirts of town. They got there just before it closed, but the man let them in for a quick look around.
Sophie couldn’t believe that any animal could have been so huge. Just the leg bone of the giant Albertosaurus was taller than she was. Arthur kept taking off his glasses and rubbing them and putting them back on and staring at the huge skeletons.
The man showing them around told them that most of the dinosaur skeletons had been found in the last few years and that more were being discovered every year.
“You mean we might find one?” asked Arthur, his dark eyes huge and shiny behind his glasses.
“If you were to go hiking up behind the hills in the badlands, you just might come across a dinosaur bone,” said the man. “You never can tell just where you might find one.”
“Wow!” said Arthur.
Papa bought postcards for everyone. When they all piled back into the car, Arthur insisted on having the window seat so he could watch for dinosaur bones along the road’s edge.
“You won’t see any bones just lying there at the side of the road,” scoffed Henri.
“The man said that you never can tell where you might find one,” said Arthur.
As the car continued west, following the setting sun, Sophie stared past Arthur’s head out at the grey hills of the badlands. She imagined the car was as small as an ant travelling across a giant’s sandbox dotted with sand castles and deep caverns.
Finally, after bouncing along the rough roads for what felt like hours, they reached Uncle Dave and Aunt Michelle’s house in the town of Carbon. They were all so tired, they fell into bed and slept until the next morning.
At breakfast Sophie learned there was a girl next door around her age, named Janine, and she collected comics too! They spent the morning trading comics until Janine had to leave to visit her grandmother. Sophie spent the rest of the afternoon on the front steps of Uncle Dave and Aunt Michelle’s house. First she wrote two postcards, one for Danielle and one for Marcie.
Yesterday we went to a museum in Drumheller and saw the most amazing dinosaur bones. Scientists found them in the Badlands near here. They told us that they were first discovered in the 1920s and people still find bones around here every year. Arthur is keeping his eyes peeled so maybe we’ll find some too!
Ton amie, toujours,
Sophie xxxxxxx
Then she read the two new Star Girl comics she’d traded Janine for her saddle shoes. She didn’t mind getting rid of those shoes. They took up so much space in her suitcase she’d had trouble fitting in all her new comics. One of the comics was called, “Back to the Land of the Dinosaurs,” in which Star Girl travelled back in time and saved a nest of duckbill eggs from a pack of terrible flesh-eating Albertosauruses.
Sophie glanced up from her comic and spotted Arthur across the street, staring into the Carbon Corner Store window. He’d looked gloomy all day, ever since Uncle Dave, Papa, He
nri, and Joseph had left to see the coal mine outside town where their cousin, Robert, worked.
Uncle Dave had told Arthur that no one under fifteen was allowed in the mine. The foreman there would get into big trouble if he let in any underage kids. That was the law.
Sophie crossed the street. “Why so glum, chum?” she asked him.
“Just look at that Spitfire. Isn’t it deluxe?” He pointed to a small silver airplane badge in the store window. “It’d be perfect for the top of my hat.”
“First prize for Carbon’s Annual Go-cart Derby, $10.00 and a Genuine Silver Spitfire Airplane Badge,” she read.
“I’ll take the ten bucks and you can have the badge,” she laughed. “Too bad it’s too late to make a go-cart. The derby’s tomorrow.”
“I tried making one out of a wooden soap box and an old baby buggy this morning. Only problem is, I can’t fit into it. It’s way too tight and I can’t make it any bigger.”
“Where is it?”
“In the backyard beside Uncle Dave’s tool shed.” Then he stopped and stared at Sophie. “Hey, I’ve got an idea!”
“What idea?” She wasn’t sure if she liked the way his eyes were glinting at her from behind his glasses.
“Naw. It’d never work. You’d never do it anyway.”
“Never do what?”
“Forget it.”
“Forget what? What would I never do?” Then she realized what he was thinking. “I could drive your go-cart? You think maybe I could fit inside it?”
“Yeah, you might. You’re skinny enough. But then, girls don’t drive go-carts. Everybody knows that.”
“Says who?” said Sophie, standing up her tallest and throwing back her shoulders.
She followed Arthur back across the street and into Uncle Dave’s backyard where his go-cart sat beside the tool shed. It had what looked like a low baby buggy frame with its wheels still attached. He’d sawed one end off a wooden Ivory Snow soap box and fastened it to the buggy frame with bent nails. There was a rope tied to the front axle.
Sophie Sea to Sea Page 6