RR05 - Tender Mercies (19 page)

“Anyone around here need a hired man?”

“You know how to handle a team, machinery?” Ephraim looked up from wrapping several packets together with brown paper and string.

“Pretty good.”

“You might go on out to Gustafsons’.” Ephraim gave the directions, and after buying a packet of tobacco, the man headed for the door.

“Thanks.”

“Why did you send him out there instead of to Haakan?” Penny asked in a voice meant to be heard by her helper only.

“I don’t know. There was something about him that bothered me.”

“I wish I hadn’t told him about Wolds’ then.” Penny watched the man turn left and head up the street. “That’s where he is going.”

“Don’t worry. Olaf is a good judge of character. If he thinks like me, he’ll send him on his way.”

The thought of the Wolds brought back the hurt of Sunday morning.
Whatever had possessed Goodie to be so hateful? What if . . .
She cut off the thought, appalled that it had even entered her head.
Lord, what is the matter with me? With her? Please help me to . . .
To what? She didn’t know.

Since the store was empty for the first time all afternoon, she untied her apron. “Can you watch this while I run next door?”

“Sure.”

I’m going to take care of this right now!
She headed out the back door. Now, if Goodie would only let her in. Or at the very least talk with her through the screen door.

Chapter 15

“Open it quick, Tante Kaaren.”

Kaaren smiled at Thorliff as she reached for a knife to cut the string on the parcel wrapped with brown paper. Carefully, so as to save every bit of string and paper, she unwrapped the package with the New York postmark.
Who would be sending me something from New York?
The thrill of opening it made her go slower, much to the consternation of her nephew.

“Thank you for bringing it home to me.”

“You’re welcome. Tante Penny called over when we were coming out of school to say it was there for you. She was going to ask Onkel Hjelmer to bring it if she didn’t catch me.” He leaned forward as if to encourage her fingers to move a bit faster.

“Where’s Andrew?”

“He went to Ellie’s house. I have to go get him after a while. Mor said I could ride Jack the mule. We might get to ride to school sometimes.” He looked around. “Where’s the twins?”

“Out in the barn with Lars. He’s got the girls sanding on something he’s making. Since they won’t tell me what it is and they giggled when I asked, I get the feeling it’s a Christmas present.” She folded the paper before slitting open the envelope that held a letter.

Far as Thorliff could guess, it was a book, but there was another wrapping around it. Whoever sent it wanted it kept nice.

“It’s from Mr. Gould.” Kaaren laid a hand against her cheek. “And he even wrote in Norwegian. He is such a nice man.” She read through the short letter quickly and turned to Thorliff, shaking her head. “You unwrap it.”

He looked up at her to make sure she meant it, then picked up the paper-wrapped parcel. Sure enough, it was a book. He read the title out loud. “ ‘Teaching Sign Language to the Deaf.’ ” He looked up. “Sign language?”

“He says he hopes this might help Grace and all of us to communicate with each other. He heard about it and thought of us.” She sank down in a chair and rested her elbows on the table. “Open it.”

Thorliff did and leafed through the pages. There were diagrams of finger positions to say the letters. He tried a couple and handed Kaaren the book. “Talking hands?”

“Kind of like when we tried talking with Metiz at first. Sometimes we showed things with our hands.” Kaaren tried forming an
A
with her fingers. She flipped through the pages. “Look, some of the signs are for simple words.”

With him looking over her shoulder, the two studied the pages.

“Grace will be able to talk with us,” Kaaren said.

“And us with her. We could learn this at school, so when she comes she will be able to learn like anybody.”

Kaaren patted his cheek, so near her own. “Leave it to you, Thorliff, to think of that. I thought I would teach her here at home, so she—”

“But Sophie wouldn’t go without her. You know that. This way they can both go.” He formed the sign for
M
. “This is fun.” Paws barked at the door. “Oh, oh. I gotta go. I want to learn this too. You better talk to Pastor Solberg soon.”

“I better learn it myself first. And the first step is to read the book and send a thank-you to Mr. Gould. What a true friend he is.” She glanced at the letter again. “But he didn’t say anything about how his family is doing since his wife died. I wonder how they are.”

Thorliff waved again as he headed out the door.

“So, did you talk with Goodie?” Hjelmer hung his hat on the peg by the door.

Penny shook her head. “Olaf said she was taking Andrew home. He came to play at their house with Ellie after school.”

“You want we should go over there later?”

“Guess we could try again. She made supper for the two men sleeping in the sack house, Olaf said, so she should be back soon.”

“Did you ask him what was wrong?”

She shook her head. “I wanted to, but it just wouldn’t come. Like maybe I’m making things up or something.”

“We’ll just go over there like we usually do and everything will be fine.”

“I sure hope so. I don’t like this one bit.” While she talked, she slid four full bread pans in the oven and shut the door. If Goodie didn’t start bringing baked goods over or come and help out at the noon hour as she so often did, Penny thought she might crumble under the load.

“Yoo-hoo!” The call accompanied a jingle of harness and the snort of a horse.

Penny opened the back door. “Kaaren, what brings you out so late?”

“I just had to show you what was in that package you sent home with Thorliff.” Kaaren leaped to the ground like a young girl.

“Where are the children?”

“With Ingeborg.” Kaaren gave a little skip in her progress to the door. “Penny, Hjelmer, you won’t believe this.” She sniffed. “Something sure smells good.”

“Bread. Now what is it?” Penny felt like taking Kaaren’s basket and digging through it if the woman stalled any longer.

Kaaren sat down at the table and pointed to the two chairs beside her. “Come see.” She laid the book out so all could look at the diagrams.

“What is this?” Hjelmer looked up, confusion rampant on his handsome face.

“This is the way Grace is going to learn to talk.” Kaaren spoke the words reverently, as if she were praying. “We are all going to learn to sign so we can speak with her. Thorliff is already working on her name. See the
G
.” She flipped through the pages. “Mr. Gould sent us this. Can you believe it? What a wonderful man. I wish now, more than ever, that I had met him in New York with Ingeborg.” She traced the diagram for
G
. “He has given Grace a life.” Tears filled her blue eyes and shimmered on her lashes. “How can I ever thank him?”

“Let me get this straight. You form the letters . . .”

“Not exactly, there are signs for sounds and some words too. But the entire alphabet can be signed. She’ll be able to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ and ‘pass the bread.’ We won’t need Sophie for an interpreter. The book says children learn this very quickly, and Thorliff thought they should all learn it at school, so when Grace gets old enough to go, the children will be able to talk with her.”

Penny threw her arms around Kaaren. She’d never heard her talk so much at one time unless she was reading the Scripture. “This is the most wonderful thing. You’ve got to learn it quick so you can teach the rest of us.”

Kaaren sighed. “I know. But first I have to mail this letter to say thank you. I just wish I had something to send him.” She put a finger on the letter
R
. “He is so rich he can buy anything he wants.” She dug the envelope out of her bag. “I need to buy a stamp too. I am all out.”

But rich didn’t keep the poor man from losing his wife. Sickness doesn’t care how much money you have
. But Penny kept the thoughts to herself. “Come, let’s stamp this and put it in the mail pouch right now.” She drew Kaaren to her feet. “I’d send it out tonight if I could.”

With the letter in the mail pouch, Kaaren turned to Penny. “I’ve been wanting to come anyway. Pastor Solberg saw you leave church in a rush on Sunday, and he asked me to come see if there is anything I can do to help you with whatever is wrong.” She stammered to a close. “I don’t want to tread where I’m not wanted, but if there is something . . .”

Penny stared at her fingers spread wide on the counter top. The urge to clench her fists made her jaw clench instead.
Shall I tell her? Why didn’t Pastor come himself? Would telling Kaaren what is going on be gossiping? I don’t want to be a gossip
.

She looked up at Kaaren. “I-I know you mean well, but I think we better see if we can work it out on our own. Isn’t that what the Bible says to do if you’ve been wronged?”

“Or if you wronged another.”

“Why do you say that?” The words came out harsher than she intended.

“Just finishing your comment of before. Penny, I am not here to accuse you. I just want to help you work it out.”

“Well, maybe you should go see Goodie then. Maybe she’ll talk to you.”

“Meaning she won’t talk to you?”

“I didn’t say that.” Again the snap in her tone. “Sorry, but this really has me all tied up in knots and . . . and . . .” She looked up at Kaaren, resentment evident in every line of her body. “It’s not my fault.”

“I see.”

“How can you?” Then the story came rushing out, starting from the arrival of Mr. Drummond to Goodie not answering her door and the horrid accusation at church. “She’s never been gone so much.”

Penny felt as though someone had pulled the stopper and all her venom ran out. “I wish Drummond had never brought that horrid machine in here.” She paused, studying her hands again. “And here I was, so excited about all the sewing we could get done so much faster. Finally something for us women, like the mowers help on the farms.”

“So, do you want me to go over there with you?”

Penny shook her head. “I think Hjelmer and me going over there would be better. Then, if that doesn’t work, I’ll let you know. You think that’s all right?”

“Ja, I do. But keep one thing in mind. The Bible says, ‘Don’t let the sun go down on your anger.’ ”

“It already has, several times in fact. And each day gets harder.”

“Maybe that’s why God put those words in the Scriptures.” Kaaren raised an eyebrow and drew Penny close for a hug. “You are so close to being my sister after helping us for those months when the twins were born that I must sound like a big sister to you.”

“That’s okay, since I never had one.” Penny wiped her eye with the edge of her apron. “Thank you for coming like this.”

“You’re welcome, and see, you got to share our good news too.”

After Kaaren left, Penny checked the bread and put a couple more sticks of wood in the stove. They couldn’t go over to see Goodie now because the bread would have to come out too soon. And supper was ready.

After supper she had to start more bread for the morrow and bake pies.

All during supper she stewed about her predicament. Finally she said, “Guess I’ll just have to go over there in the morning. Ephraim, you’ll mind the store for me for a few minutes tomorrow, won’t you?”

He shook his head. “Sorry but I have to be out to Odell’s real early in the morning to help them butcher. I told ’em I would.”

“I’ll take care of the store,” Hjelmer said, laying his knife and fork on his plate. “Very good supper, as usual. No wonder the train makes sure to stop here at noon.”

In spite of her worries, Penny fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. But not long after that, something woke her. She got out of bed, shrugged into her wrapper, and with slippers on went downstairs into the kitchen. She opened the back door. Smoke. She smelled smoke. And it wasn’t smoke from someone’s chimney.

She spun around and ran yelling up the stairs, “Hjelmer, go ring the bell. There’s a fire someplace!”

Chapter 16

“Where is the fire?” Hjelmer pulled up his suspenders as he thundered down the stairs.

“I don’t know. I can’t see any flames, but I know something is burning.” Penny was pulling on her boots as she explained. “I can just smell it.”

Hjelmer paused at the doorway to sniff the air. “That’s grain burning. You go ring the bell!” He sprinted across the field toward the sack house.

Penny ran to the front of the blacksmith and barn where they kept the fire bell. Pulling on the rope for all she was worth, she kept muttering, “Please, God. Please, God. Please, God.” That’s all she could think. “Help them hear it.”

When she began hearing rifles discharging to pass the word along, she knew the alarm was out. She charged back in the store and gathered up the stacks of metal pails that had arrived only the day or so before. Out to the well, she began winding up the bucket.