Sarah's Choice (2 page)

“I’ll see that an ad is run in tomorrow’s newspaper,” Father said, bringing Elias’s thoughts to a halt. “If we’re lucky, someone who’s still determined to haul that dirty coal up the canal might see the ad and buy the old man’s boat.”

Elias gripped the arm of his chair and grimaced. Grandpa deserved more respect, especially from his only son. But then, Father had never had any respect for Grandpa; at least not as far as Elias could tell.

Carolyn, her blue eyes flashing, spoke up again. “Please stop referring to Grandpa as an ‘old man.’ ”

“I agree with Carolyn, and there’s no reason for you to advertise Grandpa’s boat in your newspaper either,” Elias said, summoning up his courage.

Father folded his arms and glared at Elias. “Oh, and why’s that?”

“Because the boat’s mine, and it…well, it’s not for sale.”

Father’s dark eyebrows shot up. “What?”

“Grandpa wanted me to have the boat, or he wouldn’t have willed it to me.” Elias loosened his collar, which suddenly felt much too tight. He wasn’t used to standing up to his father like this. “If Grandpa wanted me to have his boat, then he must have wanted me to continue hauling coal with it.”

The wrinkles in Father’s forehead deepened. “Wh–what are you saying?” he sputtered.

“I’m saying that I’m going to quit my job at the newspaper and captain Grandpa’s boat.”

Mother gasped. “Elias, you can’t mean that!”

He nodded. “I certainly do.”

Father’s thin lips compressed so tightly that the ends of his handlebar mustache twitched up and down. “That would be a very foolish thing to do.”

“I don’t think it’s foolish,” Carolyn put in. “In fact, I think—”

Father’s gaze swung to Carolyn, and he glared at her. “Nobody cares what you think, so keep your opinion to yourself!”

She blinked a couple of times, pushed a wayward strand of honey-blond hair into the tight bun she wore, and sat back in her chair with a sigh.

“Perhaps your grandfather didn’t mean for you to actually captain his boat,” Mother spoke up. “Maybe he left it to you so you could sell the boat and use the money for something else.”

Elias’s face heated, and he became keenly aware that his left cheek, partially covered by the red mark he’d been born with, felt like it was on fire. “I think Grandpa did mean for me to captain his boat. Maybe to you and Father it would be foolish for me to do so, but I feel a strong need to fulfill Grandpa’s wishes.”

Father’s piercing blue eyes darkened like a storm cloud. “You take that boat out, and there will be no job waiting for you at my newspaper when the canal closes! Is that understood?”

Mother gasped again. “Aaron, you can’t mean that!”

“Yes, Myrtle, I most certainly do.” Father turned to look at Elias. “Well, what’s it going to be? Are you working for me or not?”

A sense of determination welled in Elias’s soul as he made his final decision. Rising from his chair, he looked his father in the eye and said, “I’m going to captain Grandpa’s boat, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

I
’m not moving back to Easton,” Maria said with a shake of her head. “You need me to care for the kids and help with things here.”

Sarah dropped to a seat on the high-backed sofa beside her mother-in-law and reached for her hand. “I’m concerned because you haven’t been feeling well for some time, and now that your eyesight’s failing, you need to be where you can get the best medical care.”

Maria’s forehead puckered. “Are you sayin’ that Dr. McGrath isn’t giving me good care?”

“I’m not saying that at all, but there’s a hospital in Easton, and doctors who specialize in—”

“I’m not leaving you to raise three kids alone, so this discussion’s over.” Maria rose from the sofa and shuffled across the room. When she bumped the rocking chair, she swayed unsteadily, nearly hitting her head on the fireplace mantle.

“Are you all right?” Sarah rushed to take Maria’s arm.

Maria brushed Sarah’s hand aside. “I’m fine. Just lost my balance for a minute, that’s all.” She shuffled on and disappeared into the kitchen.

Sarah groaned. “Oh, Sam, I wish you were still the lock tender and I could just be here taking care of your mother and our kids.”

Elias drew in a deep breath to help settle his nerves. He and Ned Guthrie, the fifty-year-old man who’d been Grandpa’s helper for the last several years, were heading up the Lehigh Navigation System in Grandpa’s old boat. Ever since they’d left Easton, Elias had been a ball of nerves. He’d found a twelve-year-old boy, Bobby Harrison from Easton, to drive the mules, but Bobby didn’t have a lot of experience around mules. Between that concern, and the fact that Elias hadn’t ridden on Grandpa’s canal boat for nearly ten years, he wondered if he’d be able to comply with Grandpa’s wishes and actually run the boat himself. Well, he couldn’t quit now and return to Easton, where Father would only say “I told you so.”

Elias glanced at Ned, who stood at the bow of the boat, hollering at Bobby to keep the lines steady. The rusty canaler with a scruffy-looking brown beard might be a bit rough around the edges, but he’d been working the canal a good many years and had plenty of experience in all aspects of it.

It’s a good thing, too
, Elias thought,
because I can’t remember much of what Grandpa taught me
.

As Elias’s boat drew closer to the lock at Walnutport, Ned lifted the conch shell to his lips and blew so that the lock tender would know they were coming. When they approached the lock a short time later, he blew on it again.
Wo–o–o–o! Wo–o–o–o!

Elias was surprised when a young woman with dark hair pulled into a loose bun at the back of her head, came out of the large stone house next to the canal and cranked open the lockgate. The last time he’d come through here with Grandpa, it had been an older man who’d opened the Walnutport lock. This petite woman didn’t look strong enough to be doing such hard work. But maybe she was stronger than she appeared. Maybe her husband was sick or had business in town, and she was taking over for him today. Elias figured it wasn’t his business to worry about whoever was tending the lock. As long it opened and his boat made it through, that’s all that mattered.

Elias directed his gaze to Bobby, waiting off to one side with the mules. The boy had been working hard and trying his best, despite Ned’s constant nagging.

Once the lock tender had opened the gates and Elias’s boat had made it through, Ned called to Bobby, “Get the team movin’!”

The mules’ ears twitched as they moved slowly forward.

Ned turned to Elias and smiled. “Can ya believe how easily that little lady handled the gates for us?”

Elias shook his head. “I was surprised to see a woman doing the job of a man.”

“That was Sarah Turner,” Ned said. “Her husband, Sam, died nearly a year ago, when he fell and got himself smashed between the lock and one of the boats. Sarah’s been actin’ as lock tender ever since, and with her havin’ three kids to look after, I’m sure it ain’t no easy task.”

“No, I suppose not.”

When another conch shell blew behind them, Elias glanced over his shoulder and saw Sarah Turner run out of her house to open the gate again. “She must be exhausted by the end of each day,” he remarked.

Ned tugged on his beard, sprinkled with a bit of gray. “Only day off she gets is Sundays, when the canal closes down.”

Elias knew the reason for that, and it made good sense to him. Besides the fact that Sunday was the Lord’s Day, the rugged, hardworking canalers needed a day of rest, and he was sure that the lady lock tender needed one, too.

As they continued on their way, Elias found himself beginning to relax. He felt more at peace than he had in a very long time.

“I think I’m going to enjoy running this boat up and down the canal,” he said to Ned, who’d pulled a piece of chewing tobacco from his shirt pocket.

“Are ya sure ya won’t miss workin’ in the office at your daddy’s newspaper business?”

“I don’t think so,” Elias said with a shake of his head. “Running a newspaper is nothing like this—especially one in a busy town like Easton.” The truth was, having his father scrutinize everything he did had made Elias feel insecure and inferior, like he could never measure up. He’d tried for a good many years to make Father proud, but all Father ever did was find fault. Well, maybe after Elias proved he could run this canal boat, Father would finally take notice and say a few kind words about Elias’s accomplishment. Then again, by taking over Grandpa’s boat, Elias may have ruined all chances of him and Father ever making peace.

W
hat’s wrong with the mules? Why aren’t they moving?” Elias called over to his young driver.

“Don’t know!” Bobby pushed a lock of sandy brown hair away from his face and grunted. “They was movin’ just fine a few minutes ago.” He motioned to Daisy and then Dolly. “All of a sudden, they both just stopped dead in their tracks.”

“That’s ‘cause there’s a huge puddle in the middle of the towpath,” Ned said as he joined Elias at the bow of the boat. “Mules hate water, and Dolly and Daisy ain’t no exception. They’ll do anything to avoid walkin’ through water—even a puddle.”

“Oh yeah, that’s right.” Elias thumped the side of his head. He glanced over his shoulder. Another boat was coming up behind them. “What shall we do to get the mules moving?” he asked Ned.

“Gotta take ‘em around the water.” Ned leaned over the bow of the boat and shouted to Bobby, “Lead the mules around the puddle! Take ‘em through the tall grass!”

“Haw!” Bobby shouted at the mules.

“Not
haw
!” Ned bellowed. “
Haw
means to the left.
Gee
means to the right!” He looked at Elias and groaned. “Ya should’ve hired a driver with more experience.”

“Bobby was the only boy I could find on such short notice,” Elias said. “Besides, the poor kid’s folks are in need of money, and I thought I could help by giving him a job.”

“Humph!” Ned snorted. “Then he’d better be a quick learner, or it’ll take us a week instead of a few days to get up the canal to Mauch Chunk!”

Ignoring Ned’s tirade, Elias turned his attention back to the mules. “Lead them to the right, Bobby. Lead them to the right!”

“Gee!” Bobby yelled.

When the mules didn’t budge, he grabbed hold of their bridles and had just started moving them toward the thick grass when a deep voice hollered from behind Elias’s boat, “Get outa my way; my boat’s comin’ through!”

“We can’t do nothin’ about movin’ the boat to one side until that stupid boy gets them mules walkin’ again,” Ned muttered, shaking his head. He cupped his hands around his mouth and hollered at the other boat captain, “Just hold your boat back a minute, Bart, and we’ll let ya pass!”

Elias was tempted to climb out of the boat and swim to shore so he could see if he might be able to help Bobby get Dolly and Daisy moving faster, but he quickly dismissed that dumb idea. It would be foolish to get his clothes wet for no good reason, because Bobby seemed to be managing okay. It was just taking much longer than Elias would have liked; especially with the burly, dark-haired fellow in the boat behind them, waving his hands and hollering, “Get that boat outa my way!”