Ida's New World

by Lise Muusmann

  “How many cows are there?” Ida asked and imagined her father in the middle of a whole lot of cows.

  “I do not know,” Katrina answered. “We will know more tonight. He rode out early this morning with Walter and Richard.”

  “What am I going to do?” Ida asked. “At home I went to school. After the summer holidays, I would be going to school again.”

  “We shall have to talk to your father about that, this evening. Maybe someone here can teach you English, so that you can speak with the people here in America, and go to school here?”

  “English. Isn’t that difficult?” Ida asked and dug the toe of her clog in circles in the lawn. “Now I am going for a short walk around in the land of America.”

  Katrina and Anna could not help laughing a little at her.

  “Do not go too far away,” cautioned Anna.

  “The waterfall is somewhere out there in the landscape,” Katrina warned. “Do not fall into the water.”

  Ida went up to the main house and waved at the two young women, who were busy cleaning. All the windows were open, and there were blankets and bed linen airing over the veranda.

  She walked past the house and out to the dusty road they had driven along the day before. Upon reaching the road, she stood for a little while wondering whether to turn right or left. She chose the right. It was very quiet, save for the wind hissing in the long grasses. She went a bit further and the road began to climb steeply. At the top of the hill she turned around and looked out at the view. She could just make out the waterfall away to the left. She continued walking, and after a short while she reached a mud hut with some kids playing outside. There were three boys and two girls. They were in tattered clothes and their hair was dirty and unkempt.

  Ida stopped to watch them. One of the boys came out to the road and looked closely at her. He had dark hair and his eyes were brown and lively.

  “Adam,” he said as he walked up to her.

  “Ida,” she replied and stepped back a little.

  “English?” Adam asked and snapped a finger at her chest. Ida shook her head.

  “Dansk,” she answered and felt frightened as the other children ran up to them, because she did not understand what they were saying. They walked right up to her and touched her red plaits and her fair skin.

  “Danish?” Adam asked. He took Ida’s hand and squeezed it. His siblings did the same.

  They were in the middle of a game and before Ida quite understood what was happening, she was drawn into their game too. They had a long piece of wood and a ball. They hit the ball with the wood. The children were in two teams, and when one had hit the ball, the team started to run around a large square laid out with four stones. Then it was Ida’s turn to hit the ball and she managed to send it quite far out into the field. All of a sudden a tall woman came out of the mud house and called for her kids. She was lanky and skinny, but Ida could see, she was expecting a baby. The children pulled Ida along with them and inside the mud house, there were a lot of buns being served up on a box, which looked remarkably like a coffin. In fact, Ida realised, it WAS a coffin. In a corner of the room, a man lay on some blankets. His eyes were closed and it sounded as though he was fighting to breathe.

  “Father is sick,” Adam said.

  “He is sick?” Ida asked in Danish. Adam and his siblings nodded, understanding that she had asked after their father.

  “Sit down,” said Adam and pointed at the single chair in the room. Ida sat. After a meal of freshly baked buns, they all ran out to play again. Ida forgot all about the time and where she was, because she was having such a good time.

  Suddenly she heard her name being shouted by several voices at once. Shading her eyes, she looked towards the dusty road leading back to the farm and their mud hut. Three men on horses had ridden up and halted at the edge of the field.

  “Ida!” The three of them shouted again. She ran across the field to them, realising quickly it was her father, Walter and Richard.

  “We have been looking for you everywhere!” Frederik shouted as she approached, and she could see he was very angry.

  “I have been playing with the children, father.” She smiled at him as the other children ran up. “We had such a good time. This is my friend Adam and they all are teaching me to speak some English!”

  “Hm,” Frederik answered, happy to have found her. “Come up here now. And say thank you for today.”

  “Yes,” Ida answered and turned towards her friends. “Thank you,” she said in Danish and English.

  “Thank you!” The new friends shouted and waved eagerly. “Goodbye.”

  Frederik pulled Ida up to sit on the horse behind his saddle. It felt good and safe to sit behind him, so she could put her arms around him.

  Chapter 16

  There was a horrible row when they arrived back at the farm. The young wives, Gina and Nicole were exceptionally angry and shouted very loudly. They pointed at Ida and at the distant hill where she had spent so many happy hours and shook their heads angrily. Too many English words were flying around amongst the ladies and at first Ida turned her back on them. But then she turned around abruptly and cried out:

  ‘Tonight I am mad!

  You can cool me off a tad,

  If you’d just shut up,

  And not be so stuck-up!’

  Anna laughed and clapped her hands together with a single smack.

  “She will amount to something one day, so I keep saying,” Anna declared and laughed out aloud. “Ha, ha, ha, Ida can rhyme.”

  Walter and Richard shook their heads, and their wives showed their disgust a bit more before they turned and stomped back to the big house.

  “It won’t do, that you visit your new friends on the hill,” Frederik said. “They are bad people.”

  “Why, I just wanted to go and enjoy the view,” Ida said and Anna started to laugh again. Frederik looked bewildered.

  “Well, we will talk about it again in the morning,” he said. “Now, more importantly, what are we having for dinner? I am starving.” He sat down on a wooden box at the small table.

  “It will be something with potatoes,” Katrina said and brought a big pot from the stove that roared like thunder in the corner of the room. Frederik looked into the pot.

  “Mmm, mashed potatoes,” he said with a smile and held up a dish to Katrina, who dished out a big portion for him.

  “I already ate dinner at their place today,” Ida said, scratching her hair. “There are five children, and I think their mother is expecting another baby. Their father lies in a corner of the mud hut. He is very sick.” Ida scratched at her hair again. Everyone stared at her beautiful red hair.

  “What is it with your hair?” Katrina demanded, suspiciously.

  “It is itching, and that is why I am scratching.” Katrina jumped up and ran around behind Ida. She parted her hair and closely inspected the roots close to the scalp.

  “Well, I never! Your hair is full of lice! You caught lice from those kids!”

  Ida furiously scratched at her hair again.

  “You have been somewhere today where you should not have been,” Anna rose and stood with a finger pointed in the air. “So now you are bringing the lice home with you!”

  “Frederik, will you please bring one of the big tanks around in front of the house?” Katrina cried.

  A while later Ida sat in the tank with water up to her neck. Katrina scrubbed her all over with lye soap. Afterwards, she combed and combed her hair with a very fine-toothed comb, tugging at it so hard it felt as though it would pull off the skin!

  “Ow, ouch!” Ida shouted. “Enough! I will not have any more hair left,” she howled.

  “We should up to see that poor woman tomorrow,” Anna said. “She probably needs some help.”

  “We had buns on a coffin,” Ida said and laughed. “A coffin to put dead people in.” Katrina and Anna looked at each other.

  Ida thought she’d had a very nice afternoon with the neighbouring fa
mily.

  “Mother, are we a little bit richer than that poor family?”

  “We are not at all richer than any other poor families in this world,” she answered angrily. “It is really awful that their father is sick.”

  “Why were Gina and Nicole so angry?” Ida asked as she made ready for bed.

  Frederik mumbled something and went outside to smoke a pipe. Katrina had combed her hair very finely and plaited it into two tight plaits. Anna did the dishes and laughed when she looked at Ida.

  “Now we shall have to have a good look at your hair tomorrow, to see if it is any better.” She added in a low voice, “Or perhaps it has become a zoo.” She could not help giggling.

  “Yes, okay,” Ida answered and turned on to her side. She was laying on her box-bed with her doll, Per in her arms. She told him a little good night story before falling asleep.

  Chapter 17

  “Is it still itching?” Katrina asked in the morning looking closely at Ida’s scalp.

  “It is not itching anymore,” Ida said with relief.

  “We shall have to have a look at it again tonight,” said Katrina, then exclaimed. “God, I hope we do not all get lice.”

  While having breakfast, they noticed the carriage leaving with Gina and Nicole, the two angry young wives from the farm house. Then they began peeling the couple of sacks full of potatoes, that stood outside waiting for them. Ida was also given a peeling knife and told to work fast. A couple of hours went by and Ida became impatient. But finally the job was done and the potatoes lay like white snowballs sailing around in the water. Ida was worried about the neighbouring family.

  “Can’t we just go up the hill to them and say hello?” Ida asked Katrina. “That poor sick father.”

  “Yes, we can go up there,” Anna said making a decision. “We shall bring them some food and a lot of soap and we must be prepared for a lot of cleaning chores.”

  They put cooked potatoes in a big pot and collected supplies into carry-bags. Lastly Katrina and Anna tied head scarves firmly around their heads and Ida’s, so no hair was visible.

  “I shall carry the soap,” Ida said and rushed on ahead. She knew the way, of course. When they reached the top of the hill, they stopped and looked out at the view.

  “Look, one can see the waterfall from here.”

  The two women and the little girl stood for a long time gazing around at the beautiful view.

  “It really is quite beautiful here in America,” Anna said. “Luckily, it is a wonderful sunny day today.” She had put the pot with mashed potatoes on the ground and she now picked it up. As they approached the mud house, the place seemed to be swarming with children.

  “Yes, they really do look quite poorly, these kids,” Anna said.

  Ida greeted all the children and pointed at the pot.

  “Food,” she shouted rubbing her tummy. She had learned that word the day before.

  “Good Lord,” Anna said.” It won’t be long before she can chatter along with them in English.”

  As they approached the mud house, the tall skinny woman came out to greet them with a sad smile.

  “Anna and Katrina,” Anna said, pointing at herself and at Katrina.

  “Matilda.”

  The women ducked through the doorway and entered the mud house. It was quickly established they had come to help and Matilda seemed very grateful. The pot was put onto the rickety stove, that stood just inside the door. Katrina greeted the sick man and looked carefully at him.

  “Can we do anything for him?” Katrina asked Anna.

  “Yes. We can give him some warm food,” she answered. “That always helps.”

  They set the table on top of the coffin, that stood in the middle of the room. Matilda’s husband stood up, weakly, and pointed at himself and then at the coffin.

  “God,” Anna said. “He is telling us he knows where he is going.”

  Matilda stared sadly at her husband, who fell back onto a rickety box and leaned against the wall. They hurried to help him stand and walk over to the coffin, where he sat on the chair.

  The women ladled out a meal of potato, milk and bread for the whole family. After the meal, Anna and Katrina put two big pots with water on the stove, and when it was boiling the water was poured into a big trough that stood in front of the house. The children had started to run away, but Anna sang a pretty Danish children’s song for them and fascinated, they crept closer. Before they knew what was happening, two of them were bundled into the trough and Anna scrubbed them thoroughly with soap. Ida found a big watering can in the house, and filled it with water from the pump, so that they could be rinsed down with clean water afterward. All five children got a thorough cleaning. Afterwards they sat naked in front of the house and dried in the sun, because Anna had collected up all of their clothes and now they too were being thoroughly boiled in soapy water as well.

  Matilda and Katrina combed out the hair of five children then Matilda busied herself making a lot of coffee, which they carried up to the hilltop to enjoy relaxing after their hard work, and gazed out at the view over the rolling landscape to the waterfall. They communicated with sign language, and it wasn’t long before they were laughing at each others mimes. The women’s laughter grew more lively so that even the children’s father pulled himself together and came to join the party.

  When the sun began to lower toward the horizon, Katrina and Anna agreed it was time to return to the farm house and to their own mud hut. Matilda thanked them many times, and both Anna and Katrina learned to say “Thank you.” The kids followed them to the foot of the hill, where they waved goodbye to them.

  “I do hope Gina and Nicole did not see us leaving, and particularly, where we went,” Anna said as they walked towards the farmhouse, which was still all shuttered and closed up, since the horse drawn carriage left earlier that morning. Now, they could not see either wagon or women.

  “I hope they have not returned,” Katrina muttered. “I do not much care for hearing their complaints.”

  “No, such a couple of old crows are best avoided,” said Anna with a smile.

  They hurried into their mud hut and started to prepare their own dinner.

  Chapter 18

  When Frederik came home later in the evening, they told him that they had visited the peat house on the hill and had helped the young mother with all the children and the sick father.

  “Why were Gina and Nicole so angry at that poor family?” Anna asked.

  “It has something to do with cattle, which the sick man up there had stolen, as far as I know,” Frederik explained. “They have a big heard and I am helping them to take care of them by riding around and keeping track of them all.”

  “If they have so many cows, why can’t they spare a couple for a poor family where everything has gone wrong?” Katrina said angrily. “We went up there with food and we washed and scrubbed the kids with lye soap. It was hard work. They are very poor and dirty and there was lice all over everywhere.”

  “Does this mean we are now also going to be infested with lice and that I may lose my job?” Frederik demanded furiously.

  “Those who have plenty, can’t bloody well ever spare anything!” Anna said hotly, shaking her head.

  “No, but one is not allowed to steal either, right?” Frederik said and looked hurt.

  “People ought to help each other, if at all possible,” Katrina exclaimed. She got up and cleared the dishes from the table and took them out to the little square in front of the house and put them in the tub. Then she brought water from a well a bit further away and started to do the dishes. Ida hurried out to help her.

  “When do we get back to the journey again?” Ida asked.

  “We have to stay until father has earned enough to pay back the money and pay for the rest of the trip,” Katrina answered.

  ”Can I go up to the family again tomorrow?” Ida asked, looking towards the hill. Katrina thought for a moment before she said, “Yes, you just go up there and hel
p them as much as you can. You can also learn to speak English from those kids.”

  Ida happily jumped up and down with such vigour, that she dropped a dish.

  “Do take care of our fine porcelain,” Katrina said and laughed. “We have got only old and worn out things, and that is probably going to be our lot here in this life.”

  “No mother, I am sure we are going to become rich, once we reach Dakota,” exclaimed Ida with enthusiasm and danced around the tub.

  “Oh, alright, let’s say that!” Katrina shouted and took her hands.

  The danced together around the pile of dishes so that a couple broke. Anna came out of the house and laughed out aloud, swinging her walking stick.

  “I am coming to join you in the dish washing dance!” She cried.

  They danced around amongst the dishes so that even more dishes broke. Frederik stood outside the house and smoked his pipe. He shook his head and laughed at them. Suddenly it started to rain, gently at first and then quite violently. They left the dishes in the rain, and went into the house, where they could hear the rain drumming on the wooden roof. They sat at the small dining table and could not help laughing.

  “Father, is it far to Dakota?” Ida asked suddenly.

  Frederik drew on his pipe for a little while before answering.

  “It is quite a distance,” he said. “First I have got to work to pay what I owe.”

  Ida nodded.

  “Are you sure they are not going to cheat you?” Katrina asked and looked up at the ceiling, where rain water had started to drip through the wooden tiles. She moved a pot under the drip.

  “I certainly hope not,” Frederik answered and he also looked at the ceiling.

  They went to bed a little while later. Ida woke up in the middle of the night because of the silence. The rain had stopped and she lay still for a long time, listening to slow drips both inside and outside of the house. She could hear the large insects crawling around inside the walls. Eventually, Ida fell asleep again with the doll in her hands.

  Chapter 19

  Over the next couple of weeks, Ida became better at speaking in English. The children in the neighbouring peat house taught her new words every day. Adam went with her, both inside the house and outside and taught her what the things were called in English.