Painted Vessels

by Gina Renee Freitag

  Ada sat at the table and leaned on her elbows. Her eyes remained closed, and her cheeks were damp with tears. Her forehead rested in her hands as she formed silent words uttered for God alone to hear. Eli called to her and she stood to meet him. She placed a hand on his arm as he reached out to support her.

  “Ada,” he said softly. He looked deep into her eyes, communicating more than just her name. “Did I bring you here too soon?” he asked after a quiet pause.

  “No,” she said. “It doesn’t matter where we live; you’re my home, Eli. If I’m with you, I’m where God wants me to be.”

  As Grace watched this exchange, she realized the Gardners were not new to marriage or difficult times. She vowed to defend this couple to the entire town. She prayed she wouldn’t have to.

  ROSA

  “Ada, who cut your hair?” Rosa asked, rubbing more soap onto the girl’s scalp. Ada sat in a steaming tub of water, hugging her knees to her chest.

  “Eli,” she answered. Rosa wasn’t surprised. Her hair had been chopped off in large, uneven clumps. Something would need to be done with it.

  After the stressful events of the night before, the caravan had finally been able to get a few hours of sleep, but by early morning, the wedding preparations were in full swing. Hattie, who was in charge of the meal, hummed a melodic tune as she chopped and diced. Goldie was altering the dress she had found for Ada, and her children helped Grandma Mae make simple but quaint decorations. Ira wrote the ceremony and drafted a certificate for the young couple to sign. Floyd and Tony set up a makeshift tent using the oilcloth canopies from the markets. It would act as a temporary home for the newlyweds.

  Rosa and Jed were left with the difficult task of helping the bride and groom look as though they hadn’t been living in the woods for the last two months. Rosa convinced the young couple that baths would be a good start. While Jed heated water drawn from a nearby stream, a large tub was brought out and blankets were hung for privacy. Ada took her bath first, and though Rosa had already washed her hair twice, the clumps of unruly tufts flipped this way and that, defying any hope of control. Rosa poured water over the girl’s hair to rinse out the last bit of soap. As clean as Ada now was, she still refused to take those dirty bandages off her arm. While she washed the girl’s hair, Rosa tried to think of how to coax her into removing them.

  “Why don’t you climb out and dry off?” she said. “Here’s a towel and an extra blanket. If you’d like, I can cut your hair to even it out. Would that be all right? I have scissors in my vardo.”

  Ada nodded her consent, and Rosa stepped out of the bathing area while she dried herself. As Rosa rushed the bundled-up girl into the warmth of the vardo, Jed began preparing a new bath for Eli. The next batch of water was already heated, and soon the tub was refilled for the groom.

  Once inside the wagon, Ada slipped into one of Rosa’s nightgowns while they waited for the wedding dress to be altered. Rosa suggested she cut Ada’s hair outside. If they set a chair behind the tiny home, her clippings wouldn’t get all over the vardo floor, and Eli wouldn’t see his bride before the ceremony.

  With shoulders draped in a towel, Ada sat in the mid-morning sun. Rosa brought her comb and scissors out from the pocket of her apron and began snipping bits of the roughly cut locks. As she blended chunks of hair, the stubborn flips eased into soft, tame curls.

  “Ada, your hair is beautiful!” Rosa said. She peered down at the girl and noticed her silent tears. “Oh honey, if you’re not sure about getting married, just say something. You don’t have to do this, you know.”

  “No,” Ada said through her sniffs, “that’s not it. I want to marry Eli, but—oh, Rosa! I wish my mother could be here!” Her soft cries grew louder.

  Rosa knelt in front of the girl, setting aside the scissors. She reached for Ada’s hands. “Getting married is a big decision. You and Eli should wait until your parents can be with you,” she said. “We can help you get home safely; I’m sure they want to know you’re okay.”

  As Ada’s weeping escalated, there was a growing element to her sobs that made Rosa uneasy. She had calmed frantic women down before, but this was different. This was a terror-filled panic that she wasn’t used to, and it quickly surpassed last night’s episode. Ada’s breathing was quick and erratic; her tense shoulders heaved with each sob. Her eyes, puffy and swollen, darted around, unable to focus on anything. She seemed frozen like a cornered animal. She tried to speak but struggled to form sentences between gasps and only sputtered out a few words.

  “They’re—dead! Oh, why? Rosa, I…”

  As the words tumbled out of her, Rosa noticed that the wet fabric strips on her arm had stretched and shifted. They didn’t cover an injury; they were hiding something! She grabbed Ada’s wrist and pushed apart the strips with her thumbs, revealing the skin underneath.

  “What is this, Ada? What does it mean?” She raised Ada’s arm slightly and squeezed her wrist, trying to draw her attention. The exposed part of her forearm was covered in symbols and numbers, injected under her skin with an ugly, rough hand.

  Ada continued to gulp back tears and grasp at words. “Killed! Rosa…they killed them. Right in front of us!” Ada covered her face with her free arm, and her whole body shuddered as she moaned.

  “Your parents? Who killed them, Ada? The people who did this? Tell me who did this to you!” She was still holding Ada’s wrist, attempting to keep the girl focused on her questions, but it was Eli who answered. He and Jed must have heard Ada crying and came to investigate.

  “They did it to both of us,” he said with a strained voice. “Strange men—I don’t know who they were. They rushed into my house and shot our parents. I don’t know why they did it; they just killed them. They put bags over our heads, threw us into the back of a wagon, and took us away. They had guns! We couldn’t fight them off.” He stepped toward them, his hair still wet from his bath. Jed followed behind.

  Eli knelt beside Rosa and took Ada’s marked arm from her grasp. Ada grabbed onto him, and as she looked into his eyes, her trembling began to subside. He picked up the scissors and cut strips of the fabric from each of their arms. The strips relaxed and began to fall away from their skin as they unwound.

  He continued in a low voice. “They took us to an abandoned rock quarry and locked us in cages. Then they marked us up like this.” He pulled the remaining strips away, revealing all the black markings. He rubbed at Ada’s arm, as if trying to wipe it clean, and pointed to some unfamiliar symbols. “I don’t know what this means, but I think it’s supposed to tell people who we belong to, sort of like cattle brands.”

  Jed stood over them and peered down at their arms. “Those are symbols identifying a gang of criminals. I’ve seen tattoos like these before, but not forced on a person.” Ada continued to cry. Eli focused on her as if nothing else existed.

  “These numbers here,” he said, rubbing his thumb over the list on her forearm. “They get bigger. They’re bids. Every night, men in odd clothing would come and stare at Ada in her small cage. They never said a word; but they would reach in, grab her arm, and look at the last number before going away. After they left, the men who locked us up would come and add a new number onto her arm—the largest bid of the evening. They did this for five nights, but I was able to get out of my cage and free her. We ran away before the highest bidder could claim his prize.” As Eli spit these words out, tears welled up in his eyes, but they didn’t spill over.

  “What’s that number for?” Rosa asked quietly. The same number was etched into both of their arms, but on Ada it was placed above the other numbers. It was larger than the first two bids and was preceded by the letter R.

  Eli hesitated before responding; he kept his eyes on Ada. “The ‘R’ stands for reward,” he said after a long pause. He turned toward Jed. “That’s how much those men will pay if you return us.”

  Rosa finally understood why the boy had been unwilling to tell them anything, and why it was so hard for him to trust peop
le. That reward was big! Jed furrowed his brows at Eli’s next words. “Now you have to tell the truth. Are you going to turn us in for the money?”

  Jed knelt beside the boy and looked him in the eyes. “No, Eli. I won’t do that,” he promised. “But I will help you conceal this. Permanently.” He placed his large hand over the boy’s forearm, completely covering the numbers and symbols. “No one will ever be able to see it again. Then maybe you can stop running. But I won’t lie to you; it’s going to hurt.”

  “It already hurts,” Eli said. “It can’t feel any worse.” He lowered his face, unable to continue.

  Jed patted him on the shoulder. “Come on, you have a wedding to get ready for.” He helped Eli up and led him in the direction of Ira’s vardo. As Jed walked by Rosa, he squeezed her arm. If anyone could help these kids, their little group could, perhaps Jed most of all.

  Rosa turned her attention back to Ada. She smiled as she wiped the girl’s tears away. “Well, at least he didn’t see you in your dress,” she said. “Come on, let’s wash your face so it won’t be red for the ceremony.”

  ELI & ADA

  A lantern hung from the center beam of the tent, casting a dim light over the young couple’s temporary home. They were married! It was another adjustment Ada was forced to navigate. In the last two months, she and Eli had changed who they were so often, and there was no time to process it. They had started out as ordinary kids, about to finish school and plan the next stage of their lives. But in the blink of an eye, they became orphans and captives. After escaping, they were homeless and on the run. Now they were married and living, at least for the moment, with a caravan of traveling merchants. The only thing Ada was sure of through all of this was that God had allowed Eli to remain her constant protector. She wouldn’t have survived without him. She would have been dead by now—or worse.

  Eli sat on a thin mattress, the same one Ada had slept on last night. It had belonged to Floyd and Hattie’s son, but he was grown up now and making his own way in the world. Hattie assured them that he wouldn’t be back anytime soon. As Eli looked around the tent, he noticed that someone had placed his canvas bag in one of the corners. How did he forget about it? He couldn’t let his guard down. He wanted to keep the bag packed in case they needed to leave in a hurry. He grabbed it and dug down deep, relieved to find everything still there. He closed his eyes as he thought back over the last two days. Everything had happened so quickly; it made his head spin!

  Ada joined Eli on the other side of the bed; both were silent. Even though she knew he was still on edge, she was beginning to trust the caravan more with each hour. The marriage ceremony took place late that afternoon. Floyd asked Ada if he could give her away. She gratefully accepted, not wanting to walk alone with all those eyes on her.

  Sammy guided little Myra down a short aisle that led from Jed’s vardo to a tree with white ribbon flowers hanging from its branches. He had to remind the young toddler to throw petals out of her basket as they walked. Floyd smiled at Ada and held out his arm for her. She took it, and they moved toward the tree. Ira and Jed stood with Eli; he looked nervous.

  When Eli saw Ada walk toward him, his heart jumped. She wore a pale green dress. Someone had made her a crown of flowering vines, which rested lightly in her curls. She looked like an angel! Floyd walked her right up to him and placed her hand in his.

  Ira opened the ceremony with a prayer and spoke on the importance of putting God first in their marriage. He explained what it meant to love and respect each other. He asked them to repeat promises, and even though they didn’t have a ring, he talked about the significance of it anyway. Hattie stood and interrupted the ceremony with an excited shout. She had made a ring by braiding thin strips of leather into a continuous band. She handed it to Eli, and he slid it onto Ada’s finger; it fit perfectly.

  As Ira pronounced them husband and wife, he told Eli to kiss his bride. Eli had forgotten all about that part of the ceremony! He felt his face growing hot and Ada blushed openly. He leaned in and kissed the corner of her mouth, then awkwardly apologized for it. He thought about trying again but knew he would be just as clumsy the second time. Instead, he grabbed her hand and grinned at her. She gave him an encouraging smile in return. The group clapped as they gathered around the couple to congratulate them.

  Ira pulled them aside to sign their marriage certificate. They would need witnesses to sign as well, so they chose Jed and Rosa. Eli picked up the pen and, dipping it in the ink, wrote down his first name. He was about to write his last name but stopped, his hand hovering over the paper. He wasn’t sure if he should write Noble on the certificate; they were still on the run, after all. Those men knew their names, so he needed to pick a new one. Not wanting to give up his family’s name, he wrote the letter N as a middle initial and then looked up at Jed.

  “What’s your last name?” he asked.

  “Gardner,” Jed replied. “Why?”

  Eli turned his attention back to the certificate and wrote Gardner—Eli N. Gardner.

  Ada understood what Eli was doing. When he handed her the pen, she followed his example. She dipped it into the ink, and wrote Ada Y. Gardner.

  “Eli and Ada Gardner.” She spoke the names out loud for the first time. “I like it!” She glanced toward Jed and Rosa, who nodded their approval. As soon as Jed, Rosa, and Ira had signed the certificate, Hattie announced it was time to eat.

  During the celebration, the couple received gifts for their new life together: pillows and blankets, the mattress, and a cedar chest that could double as a table or bench. It was full of clothes that fit them better and included some skirts and blouses for Ada. They were given a couple of lanterns and some flint to light them. Tony gave them a beautiful wooden document box, taken from the merchandise he sold at the markets. Ada couldn’t wait to put their marriage certificate in it.

  After the festivities, Jed and Eli set up their new furnishings in the tent. The sun had just begun to set, but Ada was exhausted! After thanking the group and bidding them all goodnight, she and Eli went to bed early. They now found themselves sitting on their new bed, in their new home, contemplating their newest situation.

  Eli reached up and snuffed out the lantern. In the dark, they slipped under their blankets.

  “Ada.” He paused, not sure how to say what he was feeling. “Those men took a lot of things from us. They took away our parents, our home…even the future we thought we would have.” He reached over and took her hand in his. Ada was quiet, which gave him courage to continue. “I’m glad we got married, and I want to protect you, but I can’t do it alone. We’re not completely grown up yet; I don’t think we need to be in a hurry. We’ve already lost so much.” When she remained quiet, he felt the weight of their loss pressing down on him. Why was it so hard to say what he was feeling?

  He swallowed, and after a few moments he tried again. “Jed said if we’re still with them in the fall, we should consider staying at their winter camp. We could finish our schooling. He said Ira would be willing to help us. He’s smart; he went to a university. I don’t want to decide yet, but…well, maybe we should think about it. Maybe we—” His voice cut out. He knew this was an important decision, and he should be strong enough to make it, but his mind was stretched so thin. Every thought and every action was to keep Ada safe. One wrong choice, one ounce of misplaced trust, would mean his failure. He could not fail!

  Ada heard him sniff, and even though it was dark, she knew his face must look as strained as his voice sounded.

  “I’m just… I’m really tired, Ada. I’m tired of running.” He put his arm over his eyes, and for the first time in nine weeks, Ada heard him cry.

  These were not angry tears, like when he told Jed and Rosa of their kidnappers; or the shocked and scared cry they both shared as they watched their parents die. This was a complete surrender to the sorrow, the stress, and all the demands the last two months must have forced upon him. Ada had never heard him cry like this before. It wasn’t loud or sl
oppy. It was quiet and persistent, making it seem all the more unsettling. She wasn’t sure how to calm him—or if she should.

  Maybe it was better for him to let out his pent-up heartache. He had been so brave and had taken care of her all this time, while she had cried at every turn. Now, in the safety of this dark tent, he was free to let go and not hide his feelings for her sake. Now it was time for her to be the strong one and let him finally grieve.

  “Okay,” she whispered and put an arm around him. She didn’t try to quiet him; she just held him.

  After several minutes his breathing slowed. They continued to hold onto each other, and in the hushed darkness, they fell asleep. It was the most uninterrupted and deepest sleep they had experienced in a very long time.

  PART 2

  And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

  Romans 8:28

  ELI

  Eli knelt in the dirt. Another wilted plant lay on the ground in front of him. He pushed a small stake into the earth beside the plant and grabbed a piece of string out of his pocket. His body was stiff. His knees and back hurt. His hands were dirty and blistered, but he couldn’t stop working. The field was big and there were so many plants to care for. As he tied the young plant to the stake, he could still hear the request ringing in his ears: “Eli, will you tend my crops?”

  He scooped dark, fertile soil out of the bag next to him and spread it over the exposed roots. The bag was made of heavy canvas, similar to the one he had carried with him for weeks. This one, however, was filled with an endless supply of dirt. He drizzled water around the base of the plant. The work was slow and delicate. He glanced behind him at the ones he had already staked and sighed as he thought about how many still needed to be done.