by Adele Dueck
“Are you going to sleep in the tent again next summer?” Elsa asked Erik as they lay in their bunks the first night.
“I don’t know,” said Erik sleepily. “I haven’t thought about it.”
“I hope you do,” said Elsa. “Then I will have this room all to myself.”
Erik looked around, seeing only blackness except for a dim glow through the curtain from the lamp in the other room.
He recalled the birds singing before dawn, the sun warming the canvas, flies buzzing in the heat.
“I might sleep outside again. In the summer.”
A few days later, his mother was still in bed when Erik got up. Rolf had the fire going in the stove and was stirring porridge.
“I want you to go to town,” he said quietly. “After breakfast. To bring back the midwife.”
“Should I take the wagon?”
“No, you can ski.” Rolf put Erik’s bowl in front of him and passed the pitcher of milk. “Lars said that when the baby came, he would lend us his sleigh.”
Erik got up from the table and went over to one of the windows. He had to scrape off a thick layer of frost before he could see the stars.
He went back to the table. “Do you want me to go right away?”
Rolf glanced toward the bed. Erik followed his look. Inga shook her head. “Wait till it’s light out,” she said. “You’ve already done one trip in the dark for me. That’s enough.”
She didn’t look sick like when she had influenza. Relieved, Erik nodded and picked up his spoon.
In the daylight, with no wind, the trail was easy to follow. The sun rose higher, and Erik, squinting against the snow, saw Green Valley in the distance.
He headed straight to the store. Lars stood behind the counter, selling coal to a customer. Erik waited impatiently till the man left.
“Rolf sent me to borrow your sleigh,” he said. “Ma’s going to have her baby.”
Lars closed his ledger. “Do you know where the midwife lives?”
Erik shook his head. Lars reached back and untied the apron around his waist. “I’ll talk to her. Olaf’s out back. Tell him to hitch Star and Molly to the sleigh.”
Erik found Olaf in the stable, brushing Tapper. Together, they harnessed the team and brought them outside. Minutes later Kirsten came out of the house, covered head to foot in a fur coat and hat.
“I’m going to your mother,” she said, climbing into the sleigh. “I’ll send Rolf in, too. We don’t need men when a baby is born.”
“What’s this?” asked Lars, joining them. “I told Mrs. Sorenson I’d pick her up in a few minutes.”
“I’ll get her,” said Kirsten. Her eyes rested on Olaf standing in the doorway to the stable, then she smiled at Erik. “Don’t worry,” she said. “Your mother will be fine, and you will soon have a new brother or sister.”
She snapped the reins and pulled out of the yard.
Lars turned toward the store, then glanced back at Erik. “You want to help me unpack the new shipment?”
Erik glanced at Olaf’s grim face.
“In a few minutes,” he said.
Lars nodded. “I’ll work slowly so there’s some left to uncrate when you join me.”
Erik followed Olaf into the stable. Olaf dropped onto an overturned pail in the corner. Erik crouched on the floor by the door. Picking up a bit of straw, he turned and twisted it in his hand.
The silence between them became too long to bear. “This baby,” Erik said at last. “We will both be its brother.”
There was a long pause before Olaf spoke.
“I never knew my mother. She died when I was born.”
It was the fear in the back of Erik’s mind, the fear he hadn’t voiced, even to himself. He breathed a silent prayer for his mother.
“I called Kirsten Mor,” said Olaf, “even though I knew she and Lars weren’t my real parents.” He stood up and brushed straw from his trousers. “I’ve always known my father gave me away.”
Erik thought of Rolf’s face when he and Olaf met. “He didn’t want to.”
“Then why did he do it?”
“Maybe he thought he couldn’t look after you alone.”
Olaf reached a hand out to Tapper. The horse sniffed it, then tossed his head and backed away.
“He still doesn’t trust me.”
Erik smiled. “He remembers those cold baths.”
Olaf talked softly to Tapper in Norwegian, telling him what good times they would have together when his back healed.
Shivering, Erik went into the store. He helped Lars unpack the new stock, then went to see Colin. The O’Briens had moved into a house when it grew too cold for a tent. To Erik the house didn’t seem warm either, not as warm as the sod house. There was frost on the walls and air whistled through gaps between the boards.
Colin set aside his copybook when Erik came in.
“My mother used to be a teacher,” he said. “She thinks we should be in school.” His mother looked up from her sewing and smiled warmly at Erik. Colin’s brother, who’d opened the door, invited Erik to sit on the bench beside him.
“I’m learning to print,” Patrick said proudly.
“Show me what you know,” said Erik. He watched Patrick print his name on a slate, rubbing out letters and rewriting them till they were perfect.
“Da has started work at the general store,” said Colin.
“At the store?” repeated Erik. “Just till spring?”
Colin shrugged. “We’re not sure. Ma doesn’t want to move again.”
“There are so many businesses in town now,” Colin’s mother said. “It will be a good place to live.”
There were many new houses, too. Some, like the O’Briens’, were built to rent or sell. Others, bigger and sturdier, belonged to businessmen and the doctor. Even Lars and Kirsten talked of building so they wouldn’t have to live behind the store.
Visiting Colin helped Erik forget his mother for a while, but not for long. When he went back to the lumberyard, Rolf was there, silently pacing.
“You’ll wear a path in the floor,” Lars said. “Look, here’s Erik. Why don’t you play checkers? It will give you something to think about till Kirsten returns.”
Lars got out the checkerboard, but it was a new game to Erik and he couldn’t concentrate. When a man with a thin pointed face came in, he sat in Erik’s seat, defeating Rolf very quickly.
“Your mind is far away,” the man said, getting up to make his purchase. “Perhaps we can play again another day.”
It grew dark. Lars invited them to a new restaurant down the street. While they pulled on their coats, he said he’d look for Olaf. When he returned from the stable alone, he shook his head. “Olaf used to work all the time, saving up his money. Now he buys those fancy cowboy clothes and I can never find him when I need him.”
He tried to make it into a joke, but Erik thought he was worried. Rolf nodded his head in reply. His face wore the same stony look Erik had seen so often on Olaf’s.
There were several other men eating in the restaurant. One of them recognized Rolf. “You looking for work?” he asked. “I’m building a house for my family but need some help.”
He glanced at Erik. “I could use you, too, if you know how to hammer.” Erik sat up straighter and looked at Rolf.
“I’m sorry,” said Rolf. “His mother needs Erik at home, but I should be able to start work tomorrow.”
Erik sighed. It’s true, there was always work to do at home, but they could do with the money he would earn, too.
Kirsten was in the lean-to when they returned. “You have a beautiful son,” she said as soon as Rolf stepped into the room.
A boy!
“Inga is doing well. I’ll come out tomorrow to see how she is and will bring some fish balls and dumplings.”
Rolf turned around and reached for the door handle. Erik picked up his skis.
“Take the sleigh,” suggested Lars.
“No, no, Kirsten will need it tomorrow.”
“Then bring it back tomorrow morning when you come in,” said Lars. “I insist.”
Erik and Rolf travelled in silence. Erik watched the trail, shadowy in the starlight, his mind on his mother and his new brother.
Elsa was sitting in the rocking chair holding a white bundle when they burst into the room. Without waiting to take off his outdoor clothes, Rolf rushed over to the bed.
“Inga, you are truly all right?” He perched on the edge of the bed, leaning over to kiss her.
“Of course I’m all right,” said Inga. She reached up and brushed snow from his red hair. “You shouldn’t have worried.”
“How could I not worry?”
Erik pulled off his coat and stepped out of his snowy boots. Glancing from Elsa, with the baby, to his mother and Rolf, he nodded. How could they not worry, knowing what had happened to Olaf’s mother?
The baby was smaller than Erik expected. His dark eyes seemed to look right into Erik’s face. Hesitantly, Erik reached out his hand and smoothed it over the downy soft hair. “He looks so wrinkly and red.”
Rolf came over, reaching for his son. “Let’s see this wrinkly, red fellow,” he said. As he picked him up, the baby started to cry.
“What’s wrong?” exclaimed Erik. “Is he hurt?”
“Probably thinks I’m not doing this right,” said Rolf. He cuddled the baby a moment. “Sit down, Erik.”
Surprised, Erik sat, and Rolf placed the baby in his arms.
“His name is Leif,” Elsa said, bouncing up and down in her excitement. “And I get to be with him all the time.”
A couple of times during the night, Erik heard sounds from the other room. Someone moving around, little cries from the baby. He got up when he heard Rolf tend the stove. Baby Leif snuggled with Inga on the bed, both asleep. Rolf left soon after to go to his new job in town, but Erik waited till it was light before going outside.
He took hay to the calf and oxen, then pushed the remainder into a pile in the corner of the shed. There was so little left, though Erik was feeding less than the cattle needed. He milked Tess, getting half of what she’d given in the fall. Erik noted how her ribs showed sharply against her sides. Thinking of the calf she would have in the spring, he decided to stop milking her to conserve her health.
Coming out of the shed, he saw one of Lars’s horses tied to a fence post. Inside the house, Elsa urged Olaf into the rocking chair.
“He’s a very good baby,” Elsa assured him. “He hardly cries at all.”
“He cried last night,” said Erik.
“He was hungry,” said Elsa confidently. “That’s the only time he cries.”
Olaf looked worried as Elsa placed the baby in his arms. “I might drop it,” he protested.
“Nonsense.” Inga smiled at Olaf from the bed. “Nothing will happen.”
“Let him hold your finger,” said Elsa. “He likes that.”
Erik made coffee from melted snow water, glancing over his shoulder occasionally. Olaf rocked Leif, talking to him the same way he spoke to Tapper.
Winter was a good time for a new baby. Erik wasn’t as busy as the rest of the year. Leif soon recognized his voice, waving chubby fists when he came near. Olaf stopped by often, bringing food from Kirsten. He taught Leif to play peek-a-boo, and brought a rattle he’d bought in town. He seemed to know when Rolf was working, for he never visited when Rolf was there.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Water
In March, the snow melted and school started in the Presbyterian Church. Rolf wanted Erik at home, but a couple of times a week he let Erik and Elsa walk to Green Valley to school. Elsa made friends with Sara, whose father owned the drugstore. Erik and Colin visited Tapper at noon whenever they could. Erik hoped to ride him one day, when he was completely healed.
Erik fed the last of the hay he’d gathered to the cattle, then let them loose on the prairie, hoping they could find something to eat.
Thin as they were, Rolf still caught the oxen each day, hitching them to the plough. They worked the ground broken the year before and then started breaking new land. When the oxen rested, Rolf dug in the well, using a rope ladder to get up and down. He built cribbing out of wood to support the inside of the well and keep the walls from caving in. As the well got deeper, Rolf lowered the cribbing and Erik pounded together new sections to add at the top.
One Saturday, Erik was hammering on the cribbing when Rolf hollered to him to pull up the pail. Erik carried it over to the firebreak and dumped it. The dirt looked dark against the ground. Erik grabbed a handful of the soil.
“Rolf, Rolf!” he yelled. “It’s wet!”
“Hallelujah!” Erik heard Rolf’s voice from down in the well. A moment later he tugged on the rope, signalling Erik to pull up another load.
Rolf kept on digging, and Erik carried pail after pail to the firebreak, throwing the dirt wide so it didn’t pile up.
As he tossed yet another pail of soil, Erik looked at it closely, then bent down and touched it. Dry.
How could it be dry? It should be getting wetter. They should be hitting water.
Erik went back to the well. He should say something to Rolf. Even with the kerosene lamp, it was dim down there. He probably couldn’t see what was happening.
“Last one,” yelled Rolf. “I’m coming up.”
Erik grabbed the rope and pulled up the pail. By the time he’d emptied it, Rolf was stamping the dirt from his boots.
“A good day’s work,” Rolf said, clapping Erik on the back. “At this rate, the well will be finished in a few days and I can start seeding.”
Erik nodded and forced a smile. Maybe he was wrong. He wouldn’t say anything. They would know for sure tomorrow – no, Monday. On Monday they would know.
After church the next day, Olaf took Erik to a corral holding several horses on the edge of town. “I put Tapper here sometimes,” he said. “Gives him more exercise.” Olaf perched on the top rail of the corral, whistling for Tapper.
Erik patted Tapper’s sleek neck. “Quite the brave boy, aren’t you?” Tapper shook his head and nuzzled Erik. “Sorry, I didn’t bring you any treats.”
“You started seeding yet?” asked Olaf.
“Not yet. We’ve been working on the well.”
“Oh? Hit water?”
“Not…not yet,” said Erik. “We’re down nine, maybe ten metres. It was damp for a while but now it’s dry again.”
“Digging it all by hand, are you?”
“Well, Rolf is.” Erik noticed how Olaf avoided any direct reference to Rolf. “We better get water soon, I don’t think he can dig much further by hand, and well drillers cost money.”
“Everything costs money,” said Olaf. “Come on, we better get going before they eat all the food.”
First thing the next morning, they were back at work on the well. Elsa came out to watch. “Is there any water yet?” she yelled down to Rolf.
There was a long pause.
“No.” Rolf’s voice floated up to them. “Not yet.”
Rolf sent up a couple more pails of the hard grey soil, then tied his pick and shovel to the rope.
“Time to quit,” he said when he climbed out. His shoulders slumped and his voice was discouraged. “Looks like it’s dry.”
Erik looked at the slough, not so far away, overflowing from the spring runoff.
“How can there be water there and not here? It doesn’t make sense.”
Rolf shrugged. “Not much makes sense.”
He carried the yoke over to the oxen and hitched them to the plough. Erik laid boards across the well hole, setting rocks on top to hold them in place. It was just as he feared. All that digging and carrying – and no water.
At least the slough was full. Erik carried water from the slough to fill the barrels by the house. When the barrels were full, he fished out a couple of duck feathers, then watered Tess and her heifer.
Rolf helped Mr. Johnson with his seeding in return for borrowing his harrows. He seeded their own
land by hand, half to wheat and half to oats. Erik followed behind with Black and Socks pulling the harrows to smooth the soil and cover the seed.
When they were finished, Rolf harrowed for another neighbour, the same man he’d stooked for in the fall.
Erik always found work to do at home. One day he dug holes in the garden as Elsa dropped in pieces of potato. Another day he applied a new coat of whitewash to the inside of the house. He planned to find trees to start a windbreak behind the house, as soon as he had time.
His first two trees had bright green leaves. His biggest fear was that something would eat them. They should build a fence, or get a dog. A dog would keep the coyotes from the chickens and the rabbits from the garden. He just didn’t know where to get one.
When the wheat showed above ground, Erik started tethering the cattle again, to keep them from eating the new plants. One afternoon when Erik went to lead Tess to the slough for water, he found a bull calf curled up beside her. Two weeks later, he started locking Tess in the shed at night again. Inga used the first pail of milk to make a big pot of rice porridge.
Early one June morning, Erik hauled water from the slough for his mother to wash clothes. He was carrying a full pail when a wagon heaped with wood and metal and pulled by two heavy black horses drove into the yard. Holding the reins was a man Erik had never seen before. Beside him was Olaf.
Erik set the pail of water down as the wagon stopped near the dry well. The stranger climbed down and looked at the wooden cover.
“You been digging this well?” he asked Erik with a friendly look.
“Not me,” said Erik. “I just hauled up the dirt.” Amazed, he watched the man pull away the boards covering the well.
“Gone down close to thirty feet, I’d guess,” he said. “Nice cribbing.” He held out his hand to Erik. “Name’s Charlie,” he said. “You must be Erik.” Startled, Erik shook his hand. Charlie pulled a three-metre length of slender corkscrew metal from his wagon, then lit a tin lantern.
Erik looked at Olaf. “What are you doing? Did Rolf ask you –” But then he stopped. Rolf wouldn’t ask Olaf to do anything. He and Olaf didn’t talk.
