A Harvest of Hope

by Lauraine Snelling

  Freda asked, “Where is Manny?”

  Emmy stepped back. “Out with his horse. He took Joker a treat. He said maybe the little kids would like to ride this afternoon.”

  “How thoughtful of him.” Freda sounded surprised. She was always less accepting than Ingeborg.

  “Then he was going to harness the horse for the buggy.” Emmy looked from one woman to the other.

  Ingeborg shook her head. “That boy.”

  “He doesn’t like to see you cry. He hopes you will smile when he drives up.”

  Please, Lord, protect that boy. He is trying so hard. “I will make sure to smile. Thank you.”

  Emmy hugged her one more time and returned to clearing the table.

  Lord, please fill my eyes with smiles for the sake of these children, who are trying so hard to cheer me up. Remind me that joy comes with the morning. I sometimes forget that when the bed is empty beside me.

  She really looked at Emmy. The dress and pinafore she was wearing were woefully small, too short and tight too. “Emmy, I think we need to make you some new clothes. Those are too small for you.” Besides being so worn and faded. “I will go tomorrow while you are in school and get us some fabric. What color would you like?”

  Emmy turned, her wide-eyed look so endearing that Ingeborg felt like whirling her around like she did Inga at times. “I like red and blue.” She looked down at her dress. “No holes.”

  “True.” Ingeborg glanced at the clock. Ten thirty now and church was at eleven. “We’d better get a move on. Freda, are you coming?” She gave the invitation every Sunday and, as usual, was gently refused. One of these days they would have to have a talk about that. What was keeping Freda from attending church?

  The jingle of harness caught her attention. Sure enough, there was Manny with the buggy. “Will you look at that? Uff da, what determination.” She turned to Emmy. “You go tell him I will be out in a minute.”

  “I will put the squash in to bake as soon as the pies come out.” Freda looked up from scooping the seeds out of the inside of the big green squash she had taken the hatchet to because it was so hard. “Good thing the tables are still out.”

  Ingeborg gathered her shawl and draped it around her shoulders. “I wish you would come.”

  “Maybe next Sunday.”

  When Ingeborg descended the porch steps, Manny started to get out, but she waved him back. “I’ll be fine.” She climbed up into the buggy and settled herself on the seat beside him as Emmy clambered up into the back. “You have done wonderfully well. Far more than anyone expected or even hoped.” She didn’t bother to say he scared her at times.

  He smiled, backed the horse, and they trotted down the lane. “I was thinking, will Benny be here this afternoon?”

  “I have no idea who all is coming.”

  “Well, I figured we could help him ride the horse by belting his legs down to the saddle so he can’t fall off.”

  Ingeborg stared at him. Was this the boy who, a couple short months earlier, didn’t even want to talk to those little kids? Lord God, oh, the miracles you are always at work on. “I don’t know why not. I’ll make sure they are coming.”

  As usual, she cried her way through the service. Astrid sat on one side of her and Emmy on the other, then Manny. It started when they stood to sing “Holy, Holy, Holy.” Oh how she missed Haakan’s baritone voice beside her, the warmth that radiated from him, his sheer presence. Even the last year, when he had diminished in both size and energy, he was still Haakan. She could hear Anner behind her mumbling about something and looked to see that Father Devlin had joined them. What was the matter with Anner that he couldn’t let go of his anger?

  Then Reverend Solberg preached on the gospel for the day, where Jesus had talked about loving one another. John 13:33 to the end of the chapter had always been one of Haakan’s favorite passages. He more than once commented that when Jesus called his disciples little children, he knew human nature well. Some of the adults in Blessing acted like children too.

  More tears. Would this never stop? She felt Emmy’s hand sneak into hers. On one hand God had taken away a part of her life, but here He’d given her two more children. Inga sat with her father right in front of Ingeborg and turned around to smile at her grandma. Her smile dimmed when she saw the tears. She sighed, and Thorliff nudged his little girl to turn around.

  “But Grandma’s crying.” Her whisper could be heard to the back of the church at least, if not clear to the boardinghouse.

  Ingeborg mopped her eyes and sniffed. When they all stood for the benediction, she cleared her throat. She’d made it through another service, and at least this time she didn’t feel like bolting out the door and running until the pain stopped.

  As they filed out the door where Reverend Solberg was greeting everyone, she felt another little hand on her other side.

  “Grandma, you okay now?”

  “Ja, I am.”

  “I miss Grandpa too. Ma says it will get better, but he can’t come back. I sure hope he likes it in heaven. Do you think he can see us?”

  Ingeborg shared a look with Thorliff, who raised his eyebrows. “Your turn,” he mouthed.

  She knew exactly what he meant. She squeezed Inga’s hand and then Emmy’s before whispering to them. “If you want to go outside with the other kids, you go. I’ll be fine.”

  They beamed at her, giggled, and headed for the door.

  Penny stopped beside her. “I wanted to remind you we have quilting on Thursday. It will be good to get back together again. It seems like forever since we met.”

  “Has anyone invited Amelia Jeffers?”

  “I did, and two of the new ladies too. Some of the women from Tent Town are starting to take part in community activities. That is so good to see.”

  “It’ll get easier,” Reverend Solberg said when she reached him.

  “I know, but that was one of Haakan’s favorite Scripture passages. And I so cherished when he sang the bass line of ‘Holy, Holy, Holy.’ She glanced over to where a group of the men were visiting. Anner’s voice could be heard above the others.

  She turned to Thorliff. “Please go make sure Father Devlin knows he is invited to the farm for dinner.”

  Thorliff nodded. “Ja, I will.” He stopped for a moment. “Did Manny really harness that horse and hitch it to the buggy?”

  “He did. And wait until you hear his idea.” When she heard Anner say something about “those people,” she wanted to go over and join the group, but instead she looked around for Hildegunn. Where was she?

  When Kaaren joined her, Ingeborg asked, “Have you seen Hildegunn?”

  “No, and that’s strange. I wonder if she is sick. I’ve not heard.” She turned to ask Penny, who said the same.

  “I’ll go ask Anner.” Penny strode over to the men’s group and returned shaking her head. “He said she has a touch of the grippe, but he didn’t seem too concerned.”

  “Too busy causing trouble to think about his wife,” Kaaren muttered under her breath.

  Sophie joined them. “That was some sermon. I have an idea that I am hoping we can seriously discuss at quilting.”

  “We have to wait until then?”

  Sophie grabbed for one of her three-year-old twins. “No, you stay right by your ma.”

  Penny asked, “Does anyone know if Nurse Hastings came in on the train?”

  Kaaren snickered. “She must have. We’ve not seen Trygve. He was planning to meet her. He says they’ll come this afternoon.”

  “Well, I sure hope she realizes how lucky she is to have a good man like Trygve. Smitten, I think, is the word I heard.” Penny smiled at Ingeborg and then Kaaren. “We need a romance in Blessing. Are they really planning to play ball this afternoon?”

  “That’s what Far says.” Sophie smiled. “Not that he’s that rousing a ball player.”

  “I need to get home. I’ll see you in an hour or so.” Ingeborg headed for the buggy, where Manny already sat waiting.

 
; “Can I ride with Grandma?” Inga pleaded.

  Thorliff looked a question at his mother, who nodded. With the two little girls giggling in the back seat, Thorliff helped his mother into the front. “I’ll be out later. Elizabeth wants to come too, but she’s afraid Astrid will have a fit. She is getting real tired of being housebound.”

  “Good. That must mean she is feeling better.”

  “I think so.”

  Oh, Lord, I hope so.

  Sometime later at Ingeborg’s, after everyone had eaten all they could hold, the women were putting away the few leftovers as the men chose teams for the ball game, along with plenty of heckling from those not playing. Lars agreed to umpire, assisted by Reverend Solberg.

  “You playing?” Thorliff asked Father Devlin.

  “I’m not sure. I’ve not played for a long time.”

  “You’ll do fine. You can be on my team, if you would.”

  Trygve stepped up to them grinning. “Looks like we’re going to have the old guys against the kids.” He motioned to Jonathan’s team, where Andrew and the other young sprouts had gathered, as his father was wont to call them.

  “Hey, watch who you’re calling an old guy,” Thorliff teased. “I don’t exactly qualify.”

  “Close enough,” Trygve said with a grin.

  Ingeborg realized where the game would be played when the men hazed the cows out into the other pasture and picked up the piles in the near pasture. Perfect. The enthusiastic fans could sit on the fence rails.

  She was especially pleased that quite a few people from Tent Town were gathering here. Penny had mentioned that more workers were becoming involved in the community. What better place than here? They settled onto blankets just inside the fence and leaned against it, a part of the crowd and yet not exactly. Ingeborg noticed that one of the wives was pregnant. Good and pregnant. She laughed and chattered with who was probably her husband as she opened a folded towel and laid out a fried bread of some sort.

  The men worked together to position the sandbags for the bases, measuring off the proper distances. With the game ready to begin, Lars raised his hands, and eventually silence fell.

  “I want us to dedicate this game to Haakan. He enjoyed the game like we all do. I don’t know if they play baseball in heaven, but we sure miss him here.”

  Someone started clapping, another cheered, and the clapping and cheering lasted for several minutes.

  Ingeborg, settled in a chair near the gate, smiled through her tears, a little girl on either side of her as if her guardians.

  “Play ball!” Lars hollered, and the pitcher for the old men, Daniel Jeffers, threw the first pitch past Andrew to Toby Valders, the catcher.

  “Strike one.” The game had indeed begun.

  After a bit Manny headed to the back pasture and whistled for his horse. Joker trotted over and accepted carrots from his admiring public. Inga and Emmy pulled Benny on his cart down to the barn, where Manny had brought his horse.

  Trygve left off sitting on the bench and motioned for Miriam to come with him.

  Ingeborg watched them go. She knew what Manny was planning and thought it a great idea. “I’ll be back,” she told Kaaren.

  “Where you going?”

  “Down to the barn with the little ones.”

  Kaaren turned back to the ball game, and Ingeborg joined the others at the barn.

  She stopped beside Miriam. “I am so glad you are back. I realize you are needed and missed in Chicago, but you are sorely needed and missed here too. Not just what you offer the community, but you. Yourself. Miriam Hastings.”

  “What a lovely thing to say. Thank you. Is this really Manny’s horse?”

  “It is.”

  “Well admired, I see.”

  Ingeborg laughed. For Manny’s bay, Joker, stood serenely inside a cloud of children, looking regal, nonchalant. Obviously the horse was convinced that it was fully worthy of all this admiration as the children patted him and fed him chunks of carrot. She decided she must put in at least one extra row of carrots next spring, just for Joker.

  Benny sat in his wagon off to the side, watching.

  Leaning on a crutch, Manny swung his saddle up onto Joker’s back and then ducked under the horse’s neck to adjust the other side.

  “Look at him negotiate those crutches!” Miriam wagged her head. “It isn’t that long ago that he could hardly walk. Is there some magic or something in the air here that people get well so quickly?”

  Now Manny was back on this side, cinching his saddle down firmly. Clearly Manny was a good hand with horses.

  Trygve brought out a box and plunked it down beside Joker. “One at a time, line up. Carl is the youngest, so he can go first. Here, Carl. Even with the box you won’t be able to get up there. Let me help.” And he swept Carl up and plunked him in the saddle. “I’m going to walk beside you in case you start to slide.”

  Carl gave Trygve a disgusted look. “I ride the big horses with Inga.”

  Manny grinned at Ingeborg. His delight was obvious. If he’d been a puppy, he’d have been wagging his tail to beat all get out. Ingeborg grinned right back, as wide as she could muster. He laid Joker’s reins over his shoulder and hobbled off, the horse casually and obediently ambling along behind him.

  Inga wormed in between Ingeborg and Miriam, but it was Miriam’s hand she grasped in hers. “We need two ponies, Grandma, one for Carl and one for me. Then we could ride and not have to have help getting up on them. I asked Grandpa, but he went and died.”

  Miriam smiled down at Inga. “You need a pony?”

  “Yes! Two of them. It’s not nearly as much fun to ride double on one.”

  “Need.” Miriam was smiling. Ingeborg laughed.

  Inga ran off to join Emmy, who stood beside Benny. Out in the side pasture, Manny started back their way.

  “She reminds me so much of my little sister,” Miriam mused. “At their age, needs are completely different from ours. Sometimes it’s nothing more than a new pencil.”

  “Ja, so true.”

  Miriam licked her lips. “Perhaps I am speaking out of turn, but . . . you are my hero.”

  Ingeborg’s mouth dropped open. Their eyes met.

  Miriam explained. “I have suffered a grievous loss, and so have you. But here you are hosting a dinner for the whole community, being a blessing to others, carrying on. You are loved by all because you have earned that love by loving others. I want to follow your example. It is what I want to do.”

  What could she say? Not often was Ingeborg at such a loss for words. “Takk. Tusen takk.”

  Manny and Joker arrived, and Trygve lifted Carl off. He pushed the wooden crate closer beside Joker. Inga hopped up on the crate, stuffed her foot into the stirrup with a little help, and swung up . . . well, not quite all the way. Trygve boosted her the rest of the way into the saddle.

  “See what I mean, Grandma?” Inga called over her shoulder as Joker rambled off. “A shorter horse! A pony!”

  “Ja, I see. Hold on tight.”

  Trygve turned to Emmy. “You’ll be next.”

  Emmy shook her head. “Let me be last, or not at all. I rode horses all the time when I was little. Everyone did.”

  “Then, Benny, you’re next.”

  “What?” Benny looked startled. His face softened. “Oh, I almost didn’t get your joke there.”

  Manny took Inga out through the side pasture, the same route he had taken with Carl. As they started back, Ingeborg had to smile. She could see Inga talking a mile a minute.

  Manny brought the horse back, and Inga slid off by herself.

  “You want to ride?” Manny asked Benny, holding his horse by one rein.

  Benny made a face. “Did you ever notice I don’t have legs?”

  Trygve stopped beside the boy. “Would you like to try? Manny has an idea that might work. All we can do is try.”

  Benny looked from Manny with the horse to the horse’s back and then to Trygve. He looked just plain scared. But then hi
s grin rivaled the sun.

  “I’ll tell you how we’re going to do this. I don’t think I can throw you up there like I did Carl, but we can do it in stages. First sit on my knee and reach for the latigos. These.” Trygve showed Benny the leather straps that pulled the cinch tight. “Then you haul yourself up, and I will help you swing one leg over.”

  “Might ye use some help here?” Thomas Devlin stopped beside Ingeborg.

  “Good. Thanks. Together we can lift him up and slide him in place, then we are going to tie him to the saddle.”

  Between the two of them, they hoisted Benny into the saddle and, using the belts Trygve had brought, buckled Benny’s upper legs to the stirrup leathers.

  Trygve looked up at him. “What do you think? Are you comfortable?”

  Benny’s eyes were as round as saucers. “I am on a horse. A real big horse.”

  “Now, you hang on. You have plenty of strength in your arms, and probably good balance. Manny, lead him out slowly, and we’ll walk beside.”

  With Father Devlin on one side and Trygve on the other, Manny clumped away. But he did not use his usual route. Instead, he took Benny to the edge of the baseball field, along the outfield.

  Inga beamed up at Ingeborg. “Look at him, Grandma. Benny is riding! If we had a pony, he could ride easy. The pony could be his legs.”

  Applause started at the ball field, and pretty soon everyone was on their feet, cheering and clapping. The game came to a halt.

  Grinning wildly, Benny waved to his admiring fans. The triumphant rider and his entourage returned to the barn.

  Ingeborg laughed inside and out. It was the first time since Haakan died.

  All was well. No, wait. Benny was slipping, his right leg sliding out from under its belt.

  “Oh no!” His mother, Rebecca, started toward them with determination, her slightly swollen abdomen now evident, her husband right behind. She was due to deliver after the new year.

  But Trygve had grabbed Benny’s left leg and shoved him back to upright. Gerald and Rebecca walked over and stared up at their son.

  “Ma, Pa, Manny made it so I could ride.”