Pearl (47 page)
Rand, Ruby, and Opal traveled on the train the next day to Dickinson with the two to be married. A local pastor performed the ceremony, and afterward he promised Ruby he would come to Little Missouri one Sunday to lead a church service.
‘‘I can’t believe this is happening.’’ Milly hadn’t let go of Adam’s hand since they got on the train.
‘‘It has happened. You are now Mrs. Adam Stone.’’ Opal hugged her friend. ‘‘I’m going to miss you so much.’’
‘‘You sure you wouldn’t just as soon stay out here and work in Medora? There’ll be a lot of work there.’’ Rand ushered them into the hotel where he had ordered three rooms. ‘‘Now you all go upstairs for a bit, and we’ll eat in about an hour.’’
Ruby and Opal followed behind the newlyweds, Opal giggling at the many shades of pink that galloped across Milly’s face.
‘‘She’s really married.’’ Opal leaned back against the closed door. ‘‘So fast. Who will go fishing with me now? And riding?’’
‘‘I know. Who’d have ever thought it would be like this?’’ Ruby bounced a little on the side of the bed. ‘‘I thought Cimarron would be the first.’’
‘‘You look nice.’’
‘‘Thank you.’’ Ruby stroked down the fine fabric of her brick-red traveling gown. ‘‘I get to wear this so seldom. One of these days we are going to have to make some new dresses, some nice dresses, not just waists and skirts for work.’’
‘‘I’d like some britches.’’
‘‘Opal.’’
‘‘Well, I can wish, can’t I? Riding, fishing, working in the garden—they all would be so much easier with britches.’’
‘‘I was thinking more along the lines of a nice blue dress with black trim.’’
‘‘Green.’’
‘‘If you like. We better be getting back down there.’’
Rand had ordered a special table for them all with a nice supper and even gave a toast to the blushing couple.
‘‘May God bless you, make you prosperous, and keep you close to Him all the days of your lives.’’ Rand raised his coffee cup.
Ruby stared at him in amazement. What other depths did she have to learn about this man?
‘‘Listening to you read is a deep pleasure.’’
‘‘Thank you, Mr. Hegland.’’ Pearl set her closed book on the table to be taken back to the schoolroom later. ‘‘I have always loved to both read and to be read to. All of us together like this feels like a family.’’ She glanced around at those gathered. Cimarron and Jed always sat side by side now, Ruby and Opal, and somehow Daisy and Charlie ended up close together. Some of the other guests joined them at times, and sometimes men gathered around tables in the schoolroom, no longer referred to as the cardroom, to play a friendly game of cards. But only if they agreed to get along without spittoons.
Daisy passed around a plate of chocolate cookies, and Cimarron poured the hot cocoa. Sometimes they had hot apple cider.
‘‘I finished
A Tale of Two Cities,
’’ Carl said to Pearl.
‘‘And?’’ She liked the feel of him leaning close to talk with her, as if he really enjoyed her company, not just the evening.
‘‘Ja, I liked it. Makes one realize how fortunate we are in America. We are free to vote and raise up our own leaders. No monarchy and privileged royalty.’’
‘‘But you must admit we have a class system here in America too.’’
‘‘Not necessarily. If someone makes enough money, they can do about what they want.’’
Pearl thought of her father. He was wealthy, but that still didn’t open all doors to the society he desired. Did Mr. Hegland know who her father really was?
‘‘Do you honestly believe that?’’
‘‘Yes.’’ His eyes crinkled slightly at the edges.
Do I use my family as an example? No, I better not
. ‘‘So what would you like to read next?’’
‘‘Changing the subject?’’
‘‘My mother said politics and religion were two subjects not to be discussed in polite company.’’
‘‘You mentioned a stepmother at one time.’’
‘‘Yes, my mother died when I was twelve. But Amalia, my stepmother, was—is a most loving woman. If I had trusted her more, I think we should have been friends far sooner. I suppose I have started thinking of her as my mother lately.’’
‘‘That is good, as it should be. And you have brothers and sisters?’’
She nodded. ‘‘Jorge Junior is twelve. Anna, who is six, and Arnet, age seven, are my half sister and half brother. I miss them.’’
‘‘Will you go back?’’
‘‘I guess God alone knows that. To visit perhaps one day, but not to live in my father’s house again.’’
Not if I can help it
. ‘‘And you, Mr. Hegland?’’ Strange that they should be having this conversation after all these months. Books had been a much safer topic. Now she got him talking at least.
‘‘Read the next chapter tomorrow night?’’ Ruby set her cup in the dishpan, as did the others as they left the room.
‘‘Of course. And perhaps one night we can play a few rubbers of whist?’’
‘‘Or poker?’’
Was that Opal who whispered that? Where, when did she learn to play poker?
On Monday the Robertson girls were missing from school. Tuesday, the Bensons, and on Wednesday Opal woke with a sore throat.
‘‘My eyes hurt. I’m hot.’’
Ruby laid a hand on her sister’s forehead. ‘‘Yes, you are.’’ Ruby held the lamp close. ‘‘And you have red spots. I wonder if that is what is keeping all the other children home from school.’’
‘‘Looks like measles to me,’’ Daisy announced. ‘‘When one gets them, they all get them.’’ She glanced around at the others gathered in the kitchen now that breakfast was over. ‘‘You all had measles? I had them when I was about seven. My mother had her hands full with three children sick at one time.’’
Charlie, Ruby, and Cimarron all nodded. Pearl shrugged. ‘‘I think so. I remember having a rash or spots and being miserable.’’ But she couldn’t ask her mother, and her father probably wouldn’t remember anyway.
Atticus, who had started school again after Christmas, Robert, and their little sister, June, were the only ones to make it to school, so Pearl spent the day drilling on the alphabet, the sounds of letters, and writing the letters on slates and blackboard. By the end of the day, Atticus could write his name.
He stared at his slate. ‘‘That is my name?’’
‘‘It most certainly is.’’
‘‘A-t-t-i-c-u-s.’’ He slowly spelled out his last name too, forming each letter as he pronounced it.
Pearl swallowed the heat of tears in her throat. To think she’d been almost afraid of him those first days. And there truly was a good mind behind that rough exterior. If only she dared offer to cut his hair, but the thought of what might be living in that wild tangle made her hesitate.
When he scratched his head, pulled something out, and squashed it between thumb and finger, she knew. Head lice. How Ruby fought to keep lice and vermin out of the hotel.
‘‘Atticus, would you like to get rid of those itchy things in your head?’’
‘‘Ever one has ’em.’’
‘‘No, not everyone. If you three would like, we can take care of that right now.’’
But how do I tell their mother she must do the same
at home?
She took in a deep breath. In for a penny, in for a pound, as the old saying went.
‘‘You three keep working, and I’ll be right back.’’
When she told Ruby the situation, Ruby nodded. ‘‘Of course.
Let me get some extra water hot, and we’ll do what we can.
Their clothes need to be boiled too.’’
‘‘Oh land, that’s right. Perhaps I’m taking on too much. What if their mother gets really offended?’’
‘‘I doubt it. That poor woman will most likely be grateful beyond measure. Just that someone is taking an interest in her children makes her smile stretch from ear to ear.’’
‘‘What do you think, Charlie?’’
‘‘I say any help you can give them is good. I’ll bring in extra water.’’
An hour later the two boys had short haircuts, the hair burned along with its extra burden, and all three heads were ready to be doused with kerosene.
‘‘I know this is going to burn, so you must not get any in your eyes.’’ Pearl felt like itching her own scalp, her arms, everywhere. She scrubbed the vile-smelling liquid into their hair and wrapped a towel around each head. ‘‘Now you sit there for a few minutes, and then we’ll wash it out.’’
Little June started to cry. ‘‘It hurts.’’
‘‘I know, but only for a few minutes.’’
‘‘What do we do for clothes for them?’’ Ruby poured more water into the boiler heating on the stove.
‘‘You know that box that came the other day? It had clothes in the bottom, under the books. Perhaps some will fit.’’
‘‘Atticus can have an old shirt and pants of mine. We’re about the same size.’’ Charlie returned in a minute with pants and shirt. ‘‘Going to have to dry their long johns some way, or they’ll freeze going home.’’
‘‘What if we keep them overnight?’’
‘‘I could use their horse to ride out and tell their folks.’’
‘‘Good. All right, you three, we have clean clothes for you to put on, so we’ll set up a washtub in the pantry, and after we wash the kerosene out of your hair, you’ll take a bath.’’
‘‘But it’s winter,’’ Atticus mumbled from under his towel turban. ‘‘Catch our death of cold.’’
‘‘You’re going to stay here overnight. Charlie will let your mother know.’’
‘‘Stay here?’’ June squealed.
Pearl smiled when the young girl peeped out from under her towel, her delight setting her to wiggle. ‘‘Yes, stay here.’’
‘‘We’ll fix up pallets, and you can sleep in the schoolroom,’’ Ruby said.
‘‘With Milly gone and Opal to bed, things sure are quiet around here.’’ Daisy changed flatirons. ‘‘Think I’ll go on up and see how Opal is doing.’’
They had moved Opal down to what they now called the Red Room—though they still stumbled at times and referred to it as Belle’s room—so she would be close enough to call if she needed something. Mostly she slept in the darkened room, with Ruby spending as much time beside her as possible.
Which wasn’t much, busy as they were.
Charlie bundled up and headed out to the shed. At least it wasn’t far out to the Grady farm. When the horses were needed again for spring work, the children would walk to school.
With the bath water hot, Pearl took June by the hand and helped her undress and get into the tub.
‘‘I ain’t never had such a big tub.’’ The little girl sank in water up to her shoulders. ‘‘And it smells good.’’ She lifted some soapsuds to her nose, then up to Pearl. ‘‘Smell.’’
Pearl had used the rose-petal soap that Cimarron made during the summer. ‘‘I know.’’
Forgive me, Lord, for taking so much for
granted
. Even though they had washed the kerosene from the children’s heads earlier, the smell still stung one’s nose.
Pearl soaped the child’s hair again, at the same time looking to see if any nits survived. The whole treatment should be done again in a week or so. Otherwise the child’s head would have to be shaved. That was far the easiest method of delousing, but it took a toll on the child’s self-esteem.
‘‘Come now, let’s get you out and your brother in.’’
‘‘I don’t never get to be first.’’
‘‘First in what?’’
‘‘In the bath, lessen I go takes a bath in the river. We do that sometimes, clothes and all. Scrub with soap and play in the water.’’
Pearl took all of June’s clothes and dumped them in the boiler steaming on the stove, scraping more soap into the boiler from one of the bars of lye soap they’d made one day in the fall.
They always kept a can for grease, saving every bit to make soap.
‘‘All right, here’s your towel. Let’s get you out and dressed, so you can sit by the stove and dry your hair.’’
‘‘I can’t braid it.’’
‘‘Oh, someone will.’’
Pearl poured in more hot water and motioned Robert in. ‘‘As soon as you’re in the tub, I will get your clothes so they can be washed. You have to really scrub your head again to get rid of the kerosene smell.’’
Robert looked at her like a frightened rabbit caught in the lantern light. ‘‘What can I wear then?’’
‘‘Those clothes I showed you from the box. They’re for you.’’
‘‘To take home?’’
‘‘To take home.’’
