The Book of the Unnamed Midwife (32 page)

I have decided to tell them Elder Langdon died on the road. I know it’s terrible to lie, but the truth is worse. Kurt Avery Langdon died serving his mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I didn’t know him well. He was from Eden, and I didn’t meet him until we refugeed in from Ogden. He was a man of few words. His parents had died, and he came in with a group but I could tell he was alone. I hoped we would talk on the mission and get to know each other, but I think he had already given up. I wish I knew him better. I wish I could have dragged him out of that terrible place. For what it’s worth, I’ll tell people he ended better than he did. That’s my gift to you, companion.

* * * * *

Oh Honus. Only a little bit left. Will finish it tomorrow night. Understanding him better now.

Honus had taken to raiding almost every day. Both Jodi and Dusty assumed that he was trying to avoid being around the house, and both of them took it personally.

Dusty did not want to talk to Jodi. She was jealous and angry and anxious and guilty and annoyed with her. Jodi pouted at being left behind, at being bored, and grew testy and snappish.

Dusty listened to Jodi washing another thing that did not need to be washed and heard her hitch her breath a few times. They had not spoken in hours.

“Are you having contractions?”

“No, I’m not having contractions, mother.”

Another few hours of silence ensued.

* * * * *

When Honus returned in the evening, Dusty watched with disgust as Jodi flung herself at him, demanding to know where he had gone. He came back from many of these all-day trips with little more than a few candles or a can of Crisco. His excuses were wearing thin, and he knew it.

“A man’s got to work, honey.”

Dusty walked down the hall to get away from them, but she left her bedroom door open. She didn’t know when she had begun to eavesdrop. Between listening to their private conversations and reading Honus’ diary, she could hardly stand herself.

“Are you avoiding me?”

“No, sweetheart. I just have things to do.”

 
“Like what things? It’s not like you have a job! You don’t even take a rifle to go hunting. What the heck do you do all day? I’m so bored and alone!”

“You’re not alone. You have Dusty.”

“I don’t want to talk to Dusty. She’s boring.”

Dusty stifled a laugh.

“Darling, you have to trust me. There’s something that I’m working on. A surprise.”

Jodi’s voice lost all trace of unhappiness. “A surprise! Really?”

“Really. Yes. It’s gonna be ready soon, but you have to be patient with me, ok?”

“Ok baby.”

Dusty could hear their chaste kiss go smack. Her face burned.

THE BOOK OF HONUS OBERMEYER

AS SCRIBED BY THE UNNAMED MIDWIFE

Day 136

Thank you Heavenly Father for putting these men in my path. I am grateful beyond measure to have met them.

I came through Laramie two days ago and on the outskirts of town I met Will and Renny Tucker. They’re brothers and best friends and they are good and decent men.

They came out to meet me in the road with their hands outstretched. They did everything they could to show me they meant no harm. I was still afraid, but I spoke to them anyway. I told them I was a traveler and a missionary and I was on my way back to Utah. They said they had lived here all their lives and had no plan to leave it. They invited me back to their farm, so I went.

They have cattle, oh man do they have cattle! They said they rounded up all they could care for and set the rest free. I couldn’t even count how many they were. They showed me their patches for vegetables and fruit orchards but it’s too cold now for much of anything. They had a few pumpkins still out. They invited me for dinner and I stayed.

The Tucker brothers live like pioneers. They dry and can and preserve all they have. Their home looks just right with kerosene lamps and they are comfortable in the silence. The only thing they miss are the women in their lives. I wasn’t sure that they’d want to talk about it, but they did some.

Will’s wife died right away, as soon as the plague reached Laramie. Renny’s wife lived through it without showing any symptoms but then died in childbirth, and the baby with her. Renny showed me the grave. It was still pretty fresh. I thought of Jodi, and my heart was troubled.

Despite their tragedy and the way the world has changed, they treated me like family. We had a good dinner and Will played guitar and both Renny and I sang along. It was so good, Lord. Like something I lost a long time ago turning up unexpectedly.

Another blessing- the Tuckers told me where I could—

* * * * *

“What are you doing?”

Dusty’s eyes snapped up. Honus had gotten up out of bed and come into the living room without her noticing.

She didn’t answer.

“Why do you have my journal? Are you copying it? What the heck are you doing? How could you?”

His voice was rising. Dusty felt her face grow hot. She slowly closed the cover of Honus’ diary and tried to figure out what to say.

“I can’t believe that you’d… how would you like it if I read your diary? Don’t you understand that it’s private?”

 
“Honus, I’m sorry. I’m really sorry, I shouldn’t have—“

“What can you possibly have to say for yourself? How do you explain this?”

Jodi was in the room before either of them knew it. “What are you two yelling about?” Her face changed from sleepy to suspicious. “Why are you both up in the middle of the night? What’s going on?”

Honus stared at Dusty. She knew he didn’t want Jodi to know the diary even existed. She tried to think of a quick lie, but he beat her to it.

“It’s the surprise. I got up to check on it, but I didn’t know Dusty was still awake, writing in her diary. She scared me. But come on, I want to show you both.”

The two women followed Honus out into the front yard. He had shoveled the walk and it wasn’t quite a clear night, but the only clouds were low, grey wisps.

They looked around, trying to spot the surprise. Honus smiled and said “Just wait.”

They stood outside a few more minutes. None of them were really dressed for the cold, and before long they were shivering.

“Honus, I’m going to go back inside. I’m like freezing.” Jodi’s teeth were chattering. Honus went to her and put his arms around her. With one finger pointed to the sky, he said, “Look.”

All three of them looked up. A small sliver was cut off the edge of the blazing full moon.

“I don’t get it.” Jodi sounded disappointed.

“It’s an eclipse,” Dusty said. “If we had an almanac—“

“We do. I’ve been waiting for this. I know what day it is.” Honus beamed.

Dusty smiled at him. It was a small thing, but they had talked about how odd it was to have lost track of the date. This would put them back on the calendar, for whatever that was worth.

“Is that the surprise?” Jodi sounded beyond disappointed, sulky.

“Only part.” Honus kissed the end of her nose and she wrinkled it at him. They all went back inside.

“So guess what day it is!” Honus could barely hold still. He had pulled the Farmer’s Almanac out of his pocket and folded the front cover around backwards to the eclipse page.

“I think it’s January. Late January.” Dusty tried to remember the last time she had taken a stab at the date in her journal.

“What do you think, sweetheart?”

Jodi rolled her eyes. “I don’t know. How about like February? Then it might be spring soon.”

Honus couldn’t contain his excitement. “Nope. Today is December 23rd. In two days, it’ll be Christmas.”

Jodi lit up like a child. “Oh my heck! Christmas!”

Oh my heck.

It was Dusty’s turn to be disappointed, but she masked it with her pleasure at knowing the date.

“That’s cool.”

“I think we should have a real Christmas! I’ve been preparing for it for a while. You’ll see. I’m going to go get the stuff that I found.” With that, Honus was putting on his coat and scarf and dashing out the door.

As soon as he was gone, Jodi turned to Dusty. “I bet he got us presents!”

Dusty had not thought of that. “Wow. Yeah you’re probably right. I’m going out for a bit, too. Will you be ok?”

“Totally!” Jodi was already heading for the kitchen.

“What are you doing?”

“I want to make popcorn and string it! And paper chains! And decorations!”

“Jodi, it’s still the middle of the night. You should go back to sleep. We can do all that in the morning.”

“Oh.” She deflated, but only a little.

“Go on back to bed. I’ll lock you in.”

Dusty went to her diary and closed it. Then she thought about it and decided to hide it under the couch. She put Honus’ in the pocket of her coat to put it back in the saddle bag of the snowmobile. She grabbed a rifle and locked the door behind her. She walked for a mile in the weirdly fractured moonlight, then left their trail for the woods.

Jodi thought she was too excited to sleep. She dreamt about a five year old girl who called her mama and kept losing limbs as she played. She woke just before dawn to the sound of the rifle firing.

Honus had gone completely overboard with the madness of Christmas. He lost all restraint over the idea that he could bring home anything without having to pay for it. He dragged a sled back to the house that was weighted down with gifts, then went back for another. He got home and found Jodi asleep, Dusty missing, and an empty rifle slot in the gun case. He looked around for his journal and didn’t find it. He resolved not to worry.