Blossoms on the Roof (5 page)

Ben stared at his friend. “That's not true. Smoke can't freeze.”

“Well, Father said so,” John replied with a shrug and pushed open the school gate. He shouted to the other boys, “Guess what! Ben's going to move up to Eskimo land!”

Ben was stunned. He had not dreamed that John would react like this. Stopping inside the gate, he waited unhappily to see how the other boys would respond.

They crowded closer to John and cast curious glances in Ben's direction. “What did you say? The Yoders are moving?” questioned Tom Ghent, the curly-haired son of an Irishman.

“Yep,” John answered with an air of importance. “Up to North Dakota. You know, that cold place where they're starting an Amish settlement.”

Harry Pontocki said with a smirk, “Oh, yeah. Where it gets so cold at night that your breath freezes on the blankets and you have to break the ice before you can get up in the morning.”

Ben stood miserably nearby. This was so different than he had imagined. He had pictured himself in the center of the crowd, holding everyone's attention as he told about the planned move. Instead, John was telling the others, and the only kind of attention he was getting was scorn.

Ed Dupont yelled over to Ben, “You'll have to kill a polar bear and make yourselves fur coats to keep warm.”

And Adam Rheal piped up with, “Might as well trade in your team for a bunch of huskies to pull your sled.”

Ben had never been so glad to hear the clang of the big brass bell. He scurried in ahead of the other boys and was in his seat before anybody else could think up a scornful remark.

The desks were double ones—two students to each bench. Ben wasn't sure if he imagined it, but it sure seemed as if his seatmate, Billy Teddinton, was edging as far away as possible on their bench.

With so much misery inside him, Ben found it hard to focus on his lessons. He glanced over in Polly's direction. She didn't look very happy either.
Are the girls treating her badly too? How can our schoolmates be so mean?
he wondered.

Lunch hour was no better. As often happened, they planned to play Wolf-Dog, a game invented by an earlier generation of Oak Grove students. On each side of the schoolhouse, they drew a wolf cage in the mud. In each of the four cages, a student was stationed to be a “wolf.”
Each wolf owned ten twigs, which he called his “bones.” The rest of the children were “dogs” with the goal to steal as many bones as possible without being tagged by a wolf, who could never set foot outside his cage.

Today the game took a strange new twist. “Let's call the wolves ‘huskies,' ” suggested Tom, and the rest agreed with cries of delight.

That was bad enough. Ben knew why they were doing it. But the worst part was when the huskies started chanting, “Look out, here comes an Eskimo,” whenever Ben or Polly drew near to steal bones. Then the husky would growl fiercely and make faces at them.

“Pretend it doesn't bother you,” Ben whispered to Polly when he brushed past her. But he could see in her eyes that it did bother her a great deal.

It was the longest lunch hour Ben had ever experienced. How glad he was to return to the classroom, even if Billy Teddinton slid to the far side of the bench again.

Ben took one look at Miss Mulligan standing straight and stern at the front of the classroom, and his heart dropped.
What now?
Her eyes flashed the way they usually did when there was trouble ahead.

“Your talk of Eskimos and husky dogs,” she said abruptly, standing with her hands on her hips, “is absolute nonsense.”

Ben tried to catch a glimpse of his classmates without turning his head because he knew that when Miss
Mulligan spoke in that tone, it was best to freeze. He didn't dare move.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that the others were dumbfounded. Really, they shouldn't have been surprised that Miss Mulligan had heard about the Eskimos. Everyone knew she had eyes in the back of her head—and ears in the front, back, and sides.

“North Dakota,” she continued in a voice that could have frozen smoke in the chimney, “is situated just below the forty-ninth parallel, which is the border between the United States and Canada. Many different crops and vegetables are grown in North Dakota. It has millions of acres of prime farmland just being opened to settlers.” Her voice softened. “And if I were younger, I would be boarding a train for North Dakota too.”

At that moment Polly wanted to run up, grab her hand, and plead, “Yes, do come with us. We want you for our teacher.” Of course she didn't say it, but she gave Miss Mulligan one of her best smiles.

“Now,” said Miss Mulligan, “let's get on with our lessons.”

Although Miss Mulligan never said the exact words, everyone understood that not another word was to be said about Eskimos in connection with North Dakota.

Like magic the other boys' attitudes had changed by the time school let out. Now they asked Ben friendly, interested questions about North Dakota and the train ride.
Now, too, Ben thought he could detect a trace of envy in some of the boys.

“After all,” he said to Polly when they were almost at home, “just staying here in Indiana looks pretty tame when you have a chance to go pioneering.”

Polly nodded and thought,
At least Ben is happy again.
But in the evening when they were washing dishes, Polly said to Mother, “That was the worst day I've ever had.”

Mother looked at her. “Are your friends sad that you're leaving?”

“Uh—well—Susan is. But some of the girls made fun of—of North Dakota and called us Eskimos.” She had not cried all day, but now a sob pushed up into her throat.

Mother put an arm around her shoulders. “I'm sorry, Polly. I didn't think they'd do that.”

Sniff
. “Neither did I.” And Polly sniffed again and then wiped her nose. “But it was better after Miss Mulligan gave us a tongue-lashing.” She wasn't even sure what a tongue-lashing was, but she'd heard the other girls using the word.

“Miss Mulligan has no use for nonsense.”

“No. She called the talk about Eskimos absolute nonsense.” Polly giggled. “And she said she'd like to go to North Dakota too.”

“Good for her,” said Mother. She looked Polly in the eyes. “I hope you didn't make a fuss when the others were giving you a hard time. The Bible says of Jesus that ‘when
he was reviled, reviled not again.' That means He didn't talk back when people mocked and scorned Him.”

“I tried not to make a fuss,” Polly whispered. And it was true, even though she had wanted to scream at her classmates that they were being unfair.

7

Train Ride

P
acking was fun. Mother started on the last Saturday morning before they were to leave so Ben and Polly could help. They carefully placed the dishes into Mother's high-top, wooden trunk with the polished brass hinges. Towels and bedding were just the thing to pack around the plates, teapot, and blue china bowl to keep them safe on the long trip.

Father got some scrap lumber at the lumberyard in town and nailed together six boxes. All the other household things and many of Father's tools were packed into these boxes. Of course, they had to keep out a few things to use over Sunday because they would not be leaving until next week.

“I guess the table and chairs don't need to be packed in boxes,” Ben remarked, running his hand over the smooth
tabletop. “They can just go in the wagon, and then we'll pile them in the freight car.”

Father came into the house just then. “I'm sorry,” he said slowly. “We've decided we can't take the table and chairs.”

“Oh,” wailed Polly, “but you made them yourself.” He had made the table and chairs out of yellow pine lumber that shone warmly at night when the lamp was lit.

“Isn't there room in the freight car?” Ben asked.

Father sat down on one of the chairs. “Oh, yes, there would be room. It's because of the rent. You see, we still owe Paddy Lang rent for this farm. We want to do what's honest and pay that rent. Paddy said he will accept the table and chairs as payment.”

“Oh!” said Polly again. This time it was not a wail, just a sigh. She had thought they were finished with Paddy Lang. But after taking the sheep, the cow, and the calves as rent, he would take one more thing—their beautiful table and chairs.

“Someday, I promise I will build us a new table and chairs.”

Ben asked, “What will we use in the meantime?”

“These packing boxes may have to do for a while,” Father answered. “But as soon as we have a house, I will cut some trees from the Turtle Mountains and build a makeshift table.”

Polly asked, “What is a makeshift table?”

“When something is makeshift, it is roughly built and meant only to be used until we have something better. When we have made enough money from selling our wheat crops, I can buy lumber to make a table just as good as this one.”

Ben said gloomily, “We can't even plant wheat this year.”

“It's true that we will be suffering hardships for a while. Let's look at it this way. Hardships will help remind us that we are only strangers and pilgrims on this earth. One day we hope to be with the Lord in a better place.”

The kitchen was very quiet. Even Jakie looked sober as he tried to understand what Father meant.

Polly wasn't sure she understood, but she did notice when the minister said almost the same thing the next day in church. He was talking about Abraham again. He said that Abraham lived only in tents. He did not live in big houses because he had faith in God and was seeking a better country. “Heaven is the better country that we all seek,” the minister said.

Sunday was a happy-sad day for Polly. She was happy to see all her friends again, yet she was sad because she might not see them for a long time after this.

Monday was next. On Monday when Polly came home from school, she hardly knew what to do. Their things were all packed. Tuesday was all she could think about. That was when they would have to get up early and drive to the train station with Jasper and Rob.

Tuesday was the end—the end of life in Indiana. Grandpa and Grandma came over even though it was so early in the morning. They said they would rather say goodbye here than at the train station. They hugged and kissed everyone, and then it was time to go.

Polly sat on the tail of the wagon. She waved and waved to Grandpa and Grandma who stood there in the yard of their old home. She waved until her arm grew tired, and then the wagon went around the corner, and she could not see their old home anymore.

What a surprise waited for her at the train station! There, on the platform in front of a big crowd of people, stood Susan.

“Oh, Mother, I have to go to her,” Polly begged as she climbed from the wagon.

Mother looked at all the people milling about. “You must stay near me. You would get lost if you wandered around by yourself. Besides, I need you to watch Jakie and Lisbet while I help Father and Ben load our things into the freight and livestock cars.”

The freight cars had been parked there since the week before. Yesterday Father brought one load of their things, and today they brought the rest in the wagon with them.

“I will watch Jakie and Lisbet,” Polly said with a promise to be obedient. “Maybe Susan and her father will come over here.”

Polly's hope came true. In a few minutes, Susan was at her side. She explained, “I begged Father to bring me. John is here too. They want to help load your things. We won't get to school till nearly noon, but that doesn't matter.”

“Maybe Miss Mulligan won't mind,” Polly said. “After all, she said she would like to climb on a train to go to North Dakota.”

“Today I feel like doing it too. I want to go with you,” admitted Susan.

Already they could hear the train whistle from far down the line. Puffs of black smoke appeared above the trees. Then the big red and black engine came steaming around the bend, going slower and slower.

It took a while for the engine to switch tracks and hook up the freight cars. Susan and Polly stayed close to Mother, Jakie, and Lisbet. Polly felt a little frightened about the many strangers milling about. To think that they all wanted to go to North Dakota too! She hoped it was a big place so everyone would have room.

Everything was loaded. Father and Ben came back to say that Jasper and Rob were safely in the livestock car along with the other horses and some cows.

It was time to board the train! Susan gave Polly one last hug and then stepped back. Father gripped Polly's hand tightly, picked up Jakie, and led the way to the passenger car.