August 11, 1859

August 11, 1859

Dear Safiya,

Why did Thomas just come out all of a sudden and say that Frederick was the spy?  I liked Frederick!  But I can see who I get my temper from.  Whoops.

No, I haven’t apologized to him yet.  It’s just . . . awkward right now.  I want to wait a little while, okay?  I’ll apologize eventually, just not right now.

Nothing really interesting has happened.  The MacJohns are back from St. Paul.  They met the governor, Henry Hastings Sibley, apparently he’s amazing and respectable and everything else that you want in a governor.  I’m not really interested in politics, so I don’t really care, but it’s kind of nice to know that they met a famous person.

I went with Mrs. Shuster to visit Agnes again.  Mrs. Shuster had to go soon after we got there, but Agnes insisted that I stayed.  Apparently I don’t know nearly enough about gardening.

“You’re not even holding the spade right.  How can you not hold the spade right?  Here, I’ll show you what to do.  Just don’t slow me down,” she ordered.

“Well, I’m sorry that I’ve been too busy cooking and cleaning to learn how to garden,” I replied.

“That’s not my fault.  I’m going to show you how to weed, and you’re not leaving until you do it right.  Now, dig around the weed and grab it as close to the ground as you can.  No, you have to make sure that the dirt around it is loose, otherwise it’s like pulling a street sign from the sidewalk.  That’s better.  Now pull.  Not so fast!  You’ll leave the end of the root, and then it’ll grow back again even bigger.  Oh, let me show you,” she said impatiently.  She was a very crabby old lady, but it was fun gardening with her.  I learned a lot.

I didn’t get back until right before dinner, but Duncan cooked for me.  All I’ve said to him in the past few days is “good morning” and “thank you.”  It’s making me very worried.

Well, what did Julia do about Thomas?  Did she slap him in the face?  If she did, I’m sure he deserved it.

Love, Lucy