chapter 2-1

Chapter 2-1

            Mary rang the bell for lunch, and everyone came back into the house. The girls finished putting the food on the table and then put some away in the fridge for Wayne when he woke from his long morning nap.” All right, everyone,” Mary said, standing while the others took their seats. “The four of us, Julie, Anna, Lizzy, and I, are going to the store to get some supplies from town. While the rest of you stay here and watch the farm while we’re gone.” Mary turned to the boys, putting her hand on her hips. “Richard, your mother has left us in a lurch again,” she said as she rolled her eyes. “That means we are leaving Sam and Danny with you, Richard.

            Richard smiled and rubbed the two boys’ heads. “We’ll have lots of fun, won’t we, boys?” He picked each one up, and they squealed with laughter.

            “That means,” Mary said, shaking her finger at Donna and Peggy. “You girls are staying with Loraine; she will be watching the both of you closely. And oh, yes, I’m leaving a list of things for you two to do to keep you out of trouble and out of Martha’s hair while we are gone. Robert, Will, your mother has things for you two to do after lunch.” 

            “Yes, ma’am,” they replied. 

            Steve eyed the door. “Not so fast, Steve,” Mary said. His aunts were both tapping their feet. “We need you and the boys after they get done with whatever their mother needs them to do. Go up and get these things from the drugs store and stop at Stringham’s since we can’t get these where we are going.” She handed Steve a list; he tried not to smile. It was exactly where he needed to go, though Mary didn’t know. At least he didn’t think she knew. “Yes, ma’am,” he replied, shoving the list in his pocket.

            “Now then, everyone has their assignments for the day,” she said, trying very hard not to sound cross with Betty missing again. “What is she up to now?” She grinds her teeth. “Good, now let’s finish up. We have lots to do, and time is running short,” Mary said, still steaming. “When I get my hands on my sister, ooh,” clenching her fist tight.

            Steve and Richard were both grinning broadly, thinking about what was in store and what their mother had done. Lizzy glared at them; their smile disappeared. If she only knew part of the plan, she’d probably kill them both. Martha had been down the hall with EJ, taking the trays back to the kitchen and seeing everyone around the table. Mary walked over to her. “Martha, just leave it there, dear; as you can see, everything’s fine.”

            Martha sighs and walked back down the hall, mumbled. “There’s nothing like feeling useless like a tired old sock,” Martha mumbles as she sat back in the chair, watching EJ still resting comfortably; she patted her pocket and pulled out the note Grandma had left her. She reads:

           

                        I know just how you feel, dear. Now, take a deep breath. That’s better. I want you  to follow these instructions. I need you to chop down those trees in two days, dear.

           

            Martha read the rest of the note, smiled, laughed, and looked towards the door. “Yes, Grandma.” She whispered, “Timber,” and folded the note into her pocket. Martha leaned over and whispered in EJ’s ear. “Grandma’s got a few tricks of her own, dear, and so do I,” and kissed his cheek while he slept. 

            “Ma, you wanted to see us?” Robert asked. Will trailed into the room behind him. 

            “Yes, boys,” she said, rising from the chair at EJ’s bedside. “Let’s walk outside for a minute. I need some fresh air.” She closed the door behind them so that they wouldn’t disturb him. “I have a problem,” she said, putting her arm around her two boys as they walked outside, breathing in the fresh air that always seemed to relax her. “I have a problem that only you can solve,” paused and then continued. “EJ’s got to get out that bed tomorrow or the next day, no later than that, according to the Doctor.”

            “Yes, Ma, we know that,” Robert said.

            “But the thing is, boys. I do say this. We can’t play Indians this time. Sure, he can wear a sheet around the house. I don’t care, but it’s not practical, is it?” She asked.

            “No, Ma,” Will said.

            “He can’t leave the house wearing a sheet either,” she said.

            “It’s that dress, Ma, isn’t it?” Robert asked.

            Ma nodded. “Yes, boys.”

            “None of us care about that; he can wear it all he wants; who cares about that?” They asked.

            “He does, that’s the problem. He won’t wear it, and he needs to get better,” Ma said.

            “Ma, you want us to wear one, don’t you? And you think he might do it if we do,” Will said. Robert swallowed hard.

            “Well, it can’t be any worse than being an Indian and going through all that again,” Robert said. Will laughed.

            “Thanks, boys; I’ll get the material and start making them so you can wear them for the annual picnic,” she said. 

            Will and Robert’s faces lost color right then and there. “Ma, I thought you meant just on the farm,” Robert asked. 

            “Boys, what difference does it make where you wear them?”

Robert and Will swallowed and nearly fainted and stumbled, thinking about all the people who would see them in a dress from school. “Ma, a simple farmer or Indian is one thing, but a dress is completely different,” Will said. 

            Ma nodded knowingly. “Tell you what, I’ll make them and let you get used to them first. We’ll take one step at a time,” she said. 

            The boys reluctantly agreed. “Ma, just on the farm for now,” Robert said.

 Ma sighed and nodded her head.” Now, why don’t you go in there and show EJ you boys too are willing where that Kitenge gown? I’ll come in and take some measurements before they leave for town,” she said.

            “Yes, Ma,” they replied.

Ma smiled as she watched her two boys go back into the house. “What wonderful, silly boys I have!” Martha entered the kitchen, where Mary and Lizzy had finished the list. She made some changes and added a couple more things to it. “Mary, while you are in town, I need some fabric. Can you find the same material as the gown EJ has?”

            “I guess so. Why?” Mary asked. 

            “Oh, I just need to make more gowns for the boys and an extra one for EJ, that’s all,” she said. Mary’s eyes popped right out of her head. “Just send Julie down to the room before you leave so I can tell you how much I need,” she continued. Then she poured herself a glass of milk and walked back down the hall to EJ’s room.

            EJ was awake, propped up on two goose-feather pillows. “EJ, what do you think?” Robert asked as he spun around in the Kitenge gown. EJ laughed, holding his chest. The gown didn’t cover Roberts’ knees; his boxers showed as he whirled. Martha smiled as she entered the room, laughing at the sight. “Ma, EJ doesn’t believe us,” Robert told her.

            “It’s true, EJ. They said if you had to wear one, they would, too, and it was their idea,right, boys?” Ma said as she winked back. “Now let’s get you measured, Robert. Hold still.”

            “Hey, Ma, that tickles,” Robert complained. She ignored him and wrote the measurements. Then Ma helped him out of the gown and helped Will struggle into it. She watched him spin for a couple of minutes. EJ and Robert almost busted a gut when Will nearly tripped and nearly fell.

            Julie walked into the room. She then grinned at Will in the gown and grabbed his hands, spun him around a couple more times; EJ, holding his sides because they hurt so much from laughing so hard. “Ma, three brothers in nice gowns, I’m not sure I like it that they will be prettier than mine. It makes them look too handsome, and all the girls would snatch my brothers from me. I’d have to fight them off with a stick,” Julie winked at Ma.

            Ma chuckles, “I must say they do look handsome in them, don’t they?” She helped Will out of the gown, and Julie hung it back up on the hook on the closet door. “Alright, boys, that should do it.” Julie and Ma kissed each boy on the cheek and whispered, “Thank you,” in their ears. The boys had finished dressing and visiting with EJ. Ma walked down the hall to send everyone off. 

            EJ still laughed at Robert and Will, cracking up over the dress. “See, EJ, that wasn’t so bad now, was it?” Robert asked. 

            “Yeah, easy out here on the farm, but out there, where everyone will see ya, I don’t know, Robert,” he answered.

            “Hey, that’s what brothers are for.” Will    

            patted EJ on the shoulder and then put an arm around Robert. “We will show them, and we just don’t care, that’s all.” Trying not to show fear in their faces about how they really felt themselves. “Wish you were coming with us, but I don’t think you can wear a sheet in town, and it wouldn’t be such a good idea. And Ma would kill us if you got out of that bed right now anyway,” Will laughed. 

            Ma said, overhearing them as she walked into the room. She shook a finger at them. “You got that right, boys; you better get going. Steve’s waiting for you outside.” EJ sighs. “I know, two days, or at least one more anyway,” as Ma tucked the sheet back around his waist.

            “Just wish I had something to do, that’s all.”

            Robert chuckles. “Is that all?” He laid the tray across EJ’s lap and pulled out the box. Will propped him up in bed, gave him his pocketknife, and then set up his blocks, new wood  toy horses, and soap and waxes.

            EJ smiled and Ma laughed. “Thanks, boys. I think I got it from here.” She waved them   down the hall.

 

* * * *

            Almost everyone was gone, and the farm seemed empty and quiet. Wayne was asleep with a do not disturb until 2 p.m. note tacked on his door. Loraine was busy with girls; she had them sweeping and scrubbing the floors while she baked cookies and pies in the kitchen. Richard played outside and away from the house all afternoon with Sam and Danny. It gave Ma plenty of time to sit and stew about that dress and the boys while watching EJ carve away with a horse and his blocks. “Oh, this silly sitting here looking at this dress,” she said, putting down the needle and thread. I’ll call her. EJ, you stay in that bed,” she said, shaking her finger at him.

            EJ smiled and looked up for his whittling. “Where would I go, Ma?” he asked.

            She smiled. “Nowhere, just making sure, son.” She kissed his cheek, tucking the in the sheet round him. Ma walked down the hall to the kitchen and picked up the phone. Now, where did I put her number?” She said quickly found the number dialed.

 

“Hello, Mrs. Whitmore, This is Mrs. Downing; we met the other day at the hospital. That’s right, the boy with the fever. Oh, it’s Renee? Well, call me Martha. Anyway, Renee, I have a problem. Oh, you do. I see. Yes, boys do seem to have that problem. It’s silly. Me, too, at first. You do this all the time. I see. Do you have any suggestions on how we should? Sure. Come on over. That would mean so much. Yes, here’s the address. Yes, all right, thanks a lot. Bye 

now. “Martha hung up the phone, smiles.

 

            “That’s better,” she said, looking towards the bedroom. “Maybe if they see for themselves, they’re not in it alone. They can do it.” Martha spied Loraine when she entered the kitchen. She didn’t notice her before. “Better plan on extra for dinner tonight, dear. We have more guests coming, and most will be wearing that dress just like EJ’s,” Ma chucked as she headed back down the hall.

            Loraine watched her go. “More of them are guests or people wearing dresses like EJ.

            “Oh, my.” She rolled her eyes and made a stronger cup of tea for herself.

 

* * * *

            The boys, Robert, Will and Steve, drove up to Stringham Hardware on Main Street and entered the store. The proprietor met them at the door. “Hello, Mr. Stringham, Dave,” Robert said. “Where’s your pa?” Mr. Stringham asked when he looked outside and didn’t see the pickup. He closed the door behind them and walked around the counter, taking a pad and a pencil from the front of his apron pocket.

            Mr. Dave Stringham was a man who always stood for what was right and one of the few men in today’s world who understood farmers how to judge a man by his deeds and how he treats his family. Even though he prided himself on being the one to put Santaquin on the map, selling the best-traded goods he could find homegrown and bought. He loved to gossip, according to his wife, who had been dead two years from lung cancer. He was a man everyone counted on when they needed something done or built.

            He had just turned sixty-five this past spring, his dark brown hair starting to gray, and he still seemed nimble with an average height of six feet. Brown eyes and a handsome square jaw that still made a woman quiver when he whispered in their ears. Despite most of his teeth being man-made, his white teeth glistened as he gave each person a wink when he did something on the sly.

            “Oh, he’s back at the farm sleeping; he had a late-night last night with EJ, and he needed some rest,” Robert said.

            “I see,” Mr. Stringham replied.

            “This is his Uncle Steve; we just need some supplies,” Will said, handing him a list.“Dave, can you fill this for these boys?” Mr. Stringham asked. 

            “Yes, sir,” Dave said.

            Dave was a young kid, fresh out of college in his early twenties. It has a solid build from carrying heavy items and is used to work hard hauling supplies all over town. He stood at the average height of five feet, nine inches, with blue eyes and yellow curly hair. Dressed in a nice pair of workman overalls and a white tee-shirt that showed off his strong muscular arms, the girls who noticed him would all lick their lips, moaning with deep, satisfying pleasure as he carried out their order. With an apron that said Stringham Hardware and Goods.

painted on the front.

            Steve stepped up to the counter. “Mr. Stringham, do you know a woman named Margaret Cotwellar?” He asked. 

            That got his attention. “Why, yes, as a matter of fact, I…Come to think of it. Where did I put that letter?” He rifled through a stack of papers on the counter. “Here it is. This letter came just yesterday, and it said who was supposed�"yes, now I remember,” Mr. Stringham said, looking over at Will and Robert, scratching his chin, whispered in Steve’s ear, “Do they know?” Steve shakes his head no.

            “Hmm. I see. Will, Robert, I have some errands that need to be run. Do you think you boys can do them for me? You see, I can’t seem to tear myself away from the store, and Dave here is a kind of busy with everything else. I’ll pay you boys five dollars each and a sack full of penny candy,” Stringham said. 

            Robert and Will’s eyes widened. “Five dollars and penny candy? Sure, Mr. Stringham.”             

“All right, when Dave comes in, he’ll fill the orders, and I want you boys to deliver them to these addresses. I have bikes in the back.” He handed a list to the boys and said, “Steve and I will be awhile, ok, boys. All right then.” Steve laughed, seeing their excitement as Stringham gave each of them a hat and an apron. “That should keep them busy for a while,” Mr. Stringham said as they laughed. Mr. Stringham grinned as he motioned Steve toward his office in the back of the store. “You’re in charge. So Margaret wants to build them a house to thank them for all their help. That’s it in a nutshell, right?” Mr. Stringham asked, sitting behind the desk as the chair squeaked. “Yeah, the lumber was just sitting there, and when Mike died, he left most of it to Betty. She thought what the heck, why not?” Steve said, taking a chair and scooting forward.

            “I like the idea, but it’s a tall order. Have any idea how you’ll get it built by next spring?” He asked.

            “Not a clue. Margaret said you would have an idea.”

            Mr. Stringham leaned back in his wobbling chair. He righted it and whistled. “Son, look around the room. Do you know where you are?”

            “No, sir.”

            Mr. Stringham chuckles. “What do you see?” He pointed to all the pictures of farms and farmers nailed on the office walls. 

            “Farms, sir.” 

            “Well, you’ve come to the right place. Leave it to me. Let’s draw up those plans.”

They drew and re-figured and drew some more until they came up with something that Wayne, Martha, and their children would fall in love with. “That should do it, I think,” Stringham said, cracked his knuckles, and yawned. Through the door, he saw the boys coming in from the front door. He rose, patted Steve on the back, and motioned him to the door.

            Steve headed out for the front of the store and then turned to ask Mr. Stringham, “What word?” But the office door was closed; he could hear Mr. Stringham talking on the phone. Dave handed the boys a five-dollar bill from the till and filled two bags of penny candy, one for each.

“Keep the aprons,” Dave said, “and the hats, too. For the next time, we need some help.”

            Steve put his arm around the boys. Grinning at them, he asked. “Did you have fun?” “Yes, sir,” they replied.

            “Well, let’s go to the drugstore, then head back to the farm.”

 

* * * *

Mr. Stringham was on the phone spreading the word all right; it spread like wildfire. “Holding the biggest farmers’ picnic in the county. For details, see Stringham and Doc Hatfield.” They spread posters all over the county. Mr. Stringham was on the phone as he told the newspaper office, “That’s right, we’re holding the biggest picnic ever seen in these parts. Of course, yes, bring them all. I hear it will be a humdinger, going to last for weeks. I’m going. I’m bringing my whole family, my sisters, and her cousins. Yes, there will be a preacher there. Why wouldn’t there be? “Yes, bring them, too, and all the kids, all your sons and your daughters. Heck, bring them all, even if you’re unsure whose kids they are. Just load them in the wagons,” he told the receiver, told some across the counter.