A Burnished Rose
by
Christine Keleny
Although this novel was written around real events and places in history, the story and its characters are fictional.
To obtain a printed copy of this book contact: CKBooks, P.O. Box 214, New Glarus, WI, 53574 or at http://www.aburnishedrose.com.
Discover other titles by Christine Keleny at Smashwords.com
Published by CKBooks at Smashwords
Copyright 2011 by Christine Keleny
ISBN: 978-0-9832984-1-0
All Rights Reserved
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Dedication
To my father, Lloyd J. Keleny
and Marcy Schlemma/Korda
and all the other service men and woman
who give their service and their lives to our country.
I cannot thank you enough.
Book I
Chapter 3 - Serving Up More Than Just Popcorn
Chapter 5 - When the Blinder Fall
Chapter 6 - An Uncomfortable Fit
Chapter 10 - Can’t Live With ʼem, Can’t Live Without ʼem
Chapter 11 - A Day that Will Live in Infamy
Chapter 12 - Agree to Disagree
Chapter 1 - The Bend in the Road
Chapter 3 - Sand and C-Rations
Chapter 5 - The Geneva Convention Be Damned
Chapter 6 - Now, It’s Personal
Chapter 8 - The Cold Sandy Ground
Chapter 10 - Totally Unpredictable
Chapter 11 - Angel in a Turban
Chapter 12 - What Goes Around Comes Around
Chapter 14 - Schlafen Sie Gut!
Chapter 16 - Good Morning, Mrs. Connelly
Book I
Chapter 1
Rose Krantz blinked away the tears from her eyes as she stared at her mother Lilly. Lilly stared back, green eyes soft and waiting. Rose was trying to decide where to start after her mother had asked her about her two long years away from home.
Both women were full of questions, of course, but what Lilly really wanted to know was if Rose was home to stay. Rose’s mother would have to wait for her answer, however. Lilly wasn’t in the same hurry as the bright-eyed, seventeen-year-old sitting next to her at the kitchen table.
Actually, that same question loomed in Rose’s mind as well. Rose looked at her mother and sighed.
Here is the woman who gave me life, who fed me, clothed me, watched over me when I was ill, and who almost died while I was away following my dream—a dream it seems only I think is worthwhile following—and already I’m wondering how long can I really stay.
But Rose decided she couldn’t think about that now. Three weeks ago Lilly had come down with pneumonia, and it had almost cost her her life. The guilt of being gone at such a time sent Rose running back home to their farm in southwest Wisconsin.
The women were sitting together in a kitchen that floated in the sweet aroma of pancake syrup mixed with earthy, bitter coffee, remnants of the morning meal. Lilly Mae—Rose’s friend—was sitting quietly next to Rose. Gertrude—Rose’s older sister—was standing at the sink. Dishes were stacked high on the countertop sitting next to a sink of hot, soapy water left hastily by Gerty when she discovered who the two unexpected visitors were.
“We can talk about me later, Mom. How are you feeling? When did you get out of the hospital? I came home because Michael said you where in the hospital.”
“You saw Michael!” Gerty blurted out.
Gerty had been listening covertly though intently for what the two women would say to each other. She anticipated some sharp words between the pair.
It wasn’t as if Rose had just gone off to live with relatives for two years with the family’s permission; she had run away from home. And other than a small note she had left next to the flour jar, she hadn’t let her family know where she was for a good week after she had gone. Even then Rose hadn’t given any details about where she was or who she was with.
“Yah, he was on leave in NeOrlins and we…well, we bumped into each other,” Rose explained, pronouncing New Orleans as any native Louisianian would have done, though she left out the small detail that the meeting took place in a bordello.
“How is he getting on?” her mother asked in her soft Irish brogue. “That boy’s writin’ hand seems ta be broken.” Lilly’s brow tightened with the comment.
“He’s just fine, Mom,” Rose reassured her. “He looks good, and he really seems to like being in the Air Corps.” But Rose’s encouraging words didn’t soften the frown on her mother’s face, so Rose changed the subject. “So how are you feeling?” Rose asked again, setting her hand gently on top of her mother’s.
“I’m doin’ just fine, dear. It was all a big fuss, don’t ya know. I’d a been fine right here at home,” she scolded, “’stead of cartin’ me off to the hospital and runnin’ up such a big bill.”
Gerty turned around from the sink and shook her head behind her mother’s back. Rose’s eyes widened momentarily when she caught sight of her sister’s pantomime. She quickly redirected her attention back to her mother.
“Well, I’m glad you’re home now and feeling better.” Rose said with an affected smile.
“Havin’ my children home is the only sort of medicine I need,” Lilly said looking straight at Rose. She placed her other hand on top of her daughter’s.
“Enough about me, dear. How are you doing? There were a few times there you really had us worried, ya know.”
Rose smiled at her mother and took a long, deep breath. She wasn’t sure how she would sum up two years of life-changing experiences in just a morning’s worth of words. She didn’t know how to explain the slow, inconspicuous, and sometimes arduous process of going from a girl—in this case a tomboy—to a young woman. And Rose was just beginning to understand the complexities of love, loss, and the true meaning of friendship. She didn’t know where to start.
To Rose’s relief, she was temporarily deferred from the task when young bodies and excited voices started to flood into the warm, quiet kitchen.
“Mom!” a young voice called out with a whine as a brown-haired, freckled-faced boy stepped half dressed into the kitchen. “Sean took the last clean pair of underw—”
But the boy was unable to complete his sentence when he discovered there were strangers in the room. He hastily disappeared back into the living room, but his curiosity got the better of him. He stuck just his head around the doorjamb to see who these people were. The white girl looked familiar to him, but he had never seen the colored girl before.
“Hi, David,” Rose said to her brother with a soft smile.
David’s mouth dropped open when he finally recognized his sister, and without thinking, he stepped back into the doorway.
Rose was wearing a white rayon blouse and simple, semi-fitted skirt, similar to what the boy might have seen his mother wear to church on Sunday. Her wavy, auburn hair was shoulder length and was sitting neatly on her head, very unlike the sister he remembered who didn’t wear anything but overalls and a cap. But once she smiled at him, he knew for sure it was Rose.
“David!” Gerty yelled in admonishment. “Go put some pants on!”
David reddened and ran back upstairs, yelling, “Hey, guess who’s home!”
Word spread like wildfire on that sleepy June Monday, and it didn’t take long for more of Rose’s siblings to rush into the room.
Next into the kitchen were Margaret and Katherine, fifteen and thirteen, respectively. Margaret, who had the same wavy hair as Rose but in a light brown shade, was tucking her white cotton shirt into her sackcloth skirt, well-worn saddle shoes still untied. Her freckled face sister, Katie, was holding a small child that Rose knew must be her youngest sibling, Rachel, who had been born seven months after Rose had left home. The two girls beamed when they saw their long-lost sister, though their enthusiasm dampened when they noticed the stranger who sat next to her.
“Hey, Rose!” Margaret finally said, running over to give Rose a hug. “You look really good!”
“Thanks! You look good too!”
Rose stood as Katie stepped up next to her, Rachel still in her arms.
“Hey, Rose,” Katie said, a bit subdued.
Katie stealthily eyed Rose’s friend as her sister enveloped them both in her arms.
“It’s so good to see you all again,” Rose said as she held them tight.
The small girl in Katie’s arms recoiled at the stranger who wanted to be so close.
“I’m sorry, Rachel.”
Rose stepped away from the pair to give the young child a little room.
“I am just so happy to finally meet you,” Rose said with a twinkle in her eye. The little girl responded with a coy smile. Rose turned toward her mother. “She looks so much like Michael!”
Lilly smiled and nodded in agreement.
Rose was stunned to see how much Rachel resembled her oldest brother, Michael—the dark, wavy hair, the quiet disposition, the well that ran deep behind her dark brown eyes; it was all there.
Then Rose caught John, child number eight, peeking around the doorway. He was only four when Rose had left, so his memory of his sister was a bit vague.
Gerty walked over to John and coaxed him into the room with a gentle nudge. “It’s okay, John. It’s just Rose and her friend, Lilly Mae.”
Sean and David skidded into the room right behind John.
“See, I told ya so,” David said to his twin brother. They were identical twins and had turned nine that spring.
“Hi, Sean!” Rose said walking over to the boys and giving them each a hug. “You’ve both gotten so big!” she said placing a hand on each of their close-shaven heads.
The boys stood a little taller, beaming with satisfaction.
“So ya seen enough stuff? Are you gonna stay home now?” David blurted out.
Rose’s body stiffened, and she felt a sudden warmth envelop her.
“David Patrick! That’s not polite talk,” Rose’s mother scolded. “Your sister just got home.” She gave her son a stern look and whole room fell silent.
As Rose’s siblings stood around waiting for someone to speak, they couldn’t keep their eyes away from the unfamiliar colored girl. Trying not to be impolite and stare, each one of them in turn made quick side glances in her direction. John was the only one who couldn’t keep his eyes off the pretty, brown girl with the perfect, milk chocolate complexion.
Lilly Mae smiled at the small boy. He sheepishly smiled back then stepped a little closer to his brothers. Most of the boys hadn’t seen a colored person up close, and they were torn between staying clear away and wanting to touch her to see if any of her color would rub off. She was a girl, after all.
Rose took a deep breath, enveloping herself in the familiar feeling of family. Now she remembered why she had come. It was like putting on a comfortable pair of overalls—soft and inviting, roomy and unassuming. A person could let oneself go here, dropping all pretense and facades, being accepted for who you were, or who you were changing into, as the case may be.
“I’d like you all to meet Lilly Mae,” Rose said, stepping up next to her friend. “She’s the one I told you all about in my letters. We worked together on the steamboat Capital and the J. S. Deluxe.”
Rose was pleased to have her close friend along and proud to show her a little bit more about herself through her family and her childhood home in the beautiful, rocky hills of Crawford County.
Then, one by one, Rose introduced her younger siblings to Lilly Mae, though introductions were hardly needed. Lilly Mae pretty much knew each family member by name. She and Rose had spent hours talking to each other about their families during their travels along the Mississippi. All she needed was to put names to faces. Each child gave her a polite though timid hello, the boys hardly being heard over a whisper. Then Gerty and Margaret shooed the boys out of the room so the girls could get down to more important matters—finding out what Rose had really been up to.
“So where’s Dad?” Rose asked, as baby Rachel sat in Katie’s lap and played with the waves in Rose’s hair, checking out the pleasant stranger.
“He’s out turkey hunting,” Gerty said from in front of the sink.
“So what’s New Orleans like?” Margaret asked, leaning forward in her seat, eyes wide with anticipation. Katie leaned in closer too so as not to miss a word. “When you wrote and told us you were going to school there, I looked it up in the encyclopedia at school. It sounds like a really neat place!”
“Yah, Miss Turner was happy to hear that you were going to high school,” Katie added.
“And your mother was happy to hear it was a Catholic school,” Lilly said with a wry smile. “Now, tell me about this young man.”
A soft blush appeared on Rose’s face, and without thinking she reached up to fondle the filigreed heart necklace that hung on her milky white neck. She hadn’t taken it off since Malcolm had given it to her last Christmas. The fact that it was his grandmother’s made it that much more special to Rose.
Katie and Margaret leaned in even closer. Gerty even stopped washing the dishes to listen in.
“He’s twenty years old. He’s very polite and kind and always a gentleman. Isn’t he, Lilly Mae?”
Lilly Mae nodded her head in agreement, a slight smirk on her face.
“He works for himself selling people things they might have trouble finding like antique furniture or old documents. He also shops for people who can’t or don’t have time to shop for themselves.”
“How nice,” her mother said.
I wonder if she would think it was nice if she knew who he shopped for? Rose thought in amusement—namely the women at the cathouse where she lived and worked. He did this because the department stores in New Orleans raised the prices on the things these ladies needed—hose, nightgowns, even simple handkerchiefs—because of what they did for a living, so Malcolm was their buyer, and his markup was considerably less.
“Does he live with his family?”
“He has a small apartment in town, but he watches out for his grandmother who lives in a bayou just west of the city,” Rose explained. “He was raised mostly by his grandmother. His mom died when he was born, and his father wasn’t around much.”
“And Lilly Mae,” Rose’s mother turned toward the quiet girl. “Rose told us in her letters that you have a big family, too.”
Lilly Mae hesitated a moment, not sure what to say to the room full of strangers. “Yes’um. I got eight brothers and sisters like Rose, but I’m the oldest.”
“And Lilly Mae is taking evening classes when she’s not working on the riverboat,” Rose explained, wanting to highlight Lilly Mae’s ambitions.
“Your mother must be proud of ya,” Lilly said. “Going ta school after working all day.”
Lilly Mae nodded in agreement even though that’s not exactly how her mother saw things. Her mother thought Lilly Mae should stay home in the evenings and help her with the children, especially after her husband had left her for good right after she had become pregnant with their ninth child. But Lilly Mae was not the loquacious type, and her tendency to clam up was exaggerated around people she didn’t know, so she didn’t explain further.
“And you’re working too, huh, Rose? You never really did say what you do down there,” Margaret said.
Rose’s cheeks colored again. She hesitated, trying to think of the right words to describe where she worked. She knew she couldn’t tell her younger sisters she worked in a brothel, even though it was just cleaning, some cooking, keeping the madam’s books, and, on rare occasions, helping schedule the patrons. Rose wasn’t even sure her very Irish, Catholic mother would understand. Rose decided she’d give them a simpler explanation.
“Well…I clean and keep the books for a lady who has her own business,” she finally said. “As I mentioned in my letters, she was the one who took me in when Lilly Mae and I got separated on the docks.”
“That was awfully fortunate,” her mother said with a serious tone. “The good Lord was watching after you, young lady.”
Rose smiled. “Yes, I think he was.”
“And I was sorry to hear about your elderly friend, what was her name?”
“Grandma B.”
“That’s right! I was sorry to hear that she had died,” her mother said. “It sounds like she took good care a ya too.”
“Yah, she was pretty special. Wasn’t she, Lilly Mae?”
Yeah, in a sandpaper sort a way, Lilly Mae thought to herself, but she just nodded her head in agreement. Lilly Mae hadn’t gotten as close to Grandma B as Rose had since she hadn’t stayed in the Ville in St. Louis with Grandma’s family as Rose had done. She didn’t get to see her apparent softer side.
Just then the kitchen door swung open.
“Look who the cat dragged in!” came a deep, booming voice.
Rose jumped out of her chair and ran over to her father, Karl, who stood in a green-and-black checked, wool shirt, dark brown pants, and stocking feet—he had learned long ago to leave his dirty boots out on the porch. Rose wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed with all her might. The scent of the cool outdoors and the roughness of his unshaven face were exactly how she remembered him. The tall, thin man didn’t say a thing. He just stood there with his arms wrapped around his favorite girl. Though he too noticed that Rose had changed. She wasn’t his little girl anymore.
When Rose let go of her embrace, she took his hand and led him over to Lilly Mae.
“Pop, this is my good friend, Lilly Mae.”
Lilly Mae stood and shook his hand. “Nice ta meet ya, sir,” she said, barely meeting his gaze.
“Nice to finally meet you,” he said with obvious sincerity. “Seems you were an awful good friend to our Rose, and we appreciate that.”
The two girls looked at each other and smiled. Then Karl turned his attention back to Rose. A broad grin seeped across his face.
“I think our Rose grew up on us, mother.”
“Yes, I think she has.” Lilly smiled knowingly at Rose.
“There’s still some batter left, Dad, if you want some pancakes,” Gerty chimed in.
“I’ll get it for you, dear,” Lilly said, and with some effort she started to stand.
This made Rose realize that her mother hadn’t gotten up since they had stepped into the kitchen over an hour ago. That was very unlike her.
“No, I’ll get it,” Rose interrupted. “Lilly Mae and I haven’t eaten either, so I’ll make some for all of us.”
Both parents were amazed at their daughter’s willingness and aptitude as she moved about the kitchen; this was something that she hadn’t left home with. In fact, her mother had given up trying to teach Rose even the most rudimentary cooking skills. Lilly had decided Rose would eventually learn with the trial-by-fire method when she had a family of her own to take care of. And she would be there to help put out the flames.
Rose opened the kitchen cupboard to put on an apron, went to the woodstove, and threw in a few extra pieces of wood to heat the cast iron pans that sat on top of it, then moved about the kitchen as if she owned it. It took only a few wrong guesses at where the kitchen supplies were, and soon steaming hot pancakes and pork sausage sat in front of her father and Lilly Mae.
The newcomers enjoyed a long, leisurely breakfast, with the boys filtering back in now and again to catch some of the stories of Rose’s work on the riverboats, of her time in St. Louis, and her present life in New Orleans. Rose managed to leave out the details of the assault her first night on the riverboat, almost bleeding to death in front of the black nightclub in St. Louis, and the police raid on Madam E’s bordello in New Orleans. But amongst all the other colorful stories and gay experiences, there was a question that still hung in the air like a giant, white elephant but was never answered: Are you home to stay?
“Enough of all this here chatterin’. You girls must be wantin’ ta get outta those travelin’ clothes and into somethin’ a little more comfortable,” Rose’s mother suggested, standing with the help of her hand in Karl’s. “David, take the girls’ cases up to Rose and Gerty’s room, please,” she said, pointing up the stairs.
“Yah, I’d like to show Lilly Mae around the farm!” Rose said with enthusiasm. “But we need to help clean up first,” she continued, as she started to clear the table.
“We can handle it, Rose,” Gerty assured her. “We’ll get you working soon enough.”
Rose smiled and squeezed Gerty’s hand, and for a moment, Rose forgot her suppressed desire to leave. It did feel good to be home again.
~ ~ ~
Stepping back into the bedroom Rose had shared with her older sister felt like stepping back in time for Rose—the oak dresser with the tarnished, oval mirror that was her grandmother’s and the white, metal double bed that she shared with her sister were still in their usual places. The oil lamp and worn, upholstered chair sat by the window like a sentinel waiting for Rose to pick up a book and settle in. This had been Rose’s refuge, where she would sit and read well into the night about all the places she wanted to see and all the people she wanted to meet. It was all so familiar, yet it seemed so far away.
A soft breeze played with the white eyelet curtains that hung on both sides of the double-framed windows and freshened the room with the cool morning air.
The girls dressed in haste, both looking forward to getting out and seeing the countryside. Rose suggested slacks, since it wouldn’t be as warm as it had been in New Orleans, and Rose wanted to show Lilly Mae all her old haunts; dresses just wouldn’t do.
Rose started the tour with the farmyard. Max, the family dog, was waiting on the porch as always, along with John, David, and Sean. They wanted to tag along in order to watch the interesting colored girl and to add their two cents to the homestead tour.
First came the barn filled with scrawny cats and small, fuzzy kittens peeking out from almost every nook and cranny. Gracie and Tucker, their quarter horses, were in their stalls eating their morning ration of hay. The musty, sweet smell of horsehide and horse apples mixed with the straw gave Rose a feeling of familiarity on top of an odd hint of aloofness. This place was something she knew well, and she walked into it as if she were meeting an old friend but with a touch of disinterest that had never been there before. It was so subtle she didn’t give it much import. Rose noticed that the barn was as neat and clean as ever. “A place for everything and everything in its place,” her father would say. That hadn’t changed either.
Just behind the barn there was the pig shed.
“We just got new pigs a few weeks ago,” Sean said.
“But they’re not very big yet,” David added, and he picked up one of the pink and scraggly-haired creatures and offered it to Lilly Mae.
“Oh!” Lilly Mae said, cowering at the offer.
And when the piglet squealed to high heaven as she reluctantly grabbed hold of it, she knew that was a sign to let it go on its way.
Next came the corncrib and the chicken house, the latter of which had such an acrid, biting odor that it kept Lilly Mae from even coming close, despite Rose’s entreaties to “Come and see the girls!”
When the tour of the farmyard was done, Rose disappointed the boys when she informed them that she and Lilly Mae were going to walk the perimeter of the farm without them. Rose wanted a little quiet time to collect her thoughts from the now-unaccustomed business of the morning.
The girls spoke very little as they walked the fencerow looking at the acres of willowy, new growth winter wheat sitting in neat, bright green rows on their right and the fatter and darker wavy leaves of corn on their left.
Lilly Mae took in a deep breath, her face reaching up for the sun, and her countenance softened.
“This is pretty, Rose. Everything’s so green! How come you never done told me you lived in such a nice place?”
Lilly Mae was enjoying the quiet landscape of the lush, green countryside, all of which seemed to be at one angle or another, very unlike the flat Mississippi delta where she had grown up. The rocky hills of this unglaciated area in southwest Wisconsin was covered in hardwoods: oaks, hickories, and elms to name a few. The farm fields were surrounded by these same trees or crude, stone walls placed there not to keep animals out but to clear the fields of rocks that were pushed up through the soil each winter. And this place had the same deep-seated calm and quiet majesty as the Mississippi river, traits that Lilly Mae was always drawn to.
Rose looked around her, and a small smile spread across her face. She hadn’t really ever looked at these familiar hills like that before. She just took it all for granted.
“Smells nice out here too. Better dan at da farm. No offense.”
Rose put her arm around her friend’s shoulder and grinned. “No offense taken.”
Rose was enjoying the solace, as well, but it wasn’t her surroundings or even being home again that was going through her mind just now; it was thoughts of her handsome Creole, Malcolm. I wonder what he’s doing now. I wonder if he misses me yet? A soft smile appeared on her face at the thought. Probably not, she assured herself without hesitation. He’s probably busy finding someone that perfect lampshade for their antique French lamp, or helping Ginny with the Madam’s laundry. It was so thoughtful of him to take over my job so I could leave rightaway! Rose was so deep in thought she hadn’t even noticed that they had come to the end of the field row.
“Rose? Rose, which way do we go?” Lilly Mae asked, waking Rose out of her trance.
“Oh. Sorry, Lilly Mae. I was just thinkin’ about…how good it feels to be home,” Rose said.
“Yeah?” Lilly Mae said, dubious.
Lilly Mae had spent enough time with Rose to know what Rose was probably thinking about, and it wasn’t about home.
“Let’s go down this way. I want to show you my old schoolhouse,” Rose said, pointing to their right.
This time Rose enlisted Lilly Mae in conversation in order to avoid getting caught thinking about Malcolm again. Among other things, they talked about their train trip to Wisconsin. It was a first for both of them. They had both only traveled the country by riverboat thus far in their short lives.
As the young women chatted, they walked into and back out of a small woods still damp with the morning dew. It brought them to an open, grassy area about two acres square. There a white clapboard schoolhouse stood next to two swings, two small wooden privies, and a gravel parking lot.
Rose knew the one-room school would be locked for the weekend, but she wanted to peek inside. She took a cursory glance around for something to stand on and then remembered the wooden water bucket that always sat next to the water pump on the other side of the building. Rose retrieved it, turned it upside down, and cautiously stepped on top of it to take a look inside one of the five large windows that ran along each side of the building.
When she stepped up to peer inside, she dropped right back down with a ghastly white look on her face.
“What is it, Rose? You look like ya seen a ghost.”
“It’s Silus,” she whispered to Lilly Mae as if Silus could hear her.
Lilly Mae remembered Rose talking about her childhood friend, Silus Ripp. Rose had made it sound like they were pretty close, so Lilly Mae wasn’t sure why Rose appeared so flustered at his sudden appearance. Maybe he got maimed or somethin’, Lilly Mae thought. She decided she’d better have a look for herself.
With some difficulty and an eventual hand from Rose, Lilly Mae stepped up onto the overturned bucket and peeked with some hesitation over the window ledge. She saw a bushy, blond-haired young man on a ladder in front of the chalkboard with another young man with dark hair on a smaller ladder about six feet away from him. They appeared to be nailing something up above the slate board.
“They look pretty harmless ta me,” she said, craning her neck a little more to see further into the room. “Which one is he?”
“The one with the blond hair,” Rose said nervously, her voice straining to keep from being heard. “But I’m not sure I’m ready to see him yet.”
“Then we can just tip toe back outta hereee....”
But before Lilly Mae could finish her sentence, the bucket she was standing on tipped under her feet. She screamed out loud as her arms flailed around her in an unsuccessful attempt to right herself. Rose reached out to grab Lilly Mae but couldn’t get a hold of her before she landed hard on her backside on the ground.
The two young men, hearing the scream, jumped off their ladders and ran to the window. When they didn’t see anyone at first, they moved their gaze down, next to the building. They hoisted up the heavy, old windowpane, and both men peered down for a better look. They saw a young colored girl trying to stand up—Silus was sure he didn’t know her—and leaning over her was a young white girl, but she was bent down helping the colored girl to her feet, so they couldn’t see her face.
“Are you okay?” Silus asked.
That’s when Rose looked up. If it hadn’t been for her piercing blue eyes, Silus would hardly have recognized her; she had changed so much from what he remembered.
“Rose? Rose Krantz?” he said as if he didn’t know her, though he very well did.
“Silus, is that you?” Rose replied, feigning ignorance as well.
“In the flesh!”
In the flesh, indeed, Rose thought. He had grown in that flesh since Rose had last seen him; his shoulders were broader, and he had a slight, blond stubble on his chin, something he didn’t have two years ago. Besides the awkward feeling she had as he hovered over her, Rose couldn’t get rid of the strange, anxious feeling that had come over her when she first caught sight of him through the window. She had brushed it off as the result of seeing him unexpectedly after being away for so long.
“You look good!” she said with as much composure as she could muster.
“You look good too!” he replied with a boyish grin. “When’d you get home? I didn’t even know you were coming.”
“No one knew.”
Then the young man who was leaning out of the window next to Silus cleared his throat.
“Oh sorry, Earl. This is Rose, my friend from grade school. You remember her, don’t ya?”
“I would remember Rose anywhere,” he said with a broad smile. “And who is this?” he asked politely, looking in Lilly Mae’s direction.
“This is my good friend, Lilly Mae. She’s from NeOrlins,” Rose said and put her arm around Lilly Mae.
“Pleasure to meet you, miss,” Earl said with a nod.
“We’ll put our stuff down and come out,” Silus said. He was still holding his hammer.
“Okay,” Rose replied, tentatively. After the young men had ducked back inside, Rose looked at Lilly Mae with a questioning look on her face and shrugged her shoulders, eyebrows raised, eyes wide.
The young men were outside of the schoolhouse and standing in front of them before Rose could figure out what to say. Silus had grown four or five inches taller than Rose since she had last seen him, though he still was as thin as a rail. He didn’t seem to know what to do with his hands, so he stuffed them in the pockets of his overalls.
Earl was stockier than Silus and just a shade taller than Rose. He wore a pair of denim work pants and a white tee shirt that clung to him, revealing well-developed chest muscles and a trim figure. He stood confidently next to Silus. He looked as if he had a million questions he wanted to ask if given the chance.
“So how long you been home?” Silus asked.
“We just got in by train this morning.”
“I heard you were living in New Orleans!” he said with excitement. “I knew you’d end up in some interesting place like that.”
“We were going there to visit Lilly Mae’s family, and we got separated, so....Well, it’s a long story. I don’t wanna to bore you,” she said half in jest, figuring he would press her for the details anyway.
But he didn’t.
Rose looked at him with a mild frown on her face. That’s odd. I would have thought he’d want to know all about what happened. Two years ago he wouldn’t have let me rest ’til he got the whole story. And when Silus didn’t ask her any more questions, she thought she better say something. She turned her attention to Earl.
“Are you from around here, Earl? I don’t remember seeing you before,” Rose asked.
“I’m Silus’s cousin from LaCrosse. I met you six years or so ago. Don’t you remember?”
Rose tilted her head to one side as she thought to herself a moment. “You’re not that small, skinny kid that came to stay a couple summers?”
“Yup, that’s me!” Earl said, puffing out his chest with pride.
“I wouldn’t have recognized you.”
“I would have known you a mile away,” he said in a softer, more serious tone.
Color rushed to Rose’s cheeks. She looked down at the ground, hoping it would fade before she had to look up again. Lilly Mae pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows at the statement. Then when no one continued the conversation, Rose looked back at Silus.
“So, what have you been up to?” she asked as she jammed her hands in the pockets of her slacks.
“I went to school for a while, but I had to agree with my dad, it seemed like a waste a time since I was gonna just work on the farm anyway.”
Rose looked at Silus a bit puzzled. “I thought you wanted to get away from home? You always said you wanted to go to Madison or Milwaukee and go to a trade school.”
“Yeah, well, after you left, I kinda lost interest in that idea and thought I might as well just stick with what I know.”
Silus dropped his gaze, knowing Rose would probably be disappointed in his choice. Rose stared at him, puzzled.
“I tried to tell him going to school was worth his time, but he just tells me I sound like his mom,” Earl added.
“You know, you were always the adventurous one,” Silus said. “I just kinda went along ’cause I thought it sounded like fun.”
“It is fun, Silus!” Rose said with excitement. “I’ve seen more things and done more things than I ever imagined when I stepped on that riverboat two years ago. And I’ve made some very nice friends along the way.”
Rose smiled at Lilly Mae and took hold of her arm. Silus looked at Lilly Mae with a questioning stare.
“Well, we better be getting back to fixin’ that chalkboard,” he said, changing the subject. “Mom’s expecting us back for dinner, and you know how upset she gets when I’m late for a meal!” He stepped away from the women then paused. “You’ll have to come by some time and say hey to the folks! You gonna be around for a while?”
Rose looked at Lilly Mae, then back at Silus and Earl.
“We haven’t really decided.”
“Well, you should stop by,” he said, repeating his offer as he headed for the schoolhouse steps. “Mom would love to see ya.”
“Very nice to meet you both,” Earl said with a nod, lingering momentarily in Rose’s direction, less eager to retreat then Silus seemed to be.
“Nice to meet you again too, Earl,” Rose replied, demurely. “See ya later, Silus!” Rose called out as the young men disappeared behind the battered, brown doors.
The two girls stood still for a moment. Rose was staring at the front of the schoolhouse. Lilly Mae was staring at Rose.
“He seems different than ya said,” Lilly Mae commented.
“Yah, he seems different to me too.”
“That Earl character is mighty interested in you, though,” Lilly Mae teased.
“Oh, he is not!” Rose insisted, pushing at Lilly Mae’s arm, trying to convince herself even more than Lilly Mae.
Rose stood staring at the schoolhouse doors a moment longer. Mostly though, she couldn’t get over how different Silus was. Just two years ago he used to talk about all the things he wanted to do and the places he wanted to see. Rose wondered why he had changed his mind. It wasn’t just my lack of influence, was it? She shook her head, trying to ignore the idea.
She thought she knew him better than that.
Then there was the somewhat aloof way Silus interacted with Lilly Mae. If Earl hadn’t been so cordial, Rose probably wouldn’t have even noticed. She just chalked it up to a boy’s awkwardness around an unknown female. Rose turned and faced Lilly Mae.
“We better be getting back home too. We’ll need to help get dinner going,” Rose said.
She took Lilly Mae’s arm once more, and they started back for the farm.
Rose didn’t say much on the way back. She couldn’t get the idea of how much Silus seemed to have changed off her mind, how much everything had changed. Being home just wasn’t turning out as Rose had envisioned.
Chapter 2
Gerty stood over Rose in the dark bedroom and gently shook her sister.
“Rose! Rose! Come quick. Mom’s having trouble breathing again,” she said in a whisper, trying to avoid waking Lilly Mae.
It didn’t work. Lilly Mae woke up at the anxious sound of Gerty’s voice.
Rose’s eyes popped open when she heard the urgent words. She threw off the covers and dropped her bare feet to the worn, braided rug.
“What…what’s the matter?” she asked, attempting to blink the sleep out of her eyes and the fog from her brain.
“Mom can’t stop coughing, and she can hardly catch her breath,” Gerty answered with obvious trepidation.
Rose stood and followed Gerty out of the room. Lilly Mae threw on a housedress over her nightgown and followed right behind.
“Dad’s trying to convince her she needs to go to the hospital,” Gerty continued as they hurried down the dark, narrow stairway toward the soft light that emanated from their parent’s room. “But she doesn’t want to go!”
Rose could hear her mother coughing even at the top of the steps. When they walked into her parents’ bedroom, Rose saw Lilly sitting on the edge of their bed, bent over a pot of steaming water. She held a handkerchief to her mouth, as her husband held a towel over her head to help catch the steam.
Karl turned when the three girls entered the room. Rose wasn’t sure if it was the steam or if those were tears that filled her father’s eyes.
Rose realized in that moment that the man she knew all her life to be strong and stoic, at even at the saddest of occasions, was collapsing under the weight of the very real possibility that he was losing the love of his life.
Rose’s eyes welled with tears as she ran over to her parents’ side.
“Thanks for comin’ down, Rose. I remembered you worked at that doctor’s clinic in St. Louis, so I thought maybe...” his voice trailed off, the words caught in his throat.
Rose looked into her father’s pleading face, and without a word being uttered, she knew what he was asking of her. She wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her nightgown, took a deep breath, and knelt down in front of her mother.
Looking into Lilly’s pale, strained face was like a douse of cold water for the girl. Rose froze in wide-eyed shock. One of Lilly’s hands was propped on her thigh as she coughed incessantly, her eyes wet and red from the strain. When she wasn’t coughing, her chest heaved and wheezed as she struggled to take in air. Her mother’s anxiety was palpable; it was written all over her face. Rose’s initial paralysis turned resolute as she looked into Lilly’s blue-green eyes.
Rose placed her hand on her mother’s abdomen. “Mom, listen to me carefully. You need to breath into my hand,” Rose said as calmly as she could despite the tightness in her own stomach. “Try and push your belly into my hand as you breathe in,” she ordered, remembering the elderly patient she had seen in Doctor Greenwall’s clinic one Saturday morning over a year ago.
Rose had worked almost every Saturday in the medical office of Monica’s father, her good friend in St. Louis. She had started out helping with the doctor’s books, but when they both discovered Rose had a skill for working with patients, he hired her on as his Saturday morning assistant. The woman that had come in that day was considerably older than her mother, and at the time she had frightened Rose. She sat in the doctor’s waiting room bent over and coughing so hard that on occasion her thin, white skin would turn a pale shade of blue.
Both women’s anxieties were quelled that Saturday when the good doctor coolly, and with great skill, settled the old woman’s breathing with his firm, steady voice, using the same remedy Rose was trying to apply to her mother just now. It seemed to be working.
Lilly looked into Rose’s steady eyes and tried to comply. She was able to slow her breathing down a small amount, allowing her abdomen to raise and lower Rose’s hand until another bout of coughing overtook her.
Gerty walked carefully into the room with a new pot of steaming water. Lilly Mae followed close behind with a hot teakettle. Gerty replaced the cooling pot in front of Lilly with the hot one, then Lilly Mae filling it further from the teakettle.
After Gerty had set the pot down, Rose turned to her to give her further instructions.
“Gerty, go get the Vicks out of the bathroom. Lilly Mae, get a saucer out of the kitchen cupboard,” Rose ordered, with obvious authority. The young women complied without hesitation.
Karl started to unbutton his wife’s dressing gown, assuming that Rose planned to put the Vicks on her chest as Lilly did when her children had colds. Rose put her hand on top of his. He stopped what he was doing.
“We’re going to use it with the steam, Dad. It works better that way.”
Gerty thought she saw a slight tremor in Rose’s hand as Rose took the greasy, pale salve and smeared it on the edge of the saucer. Then she knew that Rose’s outward, steady demeanor was hiding the same fear that she herself felt. She had a new appreciation for her little sister at that moment; she could tell she had truly grown into a young woman. Gerty put her hand on her sister’s shoulder as Rose held the saucer over the steaming water and under her mother’s nose.
As Rose looked up to see who was touching her, she noticed six small faces all squished in her parent’s doorway, staring blankly into the room. Even little Rachel seemed to know something serious was going on; she sat perfectly still in Katherine’s arms. Rose gave the saucer to Gerty and stepped up to Lilly Mae, leading her toward her obviously frightened siblings.
Rose knelt down and looked into their solemn faces. “Mom’s having a little trouble right now,” she said, trying to steady her voice. “But Gerty’s giving her some medicine that will help.”
She knew this was not a time to lie to them and say that things were all right. It was obvious to all of them that it wasn’t, and Rose needed them to trust her and do what she said.
“Now, I need you to help Mommy and Daddy.” She took John’s hands in her own and looked into their eyes one by one. “The best way you can help Mommy right now is to go into the kitchen, and be very quiet.”
Rose could see tears welling in Katherine’s eyes, which drew a lump in her own throat. She had to take a deep breath to collect herself in order to go on.
“Lilly Mae and Margaret are going to take you to the kitchen and get you something to drink. When Mom is feeling a little better, we’ll come in and let you know.”
David looked straight at his sister and with a trembling voice asked, “Rose, should we say a prayer?”
Rose smiled and touched his soft, ruddy cheek. “Yes, David. That’s a very good idea. You should all say a prayer.” And at that, Rose stood and blinked the moisture from her eyes as her brothers and sisters pressed in on her, tears flowing and noses sniffling.
Rose turned to Lilly Mae as her friend was wiping a tear away from her own cheek. Rose gave Lilly Mae a hug, lingering there just a moment. Then she took another deep breath and turned toward her mother. Margaret and Lilly Mae herded the frightened children into the kitchen.
Rose knelt down next to her mother again and placed her hand on her abdomen with a renewed sense of calm.
“Okay, Mom, remember, breathe into your belly.”
Her mother again complied, and after a minute or two, Lilly’s brow softened as she slowed down her breathing and pulled the mentholated air a little further into her lungs. Rose’s remedy was helping, for now.
Once Rose was convinced her mother could maintain this breathing pattern, she stood up next to her father.
“Gerty, can you hold the towel?” Rose asked.
Rose led her father aside as Lilly started to cough once more. Rose saw in her father a fatigue that she knew was not just from the late hour, but also from an obvious sense of relief.
“Dad, we need to take Mom to the hospital.”