Chapter 9
While Ellie recovered from her bruises and her headache faded away, she prayed every night that Papa would somehow find his way home. Mama made hot compresses throughout the day, which eased the soreness some. From his work at the print shop, Jack brought her leaflets and booklets to read to help pass the time.
Her favorite thing was to work on the carving of her father, which had turned into a pose with one leg down and one up in mid-step, as he looked when dancing with her mother. Working on it a little bit every night brought her a measure of comfort, and made her feel closer to him.
When Ellie heard the mournful whistle of the train, she was still too achy to walk to the station, even though just knowing she was not allowed made her want to go all the more. What if Papa somehow made his way to a train platform from wherever he was? He might arrive on any train that rolled into town.
Without finding a truly comfortable position to sleep, Ellie’s nights were restless, and her eyes felt heavy all day.
Curtis Locken visited again, bringing a whole starch cake from a new restaurant that had just opened in town. Linnea insisted he stay and share it with them. After he left, Linnea said, “He is such a nice man.”
Ellie had to agree. He’d never hinted at the awkwardness of their first meeting, he was polite as all get-out to Mama, and he even joked with her brothers, who made short work of the cake. Linnea glanced at the crumbs with a wrinkle between her brows. “Next time he comes, I’ll show him what a really good starch cake is.”
“If he comes back,” Ellie replied.
Linnea gave her daughter a knowing look. “He’ll be back.”
One afternoon, Jesse asked Ellie if she was ready to go on an outing. Ellie was more than ready to get out of the house, even though she still felt some occasional twinges of pain. Linnea must have felt that Ellie needed a change of pace, too, for instead of protesting, she simply waved goodbye with the parting words, “Just watch out for your dress, Ellie, and avoid animal droppings.”
“Mama!”
David stood outside beside his horse, which was hitched to a small wagon. Turning toward Jesse, Ellie asked, “What are we going to do?” She thought of the train station. The train had come and gone at least three times since her accident. Would Jesse take her there? She liked the mystery of the crates loaded on and carried off the train. She wondered about all the people coming and going. Where were they from? Where were they going? Would she ever have the chance to ride the train herself to some new, far-off place?
David interrupted her thoughts. “I’m getting low on apple wood, so instead of using that, I thought I’d look at some standing dead timber up on High Horse Ridge.” He glanced at the western sky. “Jesse said if there’s time, he’ll help me cut some.”
Ellie had spent a lot of time roaming the woods around town, but hadn’t gone up into the mountains more than a handful of times. “Do I need a shawl?”
“That’s a good idea,” Jesse said. “I’ll get it.” Dashing into the house, he soon returned with a tattered thing that Ellie was pretty sure she’d seen her mother toss in the ragbag not too long ago. Jesse threw it over the sides of the wagon that were built up to hold more cargo, although the wagon wasn’t big enough for more than one horse. The shawl landed beside a couple of axes, an old bucket, and a two-man saw. Perhaps that was why Jesse had gotten a ragged one.
David climbed up onto the wagon seat and took the reins while Jesse swung up onto his bay horse with the white blaze. David scooted over, clearing a few inches of wooden seat beside him before looking at Ellie with an invitation in his eyes. “Come sit by me.”
“There’s not enough room,” Ellie said. She gave her brother a beseeching glance and lifted her hand, hoping he’d pull her up onto the horse behind him.
“Go put on something you can ride in,” Jesse grumbled.
Ellie hurried into the house and changed into her split skirt and long-sleeved blouse. When she stepped outside again, she was surprised to see Jesse standing by the wagon. He handed his bay’s reins over to her before jumping in the wagon bed.
“But, I thought we’d both ride,” Ellie said.
“Too hard on the horse to ride so far with two,” Jesse explained.
“But the wagon bed will be hard on you,” Ellie said. “Perhaps I should just stay home.”
“No.” Jesse grinned at her and lifted two feather pillows up high enough for her to see. “Do you need help getting on?” he asked.
“No,” Ellie replied, putting her foot into the stirrup.
Jesse dropped the pillows back down and settled himself into their softness before calling, “Tally ho,” and flicking his hand at David.
After lying around the house for so long, riding out of town beneath trees budding out with fresh green leaves while gentle breezes slipped past her face made Ellie feel like she was beginning a new chapter in her life. She enjoyed riding behind the wagon, watching Jesse make faces as he jounce around while the wagon rolled forward on the dirt track. By the time they arrived, Ellie felt as if she’d been riding for half the day, and was more than ready to get down and walk.
David stopped his wagon on a flat stretch. While Jesse tossed out the tools and Ellie’s shawl, David used surprising skill to get the wagon turned so that it pointed back down the trail to face the way they’d come. Then he arranged for his horse to be able to reach a fair quantity of tender new grass and the water in a narrow stream running alongside the road.
While David saw to the horse, Jesse tossed out the tools and Ellie’s shawl. Ellie dismounted, picked up the shawl, shook it out, and drew it around her shoulders against the cool mountain air.
She followed David and Jesse into a forlorn gathering of dead white pine trees, naked except for a few sparse brown needles. Several leaned against each other like passengers on a rolling ship deck seeking support, their dry scent mixing with the fresh smell of new growth from the green trees surrounding them.
A grove of tall aspens spread out behind the pines rustled their leaves as David walked through the grove, scanning the dead wood. “These’ll make some fine chairs. Tables, too. Let’s get what we can, then I’ll get a crew to come back and cut more.” He glanced over at Jesse. “You free to help tomorrow?”
Ellie was amazed at how David seemed to take charge on this mountainside far from town where there were no real social guidelines. A person did whatever a person needed to do, with no one to make a judgement about proper manners.
“I can help for a bit,” Jesse replied. “I’ve got plans for later that evening.”
David looked interested. “The girl you said earlier?”
“None other.”
Past the rim of dried, brown needles, Ellie spotted a stout aspen branch lying on the ground with a most interesting shape. She made her way through the tree trunks, brown needles crunching underfoot, before stepping inside the aspen grove and picking it up. Sometimes she could see what a piece of wood would become. Other times, she simply started carving until something interesting emerged. As she examined this piece, she could see the possibility of a deer lurking inside the wooden branch. She envisioned the animal lying in the shade, with a fawn at its side. Her fingers itched to free them.
When she looked up, another promising piece of wood presented itself a little way to the right of her. This one was more fierce. It could have a mountain lion in it, crouched and ready to pounce, or it could be the face of a warrior. Heart thudding with anticipation, Ellie tucked that piece in the crook of her arm, too. She picked up another stick of wood that could very well harbor a soaring eagle, its wings spread out in flight, or else the expanse of a lithe, young tree just greening out.
Further on, she found another promising piece. Even though her brother and David were out of sight, the sound of axes on wood came clearly to her ears, so she kept on exploring. Breathing in deeply, she didn’t think she could ever get enough of the breeze whisping through her hair, of the springy forest floor beneath her feet, of the scent of
fresh leaves filled with new life, no one judging her for her interest in wood carving.
Ellie allowed the lure of the forest to coax her deeper into the green haven. When she reached a patch of moss with a trickling spring running past, she couldn’t help wondering if this was the source of the same water that David’s horse was enjoying downstream. The thought gave her a comforting sense of connection to her brother. He couldn’t be very far away.
Carefully laying her wooden treasures aside, she knelt and eagerly drank from the cold, fresh water. As she straightened, her head thumped painfully, and sore remnants of her bruises made her decide to rest for a moment. Removing her shoes, she slid her feet into the cold water, leaving them in the running stream until her toes tingled. Pulling her feet out, she laid back on the welcoming new grass, soft and fragrant, to let them dry before putting her stockings and shoes back on.
She woke slowly, with a shiver, and opened her eyes. Branches spread out overhead, dim in the fading light, while the stream rolled past in a cheerful burble.
Ellie sat up with a start. She was alone in the forest. How could she have fallen asleep on a grass bed in the woods when she couldn’t get comfortable enough to sleep on her own bed at home?
Disoriented, she turned, scanning every direction, trying to remember the way she’d come into the spring. The trees around her looked alarmingly alike, dim in the fading light. The sun must be sinking below the horizon.
Where was Jesse?
Ellie pulled on her socks and shoes, glad that she had the laced boots instead of buttons. It still took some doing to get them on and tied.
Gathering up her wood, she pulled the shawl tightly around her and listened for the sound of axes on tree trunks. All she heard were crickets chirping goodnight to the few birds that hadn’t yet settled in to wait out the approaching darkness.
Fear gave her a hard poke in the stomach. Where were Jesse and David? She turned around in a circle, searching for any sign of the right way out. They couldn’t be far. Maybe they were just beyond her sight, stacking wood into the wagon. Surely, they wouldn’t leave her out here alone.
Ellie started forward, but after a couple of hesitant steps, she stopped. Was this the right direction?
She turned around again, looking for anything familiar, but every direction looked very much the same as another. “Jesse?” she called, her voice sounding small beneath the towering trees.
There was no answer.
At this point, she’d be happy to ride on the wagon seat with David. “David?” she called, even louder.
The leaves overhead gave her a sleepy chuckle. Cold chills crept across her back. What should she do? She clutched her armload of wood tighter. The rough bark felt comforting and familiar as it pressed against her skin through the fabric of her dress. The spring chuckled as it hurried on its way. The stream. Of course! In order to come out onto the wagon, she should follow the stream.
With new bravery, she aligned herself, making sure she was following the stream downhill, and strode between two trees so close together, they could have been a giant’s doorway. As soon as she cleared the gap, a dark face loomed above her from behind the tree on her left, the fading light glinting off the shiny surface of one round, black eye staring at her. She was horrified to see that where the other eye should have been, a scarred eyelid drooped down over a shrunken mass of white and black, which brought to mind an apple core left in the sun.
Ellie’s mind screamed, Indian!