Copper Star by Fisher Suzanne Woods

Author:Fisher, Suzanne Woods [Fisher, Suzanne Woods]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Vintage Romance Publishing, LLC
Published: 2013-11-22T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Later that week, Ernest came over to the house one morning to deliver a telegram. It was from Ada, a cousin of the Gordons’, with news that her husband had passed away suddenly and she needed Martha to come to Phoenix immediately. Miss Gordon promptly packed up, Robert took her to meet the afternoon train in Tucson, and instantly, the house’s spirits lifted.

For the first time, I was allowed to use the kitchen without asking permission. I cooked my first meal for William and Robert. It was a complete disaster. The meat tasted like cardboard. William spit it out and jumped up to make himself a peanut butter, banana, and potato chip sandwich. Robert was gallant enough to try to eat it, chewed the meat-turned-leather for a few minutes, and finally gave up.

”I’m sorry,” I said. “I really don’t know how to cook. I never learned. Father and I ate out or took sack lunches because he worked in the evenings.” I felt more than a little guilty. Meat was rationed; it felt like a crime to waste it.

Robert only laughed. “Finally! Something you don’t excel in.” He got up and looked in the cupboard. He pulled out a blue box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. It was a fairly new product that made a big hit as a substitute for meat and dairy products. And best of all, two boxes required only one rationing coupon.

Typically, Miss Gordon jumped up as the last bite was eaten and started cleaning up the dishes. In her absence, we lingered at the table. After dinner, Robert played the guitar, and I played the piano. I showed William how to feel the vibration of the strings when I hit a piano key.

I tucked William into bed, turned to say good night, and noticed a framed picture of his mother had been placed on his bureau. Nice touch, Robert, I thought to myself. William pointed to the picture and said, “Girl.” It sounded like “grrrr.”

“Girl! Yes, William! Girl,” I repeated the word very clearly. Then I pointed to him. “Boy,” I said, and he repeated a sleepy attempt for “boy.” I smiled and kissed him on the forehead.

I turned on the radio while I washed up the dinner dishes. Robert helped me dry and put them away. I was eager for the evening news. The war reports were quite encouraging of late. Tonight, the national news broadcast reported that Hitler’s armies were starting to get backed into Germany. The reporter announced that Hitler, knowing he was losing the war, had recently created a new militia, requiring all men aged sixteen to sixty to serve.

Robert took the dish towel out of my hands to hang it on the rack to dry. “Can you imagine, asking a sixty-year-old man to be a soldier? There must not be any men left in Germany,” Robert said.

I shrugged my shoulders.

“Doesn’t that bother you?”

“No! I pray every day that Germany will lose this war! And soon. Hitler must be stopped!” I said it with such severity that Robert looked taken aback.

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