The Journey of Elisa by Nancy Parker Brummett

Author:Nancy Parker Brummett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Immigrant Stories, Youth Fiction, Historical Fiction, Switzerland, Hardships, Hope, Faith, Memoir
Publisher: David C Cook
Published: 2013-06-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

The next few days passed slowly and solemnly. Papa did not improve. He developed a high fever and needed someone with him around the clock to fan him and put cold compresses on his head.

Dr. Clark made two special trips from Knoxville in his buggy to see Papa, but he didn’t have any medicine that could help bring down the fever. He determined that even bleeding Papa with leeches would do nothing to clear up his lungs, which had become more congested because he was too weak to get out of bed. Elisa heard the word “pneumonia” used when Mama and the doctor were talking in hushed tones in the foyer.

The children spent the holiday season playing with the toys and books they received for Christmas, but without their usual holiday joy. Everyone had to tiptoe through the house so Papa could rest as much as possible. When Mama sat down in her rocking chair by the fire in the kitchen during the day, she was soon fast asleep. Finally, Emmanuel, Cecile, and Elisa convinced her they could take turns caring for Papa at night so she could get some rest.

New Year’s Eve arrived and Elisa was with Papa when the stroke of midnight signaled the beginning of 1854. She had just placed a fresh compress on his head when Cecile came in to relieve her.

“Happy New Year, Sister,” Cecile whispered as she put her arm around Elisa’s shoulders. The light from the candle on the bedside table cast the girls’ shadows on the wall next to Papa’s bed.

“I wish I thought it would be happy,” Elisa whispered back as she looked down at Papa, who lay very still with his eyes closed. “What’s that noise outside?”

“The neighbors are shooting their guns in the air to celebrate the New Year,” Cecile said. She walked to the window and looked in the direction of town. “We may even be hearing the fireworks they’re shooting from the riverbank in Knoxville.”

“Remember going to the beach on New Year’s Eve in Pernambuco?” Elisa asked Cecile when her sister returned to Papa’s bedside.

In all the coastal cities of Brazil on New Year’s Eve the residents, dressed all in white, gathered on the beaches to watch the fireworks. It was a joyous time of celebration.

“Papa was so handsome in his white suit,” Cecile said. “That seems like a very long time ago instead of just last year, doesn’t it?”

Elisa left Cecile with Papa and went up to bed. Before blowing out the candle, she wrote in her journal: “I don’t like to see 1854 written out in numerals. I’m too fearful of seeing it engraved on my father’s tombstone.”

Reverend and Mrs. Chavannes and Aunt Cecile and Uncle Theodore often came by to pray with the Bollis as did the Esperandieus and the Buffats. They prayed for Papa to be miraculously healed, but that if it was not the Lord’s will, that he be taken quickly to heaven. When they came they brought baskets of food and jars of homemade soup so Mama wouldn’t have to cook.

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