Whither Thou Goest, I Will Go by Naomi Dathan

Author:Naomi Dathan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lexham Press
Published: 2011-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Seth, Jem, and Charley attended church twice that July, and once again in August. Jem didn’t care for Reverend Hinkley’s fire and brimstone style—so different from the sermons she’d heard at home—but the female companionship after church more than made up for her discomfort during the service.

Nearly all of the congregation packed dinners and picnicked in the church yard. Once the husbands and children were fed, the wives were free to circulate. Jem particularly loved to have long conversations with Mrs. Hanson and Mrs. Teske. Magdalena, only 10, was privileged to far too many adult themes, but the women regarded it as a necessary evil. Mrs. Teske must be included in Talli’s history as it emerged, as well as speculation about the eldest Alcott girl, and the likeliness of each young person in town.

“Magdalena is an exceptionally bright child,” Jem told Seth one Sunday as they made the long drive home.

“Oh, really? In what way?”

Too late she realized she couldn’t explain her reasoning to Seth. Had the child reacted to the adult conversations with shock or even undue interest, they would have been forced to discharge her as the translator. As it was, she relayed the comments back and forth without inflection and with such a bland expression, they were able to pretend that she wasn’t old enough to understand.

Seth was still waiting for an answer, so she fumbled for one.

“She just speaks so intelligently.” She kept her eyes on Ole’s ears as he plodded along, but she could feel Seth eyes on her. He knew there was an unspoken part, but he couldn’t guess what.

The heat in late summer offered a new kind of misery. Jem’s dresses were always damp, but now it was from relentless perspiration instead of relentless rain. There was no rain at all. Once planting was completed, she’d expected a respite from the long hours of physical work until harvest began. Instead, she and Seth spent hours lugging water from the river and pouring it on the parched crops.

“Why didn’t they dig a well?” Jem lowered herself to sit on the ground between loads. “How could they live here for 15 years and not dig a well?”

Seth sat beside her, mopping his brow. “They dug three. One went dry. The other two were failures.”

“Failures? So … we could go through all the time and trouble to dig for water and not get any?”

“I’m afraid so.”

Jem closed her eyes and let herself fall backward into the grass. “I have to check on Charley.”

“I’ll do it,” Seth offered. But he didn’t move either. They stayed collapsed in the thin shade of the barn, too worn out to move or talk or even have an opinion until they heard a screech from the soddy.

Jem opened one eye. “He’s up.”

Seth had either fallen asleep or decided to pretend so. She pushed herself off from the ground and went to get him.

“Side!”

Jem lifted the boy and tried to hug him, but he wriggled free.

“Pa!”

She set him down and he flew out the open door toward Seth.

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