Katrine by Joseph Dorris

Author:Joseph Dorris [Dorris, Joseph]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781532020070
Publisher: iUniverse
Published: 2017-05-23T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 30

THE FOLLOWING SATURDAY, Katrine and Mia hiked over the hill to visit the Wikstroms. When they arrived, they were surprised to find only Frieda at the cabin. She was busy as always, preparing meals.

“Where is everyone?” Katrine wanted to know.

“Anna and Linnea go to Adolphsons’,” Frieda said. She pushed and patted some bread dough.

Of course she did, Katrine realized. “To see Lars.”

“Ya.” Frieda laughed.

Katrine liked when Frieda made bread. She was best at it and managed to make it light and airy, unlike the heavy Swedish breads. Maybe it was a German secret. She watched to see if she could determine the secret.

“Well, where are Björn and Laurens?” Katrine had hoped to play with them, as they often did on Saturday afternoons before visiting the hot springs.

“They go to the sawpit. Jens is with them. The men do some board cutting.”

Frieda folded the dough and sprinkled on more flour. Katrine could still determine no secret.

“We were hoping to go to the hot springs.” Katrine was not comfortable with going only with Mia. Although no one had ever encountered any danger, sometimes strangers used the old Indian trail, and there was always a chance of bears or a mountain lion.

“Ya, I fancy so. You children all come around just for the Vikstrom hot springs.”

Katrine could not tell if Mama Frieda was joking or was serious.

“You all go when the boys come back.” Frieda smiled. She continued folding and kneading the dough. “They should not be long.”

“Maybe Mia and I can help you then,” Katrine offered.

“Ya, of course you can help. You just get me that crock over there. We split this bread up into some loaves and let them rise. Then we make apple cobbler.” She pointed to a small pile of withered apples. “I’m tinking we can get a few apple slices for flavor. We add some green potato and lots of sugar. It will be fine.”

Frieda split the dough and pulled off a large piece and handed it to Katrine. “Now you put this with the starter for next time,” she said. Frieda nodded to a small crock on a shelf near the stove.

Katrine added the dough to the sourdough starter. It showed numerous bubbles. Maybe the starter was her secret.

Katrine realized that Frieda was becoming a much better cook. Maybe having Anna teaching and talking to the women during Sunday meetings was helping.

“Now we should have supper. You go tell those men should they want to visit the hot springs before eating, they best come now. They would work all night if I let them.” She set the crocks with the rising dough to the side.

Katrine raced Mia toward the sawpit, eager to be of help and also happy that the day’s work was nearing its completion.

They heard laughing and hollering as they drew near. Björn and Mr. Wikstrom were sawing. Jens and Laurens cheered their efforts. Sawdust flowed, and the blade flashed. Katrine realized Björn and Mr. Wikstrom made a good team with Björn as the under sawyer.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.