Part 08: Ingrid Smiles

I remember when I was small, Mormor gave me a doll for my name day. I have many sisters, but only Jon and I remember Mormor and Morfar. Anna, the baby does not even remember the old country. After Mor died Far took us out west to the new country. He could not stay in the land she loved so well without her.

I was a school teacher in Karlstad. It was a school like the one here, one room only. When I was sixteen I stopped learning, and began teaching. I taught only six months. And then Far took us to America. Far kept wanting to go west, he would not stop. We stopped for the winter in Colorado Springs. Then our griefs were doubled. Far became ill and died. Farmor used to tell us that a grief shared is a grief halved, while a joy shared, is a joy doubled. Our grief was shared by Matthew, and doubled when he and I fell in love. We are to marry when we are of age.

This morning he came and joined us for breakfast. He brought fresh food with him. It is hard for me and Jon to support our sisters. We do not speak good English. He brought us eggs, and my sisters were so happy. I made pancakes the way Mor used to, flat and large. He gave me the doll he has carved for Anna's birthday. We Swedes do not celebrate just one day each year. We celebrate both name days and birthdays. When we are young that is.

I hide it away so Anna does not see it until her birthday. Jon and my sisters played while Matthew and I went for a walk. He gave me a quarter to give Anna the best for her for her birthday doll. When we have children he will be a very good Far.

I had to then return the camp where we live to do the laundry. My sisters and I wash for others too. We wash for Dr. Mike and Grace. We pretend when we wash that we are looking for the tomte around us. One sister will cry out as she turns with her laundry "Ah! There is you our Tomte!" I laugh. The tomte are for watching the farm, we have no farm now. Matthew is building us a homestead of our own. When we showed my sisters it, they all ask where the tomte will sleep.

When we finish I tell my sisters to play quietly and that Kristen is in charge. I bring the clean rags to Grace. She is all in smile now that she has married. She ask me about Matthew, and I smile as big as she. She tell me she wish all could be in love too. She ask me about Dr. Mike & Sully and I tell her Matthew told me nothing about them. We only talked about us today. She tell me Dr. Mike is sad. We must tell Sully to make her smile. Make her smile like we do.

I must go though. Grace must cook for the supper. She must work hard, but she has joy because people love her food. I go to Mr. Bray's store. I buy two ribbons, one for Anna, and one for Anna's doll. Mr. Bray is not there, but Miss Dorothy is. She is sad. I ask her why she is so sad, and I say a grief shared is a grief halved. She say, She worry about Dr. Mike. I tell her Grace worries too. Grace says we must have Sully make her smile. When my Mormor died my Farmor did smile for one year. Then he fell in love and he smiled when he was married again. Dorothy say she agree with me.

Dorothy says she knows what we do to make Dr. Mike smile. Tomorrow night, I ask Matthew to dinner. She will ask Colleen and Brian have dinner with her. Then Sully can make her smile. We leave good food from grace. I smile at the idea. I go then back to Grace and tell her. She smiles. She knows just the food to make them smile. I return then, Kristen left a note that they go to the creek to play. Tack så mycket! I now can sit and smile and sew a dress for Anna's doll.

NOTE TO READER: Simple Swedish Vocabulary: Mor - Mother, Far - Father, Morfar - Mother's Father, Mormor - Mother's mother, etc. Tomtes are a scandinavian traditional folklore that would protect over the farm, and were small. Tack så mycket - thank you. I ended up going with Ingrid because of who needs to talk to who to set things up for later chapters. Thank you so much for your suggestions because I really was stumped. I had later on planned out, but that section was who should talk first?