Fred came home from work one June afternoon and heard Freddy wailing his little lungs out in the sitting room...
"What's the matter, buddy?" Fred asked him cheerfully as he came into the house and entered Frances' sitting room. Fred stopped dead in his tracks. There he saw Frances holding their 6 month old son in her arms, tears streaming down her face as well.
"What's wrong?"
"I can't get him to stop crying, Fred!" She wailed. "I've tried everything and I don't know what's wrong with him! He just keeps crying and crying!...He seems like he's in a lot of pain! I don't know what to do!"
"Want me to get the doc?"
"Fred, we don't really have the money right now!...Go get Ma, she'll know what to do with him..."
Fred was out the door as soon as you could blink an eye, and ran up the hill as fast as his legs could carry him! He saw her in the backyard in the summer kitchen, starting to get things ready for the night's supper.
"Franziska!...FRANZISKA!" Fred yelled as he was running over to her. "FRANZISKA!"
"What in Heaven's name is wrong, Fred?" She said, and went to him and held him by his strong shoulders as he calm down, he was almost in tears as it was.
"Something's wrong with Freddy!"
"What's wrong with him?"
"I don't know!...Frances doesn't know! All she told me was that he won't stop crying, he's in pain, she thinks..."
"Where?"
"WE DON'T KNOW!" He shouted.
"All right, just CALM DOWN!...I'll be right over!"
"Ma! I'm so thankful you're here!" Frances was bawling and her mother could hardly understand her! "I thought I was getting the hang of this whole mother thing!...But I don't know what's wrong with him, except he's got a really high fever! I'm scared!"
"Here, I'll take him, and go get a little rag and run it under cold water. We can bring the fever down..." She said, taking her grandson. Freddy didn't want to be held at all, and he was still crying his little eyes out! He lifted his head back and Franziska noticed something on his gums...two tiny, little, white things on his bottom jaw, right in the middle.
"Frances, he's only teething...That's why he's so irritable...and part of the reason he has so high of a fever!"
"What can we do about it?" Frances cried.
"Give me the rag..."
Franziska let little Freddy chew on the wet rag, and that seemed to help. They also got another wet rag and they brought his fever down, and soon he was just fine and dandy.
"I swear, Frances...You overreact too much." Her mother laughed.
"Well, what do you expect me to do, mother? Not care at all about what my child is going through?...I was scared! Terrified for him! I didn't know what was going on!" Frances raised her voice at her mother.
"You don't have to get an attitude with me, young lady! And don't call me mother!...I hate that and you know it!"
"I'm sorry...I was just so scared, Ma!"
"I know you were, sweetheart...Just calm down! I'm just saying, you always think everything is the end of the world!"
"I do not!" Frances insisted.
"Sweetheart..." Franziska laughed. "I'm not going to argue with you...Calm down, honey...Here, take your baby!" Franziska smiled, passing him over to her. "He's absolutely fine!"
"I was so scared, Ma!" Frances said, almost clinging to Freddy, who was still chewing on the washcloth.
"He's gonna scare y'all more times than this, honey! Just think when he takes the buckboard out for the first time!" She laughed. "Or when he's climbing a tree out back, falls and breaks an arm or a leg!"
"Ma!...I'd rather not think about that right now!"
Franziska laughed. "My point is, you better get ready! 'Cause he's going to scare you an aweful lot in his lifetime!"
Very early the next morning, Melania was to start her new job at the H & W Company. She was upstairs in the room she and her daughter shared together.
"You look very pretty, Ma." Mary Jane smiled as she saw her mother put the last few finishing touches on her appearance. Bright blue eyes shining, a nice arch on her dark eyebrows. Her brown hair as straight as an arrow, was twisted back into a bun. Melania was wearing a goregeous silver sage blouse, and a long black walking skirt along with black, heeled boots.
"What do you think, Mary Jane?...You're the little wardrobe expert. Vest or no vest, hm?" Melania said to her daughter as she had just put on a little black vest and examined herself in the large dresser mirror.
"I think you look nice without the vest, Ma." Mary Jane said, hugging her mother, only coming to a bit above her waistline. "I love your blouse, Ma! Its SO pretty!" Mary Jane smiled up at her mother, carefully touching a button on the beautiful, silver-gray floral blouse.
"Thank you, sweetheart." She said, smoothing her daughter's brown hair. "Now, you go get your pinafore on, I'll get your hairbrush and we can brush out your hair and braid it, shall we?"
"Yes Ma!" Mary Jane said, tugging on a gray pinafore over her dark blue dress. Melania was sitting on the bed, and she came over and sat down and her mother started brushing out her hair.
"Remember when you were little, Mary Jane?...You were 3 or 4, and I'd brush your hair...well, TRY to brush it!" She laughed. "You kept whining, Ma! It huuuurts!...You're puwing my hair!...Ah, that wasn't so long ago, was it?" Melania smiled. "Sometimes I miss those days, when you were that little." Melania put her fingers on her daughter's jawline and stroked it with her fingers..."Remember you were SO ticklish here!...You'd wiggle and giggle your lungs out..." She laughed. "I think you're STILL ticklish!" Melania laughed as Mary Jane kept squirmming and then engulfed in a fit of laughter! "Maa...Ma! Stop it!...Stop, Ma!" Mary Jane turned around and glared while TRYING to keep a straight face. "I'm not ticklish anymore..." She said, as serious as she could be, but then they BOTH burst out laughing! Melania brought her daughter to her in a hug. "You know Ma loves you...You've grown to be such a pretty girl!...My word, I'm getting old!" Melania joked. "...Well, let's braid your hair now." She said, and parted her daughter's hair into two sections and braided two single braids. "There we go! As pretty as a picture!" Melania smiled and gave her daughter a kiss on the forehead. "You all ready for school now?"
"Yes Ma."
"All right then...I'll walk you to the schoolyard."
"I need to get my slate and slate pencil! And my McGuffey Reader!" Mary Jane exclaimed, running across the floor to the little wooden dresser. She grabbed her things, ran downstairs and almost ran into her grandmother as she was fixing the 11 year old's school lunch.
"Goodmorning, pumpkin!" Fransizka smiled. "How does a bacon sandwich sound for today? With an apple and a jar of milk?"
"Yummy!" Mary Jane smiled eagerly.
"Here you are then...Shall I walk you to school?"
"No...Ma's going to. But thanks Grandma..." Mary Jane said, and gave her grandmother a hug.
"Don't I get a kiss goodbye from you?" Big George chuckled.
"Of course, Grandpa!" She smiled and ran to her grandfather. Mary Jane kissed his left cheek, and turned her head so he could kiss hers, she kissed his right cheek, and turned her head again, so he could do the same to her. It was something that they did every single time they greeted each other, or said goodbye. It was a special tradition for both of them.
"You're prickly, Grandpa!" Mary Jane laughed.
Laughter shone from Big George's dark eyes. "Kinda like kissin' a porcupine!...Didn't shave this morning."
"Are we ready to go yet, Mary Jane?" Melania asked, coming downstairs.
"Yes Ma."
"Melania, the East Stone Hill School is out of your way from the H & W building..." Franziska said.
"Oh, I know that...besides, I don't have to be there until 9, and I like taking a little walk every now and then..." With that, Melania and Mary Jane headed out the door and down the hill and started off to the school. They walked down the little hill until they passed the little white house with the blue trimmed porch.
"Can't we go in and visit Uncle Fred and Aunt Frances?...I want to play with Georgie before school!"
"Mary Jane, please don't call him Georgie..."
"Why not? Grandpa calls him Georgie."
"Yes...And your grandfather uses plenty of other words that should never be part of an 11 year old's vocabulary." Melania mumbled. "His name is Fred...Call him either Fred Jr. or Freddy..."
"What about Fritz like Uncle Fred does?"
Melania sighed. "Fine, Mary Jane."
"So can we go in and see them?"
"No...maybe after school." Melania said and they walked right on past the house until they came to the little wooden bridge, they took a left and walked about three or four blocks and passed the bottom of Walker Street...they walked on a few miles until they made it to the school. There were children playing outside and the teacher was on the front steps watching them all. Some boys ran past Mary Jane and her mother and one stopped and chanted..."Mary Jane! What a pain! She ate all the sugarcane!" And ran off...
"Oh, I hate him!" Mary Jane growled and stomped her foot.
"Why?...Why does he say that, Mary Jane?" Melania chuckled.
"Its not funny, Ma!...And that's what's so stupid about it! He just says that because it rhymes with my name!" She rolled her eyes.
"Who was that boy?"
"Him?...That's the Zust boy."
"Well, what's his first name, Mary Jane?"
"I don't know! Sam, Bob, Paul!...Well, one of the apostles' names!"
Melania laughed. "Paul was an apostle. If you count Sam...which is short for Samuel, but he was a prophet...and there weren't any Bob's in the Bible, sweetheart."
"Well, there should be!"
"Why?" Melania laughed.
"Because! Its a neat name! No matter if its backwards, or frontwards...Its still Bob!" Mary Jane giggled.
"You silly girl."
"And anyway, I knew one of 'em was an apostle!"
"I think you need to listen more in Sunday School." Melania laughed.
"All they talk about is Jesus! I already know about Him!"
Melania smiled down at her daughter. "That's good that you know about Him!...And Mary Jane, they talk about more than just Jesus...you do need to listen more." She chuckled. They heard the schoolteacher ringing the large bell to signal that school was to start.
"Ma! Its getting too hot to go to school!" Mary Jane complained.
"Mary Jane, you've kept the windows open and it never bothered you before!...You're going to school!"
"Yes Ma."
"And you be good today! I don't want someone coming to get me at me job, or someone getting your Pa or your..."
"I'll be good, Ma!...Don't worry!" Mary Jane said, running off so she could get in the line with the girls.
Melania watched as the children went inside, girls first and the boys second, and she turned around and started back down the road. She walked the few miles until she passed the little wooden bridge on Peru Road, and walked some more until she came to a VERY large brick building.
"Land sakes!...This place is so big! Looks almost like a castle!...I'm afraid I might get lost on my first day on the job!" She laughed. Melania walked the little gravel road to the building's entrance, and quietly walked inside.
"You must be the new secratary!...Great to have you here!" A young woman greeted her as she came in. "Mr. Haas and Mr. Wissel are in their offices upstairs...They'll want to see you."
"Point me in the right direction, if you will please." Melania smiled.
"Just down the hall aways, and to the right you'll see a staircase. Haas's room is on the left, Wissel on the right. Wissel wants to see you first."
"All right, thank you..." She knodded and set off down the hall, climbed the stairs and knocked on the door on the right.
"Who the Hell is it?" A man's voice bellered.
"Melania Loney...I'm the new secretary."
"Yeah, yeah!...C'mon in!" He yelled back. Melania entered the room and saw an older gray-headed man behind a large desk, looking over dozens and dozens of business papers.
"I'd like to thank you for this job, Mr. Wissel..." Melania started to say...
"Yeah...yeah, sure you do!" He grumbled. "Do you got your papers lady?"
"Yes sir, right here..." She said, laying them down on his mahogany desk.
"More paperwork...Well, that's what I get for starting this business!" He grumbled. Mr. Cyril Wissel scanned the papers...Mumbling out loud every now and then..."Melania Loney...5"6...Small build...Hair: Brown...Eyes: Blue...Age: 27...Relationship Status: Single...Children: 1..." He looked up at her and stared. "You got a kid and you ain't married, lady?"
"Ummm...Yes sir. I do..." Melania cringed, hoping he wouldn't ask about it.
"Bah...none of my business, anyway!"
Melania quickly let a breath out...She was so relieved.
"Take a seat and let's go over some things." He said gruffly.
Melania sat down in the red velvet overstuffed chair. She daintily crossed her legs and put her hands in her lap.
"1. You get crossways with me, Haas, any of the other secrataries that are over you...you're out of here! I can't stand back talk, especially by a woman!...2. You run late, you stay an extra hour later. No exceptions!...3. I know you're single for now, but you get married, and you're out of here!...I think that's all...Now,...out of my sight!...Haas wants to see you now anyway."
"Yes sir..." Melania said quickly and exited out the door. She walked a few steps and knocked on the door that had a plaque on it that said, "Urban J. Haas."
The door soon opened and there stood a kind-looking, dark-haired, dark-eyed young man. He smiled at her, and in the corners of his mouth were dimples that made him seem cute and boyish, and his eyes would squint when he would smile, which, to her, made him look handsome...very handsome!
"Great to have you here working for us." He smiled.
"Thank you, Mr. Haas."
"Oh, you're so formal!...I hate being formal! Call me Urban!...Or "Skip" if you want to. That's my nickname...Besides, you're about my age, 23... You're what? 22? 21 maybe?"
"All right then..." Melania smiled. "And since we're on a first name basis, Urban...My name is Melania...And actually...I'm 27. Last week was my birthday, actually. "
"What a pretty name...And did you just say you're 27? I would've never guessed! You look years younger!...Happy Belated Birthday, by the way..."
"Thank you for all of that." She smiled. "And looking younger...yeah, I know, I get that a lot."
Urban laughed. "I'm just the opposite! People say I look years older!...Now, let's get down to business, shall we?"
"Certainly..." Melania said, taking a seat in the chair. Urban did something which surprised her! The young man, hopped up and sat on his desk instead of his chair! His legs spread apart, back leaning forward, hands on his knees...and at one point, he brought his leg up and placed an ankle on his knee. Melania's eyes went wide!
Urban laughed. "Oh, sorry! Guess I get so used to doing this!...I'm terribly sorry, where are my manners?" He said, swinging his body around and jumped off in front of the chair behind his desk, and sat down himself.
"So I take it Wissel read you all the rules...Yelled at you?"
"Yes sir...he did."
"Ah, ignore him!...He's a cranky old buzzard!" Urban laughed a little. "Don't you tell him I said that!"
Melania laughed at the younger man and they both stood to their feet and he walked around the desk and stood in front of her. Melania saw that he was only a little bit taller than she...About 5"8, maybe 5"9.
"Well, Melania, as I've said before, its great to have you with us." He said, and extended his hand, and Melania shook it. "We'll start you out on the switchboard...you can work your way up from there..." He smiled. "How 'bout it?"
"Sounds fine to me, Urban...Just show me where it is...and show me how to operate the contraption!" She laughed. "I'm afraid I'm not so accustomed to these sort of things...I was afraid to even look at a switchboard while I was living in California!" Melania joked.
Urban's lips turned into a smile, but with the hint of a smirk. "Ah, you'll be all right. Practice at it some, and you'll learn...Rome wasn't built in a day, you know." He smiled at her.
They went downstairs and Urban showed her how to operate the switchboard. "See Melania!...You're doing great at it!...Ah, we've got another call comin' in! Why don't you answer it again?...Don't worry, you'll do great!" Urban smiled at her as she picked up the ear piece and put it to her ear, and Melania picked the mouthpiece and brought it to her mouth and spoke into it.
"H & W Company...You're from the I C & E Railroad...from Mason City...Oh...yes sir, 30,000 pounds of freight...Yes sir, we'll...uh...we'll get started on it as soon as we can, and...and one of our freight trains will be sh-shipping it over to you as...as soon as possible...Yes sir, you're welcome...Goodbye."
"I never want to do that again..." She said, still trying to calm herself down, as she was still nervous.
"Oh c'mon! You did just fine!...Pretty good for someone on their first try." Urban smiled, with his arms crossed against his chest, and his hip leaning against the table part of the switchboard.
Melania smiled shyly up at him. "Thank you...Urban."
