Hope for Tomorrow
Page 10
It was the kind of day that lifted people's moods with gentle sunshine. Baseball games in the summer brought most folk out. They enjoyed watching the boys up to bat or out in the field, it didn't matter. Most dads were right at the fence coaching their sons behind their dugout.
Ladies were on blankets casually engaged in chit-chat discussing upcoming events or the new recipe they tried. Sometimes, they brought their embroidery, knitting, or crocheting to help pass the time. In any case, they were happily content. The children who weren't in the game, ran around playing tag, or jump rope. Some of the boys would go fishing in the pond or scare the girls with worms.
When Rick, Christy, and little Timi Anne joined the crowd, they all were welcomed with open arms and hugs. Rick was still stunned by all the bravado he caused but he accepted it with humble gratitude. Mary and Sean O'Neill were with them, bringing Fr. Ricardo with them, and all of the Lipinski family too occupying three blankets.
Marie, Bob, Karen, and Benjamin were greeted enthusiastically and after introducing Benjamin, he found Paul Coulter who he had known from New Hope Orphanage. They immediately began talking and laughing. Paul took him around to meet more children until it was time to play.
The Chickadees always had a lemonade stand set up for the older girls to take turns running. Right away Karen joined Allie at the lemonade stand and she was busy talking all about Benjamin while serving the drinks.
The Hopefuls were all together laughing, joking, and flirting of course. Gunther was well-studied to be the umpire this time and Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all kept the players focused taking turns coaching at first, second, and third base, with one keeping score. The Hope Valley Stallions were ready to take on the Buxton Bears!
This was their 4th game and the boys were doing much better. They followed the rules, especially with Gunther as an umpire who was proving to be a good choice for the job. Several big hits were scored on both sides causing the outfielders to run. Luckily, for one long hit, it was caught, and the others were chased after. When that happened, the coaches waved their hats in the air for the boys to keep running the bases. Everyone would stop and watch to see how many runs were made.
Allie kept her eye on Robert. It was the bottom of the 9th inning. Bases were loaded and he was now up to bat. It was tense. He struck out the first two times and really fought the pressure. The third pitch was called a ball. Robert began sweating but remembered Sam telling him, to focus and just do his best.
When the fourth pitch came, he smacked the ball farther than any of the boys did before and everyone jumped to their feet and cheered, Go, Go, Go! All 4 boys made it home with Robert sliding in. It was a grand slam! The teammates cheered, Robert, Robert, Robert! Harper poured his cup of water on him, while the coaches, slapped his arm and grinned at him from ear to ear! The rest of the other team congratulated him as they lined up passing by each other. This made for good sportsmanship which the fathers were learning too.
Allie ran over and watched and when Robert was finally free, she suddenly hightailed over and gave him a big hug before she lost her nerve. "Ah, congratulations Robert, I knew you could do it!
Robert blushed deep red and awkwardly gawked looking to see if anyone saw her hug him. "Thanks, Allie," he shyly answered.
"Do you want some lemonade?" Allie asked changing the subject.
"Sure, sounds good!" Robert answered. Then the two of them walked together to the stand.
This didn't escape the eye of Dee and Nathan. When Emily heard them talking to each other, she looked over and watched the couple too. Half-smiles were silently exchanged among the three of them. Nathan was about to get up, but Dee held his arm, "Let them alone honey, there's nothing wrong. Right now it's just innocent puppy love".
Emily nodded, "Dee's right Nathan. If you overreact, Allie might go sneaking around. Right now, they're out in the open with all the town surrounding them."
Meanwhile, Archie got up and started walking to the pond. "Dad, where you going?" Nathan called after him.
"I'm just going to show Nathan how to cast, so he catches a fish," he said, "he's been over there and not getting a darn fish."
Nathan was surprised that Archie talked about the little boy over at the pond by himself as if it was him when he was young. "I better go with him," he told his Ma and Dee.
"Of course, sweetheart," Dee agreed sadly.
Emily shook her head. Dee gave her mother-in-law a comforting hug when she saw a lone tear fall down her cheek. "Ma, Nathan will always take care of him. Please let us take care of you too."
"Dee, darling, I never thought I'd have Archie back in my life. I despised how he hurt us. Now, he's apologized and wants to make things right, but it breaks my heart that he's not himself. I don't know what to do," she said hopelessly as she started to cry.
"We're in this all together, Ma. Try not to worry. We love you." Dee hugged her tighter.
It wasn't long before Nathan brought Archie back with him. Archie saw Emily was sad, "Oh, Em, don't worry. That's my boy!" Archie said as the little boy finally caught a fish.
Page 11
It was a good afternoon for most everyone and now it was time for the Hopefuls to get together, so the guys all went home to clean up and get the dust and dirt off of them.
The gals gathered together at Billees and checked on the food being prepared for the dinner crowd.
"I'll help you Maggie," Katie spoke up.
"Me too," Rosaleen added.
Maggie appreciated the help as Sam had gone upstairs to get washed. Dinner was always a busy time on Saturdays, but since most everyone went home to freshen up they had time to prepare. The gals all grabbed aprons and got busy cooking. Rosaleen and Katie were having fun rolling meatballs while Maggie was making tomato sauce for the spaghetti noodles they had cooking. Fresh baked bread from early this morning was ready to get sliced to be served up in baskets with butter. Luckily, Maggie had already purchased some cherry tarts from Emily for dessert.
When Sam came downstairs from his room, he was all spiffed up and smelling good. He went right to the kitchen to get coffee going and was busy cleaning lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers for a salad. Maggie walked over to the Victrola and looked through the music selection and after a few minutes there was some snappy music playing, bringing the gals to the floor laughing and dancing the jitterbug. Sam enjoyed watching them moving around the floor grabbing each other's hands and bobbing their heads in time to the beat.
"Sam, I need a partner, come and join us!" Maggie called.
"I can't, I've got to keep an eye on the dinner cooking," he shook his head.
Maggie walked back to the kitchen, "Sam, everything is under control, come join us and relax before the crowd comes." Maggie grabbed his hand and pulled him to the floor. Once she taught him a few steps, it wasn't long and he had her twirling around being quite the dancer. When the song stopped, they all collapsed in a chair and caught their breath.
"Are we going to show a movie soon?" Katie asked. "I've heard of a few popular ones. One is "Daddy-long-legs". I wonder how we can get it here?"
"I mentioned our idea to the Big Three and it's going to be easy with them helping," Sam informed them.
"Big three? Who are you talking about?" Rosaleen asked, but she had an inkling.
"You know who I mean," Sam shrugged.
The girls giggled, "The big three!"
"Bill, Lee, and Nathan!" Maggie blurted out. "What did they say?"
"Well, they agreed that when Lee brought a film to town, to surprise Rosemary, everyone came and really appreciated the entertainment. So, it was an easy suggestion that they all agreed was a good one. Lee promised to look into how we can get more on a regular basis."
"Great, how soon?" Katie asked.
"He didn't say, but I was thinking we could host our first film during the Family Fun Fest coming up." Sam answered.
"Until then, we can host dances. It'll be so much fun!" Rosaleen suggested.
As they were discussing their plans, they had to go back to the kitchen and tend to the dinner. In a matter of minutes, the rest of the guys joined them all fresh and in ship-shape.
"Hot dang! What smells so good in here?" Luke shouted out as in walked in the door with Matthew.
"The gals made spaghetti and it tastes as good as it smells," Sam answered.
Little by little they all came. Mark and John went out and picked up Lisa and Lana Peterson, bringing them in Billees. Once that Timi Anne was up from her nap, Christy and Rick came for dinner too. It was starting to get busy so the group got a table by the Victrola and ate talking all about the game and the big win they had with Robert hitting a grand slam.
Sam and Maggie were very busy serving the folks that came in, so when Gunther came he grabbed a plate of spaghetti, sat next to Rosaleen, and took it upon himself to play the records. People perked up with the lively music and when Gunther took Rosaleen out on the floor to do the Jitterbug, it didn't take long before others joined them.
Bill came in with Molly and were pleasantly surprised to see the joyfulness happening at Billees. Molly waved at Rosaleen who was dancing but Rosaleen didn't stop to say hello, since she was having so much fun.
Bill was smiling so broadly, Maggie could see most of his teeth across the room.
"How do you like the jitterbug dance Bill?" Molly asked.
"Let's find out," Bill not hesitating grabbed her and swept her across the floor to the stage. "Let's show these folks how to do the jitterbug properly!" he laughed.
Page 12
Today was Benjamin's day to be baptized and welcomed to the community! He woke up and gobbled up his favorite breakfast, that Miss Lillian had told his parents, blueberry pancakes.
"I slept so good last night, once I stopped thinking!" Benjamin grinned.
Marie and Bob laughed knowing quite well that feeling. "We too," his mom shared, "dad and I kept pinching ourselves that we were now parents of two wonderful children, and we fell asleep smiling."
Bob added, "I thought when watching you yesterday at the game, Benjamin, that you might like to join the baseball team. Am I right?"
"Oh boy, could I?" Benjamin asked, "you know Paul's on the team."
Karen nudged Benjamin, "I bet Paul would like that too."
"We'll talk to Coach Sam at your party later when we're at Billees," Bob promised.
Benjamin was anxious about what was going to happen today, but Marie and Bob went over what baptism meant again and he had plenty of time to ask all the questions he had.
"You'll be going to religious classes with me when school starts, but it's a lot more fun than regular school," Karen confided, "especially with Mrs. Teresa".
Bob took Benjamin upstairs and helped him dress in his Sunday best. Wearing a white shirt with little tie and black trousers, with suspenders to match, he looked very handsome. Bob brushed his hair out of his face and Marie winked at him, "Very nice Benjamin, very nice!"
When they arrived at church, Marie, Bob and Karen sat up in the front waiting for Benjamin to come up the center aisle with Fr. Ricardo. Pastor Joseph was already up front and the two ministers stood side by side. Benjamin stood in the middle and was very nervous looking at the people in the pews watching him. Fr. Ricardo asked Benjamin to lean his head over the baptismal basin that Pastor Joseph held as he poured water over his head three times baptizing him in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Benjamin stood up straight smiling away as Fr. Ricardo wiped his head dry with a towel. The congregation all applauded when Pastor Joseph announced, "Welcome to our community, Benjamin, we love you just like Jesus does!" When he finished, Dee led the choir in song, "Jesus loves the little children."
With that, Benjamin ran to his family and snuggled between his mom and dad.
Afterwards, they had invited most of the town, including the Chickadees, who had already brought over some side dishes they offered to help Marie with. Before the baptism, Emily had made a lovely sheet cake with lots of chocolate, just to please Benjamin's sweet tooth, so Nathan had taken that over earlier.
Maggie and Sam were at Billee's early to receive the side dishes, cake, and make sure the ham was in the oven and the coffee percolating. They also prepared the tables with tablecloths and blue wildflowers. Luckily, Rosemary was feeling well enough to give them a hand as she gave out directions. Bob and Marie were very specific that there be no presents, just their presence. One last look around and Rosemary was pleased with what she saw ready for the party to begin.
When the service was over, most everyone headed for Billees. Bill stopped Lee and said, "You know, I've been thinking, with all the new houses and the town growing, we might have to expand Billees."
Lee stopped and looked at the crowd, "You're right Bill, we barely got in everyone for the town meeting. Well, I got to say, I simply don't have the time or manpower now to design and build on."
Bill looked off and thought, "Maybe, I can come up with a floor plan. Let me think on it."
Shaking his head, no, Lee answered, "Even if you do, we don't have enough time or men!"
"Yea, yea, you're right, but something's got to be done. We'll have to wait, but hopefully next year we'll have a plan by early spring." Bill said as he kept walking with Lee to Billees.
There, Rosemary was flashing her lovely big smile welcoming everyone as they came in. When everyone was seated, Fr. Ricardo congratulated the Landochs for their new member and when the family stood up, they thanked everyone for helping them feel part of the community and how much they appreciated them taking time to come and celebrate with them. Fr. Ricardo followed with a simple grace and then it was time to eat.
Maggie wasted no time playing the Victrola with some soft background music while the folks gathered around the buffet table filling up their plates. It didn't take long for the children to ask for some cake, so Benjamin went up with his mom, Marie and she helped him cut the first piece. Emily was tickled that the cake was Benjamin's favorite dessert. Soon, the boys and girls wanted to go outside to play. Warning them they had their Sunday best clothes on was falling on deaf ears, so most of the families went out and enjoyed the afternoon trying to keep them clean as possible.
When Bill, Molly, Rosemary, Lee, Nathan, and Dee got up to clean they told the others to go out and relax, including Emily and Archie and the Landochs, and they would take care of it all: dishes, sweeping, tables and chairs.
As they all pitched in, Bill went over and found the record that Maggie had played last night that he and Molly had danced to. He played it on the Victrola, and swept up Molly out on the floor. The two of them were laughing up a storm, so Nathan and Lee followed Bill's idea, grabbed their wives, and soon there were three couples enjoying the music and kicking up their feet.
The Chickadees hearing the music, peered inside the windows and laughed, "Indeed, the big three!" they cheered in unison.
Hope for Tomorrow
Page 23
Emily grabbed Archie's hand and patted it. The two of them walked to a table and sat down while Dee, Nathan, and Allie followed.
"Will the rest of you please bring Archie and I a plate of food when you go to the buffet table to get yours? We'll just sit here and watch the people, if that's all right with you?" Emily winked.
"Sure, of course," Nathan answered. "Allie, why don't you get your grandparents both a cup of coffee please?"
Allie smiled and was grateful that Oma had it all under control, "Sure thing, I'll be right back."
Dee and Nathan walked over to the buffet table side by side, keeping their voices low, "Poor Archie, he is thinking Emily and he are still married, but your Mother sure knows how to calm him down!" Dee whispered.
"I'm just grateful she is willing to step in and handle the situation so well. This must take a lot of swallowing her pride to get past her hurt," Nathan added.
"That's why I love your mom so much, Nathan, she is so loving and forgiving," Dee told Nathan as she squeezed his hand.
About that time, Pastor Joseph and Fr. Ricardo stepped up on stage when Rosemary beckoned them. Fr. Ricardo crossed himself as Pastor Joseph said the blessing over the food. The delicious aroma of the ham caused him to make it a brief grace to which everyone seemed to appreciate.
Dee and Nathan brought over plates full of delicious food for Emily and Archie, making sure they had plenty of Emily's German potato salad. Allie had brought their coffee and one for her dad. Dee and Allie both had a glass of cold lemonade. Allie joined Dee and Nathan when they went back to the buffet to get their own plates.
The Hopefuls took turns playing music on the Victrola and for a little variety, those who played
piano would play a fun tune from time to time. There was merriment in every corner you looked. There were two tables of Chickadees who seemed to be laughing so hard that heads turned, but they were having a grand time and that's all that mattered.
The corn on the cob soaking in melted butter was very tasty as were all the side dishes. It was a bigger feast than last year with more folks, but some sat outside, but didn't mind. Hardly any food was left.
After everyone was done eating, they pitched in and helped clear the tables. Maggie and Sam had several extra-large basins to use to wash the dishes. There were plenty of young adults who took care of the cleanup, even wiping the tables and sweeping up the floor lickety-split.
Mark gathered all the children and showed them how to make balloon animals. They were fascinated and they were delighted that they each got to keep one. All excited they ran back to their family to show them off.
Rosemary got on the stage and called for a moment of quiet. She asked that the animals from the Noah's Ark skit go by Mrs. Thornton and Mrs. Grant to get their costumes on. As the audience waited, Jane showed the rest the way the Horah dance was performed. She had a few volunteers; Luke, John, Lisa and Lana to come on stage with her as they played complimentary music on the Victrola causing them to get in the beat of the Horah, explaining that Jesus Himself most likely danced this dance at a Jewish wedding, maybe at Cana. After the demonstration, Jane suggested others joined them and soon folks from across the room were laughing and smiling having a festive time. The Chickadees were really getting into it. Emily and Archie just laughed and watched from their table and also enjoying watching Allie and Robert dance together.
When the folks had enough exercise with the dance they were quite willing to go back to their chairs and relax. Now, they were ready to hear Elizabeth on the stage narrating the story of Noah's ark. As she read, the children all came on stage dressed as an elephant, monkey, sheep, etc. Some ran across the stage, some stopped and bowed, but no matter what they did, they were just so darn cute that the skit was a big hit!
Dee had all the animals come back up on stage and told them to get ready to sing the songs she had taught them during Summer Bible Camp. They were excited to add motion to the songs, snapping their fingers, making animal sounds and singing Jesus Loves the little children and Old man Noah, built an ark (EE-I-EE-I-O). The children were adorable and stole the show with their antics. They didn't want to leave the stage, but with Rosemary's encouragement, they finally did and removed their costumes.
Rosemary took the stage and told everyone about the day's schedule. Next on the agenda was the father/son baseball game. She promised this would be a fun but fair game with Mountie Gunther Burmeister as umpire. It was then she called Gunther to the stage. This surprised him, but Lee had warned him, that Rosemary
will ask, but she's really telling that person to do something, so he went up. As she talked at first about the game, she stopped and then abruptly asked Sargent Nathan Grant to join them on stage.
Nathan looked stunned, "What?" he asked, "you want me up there too? I have nothing to do with the game." Lee looked at Nathan and nodded towards the stage. Nathan shrugged and gave in, stepping up on the stage.
On cue, Sam turned on the Victrola that began playing, "O Canada."
Just then Superintendent Andrew Hargraves broke through the crowd in full uniform and walked slowly but with precision to the stage. In his hands was a box. As he approached he saluted Gunther and Nathan. Standing on stage he announced to the town that Sargent Nathan Grant was now the recipient of the Medal of Bravery. The Medal recognizes acts of bravery in hazardous circumstances. Nathan's capturing the outlaws, Jude and Clay Toliver, and his careful planning and action while putting himself in grave danger during the arrest and capture of Harvey Toliver was being recognized and appreciated by The Royal Canadian Mounted Police. It was karma that Hargraves was assigned to perform the honor in front of the whole town of Hope Valley. After pinning it on Nathan, he shook his hand, saluted him and then quickly and quietly left.
Bill broke into applause and Gunther followed. Gunther beamed at his Sargent as his family rushed over to him and the whole town joined in the applause and came up to give him congratulations. He was a hero. It was a day Nathan would never forget.