As word spread around town about Katrina’s mother, one by one, the ladies came to the house and sat with her. They didn’t say much. They just didn’t want her to be alone.
Six months later, when her brother and sister arrived from Sweden, Katrina was so happy to see them, but it was a bittersweet reunion without her mother there as well. Katrina’s sister, Brigette, now a girl of eighteen, was happily welcomed by the local boys and quickly married one of the Eggstroms’ sons. Her brother, Olaf, now almost a grown man, went to work immediately at the dry goods store and saved his money. A year later, with a little secret help from Lordor, he sent for Helga, his young wife in Sweden.
By the spring of 1903, a situation had developed between Miss Beemer and her student Gustav Tildholme. She knew Gustav had failed the eighth grade twice on purpose. And she knew why. He had sat in class and stared at her with his big brown eyes full of pure, unadulterated adoration.
Gustav had even written her love notes telling her how much he wanted to marry her one day. It was her fault, she guessed. She had grown to depend on him so much. She might have been too friendly with him.
But even though she was only one and a half years older than Gustav, there was a certain code of ethics, a line she could never cross. And, besides, she was a Quaker, for heaven’s sake. Marrying her student would cause a scandal. The very idea of such a thing.
When she finally told Gustav he could not come back to class the following year, and he couldn’t walk her home anymore, it broke his heart. She tried to reason with him and explain that what he was feeling was just a schoolboy crush. She assured him that he would outgrow it. “No, I won’t,” he said. “I’ll die first. See if I don’t.” Then he ran out of the room and into the woods behind the schoolhouse, and he never came back to school again. His family told her later that he had gone to California, but they didn’t know where. She always wondered where he was, and whether he would ever come back. That first year, he had carved a little wooden flower out of pine knot and had left it on her desk as a present. She still kept it on her dresser.
Just the other day, someone said that they might have seen Gustav Tildholme down by Elmwood Springs Lake. But it must not have been true. Surely, he would have come to see her, if it had been him.
—
IN THE MEANTIME, Elmwood Springs continued to expand. A brand-new Rexall drugstore opened up on the corner with a real pharmacist named Robert Smith, and a real dentist opened a practice upstairs over the Western Union office. Soon tracks were laid, and they had a trolley that ran all the way to the lake and back.
And out in the world at large, it seemed new inventions were happening every day. One day in December, Lordor was in town having his hair cut, when Mr. Goodnight, the telegraph operator, came running into the barbershop, his face all red and excited.
“My God, boys…it just came over the telegraph. In North Carolina people are flying up in the air in automobiles! Automobiles that fly!”
The barber stopped mid-shave and said, “What?”
“These two Wright boys from over in Ohio built it, and it has long wings on both sides. They drive it as fast as they can, and pretty soon, it starts lifting up off the ground, and the next thing, it’s flying like a bird.”
“How can that be?”
“I don’t know…but that’s what it said. They invented some kind of motor that can fly is all I know. I don’t know how they did it. They said they have a picture of it, so you know it’s true.”
“A man flying in the air in a car with wings…are you sure?”
“Yes. I’m telling you the news just came in, not more than a minute ago.”
“I think there’s some serious leg-pulling going on here. Are you making this up?”
“No, I swear it’s the truth. You just wait. One day, one of those machines will fly right over us, and you’ll see for yourself!”
“Now, George, how could something that weighs as much as an automobile lift up off the ground?”
“How does the moon rise every night? I don’t know, but it does. I need a drink,” said Mr. Goodnight. “Where is it?”
The barber opened the cabinet and brought out the bottle. “Hell…if this is true, we all need a drink.”
Word spread fast, and the next morning, everybody gathered and waited for the newspaper to arrive. After they had all read about the flying machine and seen the photograph for themselves, Svar Lindquist asked a question that, in the coming years, would be asked over and over again. “What in the world will they come up with next?”
1904
* * *
ST. LOUIS
Although Lordor was not well educated in a formal way, he was very forward thinking and always looked for ways to improve himself and others. One morning, Lordor sat on the side of the bed at the hotel where they were staying. He looked at his wife and said with a serious expression on his face, “I suppose this might be the greatest thing that ever happened.” He was talking about the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri.
As mayor, he had arranged for everyone in Elmwood Springs who could afford it to travel to St. Louis. And those who couldn’t afford it and wanted to go, he paid for out of his own pocket. Miss Beemer was there with those of her students who were old enough to travel.
From what he had read, Lordor knew the fair would be interesting and informative, but no one could have dreamed about all the wonders, the spectaculars, and the attractions. People had come to St. Louis from all over the world. The first time they had seen the huge Palace of Electricity lit up with thousands of lights, the sight of it was so totally overwhelming, most people couldn’t speak.
Lordor was right. People had never seen anything like it. And the size of the fair; the Palace of Agriculture alone covered twenty-three acres. In just two days, they had seen a real live Chinese man, a real Eskimo, an elephant, moving pictures, and babies in incubators—things and people Lordor never imagined he would see in his lifetime. He looked over at his exhausted sleeping children and smiled. “Oh, what a future they will have, Katrina. So many wonderful things are coming.”
—
GOING TO THE FAIR changed everyone. Before the fair, the people in Elmwood Springs had been mostly small-town farmers, living in their small world, but now, having seen all they had seen, they would never be the same. And they couldn’t help but be optimistic.