—
SHORTLY AFTER THE FUNERAL, the strangest thing happened. Lordor Nordstrom woke up. And he knew exactly who he was. He could still think and remember. He could see the blue sky and the clouds above him and hear birds singing. Not only that, he felt as light as a feather, and he could breathe again without any effort or pain. And everything smelled so fresh. The earth, the grass, the flowers. He felt so calm and peaceful.
But where was he? Was he in heaven? Was he dead or alive? Then Lordor looked up again and saw the old oak tree standing above him and suddenly he knew exactly where he was. He was right up the hill in his own plot at Still Meadows. He was dead all right. But he was still here.
What a pleasant surprise. If someone had told him this was going to happen, he wouldn’t have believed them, and yet, here he was. He had no idea how or why it had happened. All he knew was that he’d never felt better in his life. Lordor took in another deep breath, then drifted off into another long, relaxing nap.
—
AFTER LORDOR PASSED AWAY, Ander asked the Nordstrom family to stay on the farm. But Katrina and the children decided to use the money from the sale of the farm to buy a new house in town. Katrina’s eyesight was worsening and, without Lordor, the farm was no longer the same for her or Ingrid or Teddy. They missed him too much. Especially Katrina. There were too many memories on the farm. There was a part of her that half-expected Lordor to walk in the back door at the end of the day. And every day that he hadn’t was painful. Losing Lordor prompted Katrina to sit down and write her daughter a letter while she could still see well enough to do it.
My Darling Ingrid,
If something should happen to me, I want you to have this handkerchief. It belonged to your grandmother, and it comes to you from so far away, so do take care of it. We have so few things left from the old country. I hope someday you will go and visit the place where I grew up.
I am leaving Momma’s recipes to your brother. I think you will not mind. As your father said, “You either like to bake or you don’t,” and Teddy does.
Do you know how proud you made your father and how proud I am of you? You are my very own American girl. Also, I am enclosing some baby things that Birdie Swensen knitted for you and your brother. They are so dear, and I could never bear to give them away.
Love forever,
Mother
After she finished, she wrapped everything up and put it in a safe place.
—
WHEN LORDOR HAD BEEN up at Still Meadows for a while, he became even more pleased with himself than he had been before. From his new vantage point, he could see that there was a lovely view. He had indeed chosen the perfect place to be, and he could hardly wait for others to join him and tell him so. Of course, being older, Lordor thought he might have to wait awhile for Katrina, but in the meantime, he could hear the sound of the faraway cows in the pasture, roosters crowing, the soft whir of the tractors in the fields below, and church bells ringing on Sunday. All the sounds of home.
He found that it was a relief not to have to worry about the farm anymore, and he liked having time to just rest and think. And he wasn’t lonesome. He had plenty of visitors on all the holidays. He loved having Katrina, Ingrid, and Teddy come up and seeing how tall Ingrid was growing. At first, he had tried to talk to them, but he realized they couldn’t hear him. But the good news was that he could hear them, and they always brought such interesting news. And it was nice to know that people had not forgotten him.
Just last week, Ander Swensen had come up to see him and sat and talked about all the new things he was doing at the dairy now and said he hoped that Lordor would have approved. He had approved. Ander was a good man.
1915
Downtown Elmwood Springs continued to flourish. Two Greek brothers named Morgan opened up a real department store that carried all the latest men’s and ladies’ fashions. Katrina’s brother, Olaf, was hired to work in the shoe department.
And also keeping up with the modern world, the old opera house had been converted into a moving picture theater. A projectionist was hired, a stand-up piano was brought in, and Birdie Swensen, the church organist, supplied the background music for all the different silent films, romance and chase music being her specialties.
Moving pictures opened up a whole new world of imagination. Soon, all the young girls either wanted to be Mary Pickford or the vamp, Theda Bara. When The Perils of Pauline, starring Pearl White, came to town, Ingrid Nordstrom begged her mother for a pair of jodhpurs and boots, just like Pauline’s.
Boys, enthralled with the adventures of silent screen star Tom Mix, “the king of cowboys,” started riding their fathers’ mules around the farm, pretending they were Tom Mix astride Tony the Wonder Horse, riding the range in search of bad guys.
After the initial excitement of the movies was over, everything went on pretty much the same. Kids graduated from grammar school and high school, people got married, and babies were born.
Elner Knott and Katrina’s niece Beatrice Olsen had just entered the first grade. Elner, the eldest Knott girl, already large for her age, was a good-natured, happy girl. She showed up for her first day of school wearing a homemade feed-sack dress and carrying a very large white tin lunch pail.
Beatrice was small and delicate and had on a brand-new store-bought dress with a lace collar and white patent leather button-up shoes. Olaf had walked her to school that morning and handed her over to Miss Beemer personally. But Beatrice was still scared and nervous, being away from home for the first time.
At the lunch recess, Beatrice ran over to a wooden bench and sat by herself crying. She wanted to go home. When Elner saw her sitting all alone, she picked up her lunch pail and went over and sat down by her. After a moment Elner said, “If you won’t tell on me, I’ll show you a secret…and it will be just between us. But you have to stop crying first.”
“What is it?” said Beatrice through her tears.
“You have to promise me you won’t tell,” said Elner.
Beatrice sniffed and shook her head. “I won’t tell.”
Then Elner slowly opened the lid of her lunch pail with small holes in it and said, “Look.”
Beatrice leaned over and looked inside and saw a fluffy little yellow baby duck sitting in a small blue bowl.
“His name is Pete, and you can pet him if you like.”
Beatrice reached in and petted its soft downy head. “Ooh, he’s so cute,” she said.
Elner said, “We’ve got lots more ducks and chickens at home. And some baby rabbits too.”
“Really?”