cheek. She looked her straight in the eyes and said, “Thank you.”
“Sure, Mama. You know I’ll run to the store any time you need something.” Kate knew that wasn’t what her mother was thanking her for, but there was no way the two of them could talk about what had happened last night.
“I know you will.” Her mother dropped her hand away from Kate’s cheek. “I guess you’re going to Graham’s pond.”
“Yeah, it’s closest and Tori says the fish bite better there.”
“If you see him, tell Graham hello for me, and if you run across Fern, you leave her alone.”
“I always leave Fern alone,” Kate said.
“Make sure Victoria does too. That child is too curious sometimes. I don’t think she’s ever met a stranger.”
“There aren’t any strangers in Rosey Corner to meet.”
“What about all the people passing through on the road out front? Gypsies. Hoboes. Men down on their luck. Sometimes it seems like half the country has taken to the roads to try to find work or something to eat.” Mama frowned and shook her head a little. “Thank goodness we still have food on the table.”
“And enough to share.” Kate had carried food out to a man who’d knocked on the door asking for something to eat just two days before. “But Graham’s pond is back in the woods way off the road. Nobody but Rosey Corner folks know about it. No strangers.”
“True enough, but plenty of us Rosey Corner folk have some strange quirks. Fern Lindell for one, and while I don’t think Fern would hurt anybody, I wouldn’t want to test the truth of that with Victoria. So you see that she behaves.”
Kate and Tori cut across the fields to Lindell Woods. By the time they climbed the second fence, sweat was running down both their faces. It felt good to move under the shade of the trees. Graham said this part of the woods was old growth that had never been cleared away for farming. Kate loved looking up at the huge oaks and elms and poplar trees. Sometimes she just stopped right in the middle of the trees and started singing “Praise God from whom all blessings flow” to thank the Lord for letting her live so close to something so beautiful, but today Tori was in a hurry to get to the fish.
They left the big trees behind and entered a part of the woods that had once been cleared for farming. Here cedars had sprung up so thick that Kate and Tori had to walk bent over to get through the trees. They went straight for the pond and didn’t go by Graham’s cedar pole cabin to ask if they could fish. He’d already told Tori she could fish there anytime she wanted.
Graham was one of those Rosey Corner people with strange quirks Kate’s mother had been talking about. One of the strangest was the cedar pole one-room cabin where he lived winter and summer, when a big two-story frame house full of furniture stood empty out closer to the road. Graham’s parents had lived there before they died in the influenza epidemic. His father was a doctor, but there wasn’t any way to doctor people who had the influenza. The person either died or didn’t, Graham said. And a lot of the people in Rosey Corner had died. His father was one of the first to succumb because he was out day and night helping people and he brought the sickness home.
Graham didn’t catch it. He didn’t know why. He just didn’t. He’d worn the garlic necklace some hoped would ward off the sickness, but then so had Fern and his mother. His mother died a week after Graham buried his father. Fern burned with the fever for days after that, and Graham thought she would die too. Then the fever left her, but Graham said it carried some vital part of her away with it. Graham always looked sad when he said Fern’s name.
Fern didn’t live in the big house either. At least not the way a normal person lived in a house—sleeping in one of the beds, washing sheets, and cooking meals in the kitchen. She just drifted in and out of the house, eating whatever Graham
“Sure, Mama. You know I’ll run to the store any time you need something.” Kate knew that wasn’t what her mother was thanking her for, but there was no way the two of them could talk about what had happened last night.
“I know you will.” Her mother dropped her hand away from Kate’s cheek. “I guess you’re going to Graham’s pond.”
“Yeah, it’s closest and Tori says the fish bite better there.”
“If you see him, tell Graham hello for me, and if you run across Fern, you leave her alone.”
“I always leave Fern alone,” Kate said.
“Make sure Victoria does too. That child is too curious sometimes. I don’t think she’s ever met a stranger.”
“There aren’t any strangers in Rosey Corner to meet.”
“What about all the people passing through on the road out front? Gypsies. Hoboes. Men down on their luck. Sometimes it seems like half the country has taken to the roads to try to find work or something to eat.” Mama frowned and shook her head a little. “Thank goodness we still have food on the table.”
“And enough to share.” Kate had carried food out to a man who’d knocked on the door asking for something to eat just two days before. “But Graham’s pond is back in the woods way off the road. Nobody but Rosey Corner folks know about it. No strangers.”
“True enough, but plenty of us Rosey Corner folk have some strange quirks. Fern Lindell for one, and while I don’t think Fern would hurt anybody, I wouldn’t want to test the truth of that with Victoria. So you see that she behaves.”
Kate and Tori cut across the fields to Lindell Woods. By the time they climbed the second fence, sweat was running down both their faces. It felt good to move under the shade of the trees. Graham said this part of the woods was old growth that had never been cleared away for farming. Kate loved looking up at the huge oaks and elms and poplar trees. Sometimes she just stopped right in the middle of the trees and started singing “Praise God from whom all blessings flow” to thank the Lord for letting her live so close to something so beautiful, but today Tori was in a hurry to get to the fish.
They left the big trees behind and entered a part of the woods that had once been cleared for farming. Here cedars had sprung up so thick that Kate and Tori had to walk bent over to get through the trees. They went straight for the pond and didn’t go by Graham’s cedar pole cabin to ask if they could fish. He’d already told Tori she could fish there anytime she wanted.
Graham was one of those Rosey Corner people with strange quirks Kate’s mother had been talking about. One of the strangest was the cedar pole one-room cabin where he lived winter and summer, when a big two-story frame house full of furniture stood empty out closer to the road. Graham’s parents had lived there before they died in the influenza epidemic. His father was a doctor, but there wasn’t any way to doctor people who had the influenza. The person either died or didn’t, Graham said. And a lot of the people in Rosey Corner had died. His father was one of the first to succumb because he was out day and night helping people and he brought the sickness home.
Graham didn’t catch it. He didn’t know why. He just didn’t. He’d worn the garlic necklace some hoped would ward off the sickness, but then so had Fern and his mother. His mother died a week after Graham buried his father. Fern burned with the fever for days after that, and Graham thought she would die too. Then the fever left her, but Graham said it carried some vital part of her away with it. Graham always looked sad when he said Fern’s name.
Fern didn’t live in the big house either. At least not the way a normal person lived in a house—sleeping in one of the beds, washing sheets, and cooking meals in the kitchen. She just drifted in and out of the house, eating whatever Graham
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