Read Online Like Gold Refined by Janette Oke - Free Book Online

protests.
    Martha stood by, watching it all as though waiting to see if any harm would actually be done through the strange new instrument. When Olivia was disentangled from it, still crying to have it back, Martha reached out and pulled her away. “That’s enough, Olivia,” she informed the howling child. “You might get sick if you talk more.”
    Virginia was still on the phone and could not correct the misconception, because her mother was saying that the woman had sent word she was willing to come out and look things over. That was one more forward step, and Belinda sounded very pleased.
    Olivia stopped her crying and stood staring at the phone. How long would it take for her mother to begin to feel the ill effects that her sister had described? When the conversation continued and nothing happened, she lost interest and wandered off.
    “When will she come, Mama?”
    “Next week. She didn’t give a firm date—yet. She’ll let us know when she has made her arrangements. Your father says we might as well be prepared to make some adjustments. Coming from the city, she might not be taken with farm life.”
    “Adjustments? Like what?”
    “Well—for one thing—there is no inside plumbing. She may object to that.”
    Virginia thought about it. “I suppose,” she admitted at length. “If she does, what can be done?”
    “At this point, I’m not sure. We’ll have to deal with it when the time comes.”
    It was all they could do.

CHAPTER 5
    T he new telephone proved to be a continual source of pleasure for Virginia. Even on her busiest of days she could take a moment or two, if she so desired, to get in touch with family or friends. Even when it rang in the middle of some task that was difficult to drop, she found this addition to her rather isolated farm life a distinct advantage.
    It was through the telephone that she first got the latest news concerning her brother Danny. Her mother called, breath? less with excitement.
    “Danny is coming home.”
    “Home? When?”
    “Next week.”
    “Why?”
    Not that Virginia wasn’t as pleased as her mother to hear that they soon would see Danny, but her common sense told her that Danny would not leave his job at the city zoo to travel the long distance home without some good reason.
    “Listen to this,” explained her mother. “The zoo wishes to send Danny to Kenya for two years to study wildlife there.”
    “Kenya?” It was only an exotic name to Virginia.
    “Kenya. He is so excited that he hardly made sense on the phone.”
    “But why Kenya? Isn’t that … ”
    “There are huge tracts of land teeming with wildlife. Lions, elephants, hyenas, jackals, elands, rhinos … ”
    “You sound excited, too.”
    Belinda laughed. “I guess Danny’s enthusiasm was a bit contagious.”
    “But isn’t it … dangerous?”
    There was a moment of silence except for the soft static of the phone line. “I guess it is,” said Belinda finally. “Some. But Danny assured me he will be in good hands. They will place him with a game warden who knows the land and the animals.”
    Virginia wasn’t sure if that made her feel any better about Danny’s situation, but she did not wish to upset her mother. “I’m sure they will … ” She wasn’t sure how to finish so took another direction. “What is Alvira to do in the meantime?”
    “Alvira? Oh, she’s going with him, of course.”
    “With him? To Kenya?” It sounded preposterous to Vir? ginia.
    “Danny said he would not have agreed to go if they had suggested otherwise.”
    “No … I don’t suppose he would have.”
    “He’d never leave her here alone for two full years.” “But what if …?” Virginia stopped.
    “What if what ?”
    “What if … if she … if a baby … ”
    There was silence again on the line. Virginia wished she had not raised the question.
    “I don’t know, dear” came Belinda’s voice at last. “I suspect that babies are born in Kenya, too.”
    Yes, with a high mortality rate ,