Julia's Last Hope Part 6

John kissed Julia on the forehead. Then he released her so she could speak to the girls.

Julia found two contrite young ladies sitting solemnly on their beds. Their tears had ceased, though the traces remained.

"Wash your faces and prepare yourselves for dinner," Julia said in a calm voice. "And after you have apologized to each other, you may join your father and me in the dining rooma"where I will expect you to conduct yourselves as young ladies. Understood?"

Both girls nodded.

Julia left the room and went to inform Hettie that she could serve dinner.

The meal turned out to be a joyous occasion in spite of the preceding event. Felicity did not tell her joke, but John told a few. The family needed something to laugh about. Even Jennifer smiled.

After the evening meal and the family devotional time, the girls led their father to the large backyard where they proudly pointed out the growth in the family garden.

"See, Papa, this is one of the rows I planted!" Felicity said excitedly. "It's peas."

"I planted the row beside it," Jennifer added, her voice more controlled.

"My peas look a little bigger," Felicity boasted. "Don't you think so, Papa?"

John was not to be drawn into such a foolish argument. He eyed the rows of peas. "They all look healthy to me," he observed. "I can hardly wait to taste them."

They returned to the house. The girls were sent to bed, and Julia picked up her handwork. John settled himself at the small desk in the library and drew out his account book. He had one more paychecka"and a number of bills to pay. Would the money go far enough? Would there be any left over to care for their needs in the days ahead?

John figured and refigured, but the numbers always came out the same. After the bills were paid, there wouldn't be much left. He pushed the book aside and left the room, snapping off the light with an impatient gesture.

Julia was still in the parlor, her handwork spread across her knees, her fingers fluttering silently as she turned a skein of white thread into an exquisite doily.

John's thoughts were miles away, but he tried to act interested in Julia's project. "What are you making?" he asked.

Julia lifted the doily for him to see. "It's for our tourist craft shop," she answered, an edge of excitement creeping into her voice. "All the ladies are making things. We're working hard to get it stocked as quickly as possible."

So, John thought, Julia has not given up her dream.

"We are getting quite a selection of items," Julia continued. "You should see the lovely lace collars Mrs. Shannon has made. And Mrs. Clancy has specialized in calico ap.r.o.nsa"beautiful things. Mrs. Adams is working a quilt. She has already made two crib quilts. One in pinks, the other in blues, anda""

"It's been a long day," John interrupted. "I think I'll head up to bed." It hurt him to hear how hard the women had been working on a dream that would never be any more than that. John wondered whether he should be honest with them or let them continue to work and hope. The work did keep their spirits up.

Julia laid aside her crocheting and lowered her hands to finger the fine silk of her gown. Her eyes sought his.

"Is your last paycheck enough to cover the accounts?" she asked.

John nodded, and Julia sighed in relief.

"The garden will be ready shortly," she hurried on. "And I have another piece of material on hand for new dresses for the girls. Hettie is good at making stews and soups so thea""

"We're all right," John tried to a.s.sure her.

"Mr. Brock says there is plenty of wild game in the woods," Julia felt compelled to add.

John had often hunted in the local woods and knew that animals were plentiful.

He reached a hand to her, and she stood. "We're fine," he said again.

Julia was unconvinced. Looking directly into John's eyes, she pleaded, "If there is some waya"any waya"that we can cut backa"make doa"you will tell me, won't you?"

John saw the seriousness in her face and he loved her for it. He leaned to kiss her forehead. "I'll tell you," he promised, and then closed his eyes against the pain of the dreadful thought. He would do almost anything rather than tell his Jule that she had to find ways to cut back.

Spring pa.s.sed into summer. The eight women on Julia's committee continued their industrious labors. Each week they placed more items on the shelves in their little craft store. Julia laid aside her plans to use the new linen tablecloth herself. Instead, she pinned a price tag in one corner of it and placed it on the merchandise shelf.

Soon they would be receiving requests for accommodation in their new resort town. Those who had extra bedrooms had them ready and waitinga"with outdoor-fresh linens on cozy beds, newest towels hanging on door racks, and s.h.i.+ning windowpanes behind freshly laundered curtains.

But with every mail delivery, letters requesting accommodation were conspicuously absent. In spite of brave smiles and determined brightness, morale began to sag. They tried not to let it showa"but it was there, d.o.g.g.i.ng their footsteps, causing them to add more water to the soup pot, less meat to the stew.

For Julia it meant more feverish involvement. Her efforts increased. More letters written. More doilies crocheted. More hours spent coaxing and caring for her garden.

John walked the streets, pretending that he would soon find worka"but deep in his heart he knew that the town had no jobs to offer.

Jennifer and Felicity were like yo-yos. One day the enormity of the family's situation would have them down. The next day, something as small as a smile from a boy could have them up again. For Julia every moment was as fragile as spun gla.s.s. She never knew when something might snapa"when she might snap. The strain was almost unbearable.

Two more families moved away. The residential streets looked deserted. Houses were boarded and left. No children played skip-rope in those front yards, no weekly laundry fluttered on wire clotheslines, no smoke curled lazily from the chimneys.

Julia hated to pa.s.s the empty houses. Where there had been neighbors, now there was only emptiness, nakedness, pain. She avoided looking at them and hurried past as quickly as her clicking heels would carry her.

Downtown was even worse. The butcher had packed his cleavers in wooden crates and thrown his stained, worn ap.r.o.n in the garbage can. "Can't stay any longer," he muttered. "Got a wife and family to feed."

The library closed, as did the bakery, the tailor, the blacksmith. Even the doctor shook his head sadly, packed up his wife and two small sons and left for places unknown.

"Go see Charlie," he told his grim-faced patients. "He can at least give you some shelf medicine."

But Charlie Rennings, the druggist, shook his head. He didn't know enough to become the medical advisor for the town. Nor did he know how long his little drugstore would endure.

The grocer stayed. His shelves were not filled with the same variety of merchandise as in the past, but he still stocked the basicsa"flour, sugar, salt, coffee. He hoped the women were righta"that the tourist trade would come to their small town. Yet, he wondered if people could hang on until then.

There was still the railroad and the post office. Surely they won't abandon us too, the people reasoned. But had they admitted it to one another, their dreams were often haunted by the prospect of days without trains.

And then one day late in July it happened. Julia hurried past the closed-up buildings to do her meager shopping. On the way home she stopped at the post office, and there it was, a white envelope bearing a return address of Toronto. Julia hastened from the building and took refuge on a bench by the railroad track.

Her fingers trembled as she tore open the envelope and withdrew the single sheet of paper. She had difficulty reading, for tears blurred her sight.

At length she calmed herself enough to scan the brief letter. It was a request for accommodationa""for myself, my wife, and three children," the letter stated. Julia's tears spotted the ink before she arrived home to show John.

Chapter Nine.

Hope The Harrigan household was not the only one in town to welcome the good news. The remaining families were all excited about the prospect of their area becoming a tourist town. Activity increased everywhere. Women worked extra long hours to add handcrafted merchandise to the little shop. Men wielded paint brushes and hammers, cleaned up board fences, and repaired broken walks. Boys were sent to mow the lawns of vacated neighborhood houses. Girls swept the walks.

"No one wants to come to a ghost town," Julia told her committee at their weekly meeting. "We must do all we can to make it look as if the town is still alive."

Heads nodded, but every woman in the group knew it would be hard to disguise the fact that most folks had already deserted Calder Springs.

The women agreed that Julia would take the first house guests.

"We want them to get a good impression so they will tell others," Mrs. Greenwald announced to all who would listen.

No one disagreed.

"The rest of us need to be ready at all times for business." The group had been encouraged by a second letter that came soon after the first. The Greenwalds too had the promise of summer guests.

"Too bad we can't do something about Main Street and all those boarded-up buildings," sighed young Matilda Pendleton. The empty town was adding to her discouragement. She was about to suggest to her husband that they board up their own house and move elsewhere, but she did not make her confession to the ladies of the committee.

"We should have asked permission to use some of the buildings for our crafts," said Mrs. Clancy. "It would have kept them in better repaira"and we could have arranged a small s.p.a.ce at the front that would have kept Main Street morea"more active and entertaining to our guests."

"Couldn't we still do it?" Maude Shannon asked. "There's nothing but a few boards covering those store fronts. My Jim would be glad to pull nails. Says he can't stand to even walk down the street."

Julia was tempted to voice her approval, but propriety overcame the notion.

"It's a wonderful ideaa"to use the buildings, I mean." Then quickly added before the ladies bolted to send their husbands forth with hammers in hand, "But we'll need the owners' permission. Mrs. Clancya"your husband is town clerk. Could he give me the names and addresses of the owners of those buildings so I might write letters asking permission?"

"I'll ask him," Mrs. Clancy offered.

"I'll get them in the mail right away," Julia promised. The ladies finalized plans for the arrival of the first customers, drank tea, and departed to fulfill their various duties.

The big day finally arrived. Julia sent Tom to the train station to fetch the guests. Mr. Clancy had a fine buggy that had been washed and polished for the occasion. They had talked of using Mac Pendleton's team of blacks to pull the buggy. They were the prettiest horses Julia had ever seen. But they were also the most spirited. Tom shook his head emphatically when Julia suggested them.

"Not iffen I'm drivin'," he stated flatly.

Julia was about to suggest that Mac do the driving when she remembered that the black team had bolted even with Mac at the reins, giving him the ride of his life and scaring the townsfolk half to death.

"We'll use our own bays," Julia said instead, and Tom nodded with relief.

Everyone in town waited anxiously for the whistle of the afternoon train. Julia was a bundle of nerves. John knew better than to hang around. He took the hedge trimmers and went out to prune neighborhood hedgesa"to keep the town looking "lived in."

Felicity and Jennifer hovered around, their eyes big with the excitement of the hour.

"Did you raise the windows in the guest rooms?" Julia asked. "We do want them to smell that fresh mountain air."

"Yes, Mama."

"Did you fluff the towels?"

"Yes, Mama."

"Did you smooth the beds?"

"Yes, Mama."

"Did you dust the furniture one last time?"

"Yes, Mama."

"Did you check the flowers to be sure they are fresh?"

Felicity sighed. "We did all thata"you did all thata"over and over."

Jennifer's jaw dropped when she heard Felicity's sa.s.siness, but she had to admit to the truth of the words.

Julia did not scold Felicity. She too knew the words were true. Without comment she moved toward the kitchen.

The girls headed for the porch swing. "Now she will go and pester Hettie with her questions," Felicity whispered to Jennifer. "Did you polish the silver? Did you prepare the tea trays? Did youa"?"

"Don't be mean," ordered Jennifer. "She's just tense. This is very important, you know. If it doesn't worka" Jennifer left the sentence unfinished.

Felicity shrugged. She knew it was important. But she also wondered at times if all this fuss would really help.

"Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to move," Felicity said carelessly.

Jennifer frowned.

"Josie says she likes the new place where they live," Felicity defended.

Jennifer was well aware of what Josie had said in the letter she had sent after her family moved. It had made even Jennifer a bit envious.

"Well, Mama and Papa don't wish to move," Jennifer stated.

"But why?" Felicity dared to ask.

"I guess they like it here," Jennifer said with a shrug.

"I like it here too," Felicity began, and then sighed. "At least I used to."

"And they like the housea"and the mountainsa"and the neighbors." Jennifer tried hard to think of as many reasons as she could to dispel Felicity's doubtsa"and her own.

Felicity looked around her. The house was nice, the mountains were pretty. But neighbors? Felicity's eyes widened. "We hardly have any neighbors anymore," she argued. "All of our friends have already moved."

"We still have Millicent," Jennifer reminded her.

"Pooh!" cried Felicity, jumping to her feet. "Millicent isa"is dull. Shea"she talks with her mouth full and shea"she scratches in public and shea""

"Shh," admonished Jennifer. "If Mama hears you she'll send you upstairs."

"I don't care," Felicity stormed. "I miss all my friends. I miss the shops and the ice-cream parlor and thea""