A Place in the Country

By Ruby Scranton Jones

(Previous story)

Story 5: Neighbors

Ellen Martin climbed down from the stepladder with her bucket of peaches. She wiped the perspiration from her forehead on her sleeve as she walked over to empty the peaches into the basket. She had only three bushel baskets full to show for her afternoon’s work, yet her arms and back ached and her feet felt like lead. But she mustn’t let John know. he worried over having her do what he called “man’s work.”

John lay on a camp cot in the shade of the apple tree by the back porch. Ellen went over and took the cloth from his forehead. She wet it with cool water from the pump and put it back. She thought he looked even paler than when she had last changed it. He didn’t open his eyes or speak, so she sat down on the bench beside him to rest a few minutes.

John had got the job of painting the big barn down the road. yesterday, when it was almost finished, he had been overcome by the heat, and Mr. Adams, the owner, had brought him home. Ellen had been frightened, but Mr. Adams had insisted that plenty of salt and rest were all he needed. But he didn’t seem to be getting better. he had eaten nothing and had been too listless to move. Ellen took hold of his wrist. His pulse was still too weak to count. He’d never be able to take the fruit to the store tomorrow. Why, oh, why hadn’t she learned to drive the car!

And, if John didn’t get his money till the barn was finished, how were they ever going to make the September payment on the place. What would happen, she wondered, if they didn’t make it. It was in the contract, of course, but she had been so sure that all their troubles would be over as soon as they got to the country that she hadn’t paid much attention. But she wasn’t ready to give up. She’d think of other ways to make money. She seemed to see the year stretching before her, not as a series of months, but as twelve monthly payments gathered together in dollars and dimes as though they were weeks and days.

Ellen wanted to cry, she was so worried and so tired. She felt desperately lonely, too. Not a woman except clerks in the stores had spoken to her in the six weeks since she had arrived. She had so hoped to make friends. “Ah, well!” she sighed, getting up to go back to her picking, “maybe I expected too much. Maybe they just don’t like city people.”

When she was back on the ladder, Betty called t her. She looked down and saw the Hawkins boy with her two children.

“Hello,” she called.

He smiled shyly and held up a sack of fresh corn. “Mother sent this,” he explained. “She said you weren’t here in time to plant any.”

“How nice,” Ellen said, getting down from the ladder again. “We like corn so much and we’ve never had it just picked before.”

The boy still stood after she had taken the corn, scuffing his bare feet in the dust. “She said I should help you with the peaches,” he muttered, “while Mr. Martin is sick.”

Ellen could hardly believe her ears. After the chicken episode, the Hawkins family were the last people on earth from whom she would have expected help. “Help me?” she queried, “pick peaches, you mean?”

“Yes,” he said, “I could come tomorrow.” He turned then and ran towards home.

Well, Ellen thought to herself as she climbed back, and for some reason she didn’t feel quite so tired and the bucket seemed to fill without so much effort.

A half hour later, Johnny called, “Mummie, see who’s coming!”

Ellen peered through the leaves and saw a car coming up the driveway. Slowly she got down, knowing she had never looked worse in her life. Her hands were stained, her face streaked. Her head was tied in a red bandanna, and she felt dirty all over. The children weren’t cleaned up either. And she had planned to have things so nice for her first callers. It took all the courage she possessed to walk over to the car that had stopped by the back porch.

Mr. Adams got out. “I brought the missus,” he said. “How’s John today?”

Ellen took Mrs. Adams’ hand and looked into the kindest of blue eyes.

Before getting out, Mrs. Adams reached for a basket on the back seat. “I brought you some fresh bread and a jar of strawberry jam,” she said.

Suddenly Ellen’s eyes filled with tears, and she wiped them unashamedly. “Everyone is so kind,” she murmured, and forgot to apologize for her appearance.

They went over to the cot then, and Ellen got chairs from the kitchen. John sat up and smiled, and Ellen noticed that his eyes looked more natural. Mr. Adams handed him a check, as he said, “I thought you might need this. You can finish the barn after it gets cool this fall. But do hurry and get well, for the missus is expecting you to paint the kitchen. We sure needed a handy man around here.”

“Thanks.” John spoke gratefully, folded the check and put it in his shirt pocket. “I’ll be all right next week.”

The children, with the puppy, came from their playhouse in the orchard. Betty’s fair hair was a tangled mass, and the knees of Johnny’s overalls were worn through, but Ellen couldn’t help but be proud of them, anyway. She introduced them, “Elizabeth, John Junior, and ‘Curtains.’ ”

“Well, now,” Mr. Adams observed, lifting Johnny to his lap, “quite a family. But ‘Curtains!’ That’s a funny name for a dog.”

“It’s just a joke,” Johnny answered, and all the Martin family laughed.

“Seems to be a family joke,” Mr. Adams laughed with them. “You know, that’s the nice thing about families that they can have jokes that nobody else understands.”

Mrs. Adams smiled at Betty. “You’re about the age of my granddaughter. You must get acquainted so you can go on the school bus together this fall. Shall I send he rover to play sometime?”

“Oh, yes,” Betty replied eagerly, her thin face lighting up.

“She has some kittens. Maybe your mother will let you have one.”

“Oh, yes,” Betty said again. “We need a kitten ’cause we have mice.”

they all laughed as though that were a joke, too.

When Mr. Adams got up to leave, he offered, “I see you have some peaches ready. I’ll take them to market tomorrow and every day till John is well.”

* * * *

Ellen sat a long time after they had gone, holding John’s hand. At last she said, “I’m not afraid or lonely any more. We have neighbors and friends. Oh, John! I’m so glad we came.”

“Sure,” he said. he turned on his side and closed his eyes. “I think I’ll have a nap, and then I’ll be ready for a good supper.”

Ellen was humming when she went back to her work.

(The End)