Authors: Al Lacy
Norma looked at her husband. “Honey, there’s quite a bit of housework to be done today. It might be best if Deena not handle a shovel and a pitchfork quite yet.”
Ralph frowned. “It isn’t going to take all day for her to get the housework done, I hope. Besides, her blisters are just about healed now, aren’t they?”
“They’re a lot better, yes, but I’m afraid if she works with Rex at the chicken shed, they’ll get worse again.”
Bothered because Norma was taking Deena’s part for the very first time, Ralph shook his head stubbornly. “I want her out there helping Rex no later than right after lunch. No arguments.”
Deena thought she detected a mixture of frustration and fear in Norma’s eyes. She was amazed that Norma had spoken up in her defense.
Norma set warm eyes on Deena. “I’ll help you with the housework, dear, so you’ll be ready to pitch in with Rex at the chicken shed this afternoon.”
Deena nodded silently.
That evening, as Norma moved about the kitchen, she glanced periodically out the back window. She was expecting Deena to come from her work with Rex at the chicken shed and help her with supper.
While Norma was setting the table, Deena crossed the yard and stepped up onto the back porch, unnoticed by her foster mother.
There was a small table on the back porch that held a plain porcelain pitcher and washbowl. This was where Ralph and Rex washed up before going into the house for a meal.
Deena poured the cool water into the washbowl, then leaned over it and splashed the refreshing water on her face, dousing the left cheek repeatedly. Taking up the towel that hung on a rack above the table, she carefully patted her face dry, taking particular care with the left cheek.
She then dipped her hands into the water. The cool of it felt good. Her blisters had not broken open again, but she had been forced to use a shovel and pitchfork enough to irritate them.
She dried her hands, hung the towel on the rack, took a deep breath, and entered the fragrant kitchen. Norma was busy at the stove, turning over crispy pieces of chicken in the large cast-iron skillet. The movement at the back door caught the corner of her eye. When she turned and looked at Deena, a tiny gasp escaped her lips.
“Oh my, Deena, how did you hurt your cheek?”
With her eyes fixed on the red welt, Norma really didn’t want to hear what Deena was about to tell her. She wiped her hands on her checkered apron and stepped closer, examining the bright red bruise.
Deena’s emotions were so close to the surface, all it took was Norma’s concern to bring tears to her eyes. Her voice broke and she choked on her words. “I … didn’t do it … myself, Mrs. Dexter. Your son slapped me because I didn’t do the work exactly as he told me. He gave me the hardest job, and it was just too much for a girl, especially one as small as I am.”
Norma’s face pinched. She wrung her hands, twisting them in
her apron. Her faded blue eyes clouded up. “I … I’m so sorry, Deena. I’m sorry we ever brought you to this place. Believe me, I didn’t know that Ralph and my son would treat you this way. I had said many times that I would love to have a daughter, since I’m the only female on this farm, but I wanted a girl that I could be close to. I wanted to teach her how to sew and do the things women do. I wanted to have companionship with her too, so I wouldn’t be lonely out here so far from town. But—but—”
“Mrs. Dexter, you’re afraid of your husband, aren’t you?”
“Well, I—”
“I’ve seen it in your eyes. You felt you had to be rough with me because he and Rex are, didn’t you?”
Norma bit her lip, looked down, then brought her eyes up to meet Deena’s gaze. “Yes. Please don’t ever let on to Ralph that I told you this, but he frightens me.”
“I won’t, ma’am.”
“Little by little, Deena, I’m going to see that things are better for you here. So you bear with me, all right?”
“Of course.”
“I really want a sweet and close relationship with you.”
“Me too. That’s what I thought it would be like when you chose me at the depot. Everything seemed so good on the ride here, and you had my room all pretty and ready for me. But … but Rex was cold and rude to me to start off with, and then Mr. Dexter seemed to join him in it. Have I done something wrong, Mrs. Dexter? Why do they dislike me so much?”
Norma put an arm around Deena’s shoulder and pressed a cheek against her forehead. “No, dear. It’s nothing you’ve done. I hate to have to tell you this, but Ralph has been stern with me at times ever since the day we married and he brought me here to this farm. It’s like he feels he has to dominate me and keep me cowering, or he is not the man he should be. And now that Rex
is pretty much grown, he is just mimicking his father. Ralph won’t ever correct him when he treats me unkindly. I guess he thinks Rex is just practicing up for the way he will treat his own wife someday.”
Norma pulled back so she could look into Deena’s eyes. “I was so hoping that it would be different when we brought you here. I thought that for your sake, they would go easier on me. And I sure didn’t think they would treat you this way. I’m sorry that you must suffer. I wish I knew how to change my plight, but I don’t. However, as I said, I’m going to see that you are treated better. It may take a while, but I’m going to do it.”
“I appreciate that you want to make things better for me, Mrs. Dexter, but I would like to see them get better for you too. It makes me both sad and mad to know that you are so miserable.”
Tears were spilling down Norma’s cheeks. She dabbed at the tears with her apron and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, child. I shouldn’t be burdening you with my troubles. I married the man, and I will keep the vows I made. Ralph isn’t always so stern and unkind. There’s a good side to him too. That’s the side I fell in love with and married. I didn’t know he had the bad side till it was too late. I will talk to Ralph and try to get him to make Rex treat you better, but I’m not sure it will do any good. They both look out for each other.”
“Well, I guess you and I will have to do the same,” said Deena, touching Norma’s upper arm. “Thank you for sharing your true feelings about this situation with me. Maybe things will get better.”
A small glint of light reflected from Norma’s eyes. “Maybe so. You are such a dear, Deena, and I will protect you as much as I can.” Her attention went to the food on the stove. “Oh my! We’d better get supper on the table. Ralph and Rex will be in soon, and neither one likes to be kept waiting when they’re hungry.”
At that instant, they heard the heavy footsteps of father and son on the back porch.
Quickly, Norma went to the stove, and Deena began setting the table.
By the time the men had washed up on the back porch and entered the kitchen, Norma and Deena had things looking quite normal.
Ralph set his gaze on Deena, who was pouring coffee into his cup at the table. When she looked up at him, he scrutinized the red welt on her cheek. “Rex told me about your refusal to obey his orders, and that you forced him to apply discipline. Looks like he popped you a good one. I hope this taught you a lesson and next time, you’ll do what he tells you without arguing.”
Deena put fingertips to her bruise. “Mr. Dexter, he made me shovel the floor of the chicken shed, and it was hurting my sore hands. I told him I just couldn’t do it, but he said I had to do it. Then when the wheelbarrow was full, he told me to take it out to the field behind the corral and dump it. My hands were already hurting terribly. I told him the wheelbarrow was too heavy, and I just couldn’t push it out there.
“He pinched down hard on my arm and told me if I didn’t do it, he would mash my face against the shed wall. I pushed the wheelbarrow out there, but by the time I got there and dumped it, my back was hurting me and my hands were stinging more. Then he made me push the wheelbarrow to the straw pile out behind the shed and load it with straw with a pitchfork. By that time, I was so tired and my hands were hurting so bad, I told him I just couldn’t do it. That’s when he slapped me. I’m a girl, Mr. Dexter. That kind of work is a man’s job. Why do I have to do it?”
Ralph frowned. “Because Rex told you to.”
“But why can’t he do the heavy work? He just stands there
and grins while I’m doing it. You’ve got to make him do the heavy work.”
Infuriated with her boldness to talk back to him, Ralph blared, “Don’t you tell me what I have to do! I’m not puttin’ up with your insolence!”
With that, his big hand lashed out, and he slapped the same cheek so hard, she staggered backward, slammed into the cupboard, and fell to the floor.
Rex grinned.
Norma rushed to the girl, helped her to her feet, and examined the cheek. It was redder than ever, and tears were in her eyes. Keeping an arm around Deena’s shoulders, she said, “Ralph, hasn’t this poor girl been through enough? You and Rex shouldn’t strike her. You’re both putting too much work on her. She works hard here in the house with me. She shouldn’t have to do a man’s work on this farm.”
A sudden crimson flush crept across Ralph’s features. He made a fist and cocked it, taking a step toward Norma.
Deena jumped between them. “No! Don’t hit her, you big bully!”
Ralph froze, glanced at Norma, then looked down at the girl with fire in his eyes. His muscular body seemed to swell, and he growled like an angry bear. “You’d better learn to take orders around here, girl! You’re the cause of this whole problem. And you’d better keep a civil tongue in your mouth or else!”
Norma’s face was pale. She laid a hand on Deena’s shoulder and said quietly, “Let’s finish getting supper on the table, honey.”
Father and son grinned at each other and took their places at the table. The meal was soon on the table and both men started filling their plates before Norma and Deena had even sat down.
During the meal, Deena barely picked at her food, keeping her head bent down.
“Deena!” Ralph said.
Slowly, she lifted her head and looked at him, holding her fork in a trembling hand.
His stare was a fixed pressure against her. “Stop sulkin’ and eat your supper! You have to keep up your strength so you can carry your part of the workload around here.”
Deena’s face was grave and overcast with an unwonted solemnity. She wanted to ask him why her part of the workload was so heavy, but she refrained. Though she was too upset to have an appetite, she ate enough to satisfy Ralph.
When supper was over, Ralph stood up and belched. “Well, Rex, my boy, it’s time for a good game of checkers. Ready?”
“Sure, Pa,” Rex responded, rising from his chair. “Only this time it’s me who’s gonna beat your socks off!”
As father and son left the kitchen and headed down the hall toward the parlor, Norma stood up. She bent over Deena and put her arms around her. “I’m sorry, honey. I’ll do my best to see that this treatment you are getting comes to a stop.”
Deena rose from her chair and hugged her in return. “Please don’t get yourself mistreated while trying to help me. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
Norma looked at her with admiring eyes. “You proved that when you jumped in front of my husband when you thought he was going to hit me. You’re a brave girl, Deena.”
Thirty minutes later, when the dishes were done and the kitchen had been cleaned up, Deena looked at her foster mother with weary eyes. “I’m going on up to my room now.”
“I know you’re tired,” said Norma softly, “but if you don’t come into the parlor for the rest of the evening, Ralph will be angry.”
Deena’s features slacked. “But—”
“He will take it that you are shunning us, honey. It will only make things worse.”
Deena shrugged. “All right.”
Norma doused the lantern in the kitchen, and Deena walked with her to the parlor, where father and son were playing their checker game at a small table. They glanced up, then quickly returned to their game.
Norma headed for the sofa. “Come, dear. Sit with me.”
When Deena was seated on the sofa, she watched Norma open the drawer on the small end table and take out a cardboard box. Sitting down, she placed the box at her feet and took out a pair of knitting needles, a roll of yarn, and a partially finished sweater.
Norma met Deena’s curious gaze. “Honey, you need to learn to knit. Someday, you’ll be a wife and mother, and you’ll need to know how. May I teach you?”
“All right.”
Norma reached into the box again, took out another pair of knitting needles, along with another roll of yarn, and handed them to Deena. “All right. You watch me, and I’ll teach you.”
Norma worked on the sweater for several minutes while Deena looked on. “That doesn’t look so hard, does it, dear?”
“I … I think I can learn to do it.”
“Good. I’ll start by having you make a doily. I’ll let you use this one on the table as an example. Let’s see if you can make one just like it.”
Norma showed her how to thread the needles with yarn, and how to hold them properly. When she had mastered this part, she began showing her how to do the actual knitting. Once she had helped her start, she sat back and watched as she followed her instructions.
While Deena worked at making the doily, she was churning inside.
I don’t have to live like this. I don’t have to put up with the abuse Ralph and Rex are putting on me. I am going to run away.
When bedtime came, Deena went to her room and closed the door. Instead of getting ready for bed, she sat on the edge of the bed and formed her plan.
There was a forest between the Dexter farm and Salina. She would climb out the window just before dawn and go to the forest. It would be best not to try it in the dark. Once she was deep in the woods, she would decide what to do next. She must go to someone for help.
But who?
She would have to think on it. One thing was settled in her mind …
She was going to get away from this prison labor camp they called a farm.
D
eena Mitchell slid off the bed and went to the closet. She took her worn cloth bag from the shelf and laid it on the bed. She removed her few dresses from their hangers, laid them next to the bag, and folded them. When she had placed them in the bag, she shoved it under the bed.