Chapter Two #4
However, Lars shook his head. “As nice as that sounds, Mrs. Franklin, we need to get going. I want to finish showing Gunder around before we head out.”
“Of course. Perhaps another time. I assume I’ll see one of you the day after tomorrow.”
“Yes, ma’am. Likely me. Maybe both, depending on what Mr. Goodwin decides.” Lars tipped his head to the woman, then opened the front door.
Gunder politely tipped his head to her. “It was nice to meet you, Mrs. Franklin. I’ll look forward to returning.”
“Wonderful, Mr. Birke. Have a safe journey back to Lovely.”
“We’re just picking up supplies from the mercantile today,” Lars said, then smiled at the woman again before he nudged Gunder outside and followed him, quietly closing the door behind him.
If Gunder had known Lars better, he might have teased him about his interest in the widow. Instead, he settled his hat on his head and walked out to the street, following as Lars led the way to a lumber mill by the river.
Their last stop was at a general store with red, white, and blue bunting hanging across the front of it, offering a patriotic welcome.
Gunder realized then it had been a hundred years since America had adopted the Declaration of Independence. No wonder everyone seemed excited about the holiday tomorrow.
Lars led the way into the store and went directly to the counter, where a man who appeared to be as young as Gunder rang up a purchase of chewing tobacco for an older man in clothes that appeared so filthy they likely could stand on their own.
Apparently, they smelled as ripe as they looked because Lars took a step back and waited until the man left the store before moving closer to the counter.
“Apologies, Lars. That ol’ coot is convinced bathing will kill him.” The young man reached out and shook the hand Lars held out to him, then looked to Gunder. “A new hire at the mine?”
“Yep,” Lars said, turning to Gunder. “Gunder Birke, this is Frank Miller, proprietor of this fine establishment.”
“Welcome to Miller’s Mercantile,” Frank said, shaking Gunder’s hand. “Call me Frank.”
“Frank. Nice to meet you. Please, call me Gunder.”
“Gunder isn’t a name you hear every day. Where are you from?” Frank asked.
Gunder glanced at Lars and smirked. “Pittsburgh.”
“Pittsburgh,” Frank repeated, looking slightly confused.
“My parents are from Sweden, though.”
Frank smiled. “I see. And your family, are they still in Pittsburgh?”
Gunder nodded. “They are. I came out West on what I suppose most would call an adventure.”
Lars leaned an elbow on the counter. “He saw that ridiculous ad about Lovely.”
“Oh, that,” Frank said with a knowing look. “Well, I hope you get all the adventure you seek and enjoy being in the area.” Frank lightly tapped the counter with both hands. “Now, I’m sure this is more than just a social call, Lars. What’s on the list?”
Lars extracted a folded list from his pocket and gave it to Frank.
Frank read the list, then nodded. “I’ll have this ready to load in about thirty minutes. Do either of you have any shopping to take care of?”
“I wouldn’t mind a chance to look around,” Gunder said, eyeing a display of gloves.
“You do that,” Lars said. “I’m going to see to an errand. I’ll be back with the mules in about half an hour.”
Before Gunder could agree, Lars disappeared out the door.
Frank waved a hand around his store. “Browse all you like. If you have any questions, please let me know.”
“Thank you, Frank.” Gunder walked over to the display of gloves.
“The gloves in the center section are good quality, and not nearly as expensive as some.”
Gunder nodded his gratitude. “Thank you for that information.” He tried on three pairs of gloves.
The first pair was expensive, but they rubbed on his thumb.
The second pair was cheap, but he could tell they wouldn’t last long.
The third pair was from the section Frank recommended.
Gunder smoothed the leather over his hands, pleased with the fit and the affordable price.
Since the gloves were less than he’d expected to pay, he decided he could afford a few necessities. If he was going to be back in town in a few days with a load from the mine, he’d soon be able to afford to purchase more of what he needed.
For today, Gunder chose the gloves, a bar of soap, and a tablet of paper. He had a pencil in his pack he could use for writing letters.
He could use a new razor and thought about waiting to purchase it, but concluded he didn’t want to attend the festivities tomorrow with a scraggly growth on his face.
He and Charlie had taken turns giving each other haircuts one evening due solely to the fact that the shorter the hair, the less heat it held against their scalps.
He wasn’t sure which one of them looked worse when they were finished, but at least his hair wasn’t curling over his collar anymore.
Gunder chose an inexpensive razor and added it to his small pile of purchases.
He saw a dozen things he’d like to buy, and a dozen more he wished he could purchase and send to his family.
Maybe someday he’d be able to afford luxuries, like a box of candy for his sisters to share, or a bottle of fancy lotion for his mother.
He knew a letter letting them know he’d arrived and was well would be more than enough of a gift for now.
Despite his intentions to spend as little money as possible, jars of colorful candy caught his eye at the counter. Partial to peppermints, he thought how good one would taste on the way back to Lovely.
He decided he could spare a penny for a few pieces of candy.
When Frank returned from the stockroom, wiping his hands on the half-apron he wore, he nodded toward Gunder’s selections. “I see you found a few things.”
“I did. The gloves were at the top of my list.”
“Glad you found a pair you like. This brand is the best, in my opinion.” Frank began to ring up his purchases.
“May I get a penny’s worth of peppermints?” Gunder asked before Frank finished.
“Of course.” Frank lifted a scoop and filled a paper sack with twice as much candy as Gunder was expecting. The peppermints would last him for weeks.
When Frank gave him the total, Gunder handed over the coins, already having added up the total in his head. He hated to part with any of his money, but hopefully he’d soon be earning more than he’d expected.
A jingle of harness carried in the open windows. Frank looked out, then walked toward the stockroom. “Lars is right on time. If you want to help load, come on back here.”
Gunder followed Frank through his stockroom to a wide door at the back. Frank pushed it open, and Gunder could see Lars had stopped the wagon on the other side of the landing outside the door. It would make it a simple matter to load.
In just minutes, the mine purchases were secured in the back of the wagon.
“Thanks again, Frank. Have a great holiday,” Lars said, climbing onto the bench seat.
Frank waved at them as Gunder took a seat beside Lars. “I will,” Frank said. “You two do the same. It was good to meet you, Gunder.”
“It was nice to meet you as well, Frank. See you around.”
Lars remained quiet as he drove the wagon out of town, as though he was lost deep in his thoughts. Once the noises of Baker City were behind them, though, he held the lines out toward Gunder. “Want to take over?”
“Sure,” Gunder said, and quickly pulled on his new gloves before he accepted the lines.
Lars released a long breath and leaned back in the seat.
They were a mile from Lovely, with the sun beating down on them, when Gunder motioned to the sack of candy he’d set on the seat between them. “I bought some peppermints if you want one.”
“Thank you, Gunder.” Lars took out two, handing one to Gunder and popping the other in his mouth.
They traveled in silence for a while longer before Lars gave him a long glance. “You have a sweetheart back in Pittsburgh?”
“Nope.” Gunder had planned to court Karin Olsen once he’d saved up enough money he could think about a home of his own and a wife to live with him there. Only she’d gone and married Abe Peterson last summer.
Although he’d had his eye on Karin for a long while, he wasn’t as upset as he likely should have been if he’d loved her.
Gunder had always been so busy working he hadn’t taken much time for courting. His mother had threatened more than once to arrange a marriage for him if he couldn’t choose a wife and settle down.
He’d assumed she’d been bluffing in hopes of spurring him into finding a girl to love. Now he wondered what she’d say if he fell in love with an Oregon girl and started a family so far away from home.
She’d likely still be pleased if he opened his heart to love.
Not that he’d closed it. More like he hadn’t encountered the girl he wanted to wed. Yet.
“A big strapping lad like you should have had girls lined up at his door,” Lars teased, then handed him a jar of cold well water.
Gunder took a long drink and handed it back to the man, wanting to ask if he’d returned to the boardinghouse and Mrs. Franklin to get the water, but concluded it was best not to voice that particular question.
“Ever have a special sweetheart?” Lars asked.
“Not really. There was a girl I’d planned to court someday when I’d saved enough money to do it properly, but she wed last summer.” Gunder shrugged. “She seems happy.”
“Then I suppose that’s what matters.”
Gunder nodded, seeking a change of topic. “Would you mind telling me what happened to the last freighter who worked at the mine? The one whose tent I’m fairly certain I slept in last night?”
Lars didn’t answer right away. He took another drink from the jar, then set it in a box beneath the seat wedged between the crates of cherries and apricots.
Finally, he cleared his throat, although he didn’t make eye contact with Gunder, instead choosing to stare out across the sagebrush-dotted hills.
“Remember I mentioned explosives?” Lars asked.
“Yes. I don’t think I’m likely to forget that,” Gunder answered. The images they had created in his mind were hard to dislodge.
“Leo was hauling a load of explosives two weeks ago. No one knows what happened, exactly. He was almost back to Lovely, just before that last rise in the road, when there was a big boom and smoke in the sky. Goodwin sent men to check it out, and there wasn’t much left for them to clean up.
Leo wasn’t a bad sort, but he could get careless, which made him dangerous.
You can’t rush with a load of explosives.
You can’t jostle the wagon too much. You can’t forget what you are hauling could kill you at any given moment.
If you use a little common sense and care, you should be just fine. ”
Gunder nodded, but his mouth had suddenly gone as dry as the desert landscape around them. Could he really consider hauling something so dangerous? What if the mules bolted? Or he accidentally drove through a hole in the road? Or what if …? Gunder drew in a deep breath to calm himself.
“I think you’ll do just fine, Gunder. You’re good at driving the wagon, cautious without being hesitant, and from what I’ve gathered today, you have something between your ears besides hot air and moss.”
Gunder grinned. “Thanks, I think.”
Lars chuckled. “You have to decide what is best for you, but if you take this job, I’ll do my best to teach you everything I know.”
“Thank you, sir. I appreciate it.”
On the rest of the way back to Lovely, they talked about the town, the mine, and the people Gunder had met in Baker City.
The sun was just dipping into the horizon when they arrived back at the mine.
“Pull up behind the cookshack. Jed will be waiting for us,” Lars instructed.
As soon as the wagon stopped, Jed swung open the cookshack door.
“About time you two got back. I was startin’ to ponder if you got lost,” Jed groused as the three of them unloaded the wagon.
“You dunderhead. You know how long it takes to make the trip there and back. Did the sun addle your brains today?” Lars asked as he handed Jed a bag of flour.
The cook glowered at Lars, then the two of them laughed as though they’d shared some grand joke.
Gunder remained silent as he carried in a crate full of canned vegetables.
When Jed reached for the fresh cherries, Lars pushed his hands away. “Those are for Risa and the picnic tomorrow.”
“Well, why didn’t you bring me some?” Jed asked, somehow managing to appear wounded.
“Because you’d likely boil them to death, or stuff them between a stack of pancakes.” For a moment, the scrappy little cook looked like he debated taking a swing at Lars. “Just for that, I won’t bother making you a lunch the next time you head into Baker City.”
“Now, don’t get your feathers ruffled.” Lars took a small pouch from his pocket and handed it to Jed.
Jed opened it, stuffed a wad of tobacco in his mouth, and nodded approvingly at Lars. “You’ve been redeemed.”
Lars chuckled and swung up on the wagon. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Jed.”
“Reckon you will,” the cook said.
Gunder scrambled into the wagon before Lars snapped the lines, and the mules moved forward.
It was late by the time they had the mules settled for the night. Lars carried the crate of cherries, while Gunder held his crate of apricots.
“The church service starts at half past ten, and the picnic will be at noon.”
“I’ll be there. Thank you for today, Lars.”
“I’m glad to know you, son. Get some rest. Tomorrow should be an eventful day. Oh, and you might as well plan to have supper with me and Risa tomorrow evening.”
“I’d like that, sir. Good night.”
“Night,” Lars said, then walked off into the growing darkness.
Gunder turned to head to his tent, but Jed waved a white towel at him from the cookshack, so he returned to the building.
“Come on in for your supper, lad. No sense going hungry.” Jed opened the door, and Gunder followed him inside and into the kitchen.
Jed chatted like a magpie while Gunder ate a plate of ham and beans with cornbread. It was filling if not flavorful, and he was grateful for the food.
“Whatcha doing with them apricots?” Jed asked when Gunder picked up the box to leave after he’d cleaned his plate.
“Taking them to the picnic tomorrow. It isn’t like I can cook something to share.”
“Well, that’s right nice of you. I look forward to tasting one then.”
Gunder picked an apricot off the top of the box and handed it to the cook. “Enjoy it,” he said, then went out the back door, making his way to his tent. He tossed his pack on the cot to use for a pillow, but tonight he had no intention of sleeping fully dressed.
After a quick trip to the river with his new bar of soap, he felt clean enough to sleep. He’d spend some time doing a proper job of scrubbing tomorrow and put that new razor to use.
As his eyes drifted shut, Gunder considered what he could take as a gift to Lars and his little girl for inviting him to join them for supper.