Chapter 21
It took all three of them to unload the wagon into the house, smoke house, and barn.
Grady and Mattie went to the barn to clean it out, feed all the animals, and collect the eggs.
They also made a doghouse for the kittens and the beagle puppy.
It was decided that Mattie would work on making sure all the animals had food and water when he came home from school each day, load up the wood box for the fireplace and cookstove, make sure that Marta had kindling for both, and gather the eggs.
It wasn’t too much that he couldn’t get his homework done or have time to play with his friends.
Mattie liked feeling like he was important and making a difference to the family.
Grady would take care of cleaning out the barn, brushing down the horses, and bringing in game for the smoke house.
They both came in to help Marta make some sense into everything they bought at the store.
The first thing Grady did was take all the heavy bags to the cellar, and the cases of vegetables and fruit, too.
That helped a lot. Mattie handed Marta the things they had bought, and she put it on the shelves, so that she wouldn’t have to keep going back and forth to the pile all the time, it saved her a lot of steps.
Slowly, but surely, the pile became smaller and smaller.
She put the oil cloth on the table, and the house looked more like a home.
“Mattie, I forgot to buy butter at the general store or pick up some jam. Would you go and pick some up for dinner tonight? Ask Helen to put it on our tab. I’ll start making us some dinner, and I’ll start up a batch of bread, too.
Do you mind?” Marta asked him with a smile.
“Not at all, Marta. I like the idea of having butter on our bread and biscuits and jam, too. I’ll be right back.” Mattie told them with a smile.
Grady took the opportunity to kiss Marta several times while he was gone.
He also sliced several slices of ham for Marta while she was making up the batch of bread and put it on to rise.
Then she started slicing potatoes to fry, making biscuits and gravy, and frying up ham steaks for them to eat.
It was a filling meal for her men to eat and easy to get together.
They were all tired from making their house into a home and going shopping at both stores and putting everything away.
Tomorrow wouldn’t be easy either. She needed to go to her new school room and get it ready for her students to start coming in on Monday.
Mattie was excited to be going to school; he had always been homeschooled.
The idea of going to school with other kids was exciting for him.
The meal was delicious and they ate every bite.
They all did the dishes and started taking baths.
They didn’t want to get in those clean beds being so hot and sweaty.
Mattie couldn’t wait to climb into his new bed and go to his own loft to sleep.
He took his bath first. Kissed Marta on the cheek and hugged Grady and ran up the stairs.
Marta and Grady laughed at how eager he was to go to sleep.
She took her bath next while Grady banked the fire in the fireplace and made sure both the front and back door were barred.
She didn’t take long, and it was his turn.
She kissed him as she walked by him. Grady was in and out of that bath almost before Marta was into the bedroom.
He couldn’t wait to make love to his beautiful wife again tonight.
He remembered with vivid clarity how wonderful it was last night.
Morning found them eating breakfast of biscuits and gravy, and Marta sending Grady off with several sandwiches to eat at lunch when he rode around on his rounds to the farms and ranches.
He was bundled up against the cold and hoped to get some game on his way home.
Mattie was going to help Marta in her school room today and would watch for Grady to come back and help him with any game he was able to get.
Marta washed up the dishes and planned what she was going to have for dinner.
She did have some clothes to wash but planned to do them when she got home this afternoon.
Mattie helped her carry all her posters they had made while she was still at teacher’s college.
She also had cleaning rags, lye soap, and a list of what she wanted to get done.
Their house wasn’t too far to go if she needed anything else.
Mattie and Marta were there before Lynn and Darcy appeared.
But she could see that they had already made a dent in getting ready for their students the day before.
The first thing they did was to scrub the floors and to knock down all the cobwebs that had made a home in the corners of the room.
Marta was going to be teaching the third and fourth graders.
Lynn had the first and second graders, Darcy had the fifth and sixth graders, and they had a man teaching the seventh and eighth graders.
The man, Mr. Derek Oelsen, had been teaching at the school for a few years and the parents and students really liked him.
Evidently he kept order and yet had some interesting projects for them to do.
Last year, he had them making a real canoe like the Indians did out of a log. The older boys loved it!
After Marta had scrubbed the floor, she washed down all the desks and her own, as well as all the benches, shelves, and the blackboards she washed twice.
Mattie started a fire in the pot-bellied stove to get the chill off the room.
He also carried in all the books from the room behind the large blackboard where the children kept their coats, boots, and lunches.
Marta went back there and scrubbed it down, too.
By then, Lynn and Darcy had arrived and so had Derek Oelsen. Lynn introduced him to Marta. “Derek, this is our friend, Marta Harper. She’s married to Grady Harper; he’s a deputy here in Sheridan. Mattie will be a student here. I’m not sure which grade he will be in.”
“Mattie is eight, almost nine. He will be in the fifth grade with Darcy.” Marta told them and smiled at her little brother.
“I know that you think he should be in the fourth grade because of his age, but he’s very smart and advanced for his age.
If you want to test him, you can, but you’ll see that he’s reading in the sixth reader and already doing algebra. ”
“No, problem, and we sure won’t retest you, Mattie.
We’ll definitely put you in the fifth grade and may even move you up to a higher grade if you keep showing that you are capable of doing that well.
” Derek told him and smiled at him. He was a handsome man, but not as tall as Grady.
Marta thought he was too full of himself and not used to being chosen over other men.
Most schoolteachers were single. “Can I do anything to help any of you out? Lift heavy boxes down for you?”
“Thank you, but Mattie got mine down for me. We just finished scrubbing down all the floors, desks, benches, and knocked down all the cobwebs. I think I’m ready to start hanging up some posters. How are the two of you doing?” Marta asked them.
“We cleaned yesterday. We’re decorating and doing lesson plans today.
We didn’t have Mattie here to help us. Mattie would you lift down our boxes for us, please?
Thanks for the offer Derek. It’ll be nice to have some strong muscles around when we need them.
” Lynn told him and smiled at Mattie as he lifted down the boxes with ease.
Derek was a little surprised that a nine-year-old boy was so strong.
He turned and went to his own classroom to work.
Marta just smiled and went to work in her own.
The school did have a ladder to use to hang up the posters on the wall.
They took turns using it. Lynn, Darcy, and Marta were used to working together and by noon, their classrooms looked colorful and welcoming for their students to come into tomorrow morning.
Derek didn’t come back to see any of the three women.
Marta was glad. He was nice enough, but she didn’t like anyone flirting with her… she was after all a married woman.
She sent Mattie back to the house to make them some sandwiches for lunch and bring them back, and he was thrilled to do it.
He was starving. He also brought back his puppy with him and one of the kittens.
The kitten looked around the classroom and caught two mice.
Marta was thrilled to get rid of any mice in her room.
They ate the lunch, and Mattie put the students’ books on their desks while Marta sat down at her desks to start on her lesson plans for the next day…
and week. She loved the light in her room and even the books that they were using.
She wrote the spelling words on the left.
sideboard, and put some adding and subtraction problems on the right sideboard.
She put their names in her gradebook and jotted down some possible projects that she wanted to get started on.
She looked in on Lynn and Darcy at about three o’clock, and they were all ready to leave for the day.
Mattie collected the kitten and his puppy.
He was still deciding on names for both of them. Derek had already left for the day.
Lynn and Darcy walked to Marta’s home and were amazed at all she had gotten done in only one day. “I love your home! Someday, I’m going to have one just like this!” Lynn told her and looked into every room, even the second bedroom that was empty. “Is this for when you have a baby?”
Marta laughed, if they only knew that she had already had two of them! “Mattie wanted to sleep up in the loft for more privacy. We don’t need it yet. If and when I get pregnant, we’ll use it for the nursery.”
Lynn nodded, she was content to just see everything they had already done to make the house into a home.
She and Darcy left shortly after that. Marta put a roast into the oven to cook for dinner and then started making some potatoes, carrots, and onions to go with it.
She also washed out the clothes she was going to do this morning and didn’t have time to do it before she went into school.
In the back of her mind was Lynn’s comment.
Would she always think about the babies she gave away?
Mattie was doing his chores. He gave food to all the animals.
He was glad to see that the kitten he left behind had caught several mice, too.
They were both already earning their keep.
He decided to call them Smoky and Kitty, and his dog, Chip.
He loved having him follow him wherever he went.
He collected the eggs and brought them up to the house.
It smelled good with the making of bread and the roast that Marta was making.
He saw that she was washing clothes and smiled.
He loved his sister and knew how hard she worked at the school and at their new home.
He wanted to make her proud of him at school, too.
“Mattie, would you run to the general store and ask George if I can get some colored paper for my classroom for tomorrow?” Marta asked him.
“It’s for a project I want my students to do and will continue to doing all year long.
If they have to order it, that’s fine with me.
Also ask him if I get pencils and paper for my students or if they will bring their own.
I guess I also need to know if they will bring their own colors. If not, I’ll need some of them, too.”
Mattie was listening. “Colored paper, pencils, paper, and colors…have I got it all?”
Marta smiled. “Yep, that should cover it. I love you Mattie. Thanks for all your help today, get a sucker while you’re at the store for helping.”
“Thanks, sis!” Mattie told her and took off running with Chip hot on his heels.
Marta was thrilled that he was so happy living with Grady and her.
George was happy to see Mattie and provided a box to hold the colored paper, pencils for all her students, paper for all of them, and boxes of colors, too. And he gave a sucker to Mattie without him asking for one. Just because he was helping them so much.
“Thanks, Mr. Garrison. My sister sure appreciates all the help. I did take my kitten to school today and in just a few minutes, she caught two mice. Do you mind if I take her in every few days just to keep the mice population under control?” Mattie asked him before he carried the box back home.
“No, I don’t. If your sister has mice, so do the other classrooms. I may need to see Oscar Jennings to see if he has a few cats that we can take to the school to get the mice under control.
Thanks for the information, Mattie. I’ll take care of that immediately.
” George told him and left to go and see Oscar Jennings.