Nan's Journey by Elaine Littau Read Free Book Online Page A

that none of it w ould ever dare escape during a day of hard work. She had to remind herself tha t she was reinventing herself. Softer, looser, not so tight… After a few attempts, she managed to mimic Nancy’s style perfectly.
    There was something still wrong. There was no light in her eyes. “Love light” she heard a busybody woman say at a wedding in her hometown. Well, she had no love light . Did she love anyone?
    Mary paused for a few moments to reflect on her life. Was there no one that could cause her to have love light in her eyes? After some intense thinking, Mary fin ally thought of someone. Yes, there was someone, the child that she would have someday. She thought of the child and looked in the mirror. Her eyes were somewhat warmer, but pain and trouble were mingled in with the new warmth of love.
    She got out the old wooden ironing board and flat irons. After stoking the fire in the wood stove, she finally got the flat irons hot. She worked on smoothing the wrinkles out of the tired fabric until the first flat iron grew cold. She then proceeded to work with the second flat iron while the first one reheated on the stove. It was a long, tiring process, but she just had to look her best. Maybe she needed to look better than her best.
     
    Chapter 10
     
    Winter would be coming on in a few weeks , and s igns of the change of season were everywhere. The aspen had put on their yellow coats and stood watch over the meadow , and Nan and Elmer were growing bronze and healthy with all the fresh air and good food. It was so beautiful here that Nan could almost forget the past.
    She had taken a few clothes to the stream to wash when she heard a noise in the trees. It was men’s voices. She scurried to the tall brush and hid. They were talking loudly and their laughter boomed in the quiet meadow. There were three of them. They looked to be trappers with pelts laid across the back of a pack mule. They were anticipating the celebration they would have after the sale of their pelts.
    Nan trembled and hoped that she would not be discovered. Fred had gone out to check his trap lines and Elmer had gone with him with Rufus trailing along. She never anticipated seeing another human being while they were gone.
    She listened to their banter as they let their horses drink from the stream. Hopefully they would not spy the wet clothes lying close to the bank. As they looked toward the cabin the tallest of the three spoke, “I reckon ole Fred wouldn’t mind if we got us a little grub.”
    “Probably not.”
    They seemed to be in agreement. They strode up to the cabin and opened the latch and let themselves in.
    “Man oh man, this boy is stocked up!”
    “Good, then it won’t run him short if we eat ,” s aid the toughest looking one of the bunch. They stayed in the cabin for such a long time that Nan’s legs wer e numb. She couldn’t have moved if she had wanted to. Eventually they left the cabin and got on their horses with the pack mule in tow.
    “Seemed like an excess of plates out to me, Sam. What do you think?”
    “Maybe Fred got hisself a squaw.”
    “Maybe.”
    “He beats all I ever seen. Keepin’ to hisself all this time and now a squaw. Wonder if he reads that Bible to her.”
    They roared with laughter most of the way down the mountain. The last intelligible words Nan heard was, “Imagine that, a Christian Injun woman! He’s quite the gent alright.”
     
    Nan pulled her legs out from under her and waited for the painful tingle to hit them. She was so relieved to finally get out from the bushes. Stretching, she listened for their voices and heard nothing except the rush of the stream. Clumsily, she approached the cabin. They used quite a few supplies, but at least they were gone . She wondered where the dirty plates were, but realized after viewing the table that they hadn’t used any. There were few crumbs, signs of a meal eaten off the table.
    She was glad that the trundle bed was put under the big one so