Love's Abiding Joy (Love Comes Softly #4)(64)

"Hey, thet sounds like a good idea. Might be I'll even take young Nathan along with me, iffen his mother agrees."

"He'd love to go," said Missie. "He's gonna really miss you. Both of you. He won't know what to do with himself when you leave."

"Won't be long until Nathan will be needin' school. Any plans?" asked Marty.

"Willie and some of the neighbor men are meetin' at Juan's on Wednesday night. There are several families whose children are much older than Nathan, and they are most anxious to get them some learnin' before they're so old that they think they don't even need school."

"Glad to hear thet."

"The church committee is goin' to tell them they can meet in the church if they want to."

"Thet's a good idea," said Clark with enthusiasm. "I sure hope thet it all works out fer 'em. Now, we better git. I'll be by to pick up yer son 'bout eight, iffen thet's all right."

"That'll be fine. He'll be up an' ready to go. Why don't you both come on over an' have breakfast with us first?"

"Oh, no, dear, we don't want--"

"Ma," said Missie, "please. There won't be too many days for us to be a-sharin' our time together. Let's make the most of them."

Marty kissed her daughter and agreed on breakfast the next morning.



208





Chapter Thirty-one




Farewells



Clark and Nathan enjoyed a leisurely drive into town. Nathan, curious about everything that he heard and saw, kept up an excited stream of questions and comments. Clark realized that the young boy was truly ready for school.

"What ya plannin' to be when ya grow up, boy?" asked Clark.

"I don't know, Grandpa. Some days I wanna be a rancher like my pa. An' sometimes I wanna be a foreman like Scottie, an' some days I wanna be a cowboy like Lane, but most of all I think I wanna be a cook like Cookie."

Clark laughed. The ranch was really all of the life that the boy knew. Clark determined to send Nathan a packet of good books.

"What do you wanna be, Grandpa?"

"Ya mean when I grow up?"

"Yer already growed."

"Oh, yah," said Clark, "I guess I am at that."

"What ya gonna be?" asked Nathan again.



209



"Well," said Clark, "I'm a farmer."

"What do farmers do?"

"Much like a rancher, only they don't raise quite so many cows and horses. And they might have pigs or sheep or even goats to go with their other animals. And they plow fields, an' pick rock, an' pull stumps, an' plant grain thet they harvest every fall. Then they build haystacks and store feed fer their animals to eat in the winter months. And they butcher an' cure meat, an' chop wood, an' doctor sick critters, an' take in garden vegetables, an' fix fence."

"Boy," said Nathan, "farmers do lots of stuff, huh, Grandpa?"

"Guess we do."

"Can ya do all thet, Grandpa?"

"Shore. Don't take nobody special to do all thet." "Boy, ya can do lots of things with only one leg, can't ya, Grandpa?"

"Well, ya see, son, when I was doin' all those things I still had me two legs. So I been thinkin' some lately of how I can still do the same things. It's gonna take some special equipment. Ya know the piece of harness that I made fer myself so I could balance and still handle the horse an' the plow?" Nathan nodded, remembering the funny contraption his grandfather had used.

"Well, I plan on buildin' a lot of things like thet. I couldn't start to work on them yet, 'cause they've got to be measured jest so, to fit the different things thet I be usin'--like the plow an' the rake an' the seeder. I'm gonna make 'em all when I git home. I got this here idea of how I'll fix the plow, see--" And Clark commenced to tell Nathan his idea, Nathan's eyes becoming big as he listened. The miles melted by as the two worked together on Clark's plans.

Clark discovered that the next suitable train left the following Tuesday. He made plans for their tickets and then took Nathan to the General Store for a treat. They also pocketed some sweets for Josiah and then headed the team for home. The news of the upcoming departure had Marty in a flurry. She felt that she had so much to do to prepare for the



210



journey, but when she set about to do it she found that it wasn't so much after all--not nearly what it had been in preparing for their trip out to Missie. There was only their own luggage to care for since all of the things they had brought west for Missie and the family would be staying right there. Marty relaxed and enjoyed her last days by spending them with the boys just as much as she could.

She cleaned out the tiny soddy and bade it a fond farewell, then moved their things back into Missie's fine house for the remaining days.

Willie came home from the De la Rosas' with exciting news. The community had voted to begin the new school in the church building. Henry's Melinda had been asked to teach. Her close neighbor, Mrs. Netherton, an older woman with no children, had agreed to stay with Melinda's young son while she was at school. Since Melinda was reluctant to leave her boy behind, the first year of school would be held only for three days a week. Still, the neighborhood agreed that this arrangement was far better than no school at all.