ATOP Chapter Thirty-Seven

Strange, isn't it, how the most extraordinary things seem to happen in the middle of completely ordinary days...

Because this day certainly had all the appearances of a perfectly ordinary one. At half past five in the morning, in Jefferson, Ohio, Ronnie went out to milk the cows. Across the orchard and at the exactly same time, Josh also went out to milk the cows. A half hour past this, both Emma and Rachel were up to make breakfast. Benjie woke up early, startled by a sudden crash in the kitchen as Rachel stumbled over a kitchen chair in the dark and dropped her frying pan. He came toddling out into the kitchen, climbed with some effort into another chair, and watched sleepily as she wiped up raw eggs from the floor.

"Baby come today?" Benjie mumbled, rubbing his eyes.

"Ach, gracious, little one," Rachel laughed as she tossed her dirty dish towel into the sink. "Baby shall not come for a long time yet. You must be patient."

"Don't wanna be patient," Benjie stuck out his lower lip and set to kicking his blue-flannel clad feet rapidly as they dangled over the side of the chair. This exchange, almost exactly the same every time, had taken place every morning for the past couple of days since Rachel had  made her announcement. It seemed by now that Benjie would never learn to be patient.

At six thirty that morning, a telegram came over the wires into Jefferson. The operator, who had been dozing over his morning coffee, sat up and took notice. Words were rapidly taken down on a telegraph blank and nearly slid into an envelope. At that point, the operator paused, took a second look at the telegraph, and whistled in surprise before finally shoving it into the envelope. He addressed it to Ronald Stewart and set it into the box for the delivery boy to pick up.

By seven o'clock, Josh came in at the back door, stamping snow from his boots and rubbing his hands together. Emma rushed to meet him, grabbing his arm to all but drag him inside.

"You bad boy," she scolded as he pulled off his coat. "Going out there without a hat and scarf. If you freeze to death, what on earth shall become of me?"

"Sell the farm and spend the rest of your days in luxurious mourning," Josh replied cheerfully as he moved to hold his hands over the still-warm stove. "Of course you never shall get over me, and you shall spend half your fortune on fancy black dresses, in which you will look perfectly lovely, and I shan't be around to enjoy it... what a dreadful prospect, kindly do not bring up such depressing thoughts so early on such a beautiful morning," and he kissed her, because he saw looming danger in the form of a raised wooden spoon.

By eight o'clock, the telegraph boy was cycling down the road toward the Stewarts' farm, dubiously avoiding ominous-looking puddles of slush and taking twice as long because of it. 

It was seven o'clock at that same moment in Lanesboro, Minnesota, where Katie was frying donuts for breakfast simply because she was in an indulgent mood that morning. Jafe had smelled the donuts all the way from the barn, it seemed, and had taken it upon himself to impose upon Mac and Katie for breakfast. It seemed, or rather smelled, like a good day to happen along for a meal. 

By eight thirty in Jefferson, Mickey intercepted the telegraph boy just as he had suffered a sort of minor accident involving a runaway cow and a large icy puddle. After extricating the boy, who went by the name of Rudy, Mickey accepted the telegram on behalf of his brother. 

"Thanks," Rudy wrung icy water from his coat and frowned at the muddy snow covering his knees. "Dumb bike went all outta control... dumb cow, too. Is it your cow?"

"I think it's one o' Ronnie's, yeah," Mickey frowned disapprovingly at the cow. "Probably thinks it'll find grass if it wanders far enough. Now I gotta go find where on earth it broke through the fence."

"If it went all the way to California," Rudy grinned as he hoisted himself back onto the bicycle, "Surely it would find grass. Mebbe I'll go with it. I've had it with this snow. Seeya in church tomorrow, Mickey!" and he pedaled off, swerving around another puddle.

"Yeah, seeya, Rudy," Mickey glanced down at the slightly muddy and crumpled telegram, shrugged, and stuffed it into his pocket.

By the time eight thirty came along in Lanesboro, Jafe crammed one last donut in his mouth and groaned as he got up from the table. He had eaten too much, he could feel it... and he didn't care either. 

"Mac, my lad," he sighed, shaking his head as he searched half-heartedly for the hat he had somehow replaced. "Some o' ye get all the luck. Look at ye... ya got yer Lintie, and homemade donuts whenever ye want 'em to boot!"

"Aye, and ye get Mum's cooking all the time, so ya can't complain about that," Mac shot back, grinning good-naturedly. He was guessing that he knew something that Jafe didn't. 

"Yeah, well, it's the principle of the thing," Jafe shrugged again and decided to go without the hat. "I've gotta check over the account books some and I'll meet you in the barn later this morning."

It was ten o'clock in Jefferson when Ronnie finally got the telegram. Mickey had completely forgotten for a while and had gone home to collect his ice skates and was off to the pond to meet the rest of the former Infantry (the Infantry having disbanded quite cheerfully with a victory celebration at the end of the war). It was only by a chance snowball fight and a chance wrestling match in the middle of said-snowball fight in which the telegram fell from his pocket that Mickey remembered. It was delivered with due haste.

Ronnie was in the barn when Mickey found him and he tore the envelope open quickly. His face changed, first confused, then shocked, and then something that Mickey couldn't decipher at all. He would have asked what on earth was in that telegram, and wished desperately that he had thought of looking when he had it, but decided it was best not to pry. 

It was only nine o'clock in Jefferson, and Jafe trudged in the back door of the Scotts' home place. He was moving a bit slower that day than he usually did, and he realized this as he hung up his coat and washed his hands in the back sink. There was a sort of heavy something hanging over him... a feeling he couldn't shake... and he didn't like it. He felt a bit sad and lonely and wistful. Thoughts swirled through his mind and he gave in to the sadness, not noticing the voices in the kitchen. 

He walked right on into the kitchen still not noticing them and might not have noticed the extra person in the room at all, had Marjorie not stopped him by saying his name. He glanced up and stood still a moment, just realizing who was sitting there at the table with her. The newcomer was looking up at him, almost fearfully, something like tears in her eyes. There was a rather crumpled pile of papers on the table in front of her, all of them with only a few scribbled lines on each.

"Annie," he whispered huskily, feeling a lump in his throat. She rose tremblingly, one hand on the table as if to brace herself. He took a step towards her and stopped.

"I... I read the letters... Jafe..." she whispered and stopped to swallow hard. Jafe felt his heart stop beating. He was too confused, too in shock to realize what this meant. He couldn't imagine how on earth she had gotten those letters... he hadn't sent them to her... had he?

"I'm... sorry..." Annie faltered again, and her words ended in a sob. She couldn't go on, she didn't know how to explain further, but she didn't have to. Jafe closed the distance between them in two giant steps and gathered her into his arms. She cried out the rest of her tears on his shoulder.

Ten thirty in Jefferson found Ronnie on his knees in the barn. The chores were forgotten as he prayed over that telegram that lay in the straw at his side. The words typed across the paper were simple, but they were life-changing words.

REBEKAH AND RISHONA ADLER WERE RELEASED FROM RAVENSBRUCK CONCENTRATION CAMP IN JUNE OF 1945 STOP NO INFORMATION HAS YET BEEN FOUND AS TO THEIR CURRENT WHEREABOUTS STOP WILL CONTACT YOU IF FURTHER INFORMATION IS RECEIVED STOP ASK DISPLACED PERSONS BOARD