Teaching Patience (Homespun) (3 page)

Soon, she called the class to order.  Charlie still fidgeted as much as usual, but he studied his lessons as well.  Patience was relieved.  She didn’t want to have to confront his father again.  Ever.  It was the first time in her three years of teaching she’d had to talk to a parent about their child’s behavior, and she hoped it was the last.

It was midmorning when she noticed the entire schoolhouse go dark.  She went to the window and saw the storm clouds.  They were dark and ominous.  She sent Daniel and Amos, the son of Bess an old family friend, out to get as much firewood as they could. At twelve and eleven the two boys were the oldest in the school, because most parents kept their teenage boys home in the fall and spring so they could help on the farms. She’d never experience a blizzard bad enough the children couldn’t get home from school, but she kept emergency provisions in the school just in case.  It seemed like it was too late in the year to worry about a blizzard, but the clouds were telling her that was an erroneous assumption.

She hurried around the room lighting the lanterns she usually only used on rainy days.  The light from the windows was generally sufficient for them to study by.
  She didn’t mention the storm, and hoped the children would take a while to realize what she was doing.  A blizzard would make them fearful for their families, and it would make the day much harder to get through.

The boys
made several trips to and from the woodpile in front of the schoolhouse.  The last time they came inside, they were covered with snow and shivering from head to toe.  “Go stand in front of the fire and warm yourselves.”

Once the
two boys were warm and back in their seats, she told Grace to monitor the other students for a bit while she went outside to take care of something.  She grabbed the piece of rope she kept in the cloak room and tied one end to the door of the schoolhouse and carried the other out to the outhouse, tying it off there.  Now the children would be able to follow the rope to and from the outhouse when they needed to go.  There was no telling how long they’d be stranded there, and she wanted to be prepared.

She would have the children leave the building two at a time, never letting one of them be alone
outside in the storm.  She’d pair them up, having an older girl with a young girl.  An older boy with a younger boy.  They’d be “buddies” for the time they were stranded.  She hoped she was overreacting to the situation, but knew it was better to be cautious.

Patience didn’t want to alarm the children, but it was obvious to her this storm was going to be a scary one.  She continued teaching as calmly as she could, not even discussing the storm blowing outside the walls.  The wind howled wildly and the snow blew and
began to drift.  Within an hour of seeing the storm cloud, she knew they wouldn’t be able to go home that evening.  She was glad she’d made provisions, but hoped they’d be enough to see them through the storm.

When it was lunch time, she told the children to eat inside instead of taking their meals outdoors as they normally would. 
In one corner of the schoolroom was a cabinet she’d stored emergency provisions in.  She had enough food for several days if they were careful.  She’d thought to pack a huge pot and several jars of vegetables along with some salt pork.  She had some dried fruit and some beef jerky as well as some crackers.  They wouldn’t starve.

Patience had been trapped in this very schoolhouse for four days during a blizzard when she was
fifteen, and she’d learned from her teacher’s mistakes.  They’d survived, but they’d been extremely hungry, living on only snow melted over the schoolhouse stove for the time they were there.  She’d promised herself that wouldn’t happen to her students.

She sat down at her desk,
ate her lunch and scribbled quickly on a piece of paper.  She needed to plan out their day so there would be less time for mischief.  She couldn’t expect the children to study all day.  She planned some indoor games, a meal, and some quiet activities.

Just as she was finishing up, a loud knock came at the door of the schoolhouse. 
Who would be out in this storm?
she wondered.

The door opened with a loud crash.  Rushing to it, she saw a man, completely covered with snow
his hair stiff, white and frozen.  She couldn’t even tell who it was.  Calling Amos and Danny to help her, they quickly got him to the stove to warm.  After a moment, she realized it was Mr. Walker.

She knelt at his feet, carefully removing his boots and socks to check for frostbite. 
Danny, the oldest boy in the class, helped him pull his coat off.  Charlie ran from across the room and stood staring wide eyed at his father.  “Pa?  Are you okay?”

Mr. W
alker was able to nod as he warmed himself.  He seemed incapable of speech.  After a few minutes, he sat, still shaking with the cold in front of the fire, but no longer looking as if he couldn’t stay on the chair without help.  “No children are out in it?”  His eyes met Patience’s as he asked the question.  They both knew if a child was out in the storm, they wouldn’t make it.

She shook her head.  “No.  Are you okay?”  She was still kneeling at his feet briskly rubbing them as she tried to warm them.
Growing up in Minnesota had taught her a lot about how to survive in a blizzard, but this was the first time she’d been the one in charge.

“I’m fine.  I saw the storm coming and could only think about
Charlie and the other kids.  I was out hunting not far from the schoolhouse, and came here instead of going home.”  He sighed.  “I may need to go back out in it to try to get some meat so we’ll have something to eat if the storm lasts too long.”

She smiled.  “I was stuck in this schoolhouse during a blizzard when I was younger.  I always keep a supply of food here in case anything happens.  We’ll be
be fine until the storm blows over.”  She stood satisfied he wouldn’t lose his feet.  “We’ve been eating our lunches.  Are you hungry now?  I could get you something.”

He shook his head.  “Maybe in a few minutes.  For now, I want to just sit here and warm up.”
  He was still shaking from the cold, but the fire was starting to seep through him and warm him up.

“How did you find us?  It’s pure white out there.  You can’t see a foot in front of your face.”
  Patience couldn’t help but think of the other men in the area.  Hopefully they’d all been close enough to home to not get lost out in the storm.

“I almost missed it.  I walked into a rope, and followed it to the school.  I didn’t even know where it would take me.”
  He’d not even been wearing a coat when the storm had hit.  He’d taken off in the direction of the school, but quickly he’d been unable to see anything.  Walking into that rope had been his saving grace.

“I tied a line for the children to follow when they need to go to the outhouse.”
  She was very thankful now that she had. 

He nodded.  “I figured that after I got in here and was able to think about it.  That rope saved my life.”  He looked at her with newfound respect.  “Thank you.”
  This time when their eyes met, his didn’t mock her.  Instead, they gave her the respect he knew she deserved.

She nodded
, pleased with their newfound camaraderie.  “I was planning on continuing with our schoolwork once the noon hour is over.  I guess you’re going to be with us for the duration.”  She was happy to have another adult to help her in this new situation they were in.  She knew she could handle it, but not having to do it alone was quite a relief.

The children had gathered around the windows and were gazin
g out at the storm fearfully. She took Mr. Walker some beef jerky and a few raisins and crackers even though he’d said he wasn’t hungry.  She thought that would be easier than taking him something when she had begun teaching again.  She also took him the pail of cold water from the cloakroom and the dipper so he could drink as he needed to.

She called the school back to order and stood in front of her desk.  “As I’m sure all of you have realized by now, we have a fierce blizzard blowing outside.  None of you will be able to go home until it passes.  We have plenty of food and some blankets to share, and we’ll keep the fire built up.   I know most of you have places you’d rather sleep than your school, but it’s not safe for you to go home.  We’ll try to do some fun things, and not just schoolwork.”

She walked back behind her desk and called the first math class forward.  She saw Charlie look over his shoulder at his father as he walked to the front, and she expected the worst.  She put questions to the two boys over and over, and they both answered each one correctly.  She was surprised and pleased.  She sent Frank back to the desk he shared with Charlie, but kept Charlie at the front, quietly praising him for his good work. 

Charlie was grinning from ear to ear as he took his seat, glancing over at his father to see if he had noticed how well he’d done.  Mr. W
alker gave a brief nod of his head in approval, but gave no other sign.  Charlie’s face glowed as if he’d been offered a rare treat.  Patience had to look down to hide her smile.

The rest of the day went smoothly as she called class after class to the front to recite.  At recess time, she asked one of the older girls to organize a quiet game of hide the thimble. 
Patience always kept a thimble in the classroom for rainy days. She walked over to check on Mr. Walker while the children played.  “How are you feeling?”

“I’m doing a lot better.  Are there any chores we need to get done before nightfall?”
He looked out the window of the schoolhouse, no doubt thinking about the chores he wouldn’t be able to do on his farm.  He knew the livestock would survive, but they wouldn’t be comfortable.  He truly felt sorry for poor Melvin, their cow, because she would be full to bursting going for a day or two without being milked.

She shook her head.  “I had three of the older boys bring in wood as soon as I saw the sky darkening.  We have food.  I can’t think of anything else we would need.”

“You’re a lot more capable than I’d given you credit for,” he told her softly.  “I assumed you’d be frightened when the storm came and would need help.  I was wrong.”  He should have gone home, he realized now, but he was glad to be here and be able to be with Charlie through the storm. 

She shook her head.  “I’m frightened.  I just knew to plan for it, so I was prepared as well.  I’ve done everything I could do to be ready.”  She paused.  “It’s nice to have another adult here, so I’ll have help as the days go by.  Hopefully this is just a one day storm, but we have to be planning for the worst.”  She watched the children playing their game.  “I need to start cooking supper now, so it will be ready to serve when the children are hungry.”

He cocked an eyebrow.  “What are you planning to fix?  Raisins and beef jerky?”  He couldn’t help but tease her, because she always flushed such a pretty shade of red.

She didn’t answer, but instead went across the room to her “pantry.”  She pulled out all of the ingredients she’d need for a huge pot of soup, including the large pot.  Carefully she added everything, along with a clump of clean snow.  She didn’t have a lot of seasonings, but she was sure the soup would at least be edible and keep them alive.

Hugh watched her work.  He’d never met anyone so young who was quite so capable.  She seemed to have everything under control, as if she’d trained specifically for what to do if a blizzard hit and her students couldn’t go home.

Fifteen minutes later, she had a pot of soup on the stove, and was adding a little more wood to the fire.  She went to the front of the room and called the children back to order.  The class was more laid back than usual, because of their guest, and the storm raging outside.  All of the children paid careful attention to their studies, though, knowing Patience would simply make them work late if they didn’t get everything done.

Once school was over, the older girls took turns reading aloud from Alice in Wonderland, a book none of them had ever heard which Patience kept in her desk for just such an occasion.  She only had five bowls and spoons in the schoolhouse, but figured they could eat in shifts starting with the youngest.  She served the five youngest children, and as soon as they were finished, she served the next five.  It took a full hour and a half for everyone to eat, with her and Mr. Walker taking the last shift.

She finally sat beside him when it was her turn to eat.  “You’re holding things together very well considering the situation,” he told her.

She turned to him, her face lighting up with her smile.  “Thank you.  It hasn’t been easy.”  She took a bite of her soup and made a face.  It was too bland, but it would have to do. None of the children had complained, and she wouldn’t either.  She would add some spices to her “school pantry”, though. “I was trapped here for four days when I was a student.  The teacher had never been to Minnesota before coming here to teach, and didn’t know to prepare for the weather.  We melted snow in a lunch pail on the stove, but had nothing to eat the entire time.”

He shook his head.  “I’m glad you were better prepared than that.  It was hard for me to let Charlie come to school here.  He didn’t go at all back east.”
  He knew he was revealing more to her than he had to anyone else here, except their pastor.  He felt he could trust her, though, and she was Charlie’s teacher.  The more she knew about Charlie and his history, the more effectively she would be able to teach him.