May 4, 2012

• “She Waits”….sad story about hardships.

                                   

                                        She Waits   

   

      They were but two, of many, who had traveled west seeking a new life and the rewards that would profit from their hard work. They migrated as part of a great wagon train that trailed across the prairie like some great roaming caterpillar. Four months, they had endured the hardships of travel, the chill of winter and the oppressive torment of the summer heat. Food shortages, savages, and the cholera. There were as many graves as there were young men to dig them.

      It was during the first weeks of spring, when the wagon train finally entered the Utah territory. Here, Jacob and Sarah left this protective group and followed their own course with a hand scripted map. They traveled on unmarked trails for the next two weeks, until they finally found their “place.” There was a small flowing stream, good prairie grass and soil that smelled of future harvest. This would be home.
          Jacob took one of their wagon mules and rode out a ways to cut down what few trees were available and then drug them back to help construct their small cabin. Sarah made a mud mortar from the clay bank of the stream and mixed it with dry grass for support. In time, the simple one room shelter was complete and the nights were comforted with a warming hearth, a few glowing candles and a simmering pot of Sarah’s rabbit stew.

      The cabin sat under the shade of a grand cottonwood tree. During the midday of summer, Jacob would come in from his plowing and share lunch with Sarah under the cool shadows of the tree. It seemed that the greatest treasures of their life were the simplest of comforts.

      Sarah had bartered for six chickens before they left the wagon train and finally, after almost of a month, they were laying again. She stitched together a mattress from the canvas canopy of their wagon and stuffed it with clean straw. She also put in a small herb and onion garden next to the cabin and then filled up a small salt pork barrel with soil and planted it with wild flowers. This she put next to the front door and knew it would always make Jacob smile when he came in from working.

      The summer passed and then a short fall before the reality of winter. It was difficult; the early snow was something they had not anticipated, but they were safe and secure. Jacob’s harvest of corn had been next to nothing, but it did help to feed the two remaining mules. The few acres of wheat had been good but the beans and squash had been limited. Come mid winter, almost all the food was gone. Jacob had butchered one of the mules and then buried what they didn’t use under the snow, but the varmints had gotten to it during the next two nights.

      What worried Sarah, was that Jacob was awfully sick. Coughing, sweats and chills. She was also in a dilemma…..she was eight months pregnant. One night, she woke in severe pain and she was covered in blood. She was terrified and Jacob was having a difficult time not panicking. It was decided, he would ride to Fort Delk, about two days away to get help. It was the closest place. He quickly dressed against the cold and then harnessed his mule. There was almost a foot of snow outside, but the sky looked clear. Jacob embraced Sarah and then laid her down and covered her with extra blankets. Finally he kissed her and then said, “Please don’t move. Stay there until I return, and I promise, I will return.” Then he was gone.

      Sarah laid there, weak and in pain. She prayed all that day. The second day she prayed and wept. The third day she quietly wept. Then….she peacefully laid there for the rest of the winter and into the following spring. The wild flowers bloomed and the shade of the cottonwood tree once again covered the ground. Now, forever….she waits.

   

  • 12:37 am
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