Page 19 of A Joyful Ring
Gunder had nothing with which to dig the plant, and no way to carry it or keep it wet. Perhaps he could borrow a shovel and bucket from the mine on Sunday and dig it up. He sighed. It might be a good idea to find out if the plant was a poisonous weed or truly a flower first, though.
He plucked one stem, then headed back toward Lovely.
From the position of the sun in the sky, he thought it was a little past five. He wished he’d splurged and bought a timepiece yesterday, but soon enough, he hoped to have funds to cover what he’d need to purchase.
When Gunder reached the path that would take him to the Hoffman abode, he stopped and brushed a hand over his shirt and trousers to make sure they were as clean as possible. He started to remove his hat, only to remember he’d left it off that morning. Instead, he ran a hand over his short hair, then squared his shoulders and strode to the screen door of the Hoffmans’ shack. No one was inside, although the table was set for three, with the basket of apricots in the center.
Gunder cocked an ear and heard voices behind the shack. He followed them around the side of the house, making note of plants Risa had planted around the sides of the building. They were similar to bushes he’d seen growing by the river.
“Hello,” he called as he walked around thecorner of the shack and saw Risa bent over a grate set on top of an open fire that burned within a circle of river rocks. The scent of something frying carried on the breeze, and despite eating enough lunch, he thought for sure he’d pop, Gunder realized he was hungry.
“Gunder! Good to see you, son,” Lars said, greeting him with a smile and a handshake. “Risa decided it would make the house far too hot to be bearable if she had to fire up the stove again, so we’re cooking dinner out here. At least the chicken coop makes a little shade.”
“It certainly does.”
Lars pointed to the blossom held in Gunder’s fingers. “You went for a walk?”
“I did. I found this and wondered if it is a flower or a weed.”
Lars took the bloom from him and grinned. “It’s a flower. One of the few that grow naturally around here. I didn’t think any were still blooming with this heat.” Lars handed it back to him, then tipped his head toward Risa. “My daughter tends to collect plants.”
Gunder grinned and motioned toward the garden surrounded by a fence that was made of a variety of scrap wood but appeared sturdy. “It looks like she not only collects them, but grows them.”
“She does. Want to see the garden?” Lars asked, then led the way to the gate without waiting for Gunder to reply.
Gunder tipped his head politely to Risa and held out the flower to her as he walked past her. She stared at the wilting bloom, took it with a curt nod,then returned her focus to frying pieces of golden chicken. Gunder’s best friend in school had been from Mississippi. Jeff Jefferson’s mother could fry a chicken that would almost make a grown man weep with joy.
“Risa has a little bit of everything growing in here,” Lars said with a hint of pride in his voice. He showed Gunder thriving tomato, cucumber, and squash plants. There were pumpkin vines and hills of potatoes, along with the fern-like fronds topping carrots. The far end of the garden had a row of strawberry plants bracketed on both ends by thorn-covered raspberry vines.
“The berries likely won’t produce this year, but we’re hopeful to get a crop next year. I got the starts from a friend of Mrs. Franklin’s in Baker City.”
“Mrs. Franklin seems like a very nice woman,” Gunder said, then observed as the tips of Lars’ ears turned bright crimson. So, he hadn’t imagined the man’s attraction to the lovely widow. Gunder wondered if Risa had any idea of her father’s infatuation with the woman, or if she’d encourage it.
“She is a fine woman. None finer, in these parts, except for my daughter.” Lars tossed a loving glance toward Risa as she stirred what appeared to be a bubbling pan of gravy. “Come on. If the gravy is bubbling, the grub is about ready. Let’s wash up.”
Lars led the way over to a pump near the barn, and Gunder scrubbed his hands and face, then he pumped the handle while Lars washed up.
By the time the men returned to the fire, Risa was just lifting a pan of boiling potatoes off thegrate. Gunder noticed she’d tucked the droopy flower bloom in her hair, and seeing it there made him grin.
“If you bring in the gravy, I’ll mash the potatoes and we can eat,” she said, not waiting for one of them to answer as she turned and headed inside the back door of the shack.
“The screens must be nice,” Gunder observed as Lars picked up a folded towel from a nearby stump and wrapped it around the handle of the pan of gravy.
“They sure are. Best investment I’ve made this year,” Lars said with a grin as he hefted the heavy cast-iron pan.
Gunder hurried ahead of Lars and pulled open the screen door for him, then followed him inside the shack that he’d noted earlier was far nicer than he’d anticipated.
The floor was rough wood, but the interior walls had been painted. Gunder assumed Lars had acquired cast-off paint from somewhere since each wall was a different color, but the way the colors blended in the corners almost made it seem like they’d been painted that way on purpose. The house was basically one large room, with a smaller room he could see through an open doorway that held a bed. He assumed by the flowered quilt covering it, the room belonged to Risa.
Before thoughts of her on that bed took root in his mind, he shifted his focus to the table in the center of the house, where a platter was piled with crispy fried chicken. A bowl held a salad, and in another were corn kernels, likely from a can since itwas too early in the season for fresh corn.
“I hated to heat up the oven, so I have leftover biscuits from earlier. I hope you don’t mind,” Risa said, looking apologetic as she set a plate holding four biscuits on the table.
“This looks like a grand feast, Miss Hoffman. I wouldn’t complain about a single bite of it.”
She looked pleased by Gunder’s comment as she finished mashing the potatoes and scooped them into a bowl, then carried it to the table.
Gunder noticed she’d changed out of the pretty shirtwaist with a dark skirt she’d worn earlier into a faded calico dress covered with an apron that appeared well-used. Lars had also changed into a pair of worn trousers and a shirt.
