“I trust God.” Carrie said it in such an assured voice that Marybeth could only kiss her on the forehead.
“Yes, that’s good. I trust God. ‘What time I am afraid, I will trust God.’”
“I will ... trust God.” Carrie giggled. “Read more.”
Marybeth felt her spirit calm. “I think you’re absolutely right, sweetheart. We need to read more of the Bible. It’s the perfect help for our worry.”
By the time Edward returned for them, Marybeth felt completely at peace. She knew putting her trust in God was the only hope she had of being able to face the future. And even when they came to a stop in front of the duck canvas tent, Marybeth whispered a prayer of thanks to God and smiled.
“So this will be our home,” she said. There were several other tents similar in fashion to theirs. Most had other things scattered about, but the outside of this tent was clean.
“We got the fire going, and Fred helped me get extra coal, so we should have plenty. We got everything inside too.”
“I must say I’m impressed. That was a lot to get into the tent.”
Edward shrugged. “We really didn’t bring that much.”
“I know.” She drew a deep breath. “But it will be enough. We’re going to be just fine here. For as long as we need thistent, I know it will serve us well. I’ve prayed about it and feel complete confidence in God.”
“I’m glad to hear you say as much. I’m afraid my faith has wavered today.”
“Mine did too, but Carrie and I read the Bible.” Marybeth turned to help Carrie down from the wagon. “Can you tell ... Papa ... what we read in the Bible, Carrie?”
“I trust God,” Carrie said proudly.
Edward’s lips curled ever so slightly. “That’s a good one. I trust God,” he repeated.
“It’s from Psalm Fifty-Six: ‘What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.’” She smiled. “Seems like a good verse to know out here in the middle of nowhere.”
8
Marybeth decided rather than worry anymore about it, she would get to work. Edward bid her good-bye after seeing that she had what she needed and knew where the pump and privy were located. Taking Carrie by the hand, she went inside the tent and surveyed the situation. Carrie was already trying to check out the stove.
“No, Carrie,” Marybeth gave a stern command. “You mustn’t touch. Hot. Very hot.”
Carrie pulled her hand back and looked at Marybeth. “Hot.” She repeated the word as she glanced back at the stove. “Hot.”
“Yes, and it will burn you and hurt you bad. You mustn’t ever touch.” Marybeth took Carrie by the hand. “Come on, let’s look over here.”
The men had somehow managed to loosen the tops of all the crates. Marybeth took advantage of this and removed the wooden lid. It was one of the larger crates, and her thought was to empty it out and put Carrie in it to play. It wouldn’t be the perfect situation, but if she put a blanket on the bottom, at least Carrie would be warmer than on the dirt. And being confined, she couldn’t risk touching the stove.
On top was one of the rag rugs Marybeth’s mother had made. Most of the rags she’d used were in shades of blue, green, and brown, so it was dark and perfect for the dirt floor. With a little difficulty, Marybeth maneuvered the rug from the box and spread it on the open floor as far away from the stove as possible. She had to move the crates around as she arranged the piece, but in time most of the rug was in place. It covered nearly half of the tent floor, and Marybeth knew she had another the same size for the other half. She wouldn’t worry about it, however, until after she emptied more of the crates.
Next, she pulled out blankets and bedding, towels, and Carrie’s feeding chair. She moved everything to the far side of the room on the clean rug and went back to finish emptying the crate. When that was done, she positioned the crate on the rug and spread one of the blankets inside. Then she got Carrie’s toys from the suitcase and put them in as well. By this time, Carrie was excited about what was to come next, and when Marybeth picked her up and lowered her into the crate, Carrie giggled and wiggled in excitement.
“Now, you play here while I work.”
“I play,” Carrie agreed. She immediately took up her doll and sat down to explore what other items Marybeth had put down.
With that taken care of, Marybeth returned to unpacking the crates. She considered the situation carefully, hoping that Edward wouldn’t mind that she was arranging his things as well. She left the tools in one of the smaller crates and arranged his meager belongings in a stack. Like herself, Edward hadn’t brought very many personal items.
She stood back at the door flap and looked again at the room. She could put the crate where Carrie was playing as asort of divider. On one side they could have their living area, and the other side could be for sleeping. The now-empty crates could serve as their furniture. The two smallest could be turned over and used as chairs, and one of the bigger ones could be a table.
The problem with using the crates as a table and chairs was that she had no real place for the towels and dishes. She frowned. Perhaps if she resecured the lids, she could store items in the crates and sit on them as well and, wih the table crate, she could turn it on its side and maybe put a little curtain across the opening. If Edward could put a shelf inside, that would do nicely for a pantry.
Remembering that Fred and Edward had gotten a pail of water for her before leaving, Marybeth found the teapot and filled it with water. She knew putting it on the stove would not only provide water for the hot tea she was craving but would also add steam to the rather dry air. She added a little more coal to the stove, then went back to work.
For beds, they would have to sleep on the floor. There really wasn’t any other choice. She could put down a blanket or two on the rugs and then another couple of blankets on top. She had four pillows, but nothing else with any kind of cushioning. Studying the bottom of the tent, she could see where the owner had secured it to the ground with more than the scant number of tent pegs that would have ordinarily been used. Marybeth had heard from the man on the train that the wind could be quite bad. It would have been nice if the tents had had some sort of flooring, but that wasn’t the way of it. It was little wonder that people had a lot of things around the outside of their tents. It hadn’t dawned on Marybeth that the debris might be a way of protecting their tents from the wind and snow.
