Chapter Text
Violet woke early the next morning to the sound of crackling. She lay in bed for a minute, the faint sunlight straining against her eyelids, before she realized what she was hearing. The power is back!
She sat up and looked at the other bed in the room. Jessie was still asleep. In response to Violet's movement, she rolled over, muttered something, and then pulled the sheet over her head.
But Violet had never been able to fall asleep around noises. With a sigh, she sat up, slid her feet into her slippers, and then tiptoed down the hallway, across the parlor, and stepped out onto the front porch.
And stared out at a brilliant sunrise.
The sky to the east was red, with streaks of gold, while it was still dark to her west. There were birds circling above her, a giant flock of something, all of them calling out to their friends and neighbors. The cool wind gently rustled the grass, carrying the scent of meadow flowers, and somewhere in the far distance, almost over the horizon, Violet could see animals moving.
It was peaceful, she realized. And it was beautiful. For a moment, she could understand why Mr. Brown might have wanted to live here.
Beside her, the radio's static abruptly turned into a crackily version of the first bars of The Star Spangled Banner. Violet jumped.
"Good morning, Des Moines!" the radio announcer said. "This is Who! Who? WHO 1040, Des Moines' oldest radio station. And it's shaping up to be a wonderful day here in Iowa." Violet reached out to turn off the radio, then stopped. She turned down the volume instead, so it was just quiet enough that she alone could hear it if she held her ear close to the speaker.
"And now for the news. The conflict between the USSR and Washington reached yet another high today, as lawmakers petitioned the president to do something to about what they view as insults to the American presence in Germany. Meanwhile, peace protestors in London have once again tried to pressure the Queen to make peace -"
Behind her, Violet heard footsteps. She flipped off the radio and then turned around guiltily. It was Grandfather.
"I should have guessed you would be listening to the news," he said. "It's not good."
"I don't care," Violet said. "I'm not a child. I'm old enough to learn what's going in the world."
"That you are," Grandfather agreed. "I shouldn't have kept it from you. I keep forgetting that you're not a child anymore."
Violet was stunned. Grandfather never apologized. Grandfather never needed to apologize.
He looked at her and then continued. "Henry's been following the news with me in town. He's heard far too much about it already from the men at the stores. They all have their own opinions. Jessie doesn't want to know the details, and Benny is too young to care. But I should have realized that you were old enough to pay attention."
Violet looked at him, the pleasure in being recognized as adult suddenly swamped with a wave of fear. "Do you think there will be a nuclear war?"
"I don't know," Grandfather said. And that fact alone made her stomach clench. Grandfather ought to know. "But I do know that no one wants there to be one. Here or in the USSR. Soviet men have families, too."
"Does anyone ever really want a war?"
"Hitler definitely did," Grandfather said. "But he was insane. Khrushchev has children, I've heard. I'm sure he wants them to live as much anyone here does."
Soviet man have families, too, Violet thought. It wasn't very reassuring. But that was the best that Grandfather could give her. Is this what being an adult is like? Maybe she had been better off as a child.
"Let's go inside," Grandfather suggested gently. "We can get the tea water on before Jessie wakes up." He looked at her seriously. "Not one word of this in front of Jessie or Benny," he told her. Then he looked at her more seriously. "Being old enough to know about something isn't the same as needing to know about it. Whatever happens is going to happen with or without you knowing about it."
"No," Violet said decisively. "I'd rather know. I was going to be scared either way. I just want to know what to be scared about."
***
Violet had time to set the table and lay out breakfast - bread, butter, and canned peaches - before Jessie came into the kitchen. Jessie was followed, a few minutes later, by Henry, but Benny only stumbled down the stairs when Watch was sent up to jump on his bed.
"We need to repair the roof today," Henry said over breakfast. "There's a few spots that I saw when I was up there two days ago. I was thinking that I could do the hammering, while Violet could bring me supplies from down on the ground."
For once, Jessie turned to Benny with a predatory look in her eyes. "That means you will need to help me gather the clothes and sort them so we can wash them this afternoon."
"Must I?" Benny protested. He pouted, but Jessie clucked at him.
"If you're going to sleep in clean sheets, you'll need to help us wash them."
"I don't want clean sheets," Benny muttered sullenly. Out of the corner of her eye, Violet realized that Henry was trying to suppress a smile, and Violet forced the knot in her stomach to relax.
All of this is going to happen, regardless of whether I want it.
***
There were other benefits to Iowa, too, Violet realized that evening.
They'd managed to do the washing, although Benny disappeared around the time when they needed to run clothes through the wringer. The sky had remained clear, and the clothes were whipping in the wind on the clothes lines when Violet heard the sound of hoofbeats.
Jessie was the one who turned first. "Benny!" she said.
Benny was standing on the other side of the fence, holding the reins of a pony. Beside him was a gray-haired farmer who was smiling broadly, astride a larger horse. He was the first local who had smiled at them, Violet realized.
"Look what I found!" Benny exclaimed. "I found horses!"
"That he did," the farmer said, dismounting. "Your brother seems to have a way with them, too. Ginger walked right up to him, and she's wary of boys."
Violet looked at Jessie, fully expecting a reprimand - getting into a pen with strange horses was a good way to get injured - but Jessie instead was entranced. Violet thought of the horseback riding classes Jessie had been taking in Connecticut and felt guilty. I'm not the only one who has given things up this summer. That was part of being an adult too, wasn't it?
"May I?" Jessie asked. At the farmer's nod, Jessie reached out her hand and stroked the pony's nose. "She's so soft." The pony snuffled and then searched Jessie's hand for treats. "Just a second," Jessie said. "We have carrots in the kitchen." Without another word, she turned around.
"I'm Henry Alden," Henry said to the farmer.
"Andrew Walker," the farmer said, shaking his hand. "I live about two miles up the road, on your way to Newton."
"We've met before," Henry said, studying him.
"I run the farm stand for my sister-in-law when she's teaching piano," Mr. Walker said. "And I grow corn on my own farm."
"And he has horses!" Benny said.
"Her name is Ginger?" Violet asked.
"The pony is," Mr. Walker said, with a hint of a smile. "And my horse is Blaze."
"You named them after the books?" Violet asked.
"My children did," Mr. Walker replied. "My daughter named Ginger. My son named Blaze."
"Where do they live?"
"Billy was drafted a year ago," Mr. Walker replied. "He got posted to Alaska, fortunately. Amelia just married. She's a bank teller in Des Moines, but she comes back and still rides Ginger on the weekends. So it's just me and my animals most of the time, at least until Billy comes back."
Just then, Jessie came running out of the kitchen. "I found some carrots!" she exclaimed. She rushed over the fence and then held one out for Ginger. The horse sniffed at her hand before biting the carrot delicately. "She's lovely," Jessie said.
"She's been a bit lonely," Mr. Walker said.
"I was taking horseback riding lessons, before we came here," Jessie said hesitantly. "Do you think that Ginger might-? I mean, if you need -"
"We could always use help with the horses," Mr. Walker said. "Just let me know."
"I will!" Jessie said excitedly. "I've been trying to get Mr. Brown's house in order, but it's clean now. I can have plenty of time to help if you need it!"
Plenty of time to help, Violet thought. That meant Violet would soon be done with chores, too.
Mr. Walker bid them farewell, and Violet walked back to the house with Jessie. Perhaps Iowa wasn't as bad as she'd thought.