Blue Shadows Farm: A Novel

25. Increase Joseph—Summer 1872

149 Summer 1872 The days following their daughter’s death, Silas and Sophia moved as if in a trance. Elsa, with her blonde curly hair, bright blue eyes, and vibrant personality, had been a bright spot in both their lives, a ray of sunshine during days of clouds. Silas plodded through his work, walking behind his oxen as he plowed and smoothing the fields where he would plant oats. He knew the work must be done, but his heart was not in it. He had never wanted to be a farmer and even now hoped that he soon could give up the occupation. With the death of his daughter, his mind was a clutter of confusion and ever-occurring images of his little girl lying in her coffin, her eyes closed as if in sleep. He didn’t know what to do, didn’t know what to think, so he did what had to be done. He planted his crops whether he felt like planting them or not. Sophia was even more devastated by Elsa’s unexpected death than her husband. Being a mother had made her feel complete, like a whole person. With the birth of Elsa, her longing for travel, desire to meet famous people, and wish to see exotic places she’d read about became far less important. The red, wrinkled, helpless little baby 25 Increase Joseph changed her life completely. Filled with guilt about the baby’s death, each day she thought about her daughter’s illness and what she could have done differently to save her. Sophia’s mother had told her again and again that it was God’s will. But Sophia could not accept that God would will the death of a beautiful little girl who had made such a difference to both Silas and her. “What kind of God would do that?” These words Sophia said to herself over and over, day after day. Even more devastating thoughts poured through her mind. Maybe the death of her daughter was God’s punishment for her wrongdoing. Sophia spent her days staring out the cabin window. The garden plot that Silas prepared went unplanted. The cabin, once so clean and tidy, became cluttered. No more pies and cakes and homemade bread appeared, as they had nearly every day since Sophia moved in. Every afternoon, she trudged up the hill to Elsa’s grave, where she sat staring over the fields surrounded by fences. When the wildflowers began blooming in May, violets and wild roses and wild geranium, she would each day take a bouquet to the gravesite, where she would place them by the pine marker. Silas did not know how to help his wife. He felt she was slipping away, becoming a person he didn’t know. Moving toward a dark, frightening place. He told Wolfgang about his fears, and his fatherin -law said that he, too, was concerned and that neither he nor Amelia knew what to do. They had invited Silas and Sophia to their home each Sunday for dinner, but Sophia sat at the table eating little and saying nothing at all. She had become a shell of her former self. Silas began to fear that soon he would be digging another grave on the hillside where his daughter was buried. One day when Silas drove his team to Link Lake for provisions, he stopped at the Standalone Church, on the chance that Increase Joseph Link might be there. Increase Joseph had been traveling the Midwest for several years, preaching to enormous crowds as part of his tent ministry. 150 Increase Joseph—Summer 1872 151 Increase Joseph—Summer 1872 Although at their wedding Silas had promised to attend church more often, that had not been the case. He, Sophia, and Elsa got there maybe five or six times a year, mostly around Easter and Christmas and a few times in between. So he didn’t know how he would be received by the preacher. Increase Joseph sat on the front steps of the church when Silas approached with his team. He was paging through his red book, something that he carried at all times. “Brother Silas,” Increase Joseph said, standing and raising his hand in greeting. “Pastor,” Silas said. “So good to see you. I was just now thinking of your tragic loss. What a fine girl Elsa was. Though she is gone, you still have...