Watermelon Syrup: A Novel

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Willms waited, or some other farmer if Heinrich got tired of waiting. Years of endless drudgery awaited her in either her parents’ house or her husband’s. But if she didn’t want to stay with the Olivers and she didn’t want to go home, what could she do? How could she make enough money to go back to school? As she washed Cammy’s silver and laid it out on a tea towel, she imagined that she was laying out sterile instruments in an operating room and then handing them to the surgeon, knowing exactly what to do, loving the precision of the gleaming surgical knives in the hands of the doctor. Her heart lurched with longing. eleven A few days after Christmas, Lexi sat braiding Sally’s hair in the kitchen when Dr.Oliver strode in. His eyes were narrow and his mouth was grim. Her first thought was that something had happened to Cammy. She finished tying the ribbons around Sally’s braids and told her to go and find Simon. Sally ran at her father’s legs. He patted her hair.“Good morning, pumpkin,” he said in a flat voice. “Do I have to, Daddy?” she whined. “Do you have to what? “Do I have to go and find Simon?” She glanced at Lexi. “Yes. I have to talk with Aleksandra,” he said. “I’ll tell you when I’m leaving and we can say goodbye.” He pried her hands from around his leg and sent her off with a pat on the bum. Dr. Oliver poured himself a cup of coffee and stood taking rapid sips, occasionally wincing. He was wearing a brown tweed suit and a yellow blue-spotted bow tie.In another hour he’d be making his rounds at the hospital, a white lab coat over his jacket. The patients would look up to him, full of hope. Or despair. She smiled a shy smile at him. It seemed more and more as if they ran everything together. She was wearing the small pearl pendant that he and Cammy had given her for Christmas. Lexi was sure 86 Annie Jacobsen jacobsen_text 8/27/07 10:05 Page 86 that he’d picked it out. Its tiny weight bounced in the hollow below her throat. “I’ve had a long-distance phone call,” he said. “Oh?” “From your father.” She felt her heart stop. “From Papa?” “Your mother’s very ill.” “What? Mama?” “Yes. Apparently it’s quite serious. Her heart. They’re not sure if…she’ll make it through.” “But Mama never gets sick. She’s so strong…” “Everyone’s susceptible, Aleksandra,” he said in his doctor’s voice. “But…even in Russia, she never…” “I’m sorry,” he said. “She’s very ill.” No! Mama couldn’t be sick. She felt a hot stinging behind her eyes. “What did Papa say?” “He said that you’re needed. That he must go on teaching, that your sisters…” Lexi imagined Papa striding out of the house, all the Mennonite teachings under his arm, Maria and Renate scrambling in his wake, leaving her mother behind with little Hildy to try to look after her. “Oh, no! Poor Mama…she can’t die…she can’t…” Tears were welling in her eyes. She felt faint. Dr.Oliver took another sip of his coffee. She felt a nauseous grinding in her stomach as she looked at him. “But what about…this?” She flung her arm out to take in the kitchen. “We’ll manage. Georgie can help out until you get back.” “Georgie has a job and she’s not really…” She stopped herself. She shouldn’t be saying bad things about her friend, but Georgie wasn’t much of a housekeeper and…was she responsible enough? If she’d committed adultery, was she? Why had Georgie told her about Daisy? It complicated things so much. “Georgie needs the money. I’m sure she’ll make herself available.” “But I…” “I understand that this is a great shock for you, Aleksandra,” he said quietly. Watermelon Syrup 87 jacobsen_text 8/27/07 10:05 Page 87 Tears seeped into her eyes. She saw Mama lying pale and thin in the narrow, sagging bed that she and Papa had always shared, her heart barely beating. Her sisters waiting and worrying.The thought of riding the train back to Saskatchewan made her go cold. She...