Faithful Unto Death

Arcadian Interlude

“I had thought that after we had a bite of lunch and you had a chance to settle in for a slight rest, you might like for some of the ladies from our Christian Endeavor Society to come in for tea.” Charlotte’s color brightened slightly at this prospect. Arm in arm, the sisters walked slowly away from the station. The children followed, and Henry stayed to help the porter with Charlotte’s trunk. benzonia, august 1884 the coffin stood open at the front of the church, Elvira at its head, tremulously greeting each person in the long line of mourners. Young Mrs. Barnes pressed Elvira’s hand tremulously, her eyes brimming with heartfelt tears.“Elvira, my dear, be comforted. Your David is in the arms of our Savior, and I know he is smiling down upon us this very moment .” Elvira, supported by Anna and Henry on her right and Brainard on her left, moved her lips soundlessly and patted Mrs. Barnes’s hand in return . “Thank you for being here,” whispered Anna. Charlotte sat on a chair near Brainard’s elbow, handkerchief to her face. Periodically she fanned herself with the handkerchief; it was cruelly hot that August day, and Charlotte’s pallor matched Elvira’s. Several women hovered around Charlotte’s chair. Lottie edged up to Henry’s side. He smiled down at her and pulled her against his side. His red eyes matched hers. David’s stiffness had, over the years, unbent most with this young granddaughter. “I’ll miss him too,” he whispered to Lottie. The organist began the ‹rst chords of “There Is a Green Hill Far Away,” and the mourners drifted to their pews, Elvira helped to her place by Brainard and Henry. Arcadian Interlude arcadia, december 1884 ten miles south of Frankfort, at about the second knuckle of the little ‹nger in the Michigan “mitten,” is a lake once called Bar Lake because of a sandbar that separated it from Lake Michigan, later renamed to Arcadia Lake. The village of Arcadia, founded in 1870, sits on the 72 shore of this small lake. A lumber mill is its central feature, but the community supports itself by farming as well. It boasts two churches, and in one of these, on a cold December morning, a wedding was in progress. Jesse and Virginia Bunker, parents of the groom, were not important in the Arcadia hierarchy, but days were long in December in Northern Michigan, and the church was nearly ‹lled. “And do you, Forrest Bunker, take this woman Minnie May, to have and to hold . . .” Orah, conscious of all eyes upon her, stood up straighter and held her basket of dried ›ower petals closer to her. Few nine-year-old girls got to be ›ower girls at a wedding, but her brother’s intended was a reader of novels and, as Virginia Bunker snorted, “had her fancies.” Orah knew very well that had it been her other brother Torrence who stood now at the altar, Orah would be in pews between her parents and sternly enjoined to “keep her trap shut.” “. . . I now pronounce you man and wife.” The harmonium did its best to burst into peals of exultation, and the wedding participants turned to walk up the aisle, Orah thinking that when she married, there’d be a pipe organ or she’d know the reason why. Elvira Rejoins David benzonia, august 1885 a robin stood on the peak of the Thacker home, tweedling chirpily to the westering sun. Sad, how cheerful the rest of the world seemed, when in this darkened room Elvira struggled for each breath. Anna knew it was sinful of her to wish that the struggle might simply, well, stop. She told herself that Jesus would understand how this feeling of sad pity just wore a body out after a while. Elvira’s features had a way of tightening between each exhalation and the beginning of the inhalation , as though a small animal were biting her, deep inside her lungs, and her gaunt frame dreaded to provoke it again. Henry tiptoed into the bedroom where Anna nodded drowsily in her chair.“Go and lie down, Anna. I’ll sit with her for a bit.” Elvira slept on, only occasionally stirring faintly when the animal bit too deeply. Anna rose sleepily. “I thought she might be growing stronger again, but now I think not. I wonder if we should send for the Reverend yet?” 73 ...