little. Max Abbott always sent a
boy down with her groceries. She knitted a great deal. And she was
wonderful during the influenza epidemic.”
“Oh, I remember that,” Kermit said. “Godfrey, wasn’t that a
time—half the town down with it; they turned the school here into an
infirmary, and all that were able helped with those that weren’t. No
sooner one would get better than three more would go down with it,
and we buried quite a few. When was that, Nella B.? Nineteen nine-
teen?”
“Nineteen nineteen. My daughter got it. She came through,
though. Sallie Haskell was just as patient and kind, though she was
awful frail herself by then. She was the only one nursing who didn’t
get it, and folks said she was the only one who really wanted to.”
“She wanted to,” I said.
“I think so, yes. Her life pretty much ended the day her father
died.”
“Though she went on breathing,” said Kermit.
Nella B. began filing bills and catalogs into the mailboxes again.
I sensed that I’d gotten to the limit of what she thought seemly to say
on the subject.
I went out into the sunshine. Lovely as the day was, the shock
and fear from the night before stayed with me like some foul-smelling
vapor. I felt jumpy and anxious and wanted to go home to Boston. I
missed my friends; I badly wanted to talk to someone who liked me.
I guess it’s in moments like that when you see if there’s a meaning
to things, because that was right when along into my life came Conary
Crocker.
5 0
1858
Itwastwoyearsaftertheappleafternoon,anddeepwinter,when
Danial asked Claris to marry him. The courtship had been sporadic be-
cause he lived on the island fishing and farming with his mother and
brother and could not often come into town. Claris was twenty, and not
only did her sister Mary have two children but her younger sister Alice
had been married in the spring to one of the Crocker boys.
Danial had come to the main to take Claris to church at Christ-
mastime, and she thought he might speak then, but he hadn’t. He was
often tongue-tied, but she believed she could read his silences better than
a babble of talk from most people. She thought next that he would
probably come across the ice for the horse races.
As soon as the bay was frozen solid, the village boys swept a course
clean of snow and built great bonfires on the ice to mark the starting and
finish lines. Men of the town and the farms gave their horses the day off,
5 1
B E T H
G U T C H E O N
carriage and work horses both, and brought the likeliest of them down
to try their speed. The whole town turned out to bet and cheer as the
horses raced from one line on the ice to the other. Their hooves made a
terrific booming sound, and they breathed steam like dragons as they
galloped. This year Otis was wild with excitement; Leander had brought
his mare, and Otis was going to ride with him in the pung. Their father
and uncle Asa stood with the men at the fire, smoking and joking. Claris’s
mother and aunt kept track of the little ones who were shouting and
falling down, holding skidding matches on the ice. The half-grown cousins
were building snow forts. Meanwhile, far across the ice, Claris could see
a sleigh coming down the bay toward the bonfires from the southern end
of Beal.
When Danial drew his sleigh in among the watchers, Claris saw
that he had his mother with him. Old Mrs. Haskell was bundled up
under bearskin robes and wearing a man’s fur hat. She peered out from
beneath the brim with bright black eyes but did not attempt to leave the
sleigh. Claris had met Mrs. Haskell only once and hoped this was a good
sign, that she’d come into town, perhaps to be made acquainted with
Claris’s family. She waited for Danial to come find her and fetch her
near. She began to feel almost impatient, as the Haskells, mother and son,
hung back, apart from the gathering. Danial stood by the horse’s head,
and Mrs. Haskell stared before
boy down with her groceries. She knitted a great deal. And she was
wonderful during the influenza epidemic.”
“Oh, I remember that,” Kermit said. “Godfrey, wasn’t that a
time—half the town down with it; they turned the school here into an
infirmary, and all that were able helped with those that weren’t. No
sooner one would get better than three more would go down with it,
and we buried quite a few. When was that, Nella B.? Nineteen nine-
teen?”
“Nineteen nineteen. My daughter got it. She came through,
though. Sallie Haskell was just as patient and kind, though she was
awful frail herself by then. She was the only one nursing who didn’t
get it, and folks said she was the only one who really wanted to.”
“She wanted to,” I said.
“I think so, yes. Her life pretty much ended the day her father
died.”
“Though she went on breathing,” said Kermit.
Nella B. began filing bills and catalogs into the mailboxes again.
I sensed that I’d gotten to the limit of what she thought seemly to say
on the subject.
I went out into the sunshine. Lovely as the day was, the shock
and fear from the night before stayed with me like some foul-smelling
vapor. I felt jumpy and anxious and wanted to go home to Boston. I
missed my friends; I badly wanted to talk to someone who liked me.
I guess it’s in moments like that when you see if there’s a meaning
to things, because that was right when along into my life came Conary
Crocker.
5 0
1858
Itwastwoyearsaftertheappleafternoon,anddeepwinter,when
Danial asked Claris to marry him. The courtship had been sporadic be-
cause he lived on the island fishing and farming with his mother and
brother and could not often come into town. Claris was twenty, and not
only did her sister Mary have two children but her younger sister Alice
had been married in the spring to one of the Crocker boys.
Danial had come to the main to take Claris to church at Christ-
mastime, and she thought he might speak then, but he hadn’t. He was
often tongue-tied, but she believed she could read his silences better than
a babble of talk from most people. She thought next that he would
probably come across the ice for the horse races.
As soon as the bay was frozen solid, the village boys swept a course
clean of snow and built great bonfires on the ice to mark the starting and
finish lines. Men of the town and the farms gave their horses the day off,
5 1
B E T H
G U T C H E O N
carriage and work horses both, and brought the likeliest of them down
to try their speed. The whole town turned out to bet and cheer as the
horses raced from one line on the ice to the other. Their hooves made a
terrific booming sound, and they breathed steam like dragons as they
galloped. This year Otis was wild with excitement; Leander had brought
his mare, and Otis was going to ride with him in the pung. Their father
and uncle Asa stood with the men at the fire, smoking and joking. Claris’s
mother and aunt kept track of the little ones who were shouting and
falling down, holding skidding matches on the ice. The half-grown cousins
were building snow forts. Meanwhile, far across the ice, Claris could see
a sleigh coming down the bay toward the bonfires from the southern end
of Beal.
When Danial drew his sleigh in among the watchers, Claris saw
that he had his mother with him. Old Mrs. Haskell was bundled up
under bearskin robes and wearing a man’s fur hat. She peered out from
beneath the brim with bright black eyes but did not attempt to leave the
sleigh. Claris had met Mrs. Haskell only once and hoped this was a good
sign, that she’d come into town, perhaps to be made acquainted with
Claris’s family. She waited for Danial to come find her and fetch her
near. She began to feel almost impatient, as the Haskells, mother and son,
hung back, apart from the gathering. Danial stood by the horse’s head,
and Mrs. Haskell stared before
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