“All right.” Norma disappeared, and immediately Jean walked to the mirror above one of the dressers and unpinned her hair.
“What are you doing?” Laurel asked. “We're in the wilderness. I don't think anyone cares about your hair.”
“That's no excuse to be uncivilized.” Jean brushed out her shoulder-length, auburn hair, then pinned it up again.
Laurel watched. Her mother was still beautiful. Her hair shimmered, her face was nearly free of lines, and the hazel eyes that looked so much like her own still radiated with spirit. “Mama, why don't you leave it down? It's so pretty.”
Jean looked at her daughter. “Why, thank you. I know that's the style nowadays, but I don't know that it's proper for a woman my age.”
“You're not that old.”
“I'll think about it. Why don't you clean up while I get Susie ready.”
“Is that your way of telling me I'm a mess and I'd embarrass you?” Laurel teased.
“Well … you have been working hard. And we're about to meet some of our neighbors for the first time. First impressions matter.”
“All right.” Laurel handed the baby to her mother and crossed to the washbasin where she rinsed her face and combed out her long hair. Tucking in her blouse, she turned to her mother. “Is that better?”
“You look fine.” Jean brushed out a wrinkle in Laurel's skirt.
When Laurel and Jean arrived at Norma's, a sheep dog tied along the side of the tent barked and lunged on its rope. Jean eyed him cautiously.
“Don't mind him,” Norma said, opening the door. “He's harmless as a fly. Poor thing had to stay in the hold the entire trip. I think it'll probably take him a month to work out all his stored energy.”
A dozen women had crowded into Norma Prosser's tent. Laurel had seen most of them during the trip, but the only ones she actually knew were Miram Dexter and her mother. As usual, Mrs. Dexter's expression was haughty and unfriendly. Laurel wondered why she bothered coming.
A woman who looked to be about Laurel's age sat straight across from Laurel. She was wearing slacks, and Laurel knew her attire would raise a stir. No one would say anything to her face, but later there would be gossip.
After serving tea and cookies, Norma stepped into the center of the room. “I'm so happy you've all come,” she said warmly. “I know you're probably tired, what with getting your houses set up and after such a long trip, but I thought it would be good for us to get acquainted. How about if we introduce ourselves first. We can go around the room clockwise. I'll start. I'm Norma Prosser, and I'm real thankful to be here. I grew up on a farm in Minnesota, but in recent years Drew and I have been running a small general store. We're real happy to get back to farming.”
The next woman nodded shyly. “I'm Jane McDougal. My husband and I have three children. We're from Michigan.”
They moved around the room until each woman had introduced herself and told a little about her background. As they shared, the tension eased. The discomfort of meeting new people quickly faded, and the women began the process of building friendships.
All seemed well until Miram asked the woman wearing pants, “Delores, can you tell me where you got your slacks? I'd love to have a pair.”
Before Delores could answer, Mrs. Dexter said, “You'll do no such thing. A proper young woman does not wear pants.”
Laurel could barely suppress a gasp. She couldn't believe Mrs. Dexter could be so rude.
Norma stepped in. “I know it's been the accepted thing for women to wear dresses, but I think we can make allowances, bein' as we're living in the wilderness.”
“Well, wilderness or not, my daughter will live up to a higher standard,” Mrs. Dexter said.
Delores shifted uneasily in her chair. “I don't usually wear slacks.” She combed back short, black curls with her fingers. “But with the mosquitoes and all the rain and dirty work, it just seemed to make sense.” She looked at Miram and smiled. “And to answer your question, these belong to my husband. He doesn't mind at all that I borrowed them.”
Laurel admired Delores. She'd certainly handled Mrs. Dexter well and seemed mostly unruffled at the disapproval. Wearing pants did make sense, and Laurel decided that as soon as she could get her hands on a pair, she'd adopt the more reasonable dress.
Mrs. Dexter held her cup in one hand and crossed one stubby leg over the other. “I'll be glad when we get moved into our houses. But I must say I was appalled at the lack of … facilities. We might be living in the wilderness, but I don't see any reason to be primitive.”
Norma set her cup on the table. “Living here is going to take some getting used to, but I like it. And we need to be thankful for what we have. Where would we be without the help from our government? They've given us so much.”
“Given?” Mrs. Dexter asked, her voice sharp. “They haven't given us anything. We have to pay for every last thing we get.”
“Well, and we should,” Jean said. “But we didn't have to pay for our passage or our stay in Seattle. And the houses are real reasonable, and since we don't have to start making payments for five years, we have plenty of time to get on our feet. I think the government has been very generous.” She set her cup in its saucer. “And considering our circumstances, who else would have loaned us anything? The banks back home were foreclosing on folks. I'm grateful to the people who set up this colony.”
“Just because we're poor doesn't mean we owe our government.” Mrs. Dexter sniffed and took a sip of her tea.
“I don't care so much about the outhouses,” Delores said, “but I'm afraid of meeting up with a bear or a wolf on my way to the toilet.” She leaned forward, rested her elbows on her thighs, and said almost in a whisper, “Last night, in the middle of the night, I had to go so bad, but I was afraid to go outside alone.”
The room broke out in laughter, relieving tension.
“And what about the winters here?” another woman asked. “We don't have electricity or lights. I was told it's dark most of the time, and it's cold. The snow piles up all the way to the roof.”
“I grew up in Minnesota,” Norma said. “We didn't have electricity, and we got along just fine. And it's plenty cold in Minnesota. Last year our vegetables froze in the ground in August.” She sipped her tea. “I don't expect it can get much worse than that.”
The women's griping reminded Laurel of how sour she'd been since arriving. She didn't like their grumbling and knew her own had made her look ugly. She vowed to change. She had a lot to be grateful for.
Norma refilled the women's cups with tea. “I must say I'm looking forward to my first summer and winter here. I expect there'll be adventures, joys, and sorrows. Those things come with any home.” She smiled. “What's important is that we learn to lean on God and to share each other's burdens. Sharing will make the going easier.”
As if she hadn't heard Norma, Mrs. Dexter said, “I ran into that Mr. Townsend yesterday at the store. He was downright rude. I was talking to that Celeste girl, and he cut in and said she wasn't to talk to me. What right does he have telling people who they can talk to?”
“Celeste is Mr. Townsend's daughter,” Laurel said softly.
Mrs. Dexter sniffed. “Oh. Well, I told him he wasn't going to run this town and you know what he did? He sneered at me and said he'd do whatever he wanted.”
Norma set the kettle on the stove. “We can't be worrying about Mr. Townsend. We need to be thinking about our new lives here in Alaska. We need to be thanking God for his many blessings.”
