Farmerettes (34 page)

It would feel good to sleep in her large bed again, in her own pretty room. But she'd grown used to getting up at five o'clock when the day felt fresh, open to possibilities. What would she do with her long days at home?

She sighed and gathered the packets of muffins into baskets to distribute to the girls as they left. Then she carried the pail of apple peels to the pigs. Dan's truck stood in the yard, so when she carried the muffin baskets to the recreation room, she was surprised to see Helene there, helping Peggy and Kate tidy last night's mess. As Helene neatly stacked games and cards into the cupboard, Isabel wondered what the next months would bring.

Peggy picked up the last of her records and eyed the muffins. “Can we have one now? I sure will miss your baking.”

Isabel slipped one to her, and to Helene and Kate. “I made extra.”

Farmerettes milled around the doors. Packed suitcases lined the entrance. Last-minute items had been located, good-byes said. Now they were anxious to return home and get on with their lives. Helene looked radiant. Even the girl with the yellow scarf looked happy. Everyone seemed eager to go but her.

Helene

Helene watched a bus clank up the lane. An old blue car followed close behind. “I guess that's it,” she said to Peggy.

Peggy's eyes were moist. “It's been one heck of a summer.”

Helene swallowed and waited to answer. She had gained so much this summer, but she was losing her best friend. “We'll still visit each other.”

As girls drifted out to the yard, Isabel waited at the door, handing each one a packet of muffins. Smokey stood beside her, saying good-bye. Many, including Helene, carried baskets of fruit to take home.

Another bus and a small brown car arrived. Several farmers and their families, Reverend Ralston and his wife, the choir ladies, Johnny, and some lovestruck farmboys were there to bid the farmerettes farewell. Dogs darted in and out of the crowd, tails wagging. Where in this chaos was Dan? His truck had stood here almost an hour.

“Good-bye. Thanks for a great summer and the pennywhistle lessons.” Kate embraced Peggy, then Helene. “I'll miss you. I hope you'll invite me to your wedding.”

Helene blushed. “We haven't planned that far ahead.” She turned even deeper red when she saw Dan approach from the direction of the farmhouse. Jean and her parents walked beside him. Jean grinned widely, the happiest she'd looked in days.

Dan faced Helene, his eyes shining green with emotion.

“What's wrong?” Helene asked.

“Everything's better than fine.” He paused, then blurted, “Jean found Nelly's fortune.”

“Oh.” Helene smiled at Jean, but wondered why this mattered to Dan.

“Helene, you can stop worrying,” he said.

She stood confused.

“Apparently Nelly didn't trust the bank.”

“No wonder she made such a fuss about a new dark tablecloth every year,” added Jean.

“Tablecloth?” None of this made sense to Helene.

Dan took a deep breath. “Nelly spread her money flat on the parlor table. Every January, she covered the bills with a new tablecloth and started over again.”

“There were twelve layers of money and cloth on that table,” said Jean. “Nelly's fortune. According to her will, it belongs to ‘Baby James, who should have been mine.' That's Dan.”

“But it was in your house,” said Dan.

“We've been through this. The will says it's yours. You're kind to share it with us,” said Mrs. McDonnell.

“Helene. Do you know what this means?” Dan took both her hands in his. “I can enroll in Hamilton Normal School. Qualify as a teacher. When this war ends and they finally build farm machinery again, we'll outfit Mrs. Fraser's farm properly. Helene, we can build a future together.”

Helene clutched Dan's hands, too overwhelmed to talk.

Peggy, Isabel, and the girls hovering around them made up for her silence. They bubbled over with congratulations, then went back to their farewells and promises to keep in touch.

“Ready!” the first bus driver called. Girls hurried to it, blowing kisses, waving.

Peggy shook Dan's hand, hugged Jean. “Thank you for an amazing summer.”

“Thanks for your hard work. I'll never pick another fruit without wanting to sing, ‘Hi ho, hi ho.'”

Isabel could only sob. “I'll never forget any of you.”

“You have good news too,” Helene said to her.

Isabel stood tall. She broke into a proud smile. “I'm going to school to study domestic arts! Doesn't that sound impressive? They closed the classes in Guelph, but this morning Smokey told me they'd moved to Toronto. I'll live with my sister Rosemary during the school term. I can't wait!”

The bus driver started his motor.

“Wait! Where's Binxie?” asked Peggy. Helene pointed to the picnic table where Binxie was talking to the girl with the yellow scarf. The three friends ran to join them.

“Guess what?” Binxie smiled as her friends drew near. “We might be neighbors. She's going to continue working here until November, then come to Toronto, find work in a gallery, maybe attend art school.”

“You're so talented. I expect you'll become famous,” Isabel said, and the girl blushed with delight.

They all wished her luck and hugged her good-bye.

The second bus driver honked his horn.

Binxie embraced her friends. Peggy and Isabel dashed for the bus. Helene ran back to Dan. It was hard to leave him.

“I'll come see you next weekend,” he promised as she pulled herself away and climbed aboard. She sat beside Peggy, and the bus rolled away.

Helene looked back even after the farm was a distant speck. “I'm coming back, Peggy. I'm coming back.”

Jean

Jean watched Binxie wave good-bye to her friends on the bus, then turn to Johnny. The two spoke briefly, earnestly. They embraced, not long enough for Jean to feel nervous. With a smile, Binxie headed her way.

The two girls stood quietly together. It felt comfortable, like the walks and rides they had shared this summer. Jean would miss Binxie most of all, even though she was relieved she was leaving.

“Take care of Tinxie for me,” Binxie said.

Jean nodded. “And you take care of yourself.”

“You'll find a way to see the world,” said Binxie. “When you do, send me postcards.”

“You will be all right, Binxie. Did you give more thought to becoming a nurse?”

“No. Not a nurse.”

Binxie grinned at her. “Me? Clean bedpans? Take orders? Never. I've decided to become a doctor. That'll be a real challenge. Thanks for everything.” With that, Binxie hugged Jean good-bye and hurried to the large black car waiting for her.

“She's quite a girl,” said Johnny, coming to stand beside Jean. Binxie rolled down her window and waved as the car sped away.

Jean nodded. “She is.”

“Much like you.” He touched her hand lightly. “Are you up for a horseback ride?”

“May as well enjoy today. The extra work begins tomorrow,” she said with a grin.

Along the laneway, car horns tooted good-bye and the buses chimed in. The crowd lining the barnyard waved. The parade of cars and buses rolled onward toward home and the future. With them traveled the memories of a summer spent in sunshine, friendship, fear, laughter, and discovery—memories that would grow both dimmer and more colorful over the years—of the girls who were farmerettes.

Acknowledgments

Many people helped me write this book. My heartfelt thank you goes to:

Sonja Dunn, who first told me about being a farmerette and started me on this fascinating journey. 

The spunky, fascinating, former farmerettes, who described their days on the farms: Budge Wilson, Estelle Salata, Flora Doran, Fran Beaugrand, Iris Berryman, Marion Fuller, Mary Robson, and Ruth Borthwick. And to Lou Puddicombe who married a farmerette and, along with his friend Reg Horrill, shared stories of those days in Winona. 

My farm experts, Deborah Kennish McCoubrey, who told me stories and checked the birth scene; Elwyn Tomlinson, John and Ariel Goud, Gene and Pam Bork, and to Cheryl Cooper, who mailed me the book,
Home Farm
by Michael Webster, which provided me with farm life insight and a plot point. 

Alice Vandermeer, who showed me around the actual barn where the Larkin farmerettes of Queenston lived and shared her photos, stories, and enthusiasm with me. Also, Annie Gordon, John Scott, Leah Sheldrick, Lian Goodall, and Jean Covert for their stories.

 Bill Tourtel at the Hamilton Warplane Museum, who explained WWII airplanes to me and checked over my crash scene. Diana Barnato Walker from whose book,
Spreading My Wings
, I took much of the information about flying for the ATA. 

Leslie Harris—Hamilton Public Library; Lara Andrews—Canadian War Museum, Ottawa; Donna Corewyn—Executive Assistant, Hamilton YWCA; Dorothy Turcotte—Grimsby Historical Society; Sandy Lindsay—Saugeen Times; Louise Caron—Library and Archives Canada (Ottawa).

Sarah Ellis, who encouraged me at the beginning, and Peter Carver who generously read my finished manuscript and urged me to submit it.

Karen Ford, Valerie Parke and Dawna Petsche-Wark, librarians and readers extraordinaire, who read, critiqued, and loved my story.

My writers' group, especially Sylvia McNicoll and Deborah Serravale, whose thoughtful critiques, support, and friendship are dearly appreciated.

My wonderful editors, Kelly Jones and Kathryn Cole, and to Margie Wolfe and the staff of Second Story Press, for their faith and dedication to this book.  

And as always, to my family for their continued love and support: my mum, Anneliese Wessberge Tobien, who lived through it all; my children, Becky, Jainna, and Charlie; and especially my husband, Frank.  

 I also wish to thank the Ontario Arts Council for its support in writing this book.

About the Author

Gisela Sherman grew up surrounded by countryside, books, and her mother's reminiscences, which fed her love of history, the land, and story. Two of her books won the Hamilton and Region Arts Council Best Children's Book of the Year Award, and one was shortlisted as a Manitoba Young Readers' Choice. Gisela taught writing courses at Mohawk College and McMaster University, and enjoys giving book talks and writing workshops. She's a current member and past-president of CANSCAIP (Canadian Society of Children's Authors, Illustrators and Performers) and ACTRA. Her fascination with story and character has also led her to acting in small roles and background in television and movies. She lives in Dundas, Ontario.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Sherman, Gisela Tobien, 1947-, author

The Farmerettes / Gisela Sherman.

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-1-927583-64-7 (pbk.)­—ISBN 978-1-927583-69-2 (epub)

1. Ontario Farm Service Force—Juvenile fiction. I. Title.

PS8587.H3857F37 2015 jC813'.54 C2014-908146-4

C2014-908346-7

Copyright © 2015 Gisela Tobien Sherman

Edited by Kelly Jones and Kathryn Cole

Designed by Melissa Kaita

Cover photographs © iStockphoto

Printed and bound in Canada

Second Story Press gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ontario Arts Council

and the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. We acknowledge

the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund.

Published by

Second Story Press

20 Maud Street, Suite 401

Toronto, ON M5V 2M5

www.secondstorypress.ca

Dedication

Dedicated to my children,

Becky, Jainna, and Charlie, and their future children.

May they never have to endure such a war.