Flower of hope

Grincha tied her hair into a bun, flinging on her cap as she went. Earlier that morning, she had awoken to Liam moving around the small bedroom that they shared with her nine younger children. He had an early morning in the fields and was in a hurry to get out of the house. Liam was her oldest boy, of sixteen years. Grincha’s husband had died in a water wheel accident. That was six years ago. Liam had bumped into three-year-old Alica when he was leaving, waking her, and sending her into fits of tears, which, of course, had woken everyone else. Liam apologized, but had do leave directly after the traumatic event(in Alica’s line of view), and left Grincha with the task of feeding them. It wasn’t his fault. After all, he was the only one bringing real money in for this family. Raking rich neighbor Olga’s yard and being paid three guilders a day wasn’t near enough to keep them alive. Even Liam’s seventy a month was barely enough to buy food and a clean water source. They were still in debt for that well in the backyard.

“Lisa!” Grincha called to her one of her oldest daughters. Lisa was almost eighteen, but she insisted upon staying around the house to help. She appeared at the doorway with two empty pails in her hand.

“Yes, mamma?”

“We need to go fetch the water,” Grincha answered. “Oh, good girl! You have the pails already.”

They started out the door. Grincha filled a pail and handed it to Lisa, who walked briskly back to the house, struggling against the weight.

“Don’t spill!” She called after her. She then filled her own pail and walked back. Shee and Violet helped her at the door. They landed the water near the kitchen, and nine year old Oliver made fun by sliding around with a rag in the puddles they had made. Seven year old Cavn and her tag-along Pia(five) started sweeping the house like they did every day. Violet and Lisa started on breakfast, and Oliver washed the dishes as they went. Alica(everyone’s favorite) helped taste test. Poffertjes and mint tea, then out the door to Olga’s yard.

“Lisa, take Violet and Shee to go help Mrs. Olga in the house.” The girls made a face. “Come now. And take these.” Grincha handed them each a small basket with more poffortjes and bottles of milk and honey. “You’ll most likely be there past noon.” The girls started off in the direction of Mrs. Olga’s house.

“Willy, take Sia, Ona, and Cavn and go play. Careful not to fall into the pond. It isn’t frozen yet, but it’s still cold enough to paralyze you. The youngest ones will stay with me.”

“Look for flowers.” She told them, waving her arm in the direction of the field. Olga’s stark, dirty yard lay before them, without a flower in sight. Alica was happy to sit in the dirt and make stick-and-leaf puppets, but Pia set out on the adventure her mother had laid out for her. All this by eight in the morning.

Nine hours later…….

“Alica, pick up that beetroot. We can add it to our wheat and bean soup tonight.” Alica took a moment to obey her mother, setting down each puppet carefully in the dirt below. Grincha slipped the beetroot into a basket with other herbs she had collected from the muddy ground. She shielded her eyes from the sinking sun to watch Pia stumble around in the field beyond. She could barely make out her flaming red hair and Summer cap. Red hair was so beautiful. Grincha touched her own ugly coffee colored strands self-consciously. Her husband, Markus, had red hair. Grincha’s eyes watered. Pia wandered closer, close enough for her mother to see her faded blue dress. It was missing most of the buttons in the back, and there was a long reddish-brown streak down the back. It had come from when she had been washing Markus’ old oven he had brought home in high hopes that they could fix it. Olga’s eight-year-old daughter had teased Pia about being poor. Pia had gotten angry and rushed at her after a particularly nasty insult about her mother. Olga’s daughter was far bigger and stronger and pushed Pia into the rusty water. Olga’s daughter was far gone by the time the scene was discovered, and there wasn’t much Grincha or Markus could do about it. Olga’s daughter had died of scarlet fever last year, it wasn’t like she was worried about it happening again. Grincha glared enviously at the prim and proper house on the hill, its freshly white-washed walls glowing in the disappearing sun. Grincha loaded another bundle of leaves into a burlap sack and tied it.

“Mamma!” A voice called from across the field. Grincha turned to see Pia running across to her, something carefully cradled in her hands.

“What is it, darling?” Grincha turned from her rake.

“I did find a flower.” She lifted her shining face to her mother’s. “A hope flower! Remember the sonnet? Flower of hope, Will unrope!”

“Of course I remember it.” She reached down to take the flower from the little girl's hand but then thought better of it. “Keep it, Pia. It may help you remember the sonnet.” Pia took the flower in her hands. She looked at it for a moment, then tossed it into the river.

“Why on earth did you do that?” Her mother looked at her in shock. The girl had spent six hours looking for that flower, not including lunch.

“We can’t keep it for ourselves, Mama. It’s hope. Maybe some other little girl will find it. Someone who needs it more than me.”

Two hours later…..

“Here you are.” Mrs. Olga dropped the three guilders into Grincha’s grimy hands with a look of disgust. Grincha bit back a snappy remark, thanked her, and started off home. The girls had come in late, tired and dirty. They had told their mother about the endless scrubbing and cleaning and cooking that had covered their day. Grincha collected Willy and the others and had arrived at the house in time to be paid.

“Wacht!” A voice shouted from across the field. Grincha turned around, it was a voice she didn’t recognize. Her heart stopped. Two of Mrs. Olga’s men were carrying a boy between them.

“Liam!” Grincha took off and her children followed. She caught up to the worried men in no time. Lisa was not far behind, with the others in tow.

“The cropping engine ran over it.” The man said awkwardly. He showed Grincha Liam’s squashed leg. Grincha shoved both men away, letting her son’s body drop to the ground. The men looked put off by this.

“Ma’am,” The taller one said. She ignored him. “Alstublieft, please.” She whispered under her breath. “Ma’am.” He said again. When she still ignored him, he said,”It’s not like it was our fault.” Grincha rounded on him, her face glowing with anger.

“How dare you!” The man shrunk a little at this, but then regained his composure. “Of course it’s your fault! You were the one driving the cropper! You should have watched where you where going. You shall pay for this if it’s the last thing I do!”

“Well,” The man messed with his hat. “How much would you say is paying for it?”

“At least a hundred gliders.” She didn’t even look up. “At least.”

The man’s face turned ruddy.

“A hundred!” He spluttered. “Never! Maybe three.”

“That will not pay for the doctor bills.”

“No.” The man scratched his face. “He was in the way.” Grincha slapped him. She couldn’t help herself. How dare he! In the way!

“That is quite enough!” Mrs. Olga shouted. She had finally caught up to them, her two hundred pounds weighing her down. “My men will not be paying you anything! They did nothing wrong. Surely your son has brought in enough money to pay for his leg.” You know he hasn’t, you witch. Grincha thought, but she couldn’t say anything to Olga’s face, otherwise they would starve for sure. “Now,” Olga continued. “Go home. Your son is going to need rest.”

“Do we get his wages?” Grincha asked, the fear inside her like rocks. Olga’s lips pursed, but she sighed and said, “Fine. He did do a good days work.” Relief washed over Grincha like a tsunami. Until Olga dropped twenty gilders into her hand.

“Twenty! He is paid a full seventy a week!”

“Ah,” Olga answered, “But he has not worked a full week, and I highly doubt that he will be able to work again tomorrow!” With that, she motioned her men to come with her, and marched back to the house.

One hour later……

Grincha gave the pot of soup another stir. The soup just leaked out of the broken ladle and back into its pot. Wheat and bean wasn’t her favorite. Not like it was anyone's. She was sitting out on a little wooden stool that Liam had made with Willy on a hot afternoon in the summer. Lisa was in with Liam at the moment. He had woken after his leg was set and was in a lot of pain. Lisa and Shee had stewed apples, chocolate, and basil leaves in watery chicken stock to make a posset for his dry throat. The sky mottled with the smoke from her fire, feeble may it be. She let the soup boil for a few more minutes, then removed the pot from the dying charcoals, and poured it in the five wooden bowls that lay on the dark ground. They would have to share them. Bowls were expensive, and the ones that they had were made by Liam. It wasn’t like he would be making anymore anytime soon.

“Pia!” Grincha called into the house. The six-year-old came running.

“Mamma, mamma, you won’t believe what I found in Shee and Violet's lunch baskets!” She was waving a small red tin above her head, her entire face shining with glee. She arrived breathless in front of her mother, grinning from ear to ear. Grincha took the two shiny tins from Pia’s hands and looked at them eagerly.

“Why,” Grincha gasped, “I do believe Mrs. Olga might have felt bad after all!” Inside each tin was five pieces of dried herring, fragrant and clean. They were small strips, yet they were there just the same. Shiny and golden, they seemed to be the best thing Grincha had ever seen or smelled. Two tins! That was ten pieces of golden splendor! Grincha hugged Pia tightly, kissing her on the head.

“Dankee, Pia.” She whispered, afraid if she talked too loud, the herring would vanish. “Dankee, Mrs. Olga. Now, go call your siblings to help me bring in the bowls.” When Pia ran off to obey, Grincha turned to dump the contents of the tins into the pot, but then stopped herself. We might need it later, Grincha thought. She emptied only one of the shiny tins into the warm soup and stashed the other in her apron. Shee, Violet, Pia, Oliver, and Willy arrived just as she was tucking the red and silver tin into her pocket. She hurriedly ripped the rest of the herring into ten pieces and dropped two in each bowl. No one ever needed to know. The children each scooped up a bowl and happily trundled back into the house. Grincha halted for a moment to pick up the soup pot and followed them. Dinner was a somber affair, despite the herring, and silence filled the table. Lisa was keeping an eye on Liam as he ate, so her usual chatter was not there to fill the air, nor Liam’s loud slurping, and the only sound to be heard was the occasionally knock of wooden spoons on wooden bowls. When Pia squealed with joy as she found a piece of herring in her soup, and to fill the silence, they all laughed louder than normal. After dinner, the children were tucked into bed, and Lisa and Grincha sat near Liam’s bed.

“Mamma,” Lisa started.

“Yes?”

“I have some very good news.”

“Yes?”

“I have a job.”

Grincha’s heart jumped. “Really?”

Lisa nodded. “It doesn’t pay much, and its a long walk away, but a job is a job, and my employer is very kind.”

“Who is it?”
She may have blushed slightly. “His name is Bail, and he lives on a farm up in the hill. His sister is always sick and he needs someone to weave clothes for them. It will only be forty guilders a month, but I will work hard and I may get a raise! Isn’t wonderful?”
“Lisa, you are certainly something special.” Grincha said, and hugged her. “I have enough savings to get us through the month and maybe pay for a doctor for Liam.”

“Good. Then the forty guilders a month should get us through for a while, maybe I can sell somethings as well.”

Grincha nodded and hugged her daughter again. “Good night, Lisa.”

“Goodnight, mother.”


After work the next day, Violet and Shee spent the last hour before bed up in the room, not letting anyone in, and even skipped dinner. Lisa was gone every day, and by the end of the week, her employer was giving her sixty guilders instead. Violet and Shee worked twice as hard for Mrs. Ogla in Lisa’s absence. There was herring in the basket twice a week, and Grincha was finding it bearable to look at her again. After almost a week of hurrying up the bedroom after dinner, Shee and Violet presented hundreds of tiny cloth hankerchiefs, hair ties, and knotted bracelets to sell at the surrounding houses. Liam’s leg was on the mend, but it would be weeks before he could walk, months before he could work again. Even so, with the older twins crafts, Lisa’s rapidly growing salary, and Grincha’s seven guilders a day, they were richer than ever before. Grincha paid for a decent doctor for Liam, was able to pay a quarter of the well debt back, and even managed to have something other than wheat and bean soup twice a week. She could only imagine what life would be when Liam started working again. Oliver and Cavn, who was now eight, had taken over Mrs. Ogla’s housework for the twins, giving time for them to be selling their knickknacks. Their life’s were happy and full of work, they were eating well, laughing plenty, and getting healthier by the day. Then it was turned upside down yet again, one rainy evening, when Lisa waltzed into the house several hours late.

“Mamma?”
“Yes? Where have you been?”
“Oh, Mamma! Bail! He proposed to me! It means he wants to marry me, Mamma! Isn’t wonderful?!”

Grincha dropped the wooden bowls she was holding, not caring even as they clattered towards the floor.

“Oh, Mamma! Good bowls!” She stooped down to pick them up, but Grincha caught her face and brought it to hers.

“Lisa? Oh no. Oh no. What shall we do? We can’t pay for a wedding, and you must have the best, Lisa! Are you lying? Tell me it isn’t true!”

Lisa’s face fell. “But, Mamma, he loves me. I want to get married. He wants us to move into his house, its quite large. They are very rich, he will pay for the wedding. Oh to think! We can sell our house and pay back for the well! Can you believe it?!”
Grincha wasn’t so sure. Her daughter would get married, but she would still be living with them. It seemed the best of both worlds, if only they could accept. “Oh, Lisa, we can’t just move into his house. I can’t accept an offer like that!”

“But he wants to hire you, do you understand?! You wouldn’t be given it for free, he knew you would be too proud to do that. He wants you to work as a doctor for his sister. I told him how father was a doctor and you know plenty of tricks for all sorts of diseases. Mother, please?”

Grincha knew Lisa had to get married. And working as a nurse for Bail’s sister sounded wonderful. They could all be a happy family, and life would be as happy as it could. Liam wouldn’t have to go back to work as soon as his leg healed. She knew she had few options.

“Lisa-“ She started, then cut herself off. “Tell him yes.”

A month later…

The night after the wedding was full of food and laughter. It had taken longer than expected, truly, but Shiloh, Bail’s sister, was even feeling well enough to sit at the table with them. Grincha had done her job well. The children ran out into the garden while the adults talked and ate. When the meal was finished, Lisa cleaned the table went to bed. Grincha helped Shiloh back into her room and made sure she was cared for, then called the children back inside for bed. As she tucked them in, Pia held something out to her.

“Look, Mamma.” She said. “Look what I found. Remember the sonnet? Flower of hope, will unrope, you’ll get set free, how happy we should be.” In her hand was a tiny purple flower. 
“Thank you.” She said, tucking the small child back into her blankets. “Happy indeed, Pia. Happy indeed.”

To anyone who reads this, I hope you have a great day plz subscribe and I will try to subscribe to you. I am still very young and trying to make my mark as a writer and it makes me happy to see that people are reading and enjoying my stories