Page 35 of Hope’s Enduring Echo

Leo

Leo finished the lunch cleanup and headed to his room, grateful to still have a job. The kitchen manager had stood with his arms crossed and a scowl marring his face while he listened to Leo’s explanation about being trapped on the mountain. But by the time Leo finished, his supervisor’s stance had softened. He’d clapped Leo on the shoulder and said, “Son, you’ve always been reliable and worked hard for me. I can’t see any reason to let you go over one situation that was out of your control. Just plan on some extra duties at lunchtime to make up for the lost time.” Leo had gotten right to work and didn’t even break to eat lunch.

Now, with the supper staff arriving, he changed out of his work uniform and donned his best suit, fresh from the cleaners, to greet his family at the train station. He’d already put the gifts he’d collected—new handkerchiefs for Father, a tiny bottle of rose-scented perfume for Mother, several postcards for Myrtle, and the biggest tin of Washburn’s hard candies available at the drugstore for Daisy—on the bureau in the room he’d reserved for them on the second floor. He hoped they’d be happy with his choices. He hoped they’d be happy to see him. He was surprisingly eager to see all of them.

He gave his reflection a quick perusal in the little mirror above his washstand, then dashed out of the hotel and set off on the walk to the train station. On the way, he heard a train’s whistle. Was it the Denver and Rio Grande engine pulling the car with his family in it? He had to be on the boardwalk when it arrived. He broke into a run and skidded to a halt in front of the station just as the locomotive wheezed to a shuddering stop. He scanned the windows, seeking the faces of the people he loved, but they must have already left their seats.

He shifted his attention to the passenger cars’ landings, bouncing his gaze up and down the line of cars in the hopes of spotting his family. His heart thudded with such force he feared it might leave his chest. Why was he so nervous? He couldn’t settle on a reason. He only knew he was bound up in both excitement and anxiety. When he saw Father’s face, he’d know which feeling to latch on to.

He leaned one way and then the other, peering around disembarking passengers and those waiting for arrivals, and finally, when he was sure he couldn’t last another second, he saw Mother’s travel hat—green felt with a pheasant wing sewn on the side. He leaped in the air, waving his arms over his head the way Jennie waved at the train passing by the pipeline. Mother looked in his direction, and a smile burst over her face. She reached back for someone, and Myrtle and Daisy popped into view. Right behind them came Father—Father, in his best Sunday suit, black ribbon tie, and black derby. Mother pointed Leo’s way, and Father’s dark-blue gaze connected with Leo’s. Father tipped his hat. While not an exuberant greeting, it was a friendly acknowledgment. The outer layer of Leo’s apprehension melted away.

Leo wove between people, muttering, “Excuse me,” as he went. Daisy came running and met him midway. She jumped into his arms, forcing the breath from his lungs, but he didn’t mind. He swung her in a circle, laughing. He gave Myrtle the same treatment, earning a wild squeal. Then he reached for Mother.

She playfully slapped at his hands. “Don’t you spin me, young man. A hug will suffice.”

He grabbed her close, breathing in the scent of lilac toilet water and old feathers—a combination that would never sell if bottled but was one of his favorite fragrances in the world. “I’ve missed you, Mother,” he said with his cheek pressed against the pheasant wing.

She sighed in his arms. “And I, you, my boy.”

Father stepped forward and extended his hand. Leo gave it a firm shake, his smile intact but quavering. “Father…it’s so good to see you.”

Before Father answered, someone grabbed Leo’s coattail and gave a mighty tug. Leo wriggled loose and looked down.

Daisy placed her fists on her hips and tipped her head at a saucy angle. “Excuse me, but I have a question.”

Leo imitated her stance. “You do? Well, what is it?”

“Did you get me a birthday present?”

Leo tweaked her nose. “Maybe I did, and maybe I didn’t, but you won’t know until tomorrow, because tomorrow is your birthday.”

She smirked at him. “You did. I can tell.” She grabbed his hand and swung it. “Can we go now? Father said I could have ice cream at the drugstore, and I want strawberry.”

Leo preferred to take them to the hotel. There were many things he wanted to discuss with Mother and Father. But this was Daisy’s birthday trip. They should do what she wanted. Besides, he’d skipped lunch, and ice cream sounded good. “Yes, as soon as we collect your luggage, we’ll go.”

They moved in tandem toward the loading dock, where workers had stacked the passengers’ various travel cases and trunks. Father located their large veneer-covered case and pulled it from the stack. Leo took it from him, then turned toward town. “This way for ice cream.”

Daisy squealed, “Yippee!”

As Leo led his family to the drugstore, he tried not to read too much into Father’s silence. But he couldn’t help worrying there was a secondary reason they came to Canon City—to convince him to come back to Denver.

Jennie

Jennie sat beside the bed and watched Daddy sleep. Dr. Whiteside said if he had a concussion, he should be awakened every two hours and asked questions to validate his lucidity. He’d fallen asleep a little before three. She would let him sleep another fifteen minutes, then wake him, just in time to get ready for supper. While she waited for the clock’s hands to tick away the minutes, she petted Rags, listened to Daddy’s even breathing, and thought about what Mama had told her about them leaving the cabin.

“Temporarily,” she’d said, but the way she said it made Jennie think they wouldn’t ever come back. For months, she’d wanted to leave. To leave the cabin’s isolation, its endless chores, its secrets. But now that Mama was packing for them to leave, a little part of Jennie was sad. She’d miss listening to nature’s “Peace Song,” waving at the train engineer and conductor, and traipsing over the hills. She’d first hiked the mountains with Daddy, then with Leo. But those days were ending now, never to be relived. Regret pricked her heart.

If they weren’t out here much longer, would she get to participate in excavating the dinosaur skeleton Leo found? She was supposed to draw it for Mr. DeWeece. Her hand stilled in Rags’s fur and she rasped, “The dinosaur…”

Tiptoeing as quickly as she could, she left the bedroom and went to the sitting room. Mama was wrapping her pieces of china in towels and stacking them neatly in an old orange crate she must have dragged in from the shed. Jennie grabbed the top rung on the closest ladder-back chair and gripped hard. “Mama, the storm last night…If the hailstones were hard enough to break staves on the pipeline, do you think they could have broken bones on the dinosaur skeleton?”

Mama’s brow crinkled. “Granted, Jennie, they were big hailstones. I’d never seen the likes of them before. But aren’t fossilized bones much harder than wood?”

Jennie searched her memory for anything Leo might have said about the hardness of fossils, but nothing came to mind. “I don’t know.” She glanced at the clock and figured in her head the number of hours before the evening shadows grew thick. She sighed. There wasn’t enough time to get all the way to the excavation site and home again, especially if the ground was muddy and slick. She should have set out after lunch instead of near suppertime. Maybe she’d go tomorrow, since her family had been relieved of linewalking duties.

She started to ask permission, but Mama said, “Thank you for helping with your daddy today. I know he finds your presence a comfort.”

Jennie cringed. What was she thinking? She couldn’t go checking on old bones when she was needed here—not only to check in on Daddy and give him the powders if he needed them, but also to help Mama pack up their belongings. They didn’t know when Mr. Cambrie would send men to cart their things down the hill to the tracks. They had to be ready. Mama hadn’t let her help with packing today. She said to give her bruised shoulder a rest. But tomorrow would be different.

She glanced at the clock. Almost time to wake Daddy. Almost time to sit and eat their supper. A pot simmered on the stove. Vegetable stew, from the smell of it. “I’ll set the table, Mama, then get Daddy up. After, I’ll see to the dishes. You can sit with Daddy this evening. You deserve a rest, too.”

Mama sent Jennie a grateful smile. “Thank you, honey. It has been a long day after a very long season of uncertainty. But…” She turned her gaze to Daddy’s window, to the familiar view of a little patch of grassy yard leading to the river’s ravine, train tracks, and tall rock wall. “Things will look brighter soon.”

Jennie went to Daddy and Mama’s room without answering. Mama’s last comment rolled in her mind. Daddy was still sick. They wouldn’t have a home much longer or any source of income. Maybe even something sad waiting would seem brighter when compared to what they had right now.

Leo

“I work until noon tomorrow, but I’ll have the whole afternoon and evening free to spend with you.” Leo perched on the edge of the desk in his family’s hotel room. Myrtle and Daisy slept in the bed farthest from the door, worn out from the excitement of their first train ride. He kept his voice low. “When you said you’d be coming, I’d planned to take you to the ridge where I found the dinosaur skeleton. But I’m not sure if I should now.”

Mother and Father sat side by side on the end of their bed, their attention pinned on Leo. Mother lifted her hands in a gesture of query. “Why would you not take us now?”

Leo felt the reasons were obvious, but maybe Mother was too tired to surmise. “The storm left the hillsides quite mucky, Mother. You and the girls won’t want to trek over that kind of messy landscape. And after seeing what the hailstones did to the wooden pipeline, I’m not sure there will be anything of worth left at the site.”

Father leaned forward slightly. “Have you spoken with Mr. DeWeece about it?”

“No, sir.” There hadn’t been time for a phone call. If he was honest with himself, he was afraid to talk to the man he’d come to think of as his mentor. If Mr. DeWeece said the bones were most likely lost, his hope would be crushed.

“Before you decide to give up on it, you should confer with him. He seems to be the local expert on the subject.”

Leo blinked in surprise at his father. Since when did Father encourage him to pursue paleontology? Shouldn’t this setback give him an excuse to sway Leo toward a different vocation?

“It’s too late to call him now,” Father went on, “but do you have a scheduled break time in the morning?”

Leo nodded. “Every worker is allowed a fifteen-minute break between the breakfast cleanup and lunch preparation.”

“Call him on your break tomorrow.” Father spoke with his usual authority. “After you’ve spoken with him, we can decide whether to go to the site or not.” He placed his hand over Mother’s and gave her a concerned look. “But if the landscape is as unpleasant as Leo indicated, perhaps you and the girls should stay at the Ward cabin while he and I go to the site.”

Mother laughed softly. “I don’t mind forgoing the climb, and neither will Myrtle. But do you think you’ll be able to leave Daisy behind? She’s still at that fearless age. She would think climbing a mountain to look at dinosaur bones a fine way to spend part of her tenth birthday.”

Leo looked at his sleeping little sisters. Myrtle had already lost her childish chubby cheeks and was fast becoming a lovely young woman. But Daisy, although not ill-mannered or obnoxious, retained the impetuosity and giddiness of a little girl. Mother was right—Daisy would delight in trekking up the mountain. Leo hoped he’d be able to give her the opportunity to see bones from a creature that lived thousands of years ago half-buried in the side of a Colorado mountain. What other little girl could make such a claim?

He turned to his parents. “Did you bring clothes appropriate for the excursion? I’d hate to see her spoil a good dress or ruin her shoes.” His family didn’t have money to squander. This trip to Canon City must have stretched their budget to the extreme.

A soft smile curved Mother’s lips. “I packed a nearly outgrown dress leftover from Myrtle, who received it as a hand-me-down from one of our parishioners three years ago. It’s seen plenty of use, so I won’t fuss if she spoils it. And patent leather is easily cleaned, so no worries there, either.” Mother cast a fond look toward the sleeping girls. “It won’t be long before they’ll be all grown-up and assuming grown-up duties. I’d like her to have a fine adventure to remember from her childhood.” She covered a yawn with her hand. “Oh! Please excuse me. I believe the day’s busyness is catching up with me.”

Leo wished they could talk more. He hadn’t yet expressed his concerns about the Ward family’s situation. But they could talk tomorrow on the train. He stood. “I’ll let you get your rest, then. Breakfast is available in the dining room between seven and nine-thirty, so feel free to laze about in the morning. I won’t be able to join you since I’ll be working in the kitchen, but I’ll meet you in the lobby at one, after you’ve had your lunch and I’m released from duty. We can catch the train and ride to the Wards’ cabin then.”

Mother rose and gave Leo a hug. “That sounds fine. Sleep well.”

Leo released Mother, shook Father’s hand, and wished them good night. Then he headed to his little room at the back of the kitchen. When he moved to his bureau for a nightshirt, his gaze encountered the bone he’d seen Jennie carrying. He picked it up, smiling at the memories it evoked. This bone had started his search, budded a dear friendship, and introduced him to a man who’d encouraged and inspired him.

Even if tomorrow’s trek to the excavation site resulted in disappointment, he still had much to treasure. He thanked God for the reminder of his blessings, placed the bone on his desk, and readied himself for bed, his burden lifted.

As he slipped between the scratchy sheets of his cot, his mind drifted to the Wards’ cabin—to Jennie, Mrs. Ward, and Mr. Ward. He prayed their burdens were lifting, too.