Between Worlds 1: The Move

Elisabeth shivered. The sun hadn’t come up yet, and with only an undershirt and blouse underneath her shawl, the morning cold had reached her bones. A quick glimpse at her sisters told her they felt the same. Little Rosina was shivering, so Elisabeth bade her to come closer and then lifted part of her skirt to the side and extended it aroundher baby sister. Rosina pulled it tight around her.

 

“I’m cold, too!” Anna snuggled into Elisabeth, but Elisabeth had no more free fabric to help her.

 

“Anna,” Tata said, again in his stern voice, “we do not complain of such things. Jesus endured forty days in the desert. A little time in the cold is nothing compared to that.”

 

“I’m fine,” Luki said.

 

“Because you have a coat!” Anna shot back.

 

“And you have mittens!”

 

“Enough!” Tata commanded.

 

Everyone stood in silence and said not a word for a few moments.

 

Then something dawned on Elisabeth. “I almost forgot!”she said, unwrapping herself from her sisters and running back inside the house. She unlaced her boots at the door in the kitchen so as not to wet the loam-and-straw floor, darted into the front room, grabbed a folded piece of paper and an extra two blankets, rushed back to the kitchen, slipped into her boots, leaving the laces undone, and appeared back outside in a matter of moments. She handed each of her sisters a blanket, ignoring the frown on her parents’ faces. Then she passed the paper to Tata.

 

“Here,” she said. “It’s your Christmas card. It’s from the last page in my drawing book.”

 

On the card’s cover was a drawing of Jesus lying in a manger, with Maria and Josef kneeling on either side. Yellow and brown pencil crayon showed the straw that lay on the ground. Above the manger was a yellow star that shone brightly, and the face of an angel peered in from the corner of the page.

 

Tata’s jaw dropped. “Elisabeth...” He showed the card to everyone. The children gasped, and even Mammi nodded approvingly. “You’ve never drawn anything this lovely,” Tata said. He opened up the card and read aloud what Elisabeth had written: “Dear Tata—I promise to keep reading the Bible, the teachings of Martin Luther, and your encyclopedia while you are away. I will do my best to help Mammi, and I will not complain this spring when I must whiten the walls again. I pray that you arrive safely in Pennsylvania and that many friends will be there to help you. Love, Your Elisabeth.”

 

“My golden one,” he said, “thank you. I will keep this in my coat pocket always.”

 

Luki piped up. “I want to give you a hug!”

 

Tata smiled as Luki wrapped his short, skinny arms around Tata’s middle. Anna and Rosina joined in. All the children began to cry again, and Elisabeth’s anger rose up.

 

“It’s not fair!” she said. “We want you to stay! I don’t care if the roof leaks! I don’t care how much land we have! I want you to stay!”

 

Mammi slapped her cheek. “You do not speak like that to your father!”

 

“I’ll hand you the belt when we’re back inside,” Elisabeth said defiantly. “You didn’t die in the war or disappear. You returned. It’s not fair that you’re leaving us again!”

 

“Hold your tongue,” Tata said. “This is not how I want to remember you, Elisabeth. You are a kind, obedient, pious child, not an angry one possessed by the devil.” Elisabeth hung her head in shame. “We must all make sacrifices to survive. Remember that God made the ultimate sacrifice: think of Him before you speak like that again.”

 

He sacrificed His only son, Elisabeth thought, daring not to speak her mind again. What father does that? Then she immediately vowed to ask God for forgiveness before bed tonight because of her thoughts.

 

The clip-clop of horses approached the house. Elisabeth wrapped her shawl tighter around her, not against the cold but to comfort herself with an embrace she needed. Meier Josef pulled up, tipped his hat, and climbed down from his wagon. He shook Tata’s hand and nodded to Mammi and then shook little Luki’s hand and nodded to the girls. He looked down at Elisabeth’s untied boots. She knew at least one thing he’d tell everyone about after he returned.

 

Meier Josef and Tata hoisted the trunk onto the sleigh, and the former took his seat again at the front. The younger Schuhmacher children cried as they hugged their father one last time. Elisabeth at first held back—if she embraced him, she feared she would break apart. But when Tata opened his arms to her, she couldn’t resist. She rushed in and squeezed him so tightly it was as though her body were trying to anchor him here, to keep him from taking that step onto the sleigh and driving off to a new world, one that was so far away it would be weeks before they knew he had even arrived.

 

“My golden one, your Tata can’t breathe,” he said. Embarrassed, Elisabeth pulled away. He lifted her chin with his finger and looked in her eyes the way he did after she had correctly answered all the questions to one of his quizzes.

 

“You are the oldest,” he said. “Be strong. Jesus can help you.”

 

She swallowed and nodded.