Thor's Child ©

by K Pelle

Chapter 2

Tor had gone to bed with the sun and he awakened with the sun.  It was early, so he rolled out of bed, had a quick shower, then made himself a hurried breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast.  Once he'd eaten, he went outside and did the few chores that needed doing, then took the eggs inside.  That's one thing he disliked about farm work – chores had to be done twice a day, every day of the week and chores are boring, yet they're essential and just part of farm life.

Like every other farmer, Tor knew that when you live on a mixed farm, the chores have to be done each and every day of the year, and chores are repetitive.  It doesn't matter if the government declares a holiday or not, farm animals have to be cared for each and every day, both morning and night.  Farm animals don't listen to politicians or preachers, so they need to have food, water and care no matter what others may do or say.  What that means to a farmer is simple, he has work to do on each and every one of the 365 days of the year.

The farmer brings the cows into the barn twice a day.  Cattle are creatures of habit, so the boss cow always leads the way into the barn and each cow enters the same stall each time.  Once the farmer has fastened each cow into it's stall, he feeds the cows their ration of ground grain and while they eat the grain, he milks the cows.  Then he turns the cows back out to pasture.  He takes the milk into the house.  He runs the milk through the separator to save the cream.  Once that's done, he takes the skim milk back out to the barn and feeds it to the calves, or if he has pigs, he might feed any extra skim milk to them.  The farmer makes sure the calves have dry feed and water, doing the same thing for those pigs.  Next he needs to clean up the barn and load the manure into a wheelbarrow.  He pushes that wheelbarrow out to the manure pile and dumps it, then replaces any soiled bedding with fresh straw or wood chips.  After that he'll probably go to the chicken coop, give the hens feed, check their water and collect the eggs, then take the eggs to the house, so he can clean, sort and refrigerate them.  There may be other animals on the farm too, but he has to care for all of them.  No matter what animals he has, he checks them over and feeds them each time he does chores, makes sure they have water at all times and cleans up their manure when it beings to accumulate.  Twice a day he does essentially the same thing until it becomes so boring that what he does becomes almost automatic.

At least on the new farm things were slightly different – since the Armstrongs were elderly, the animals were kept out of habit, not necessity.  The cows weren't being milked, the goats were only there to keep down the grass in the orchard, and there weren't very many chickens.  Chores were simple.  Tor only needed to feed everything their grain supplements, make sure all the animals had fresh water, check to make sure every animal looked healthy, then collect the eggs.  Piece of cake, but Tor knew that although it was interesting now, in a week or two it would be boring.

After he was done the chores, he wanted to have a cup of coffee and relax while considering exactly what he wanted to do for the rest of the day.  Once fresh coffee was perked and he had a big mug in his hand, he wandered out to the front porch.  He was just in time to see a bicycle come flying down the road in front of the farm, then skid slightly as it braked and turned into the driveway.  He could tell the rider was a girl, or else a guy with long black hair, but as the rider got closer he could see she was definitely female.  A young female, but one with ample curves, who sped up the driveway, slid to a halt, threw the bike down and practically raced across the lawn.  She bounced up the front steps with her right hand outstretched, already talking a blue streak.

"Hi, I'm Sami Clemens, that's short for Samantha.  You've already met my dad and he says you're smart because you brought up his namesake in an original way.  I was named after Dad and the same old writer guy, but I don't know why Dad and my grandpa like the old geezer so much.  Dad said you were thirteen and was impressed that you were responsible for looking after a farm at your age.  I'm going to turn thirteen next week and I wanted to invite you to my birthday party.  Do you have a girlfriend?  If you don't, I'm available.  What are you going to do today?  I don't have any chores until this evening, so can I help?  Are you really staying here all by yourself?  When is your family going to be here?  Have you ever made out with a girl?  What grade are you in?  I sure hope we're in the same grade.  You're cute!  I love your blonde hair.  Mine is just too dark and Dad won't let me bleach it," Sami rattled off virtually in the shortest time possible, then paused for a second before she came out with the kicker.  "Are you slow?"

"Weelllll, maybeee a bitt," he drawled very slowly.  "Whut did ya say yer name wazzz?"

Tor could see her face change from a grin to a look of surprise, then she blushed and he couldn't hold in his laughter any longer.  He wasn't surprised that when he started laughing she stomped her foot in annoyance.

"That wasn't nice," she snapped.

"Well, using a verbal machine gun on an unsuspecting and totally unprepared civilian during an undeclared war of words isn't exactly copasetic either," he grinned as he took a deep breath.

"Now let's see is I can answer your questions before you explode into another trainload of verbiage.  Hi Sami.  My name is Tor, which is spelled T-O-R and is a Swedish name.  I'm thirteen, like you will be and although I'd like to attend your birthday party, I'm afraid I'm stuck here looking after this place.  I don't have a girlfriend as such, but I do have a very good friend who happens to be a girl, so for now I think you'd be better off if you keep looking.  I haven't made up my mind what I'm going to do today, perhaps I'll clean out the manure in the chicken coop, but if so you can help.  Yes I'm here alone and my family won't be here until the first part of August," Tor paused for slightly longer, then grinned.  "I think what I've done with girls is my business.  I've just finished grade eight and expected to go into grade nine, but that was in Saskatchewan, so I might be in a different grade out here.  As for my hair, it's natural and I'm not about to change it."

"Gee, I think you answered all my questions and I like your name.  It sounds sort of exotic."

"Hey a short paragraph, no machine gun effect," he grinned.

"Sorry about that," she giggled.  "I get excited and when I do, my mouth runs away on me."

"I noticed.  Would you like a cup of coffee?  I just made a pot."

"I shouldn't, because I already had a cup this morning.  I love coffee, but Dad says it lubricates the hinges of my jaw and super charges the muscles that make my voice work," Sami giggled again.

"Oh, Sunny is going to love you," he laughed aloud.  "She and I live on coffee.  I'll bet after you meet her she'll pour coffee down your throat just to hear you chatter."

"Who is Sunny, your sister?"

"Nope she's the 'friend who happens to be a girl' that I mentioned before and we've been best buds since we were four or five years old.  Her mom and dad bought the Dupré farm just down the road and they're moving out here at the same time as my family."

"You're importing a girlfriend?" she squawked in surprise.

"Nope, I had nothing to do with that," he grinned.  "Having both families settle here was all our parents' idea, but you can be sure neither Sunny nor I argued with them."

"Holy Shit!" she shook her head.  "I've heard of arranged marriages, but your families take the cake.  Introduce the kids at four years old, then move half way across the country just to keep them together.  Damn, that is just plain unbelievable!"

Tor couldn't help it, he was laughing so hard he had to sit down.  He didn't think she appreciated that at all because she was tapping her foot again.  He had to struggle to stop the laughter, but finally managed.

"I'm sorry to find that funny, but it's just so far from the truth that I couldn't hold back."

So he explained about the mining company buying both the Enright's and his family's farm, then went on to explain about his dad and Mr. Enright deciding to move to BC and buy neighbouring farms.

"Our folks are great friends, so it's been quite natural for Sunny and I to be friends as well.  Your take on our friendship was different though and you realize I'll have to tell everyone in the family about it.  Of course it's no one else's business, so I'm going to ask you to keep that comment to your family and no one else."

"Fink!" she twisted her face into a frown, then winked and grinned.  "Are we going to do anything today, or are you just going to sit there and tease me?"

"Well, I'd love to sit here and play mind games with you all day, but I can see my aunt's car coming down the road and I'm expecting my uncle to show up soon.  Aunt Hanna is coming to pack up Mrs. Armstrong's china and ornaments so they won't get broken and Uncle Nil's is bringing over a bicycle and a horse so I won't be stuck here in case of emergencies."

"Hey, if you have a bike, you could come to my birthday party next week," she crowed.  "What kind of horse is your uncle bringing?"

"I can only come to your party if I get permission from my father, only he's still in Gopher Creek, Saskatchewan.  Besides, I'm not sure he would class your birthday as an emergency or an excuse for me to be away from the farm.  And concerning your second question, I don't know what kind of horse Uncle Nils is bringing over, but since they raise and sell horses, I imagine it will be an older one they can't use for breeding any longer."

"I'll ask your aunt about my birthday.  I'll bet she'll find a way to let you come."

"You're a conniving blackmailer," he grumbled, but winked at her.  "Besides, even if she says yes, my dad might still say no and since he's the one who is paying me, guess who I'll obey?"

Aunt Hanna drove up just then and hopped out of the car.  "Hi, Tor, who's your friend?"

"Hi, Aunt Hanna, meet Markie Twain," he grinned and winked.  "Markie, this is my Aunt Hanna Eklund."

"My name is not Markie Twain, you skinny lummox, it's Sami Clemens!" Sami squawked, slapping his arm.  "I'm sorry, Mrs. Eklund.  He's being a goof.  Daddy warned me that Tor thinks really quick and then twists things around.  I should have expected him to be a smart aleck."

"Aunt Hanna, you have just met Sami Clemens, a fully mobile and constantly loaded, verbal machine gun.  Feed her a cup of coffee and she'll rattle off a thousand words a minute without the aid of a dictionary, and without taking a breath either," he teased Sami again.  "I'm still suffering from her initial verbal barrage, so if I'm not as calm and composed as usual, you can blame it on auditory shell shock and verbal war wounds."

That got a chuckle from Aunt Hanna and a giggle from Sami, who actually blushed.

"Tor, you're going to get yourself in deep trouble if you keep making friends with pretty girls.  What do you think Sunny would say if she saw you right now?"

"Oh, I think Sunny will want to keep Miss Twain around as a pet.  Instead of a guard dog, she can have a rapid fire lexicon at hand, ready to be primed with caffeine, then fully capable of subduing a rioting crowd with one breath," he grinned.  "But, all kidding aside, I think Sami and Sunny will get along just fine, once they both realize that I don't need a girlfriend quite yet."

"As if you'll have a choice," Aunt Hanna laughed.

"There is always a choice, Aunty.  It's just that some choices are much better than others and sometimes the best choice is not to choose at all," he grinned.  "Now I see Uncle Nils is driving in, so I'd better go help him unload his truck and trailer."

Tor wasn't sure if Sami was upset by what he said or if she just wanted to talk to Aunt Hanna, but while he went to help Uncle Nils, both women went into the house.  Uncle Nils pulled up near the barn and he wandered over to help him unload an old ten speed bike and a pile of tack for horses from the back of his pickup.  In that pile there were at least two saddles and three bridles, all of them quite old.

"Vee cleared out dee old unused stuff in da tack room," Uncle Nils grinned as he saw Tor eyeing the pile of gear.  "Besides, vee figuredt having vun horse here vould not be enough and I see you haf already provedt me right.  Dat vas a young vomen I saw goin' inta da house vit Hanna, vasn't it?"

"That was Sami Clemens, a neighbour, but I really don't need you to encourage her," Tor snorted.  "Somewhere in the first minute she was here, after flying down the road on her bike, she wanted to know if I had a girlfriend, then said flat out that if I didn't, she was available.  Ten seconds after that she managed to imply that she was willing to make out.  I'm not sure just what she meant or how far she's willing to go, but I think I'll try to stay clear of her for now."

"Vell, dat's vun vay to make friends in a hurry, Aye guess," Uncle Nils laughed loudly, then shook his head and headed back to the horse trailer.  "Come vee get da horses unloaded, so Aye can go do some verk.  Vee can put dem in da pasture vit da cows fer now, but remember da horses an da cows do not like to graze in da same field for long.  Mebee later today ya can move da horses to vun uf da upper pastures.  Da older mare iss easy to catch, yust carry a bucket vit a little oats in it an she vill com runnin' – den ya can ride her bareback and neck-rein her vit yer knees.  Dat vill let ya catch da younger vun."

"I thought you were just bringing over one older mare?"

"Vell, vee ver, but dee young vun hass never com inta season in two or tree years eeder.  Da vet says she hass a problem vit her insides, so vee vill haf to sell her as a riding horse, not a breedin' mare.  She vas sickly vhen she vas younger, so da boys easedt off an haf not trainedt her vell.  Dat vill make her a cheap horse for somevun.  Da older mare had tvins last year und it hurt her inside, so she too is barren.  Dey are bote healty enuf to ride dough, but dat means you get to use two fer da price off vun," he chuckled.  "Actually by lettin' you keep dem here vee save on da grazin' an it don't cost us nuttin'.  Vee got too many horses now, dat's vhy you an I vas pullin stumps, to grow more pasture."

"Smart.  Palming off your extra horses on me," Tor grinned and nodded.  "Do you want the young one trained some more while she's here? I think I could probably devote a couple of hours a day if you'd like me to work with her or even both of them."

"You can do dat?" Nils stared at Tor.  "Aye didt not know you vas a horse trainer und couldt break da horses."

"Well, I'm still learning, but Mr. Enright has taught me quite a bit.  He doesn't break horses though, he trains them, usually from the time they're colts, but older horses can be trained too, it just takes more time."

"Aye tell ya vhat, you train dis little mare to be a show stopper, undt I vill gif you a lidtle colt in trade next spring.  How is dat for a deal?"

Tor just held out his hand and they shook on it there and then.  He couldn't lose on the deal, even if the little mare was as stubborn as a mule and as dumb as a post she would give him a subject to practise on, which was a bonus in itself.  If she was smart and cooperative he could end up with a horse of his own to raise and train from scratch.

Nils had things he had to do, so he left as soon as they had put the horses in the cattle pasture.  After his uncle had gone, Tor spent almost half an hour with the two horses, just befriending them, so they would recognise his scent and his actions.  Then he went back to the barn and shifted all the saddles and other tack inside.  He'd noticed before that at some time in the not too distant past, four of the stalls in the barn had obviously been set up for horses, one of those for a team.  This time he also noticed that the end stall was quite narrow and had pegs and brackets on the wall that were perfect for storing bridles, halters and other tack.  It wouldn't take much to turn that space into a tack-room, just a decent gate or door, a few shelves and a couple of saddle brackets on the end wall.  He had the new tack room almost done before he heard the old triangle on the back porch ringing and glanced at his watch.  It was ten in the morning and Aunt Hanna had probably made coffee.


"Hey, cowboy, what have you been up to?" Sami asked as Tor came in the back door into the kitchen.

"Oh, a little over five feet high and rising," he grinned and lifted his left hand to pat the top of his head.

"Am I ever going to get a straight answer from you?" she stomped a foot and rested both hands on her hips.

"Only if you ask a perfectly straight question and even then you might have to use a ruler," he winked at Aunt Hanna, but with his head turned so Sami couldn't see.

"Urrrh!" Sami growled.  "I was trying to be nice and was just wondering what you've been doing this morning?"

"I've been spending time with the horses to get them used to me and then I was putting away the tack that Uncle Nils brought over for me to use.  By the way Aunt Hanna, I forgot to ask Uncle Nils the two mares' names, do you know what everyone calls them?"

"The older one is called Fancy, which is short for Fancy Flicka.  Arne named her that because he said she swings her hips like a dance hall girl.  She's only five years old and unfortunately her first time to foal was a disaster.  She had twins, but she miscarried, only she carried them long enough that they grew too big and damaged her birth canal or something, so she's sterile now.  The four-year-old is Smörblomma, which means Buttercup in English and don't blame us for that, she was named before we bought her as a colt.  Unfortunately she's been a problem from the day we bought her.  Firstly she was an off season foal, born prematurely in November, so her registered age is nearly eleven months older than her real age.  Worse than that though, she's never come into season, so the vet thinks she's a natural freemartin, which is supposed to only happen with cattle.  He examined her and said she's incomplete inside, which might have been caused because she was born prematurely.  As soon as the boys found out about that, they backed off on training her much more than the basics, so although she can be ridden, she's a bit rough and needs work."

"Well, I've worked with Mr.  Enright when he was training horses and he thinks I'm a natural at it, so Uncle Nils and I came to a bargain about her training," Tor grinned.  "I'm going to see what I can do with her in the next few weeks.  By the way, do you know if she recognises her name, because if she doesn't I'm gonna call her something else.  I really dislike the name; Smörblomma.  I don't care what language you use, the name Buttercup just doesn't fit her and besides, the name Smörblomma sounds like a cheap brand of margarine to me."

"She's never been handled all that much, so I don't think she recognises the name at all. What would you call her?"

"Well, she's small, probably right on the lower limits of registered height for a Quarter Horse.  What would you think of Lillan, which means Little One when you translate it into English, doesn't it?"

"Oh, I like that!" Aunt Hanna smiled.  "I didn't know you spoke Swedish.  Du är en vanlig Svenska pojke."

"I don't speak Swedish, so I'm not really a little Swede, since I don't use the language.  I understand some sayings, but mostly I only recall a few words and phrases," he shrugged.  "Mom and Dad have never really taught me or anything, so it's just what I've picked up when I've heard the words used time and again.  I probably understood more when I was younger than I do now, because even Mom and Dad use less Swedish than they used to and everyone else I know speaks English.  Heck, Mom and Dad have lost the worst of their Swedish accents."

"I'd have thought your folks would have taught you to speak Swedish.  In fact I thought you might have learned some Gaelic from Charlie and Mabel Enright, since they're Irish and you've sure spent a lot of time around Sunny and her folks," Aunt Hanna teased.

"Nope, they don't seem to use Gaelic at all, at least not when I've been around.  Now to change the subject, how are you guys doing with the packing?"

"Well, as you can see from the boxes, we've cleaned out all the fancy china from the kitchen cupboards and we've packed all the nicknacks that were in the kitchen and dining room.  Sami is fast, but very careful, so she's been a real help."

"You mean her hands are as fast as her tongue?" he winked at Aunt Hanna.

"Unngh!" Sami snorted.  "Oh, you are digging yourself a deep hole mister.  Just you wait. I'm gonna set you up and trip you yet.  Then you'll pay for teasing me so much."

"That wouldn't be anything new," Tor laughed.  "My family tries to get even with me quite often and sometimes they manage to make me feel like a fool, but I'm the youngest so I get away with more than my older brothers do."

"Yeah, I can see that you're a spoiled brat," Sami snapped.

"Pot, meet kettle," he winked and grinned as he finished his cup of coffee and stood.  "Now if you ladies will excuse me, I have several jobs to do and two horses to move to another pasture.  Thanks for the coffee, but I want to get back to work."


Once he was back in the barn he finished building the saddle brackets in the little tack room, then put all the tack away.  In one pile of assorted gear he found a set of hobbles and nodded to himself, setting them by the door, since he had a use for those.  While he was there and had the tools out, he made some repairs in the barn, then went out to the pasture to catch both horses.

Tor used Uncle Nils trick with the bucket and a handful of oats to catch Fancy, but after wasting several minutes before catching Lillan, he decided that he'd train both horses to come to a whistle.  Then riding Fancy and leading Lillan, he moved the two mares to one of the small upper pastures.  Just out of curiosity he let Fancy loose, but kept Lillan on the lead and spent some time working with her.  She led well enough and seemed quite cooperative, so on a whim he tried to ride her bareback.  She crow-hopped a little, but she didn't really buck and since he hadn't even put a bridle on her he thought that was surprising.  Even using just the lead rope tied to her halter he was able to steer her in the direction he wanted to go, so he set out to teach her to neck rein.  Surprisingly all the time he was working with Lillan, Fancy followed along, almost as if she was jealous of the attention the younger horse was getting.  After a short time, Lillan began to respond easily to his training, but eventually she began to tire and pay less attention, so he swapped his attentions to Fancy to get her used to him as well.  Finally he let them both free to graze, but left their halters on since he planned to work with them each day and if they were wearing halters they'd be easier to catch.

As well as working with the two horses, Tor spent some time checking the fence around the orchard which kept goats in and the deer out, but eventually hunger reminded him that he'd missed lunch.  In fact he was even late for afternoon coffee and didn't get back to the farmyard until it was almost time to do the evening chores.  By the time he got back to the yard, Aunt Hanna was just getting into her car, ready to leave, and Sami had already left.

"Well, what happened to you?" Aunt Hanna frowned at him.  "Where did you disappear to?"

"I was in one of the upper pastures and got involved since I was making progress with those two horses, so I just lost track of the time," he shrugged.  "Since you had a helper and you were both busy as beavers, I didn't think I was needed.  Why did something happen?"

"No not really, but I think Sami felt she'd annoyed you or something."

"I don't know why.  I told you both what I was going to do when I was inside at coffee time."

"Yes, but then you disappeared."

"Yeah, a guy can do that when he's working on a thousand acre farm.  I worked around the barn and the barnyard almost all morning, then I took the horses up to an upper pasture to get them out of the pasture with the cows.  As I led them up there, I found they were being quite cooperative, so I spent some time training them.  Then on the way back here I stopped off at the orchard and picked up some of the fallen apples to use as treats for the horses next time I work with them.  There's no sense in letting the goats have all of the June drop.  While I was in the area, I checked the fencing around the orchard and I found some places where the deer can get in, and I made note of that.  I need to do some work on that fence fairly soon just to keep the deer out and the goats in."

"Well, we didn't know that and thought you'd be back at lunch.  I had planned on having you help us pack up things in the house, so we actually went outside to look for you, but Sami noticed the horses were gone from the pasture.  She said you must have taken them to one of the other pastures and I had to discourage her from wandering off to look for you."

"Well, you know me, I'm Mr. Clumsy right now, so I'd probably have broken anything I was trying to pack anyway," he sighed.  "Unfortunately, as far as Sami is concerned, she seems to have the idea that I should find her irresistible, but I don't.  Actually my feeling toward her fluctuates, one moment I find her quite interesting, then seconds later I'll notice that she's somewhat annoying.  I don't know what causes those feelings, but it's quite disconcerting, so I've been compensating today and was trying to tease her instead of losing my temper."

"Oh.  I didn't realize she bothered you."

"Look.  She's an extremely intelligent young kid with the body of an eighteen-year-old.  One moment she seems almost adult and the next moment she acts as if she's a spoiled eight or ten-year-old kid.  I'd be willing to bet she's an only child, possibly raised by her father. At least I'm guessing she spends almost all of her time around him – when she has any company at all.  She seems to be a very lonely person and just watching her around you when we had coffee, I'd say she really misses female company."

"You're close.  Sami's mother died when she was eight, but it took me all afternoon to get that out of her.  When did she tell you about it?"

"She didn't.  I recognised her actions though, since she acts like Sunny did when Sunny was first fostered by the Enrights.  Sunny's mother died when she was a few months short of her fourth birthday, so she only had her father as a caregiver for about three or four months.  On her birthday he gave her a gift-wrapped doll, then took her to a church daycare and told her it was so she could play with the kids there.  He gave the woman at the daycare a twenty-dollar bill and convinced her to look after Sunny for two hours, supposedly while he went for a job interview.  Only he didn't show up again, so after four hours the woman called the police.  The police traced the slimy bastard's movements directly from the daycare to the bus station and found he had left town within the hour of dropping Sunny off, hopping on a bus headed for Toronto.  He wasn't on the bus when it arrived in Toronto, but he could have gotten off at any of the stops along the way.  As of September fifth of this year, Sunny won't have seen him in nine years, unless he has miraculously appeared since I came out to BC.  Somehow I doubt if he'll suddenly appear though, since he doesn't seem to have been interested in her in the past."

"Ohmigod.  The poor kid."

"Hey, Sunny is a sweetheart now, but she had a really rough time of it when she first came to the Enrights.  There was a time when I think Mr. Enright was almost ready to give up on her, but Mrs. Enright is made of pretty stern stuff.  Somehow Mrs. Enright hung on, partially due to my family helping out and I like to think that I was part of that help.  I'm only a few months older than Sunny, so almost every day for almost two years I would go over to their farm, or Mrs. Enright would bring Sunny over to visit us.  We even started school together and since Enright and Eklund are alphabetically close we've almost always been in the same class and often end up sitting right next to each other.  We're awfully close, so I miss Sunny a lot right now, and as a result I try to stay busy and think of other things."

"I'll bet you do.  If Sunny has been with them for so long I'm surprised that the Enrights haven't found a way to adopt her."

"Huh, if they could, Mr.  and Mrs Enright would adopt Sunny in a minute, but they can't find her bastard father to get him to sign off on parental rights.  Heck, Mom and Dad would willingly adopt her, but for the fact that Sunny and I would wring their necks if they tried.  I mean we're very, very good friends and while we may never get married, we talked it over and decided we want that option to stay open, but we couldn't if Mom and Dad adopted Sunny."

"Wow, you two are a lot closer than I thought."

"Yeah, well we aren't officially boyfriend and girlfriend or anything, but like I said before, we're extremely close."

"Which probably explains part of why you find Sami annoying, because she is a bit pushy and probably a little jealous of Sunny."

"No, she's not pushy.  She's a human bulldozer.  Seconds after telling me her name, she was asking if I had a girlfriend, then blurting out that she was available.  Seconds after that she was asking if I had ever made out with a girl.  When I told her that Sunny was a very close friend who happened to be female and that she was moving into the neighbourhood, Sami was suddenly accusing the Enrights and my folks of arranging a long term engagement.  At the time I thought it was funny, but the more I think about it, the more apprehensive I am that she could accidentally start a rumour about arranged marriages or something along those lines.  If she gets excited, her mouth is like a floodgate and everything in her head pours out."

"Oh boy.  I can see how that would annoy your whole family – and the Enrights too! I think I had best go talk to that young lady, because you're right, she is the sort to blurt out something like that in the wrong company.  Something like that could certainly start a rumour which could hurt you and Sunny, as well as both of your families," Aunt Hanna said quickly, then she hopped into her car and drove away, turning to head up the road in the direction Sami had come from that morning.

Tor certainly hadn't expected that sort of reaction and now he was really worried.  Aunt Hanna had spent a lot more time with Sami than he had and he considered her an excellent judge of character – if she was reacting like that, then his apprehensions might have a foundation.

Then he heard a cow mooing and was brought back to reality.  He had chores to do.


Tor gave the cows their evening feed, checked their water, then looked over the goats and counted that they were all there.  After that he closed up the door to the barn, gathered the days eggs from the chicken coop.  He even checked to see that the hen was still setting and that her eggs were all still there, then he snorted in surprise.  Somehow she must have swiped an egg that some other hen had laid, because she was setting on eleven eggs now.  He just shook his head and decided she could hatch more eggs if she wanted to, but he was hungry, so he closed the chickens in the coop for the night and headed for the house.

In the kitchen he found a note on the fridge door, warning him that he should eat the potato salad that had been given to him by a Mrs. Parkinson because it had eggs in it and would go bad soon.  That made preparing his supper easy.  He cut off a thick slice from a meatloaf that a Mrs. Benson had left, plopped that on the top of the potato salad, not even scooping it out of the original dish and sat at the table to scarf down the lot.  Boy did he ever have an appetite, but he hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, so he guessed his hunger was quite natural.  He had polished off his supper, then eaten a piece of apple pie and was waiting for the coffee to finish perking when he heard a knock on the door.

It was Aunt Hanna, Sam Clemens and Sami.  He was quite sure as soon as he saw them all together that they didn't have good news.

"I'm sorry, Mrs Bergman stopped me on the road and I talked to her.  I might have mentioned things to her that I shouldn't have said," Sami said very quietly, staring at her feet as she spoke.

"Don't tell me that you said something about arranged marriages," he growled.

"Well, sorta," she whispered.  "I kinda thought it made a funny joke."

"Well, I hope for your sake that whoever you told your joke to isn't a gossip," he snapped.  "If that woman passed whatever malicious rumour you've started on to anyone else, you could be in serious trouble.  I would recommend that you RUSH right back to her and find out who she told, then who they told, and who those people told, until there is no one else who heard your rumour.  In each case I would strongly suggest you put a stop to them spreading the rumour, even if it means telling people that you are a bald-faced liar and that you were spreading a malicious rumour out of jealousy.  If that rumour EVER gets back to me, I will pass that news on to my parents and I will definitely tell them who was responsible.  I can guarantee that if there is even a hint of a lie in that rumour, my father and Mr. Enright will have you in court, charged with defamation of character, so fast your head will spin."

"Tor!" Aunt Hanna almost shouted.  "She didn't think that . . ."

"That's exactly the problem," he barked loudly.  "She didn't THINK!  You know a little about the history involved, how do you think the people who have lived through that history are going to react.  They certainly won't be as calm as I am and they have the money to hire the best lawyers in Canada.  If she doesn't put a stop to that rumour, which is an outright lie and I've already told her it was, the Enrights could sue her for several million dollars.  So she has a choice, stop the rumour now, or pay for it for the rest of her life!"

Tor looked Sam Clemens in the eye then.  "I was taught as a very young child that liars pay for the trouble they cause.  It seems to me your daughter is just learning that today.  I'm afraid I am not very happy with either her or you right now, so I would recommend that you leave this property and do not return until there is a resolution to the situation.  As of this moment, you are both unwelcome here."

"I'm sorry," Sami whispered.

"Well, I'm not about to forgive you just like that.  As far as I am concerned you've created a rumour which could damage the happiness of one of the sweetest and kindest people in this world.  The only excuse you have is an overactive imagination and a tongue that runs away with you.  That young lady you just maligned lost her mother, then her father abandoned her.  At that point she had no one.  The only possessions she was left with were a cheap little doll and the clothing on her back.  That's all she had in the world.  She had no home, no relatives, nothing, but she was taken in by a great family and managed to grow into a wonderful person.  She might forgive you, because she is so kind and caring, but I won't, not unless you can put a stop to your malicious rumour."

"But how?"

"I told you how.  Chase it down and admit that you told everyone a lie, but you are going to have to talk to each and every person who has heard the rumour.  Spending the time and money to stop that lie now will be far cheaper than a lawsuit will cost you in the future.  You should realize too, the longer you stand here arguing, the further that rumour will spread.  Now go, get out of my sight before I get angry."

The Clemens left then, but Aunt Hanna stayed.

"She won't be able to stop the rumour you know," she said quietly.

"I know."

"You were awfully darn hard on her for someone who wasn't angry."

"Not as hard as Dad would have been, and let's be clear, I was disgusted, not angry," he sighed.  "Now I'm going to have to call Dad and warn him what's happened, so I'll end up getting a bawling out, because he's going to hold me responsible."

"What if I called him?  Would that help?"

"No, I think I should call him first," Tor sighed.  "He sent me out here and expects me to look after the family's interests, so I'd better be the one to call him and let him know.  I imagine he'll end up calling you to see what you think about the situation, then I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't fly out here for a day or two.  That will be when the Clemens will actually see someone get angry."

They talked for a bit longer, but she had to rush home.  Uncle Nils wouldn't be happy with Tor either, because his supper was going to be late.  He had waited intentionally for Aunt Hanna to leave before he placed a collect call to his dad, since he didn't want the call to be on the Armstrong's bill.

His sister, Alva, answered the phone and accepted the collect call.  She talked to him for a minute, then handed the phone to their dad.  Tor explained what had happened, starting with the moment Sami had spilled off her bike, then told his dad what she'd said, what she'd done and what he'd told her she needed to do.

To his utter surprise his dad started to laugh.

"Oh, yeah, you are definitely my son!" his dad snorted.  "I don't think I could have done better."

"Huh?" Tor grunted in astonishment.

"That girl will be so scared that she'll chase down each of those people and admit she was lying about you and Sunny, and about us and the Enrights.  I'll bet her dad comes to see you by tomorrow night and he'll be very apologetic, but he'll be admitting that they couldn't stop the rumour.  It sounds to me like his daughter is the apple of his eye and since he didn't say much, this might be the first time she got into trouble, so she's probably a very good kid."

"He didn't say a word."

"Then he knew she had done something you felt was very wrong."

"Well, she started a rumour based on a lie."

"Yeah, like I said, you are my son," his father snorted again.  "What she said doesn't bother me because I find the whole idea laughable, but how Charlie and Mabel Enright will take the news is questionable.  Sunny might find it funny though."

"Do you really think so?"

"Oh, yeah.  She misses you a lot right now and she's going to be upset that you phoned me and not her."

"Well, I called you collect because I didn't want the call to go on the Armstrong's bill and I wouldn't want to do that to the Enrights."

"Tor, the bills for the whole farm are ours and have been ever since I signed the papers for the place.  I changed the phone, the hydro and everything to be billed in our name.  The Armstrongs were just staying there to get you accustomed to the place and to have someone living on the farm until we got out there.  By the way, your brothers want to know if you want them to sell any of your rifles, shotguns or winter gear in the auction tomorrow?"

"No way.  I was told there is often as much as a foot of snow here in the winter and there are deer coming out the ying yang all over.  They've been getting into the orchard and eating the lower apples off the trees because a couple of the upper strands of fence wire are broken.  I was planning on fixing that tomorrow, but the Armstrong family will be coming to move all the old folks' stuff in the morning, so I don't know if I'll have time until Monday."

"I heard about the Armstrongs having problems.  How are they, by the way?"

"The last I heard they were recovering and there were no complications."

"That's good, that's good.  Now your Mother wants to say hello."

So he talked to his mom, then he talked to Alva again, then suddenly he heard a scuffle as Alva was shoved aside, then Sunny was on the phone.

"Alva, quite belly aching, you can talk to him anytime.  Hi Tor, how are you doing and why haven't you called me?  How am I supposed to keep track of what my guy is doing if he never calls?  It's been two whole weeks since I saw you or heard your voice."

"Oh, so I'm your guy now, am I?  When did that happen?" Tor couldn't help but grin.

"When you left and I couldn't get a hug or at least talk to you every day," Sunny giggled.

"Oh, oh, maybe I bawled a girl out for nothing," he said quickly.  "She was here today and when she left she started a rumour that our parents had set us up for an arranged marriage."

"That's a darn lie.  I haven't made up my mind yet, not completely," she giggled again.  "Wait a minute, are you telling me the truth?"

"Have I ever lied to you?"

"You mean she said that for real?"

"Yeah, I think she's jealous of you.  It's a long story, so ask Dad about it.  I told him the whole thing."

"Sheesh, so you've met all the pretty neighbours who are near our age, have you?"

"Nope, just one and she's a character with a mouth that runs away on her."

"Well, you be good and don't make me get jealous."

"Fat chance," he laughed.  "Any girl has a darn big mountain to climb to be as nice as you."

"Oh my, sweet talk," she snickered.  "I'm surprised, but I guess I'd better say goodbye.  It's late and Björn has to get up early tomorrow, but he's the one driving me home."

"Goodbye, Sunny.  I miss you a bunch."

"I miss you too.  Bye for now.  Call me in a few days at our house, huh?  But, make it a little earlier so Mom and Dad can talk to you too.  Here's your Mom again."

So he talked to his mom again and got orders to phone home once a week, every Sunday evening.  Altogether, they talked for almost an hour and he wasn't sure if that made him more homesick than he had been or not, but he certainly had a hard time getting to sleep that night.

Part of that was probably due to the fact that his family didn't worry that much about the rumour that Sami had started, so he felt a little guilty about ragging on her so hard.  He made up his mind he was going to phone the Enrights the next night and if they weren't upset, he'd have to find a way to apologize to Sami.  Actually, since Sunny wasn't really upset about it, he could at least accept Sami's apology, which would go a long way toward smoothing troubled waters.  At least he hoped it would.


Saturday morning he slept in a little, so he'd barely gotten downstairs when the phone rang.  It was Aunt Hanna, calling to warn him that the Armstrong family was on the way over to pack up and load all of the older folk's personal belongings.  He had hardly gotten off the phone and outside to do the chores when the first carload of people arrived.  The elder Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong were in the first car along with three of their family.  The second car had four people in it, and that car was followed by three U-haul trucks and each of those had two people in them.  It took almost ten minutes just to be introduced to everyone, then they descended on the house like a cloud of locusts.  By the time he was finished the chores, they were already loading furniture into one truck and boxes into another.  He tried to help but all he was able to do was provide muscle to lift and carry a few things.

They didn't take everything out of the house though.  In the kitchen they left a few pots and pans, some china, some silverware, the microwave, the stove, the fridge, the huge kitchen table and four kitchen chairs.  They took everything out of the dining room, took the occasional chairs and all the tables out of the living room, but left the chesterfield, the old television and the ancient stereo.  They hardly took anything except personal items out of the bathroom and the utility room, but emptied the master bedroom.  On the upper floor they picked and chose, taking a chair from one bedroom, a desk from another, then a dresser and the bed from a third and so on.  They emptied all the closets in the house, but the one he was using, then went through and chose some of the wall hangings and paintings, but leaving others behind.  They left the drapes and curtains in all the rooms, but removed most of the throw rugs.  They took most of the boxes from the attic and the basement, but they left behind several old farm oriented items, such as oil lamps, crank operated cream separators and things of that sort.

By one o'clock in the afternoon they had the trucks loaded and were ready to go, but before they left, Art, the oldest son, took him aside and told Tor that when his folks came out he wanted them to call him.

"There's a lot of junk left behind," He waved his hand toward the house, then the barns.  "If your folks don't want any of it, we'll hire a dump truck and pay to get rid of whatever they think is garbage, because to be honest, it doesn't have any value for us now.  I wanted to thank you personally for helping out when Mom and Dad had their accident and I really want to thank your parents for buying this place.  Here's my card.  It has my phone numbers, both at home and at work.  If you or your family have any questions at all, just give me a call.  On top of that, I'm the partner in a law firm, so if you ever need a lawyer, call me.  If I can't handle it, I'll know someone who can."

Tor really didn't know what to say other than thank you, then shook Art Armstrong's hand and spent a few moments saying goodbye to the old folks.  Then they were gone.

Actually he was feeling slightly dazed, wandering from room to room of the house, because although it wasn't empty, it felt almost as if it had been abandoned.  The only rooms in the house that felt comfortable were the kitchen and the bedroom he was using.  Every other room suddenly felt strange.  He made a cup of coffee and a meatloaf sandwich, then was sitting on an old rocker on the front porch having a late lunch when Aunt Hanna and Uncle Nils finally arrived.

"Where are the Armstrongs?" Aunt Hanna asked as she got out of Uncle Nils' pickup.

"They've been and gone.  What's left behind is ours, I guess.  They only took furniture and personal things from the house and then not all of it.  There's a lot left behind.  Art, the oldest son, told me that anything my folks don't want can be disposed of.  In fact he's left me with his phone number and will have anything we don't want hauled away."

"Vell, dat vas fast," Uncle Nils commented.  "Vee ver on da vay vhen Aye noticed vee had a mare horsing, so vee had to take care uf dat.  Sorry vee ver late."

"No problem, there must have been over a dozen of them, so I hardly worked at all.  In fact I might have been in their way part of the time.  I just helped to fetch and carry."

"Well, I'd better see what you need in the kitchen for cooking and eating."

"Not a darn thing, they left a little bit of everything behind," he laughed.  "They even left almost all the food behind.  The cupboards are over half full, so are the fridge and freezer.  Except for milk, butter and coffee I'm in great shape, in fact I'll be okay on those for a few days."

"Well, I brought essentials like that along with me, as well as some other less obvious things," Aunt Hanna smiled.

Of course she wanted to look through the house and see what was there, but Uncle Nils wanted to talk to him.  He was quite annoyed about the rumour that Sami Clemens had started, but Tor did his best to defuse that, trying to explain that he felt he was handling the problem.  He even pointed out that both Mom and Dad considered it a joke and that Sunny wasn't bothered when he spoke to her.

"You haf talkedt to her?"

"Yeah, when I called home last night.  Björn rushed down and got her so she could say hi. Since I haven't talked to her for two weeks she was more excited about talking than she was about considering what Sami had done.  I plan to call her at home tonight, then I can talk to her folks too.  Before I call them, I'm planning to run over to their new place and make sure nothing has gone wrong over there."

"That sounds like a good idea.  Now I'd like to look around the house just to be certain that you'll be okay and able to look after yourself with what you have left," Aunt Hanna frowned at him.

"Vhile you do dat, Hanna, Aye vill drive down to the Dupré farm vit Tor und see dat tings are fine dere, okay, Tor?"

Tor wasn't about to turn down that opportunity because it would save him from having to ride his bike to do the same errand.  When they were in the truck, he knew Uncle Nils was going to want to say something about Sami, but decided to let him bring it up.

"Dis young voman, vhat vas her name, Sami?  Vhat did she tink she vas doing do you suppose?"

"I think she thought she'd be clever and tell a story that was based on the truth, but stretched the facts to make it sound amusing and perhaps a bit outrageous.  Since there are two new families in the neighbourhood, the older neighbours are going to be interested and she runs off at the mouth, so the whole thing was a bad combination.  Since she created a fiction about us, I was disgusted with her.  I'm not really angry, just offended that she would come to our new farm and act so friendly, then go off and spread rumours that were untrue."

"Yah, Aye can see dat, but ya do know she iss not far from da troot.  Aye vill bet dat Sunny und her mama like da idea to live close by you und yer famly."

"True, but there is no formal arranged marriage deal.  We're just very good friends, all of us."

Actually when they got to the other farm, Marcel Dupré and some of his friends were there, packing and cleaning up, so they talked to him for a while, then drove back to Tor's parent's farm.  Aunt Hanna had done her 'inspection' and gave the Armstrongs a pass for leaving him enough furniture and food to last until his family arrived.  The two of them left shortly after that, so he went out to the orchard and repaired the fence.  After that he checked on the horses and fed each of them a few of the fallen apples, basically bribing them to come when he whistled, thinking that some steps of training a horse were easier than others.

That evening he called Sunny and her family and talked to them for quite a while.  Mr Enright was a bit annoyed with Sami over what she'd done, but felt it could have been a lot worse.  Sunny thought it was cute and told him that he had over reacted a little bit.  She was certain that Sami was jealous of her and teased him about being a 'hunk' who made other young women jealous, but warned him that he'd better not let it go to his head.

Tor didn't hear anything from either Sam or Sami that day, but he had a much easier time going to sleep that night.

The next few days passed quietly.  He worked with the horses, did repairs around the farm and kept up with what few chores needed to be done.  He even spent some time just cleaning up around the house and out in the yard.  Oh, he had several phone calls from Aunt Hanna and Uncle Nils and one from his mom.  As well as that, a couple of people dropped by, but for the most part he was left completely on his own.  In a way it was boring and he found that if he didn't keep busy he started feeling homesick, so he did a lot more work than he normally would have tackled on his own.

Then on the following Thursday he awoke to find that heavy clouds were pouring over the surrounding mountains and rain was pouring down.

So what was unusual about that?  Nothing he guessed, except that he didn't have a raincoat and he really don't like working in the rain.  Yet when he walked out of the house to go to the barn and do the chores – he suddenly realized that he wasn't getting wet.  The rain was falling all around him, but he was walking in a dry space.  He couldn't even reach out and catch a raindrop – and he tried.  Somehow every drop of rain was being directed away from him.  He even stood under the runoff from the barn roof and discovered that he was standing in some sort of protection that started more than a foot above his head.  He could see the effects of what was happening, but he couldn't change those effects.

Whatever strange ability he'd used to protect himself and his uncle was back, but it was showing up in a different way than it had before.  He suppose it could be regarded as a talent, because it was keeping him dry while he was walking in the pouring rain, but it was driving him crazy because he didn't understand how or why it was happening.

More importantly and much more frustrating though, he couldn't think of any way to control this rain-shield thing any more than he'd been able to control the other things which had happened to him.

Chapter 3