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“Spring is in the air!” Mrs. Andrews exclaimed as she came in the
back door from work with a handful of what looked like twigs.
“That means Easter is coming!” Betsy’s whole face lit up at the
thought, but then she felt a little sad. “How will we celebrate without Dad here,” she asked her mother.
Mrs. Andrews gave Betsy a hug. “I know it will be hard, but Easter
is really a season of hope and life. This year we all have something to hope for that is bigger than anything we’ve hoped for
before—that the War will be over soon and Daddy will be back home,
safe and sound.” She hugged Betsy just a little bit tighter.
Betsy’s father was in Europe as a doctor, helping to take care of men and women who were wounded during World War II.
“Can we send Daddy a special Easter letter?” asked Betsy. “Everybody in the family can put in a special message.”
“Great idea! But right now, help me put these forsythia branches in
water. I’m going to try to force them to bloom inside so that we can have a little bit of spring in the house after the long winter.”
“How do you do that?” asked Betsy.
“Right now they look very bare, “ her mother explained, “but if
we put them in a mason jar (like we used to can tomatoes last summer)
with some water, then in a very short time, pretty yellow blossoms will burst forth!”
As Betsy helped her mother find a jar and trim the branches, Mrs. Andrews told Betsy about her plans for Easter.
“I think that Easter would be a great time to go visit Grandma and
Grandpa. With gasoline being rationed we haven’t been able to drive
to see them, and they haven’t been able to come see us, but Easter
on the farm is a wonderful time, and if we take the bus, we won’t waste any gas.”
“Will the Easter bunny find us at Grandma and Grandpa’s,” Betsy’s little brother Mickey had just come into the kitchen.
“I’m sure he will,” said Mrs. Andrews. “And we’ll go to the
little church in town with Grandma and Grandpa on Easter. That’s
the church where your father and I were married.”
“What about our clothes—I really wanted a special dress for Easter, but I guess that’s not possible,” Ruth (Betsy’s older sister)
sighed as she joined the group around the kitchen table.
“Well, let’s see—Mickey will have to wear his regular Sunday school clothes, but I’m sure we can find a bow tie for
just for Easter. .”
“Who cares about silly old clothes anyway,” interrupted Mickey. He was much more interested in the prospect of chocolate bunnies.
“. . .But I thought maybe I could take one of Dad’s old ties and
make Mickey a bow tie that would be just the right size.”
“I’m going to look like Daddy,” Mickey stuck his chest out proudly and started pretending he was a soldier, walking up and down
in the hallway.
Bud, Betsy’s big brother, had come home from finishing his paper route. “I’ll wear my regular school clothes, Mom, don’t worry
about me!” (Everybody knew how much Bud hated to get dressed up.)
“I won’t worry about you, Bud, because your suit for Sunday school
still fits you. Thank goodness you haven’t had your next growing spurt yet.”
“Oh, well, it was worth a try,” Bud took an apple from the counter
and ran up to his room.
“What about us?” Betsy and Ruth cried in unison. Their mother always seemed to come up with really good ideas that made it seem not
quite so bad that there was a war on, Dad was away, and nothing seemed normal anymore.
“Ruth, you have grown so tall this year that I think, with a few nips and tucks, the dress I wore last Easter will fit you perfectly.
The style is maybe a little too grown up, but we’ll take out the shoulder pads, and it should do—you’re growing into such a young
lady anyway. And it is a pretty shade of yellow that will look good
on you.
“You mean that yellow dress with the flower print? You’ll really
let me wear it? Thanks, Mom!” Ruth was thrilled.
Betsy was beginning to feel a little left out. She knew there wasn’t much money for anything that wasn’t necessary, and
buying clothes when yours still fit were definitely not necessary.
“Stop kicking the table leg, Betsy! I think you’ll be happy with
your outfit, too. I know that I have some fabric left over from a blouse I made for Aunt Margaret several years ago, and I think it
will be perfect for an Easter dress for you.” Mrs. Andrews smiled
at her younger daughter. “You can come up to the attic with me and
help look for the fabric.”
Betsy’s eyes were shining, but then she said, “Mom, how will you
make me a dress, with your job and everything?”
“You can help me pin the pattern to the fabric and help cut it out,
too. But more importantly, if you help out a little more around the
house, and play with Mickey to keep him out from under foot, then I’ll have more time to sew.”
Later that evening Mrs. Andrews called her parents to tell them her idea. Grandma and Grandpa had exciting news for her, too!
When she tucked Betsy in that night, Mrs. Andrews told her that Aunt
Margaret and Uncle Mark and her cousins Mabel and Flora were going to
the farm for Easter, too! Betsy was so excited at the thought of seeing her favorite cousins that she could hardly fall asleep.
Two Weeks Later
One Wednesday before school two weeks later, Betsy woke to find a note from her mother taped to her chair.
Betsy,
You may look in the closet, but don’t try it on until I get home from work tonight. It still needs to be hemmed.
Love,
Mom
Betsy jumped out of bed and ran to her closet. There was the most beautiful Easter dress she’d ever seen! It had pretty lavender
flowers all over the fabric, big puffed sleeves, a lacy collar, and a
pale purple satin sash! “Oohhh,” she sighed.
That night Betsy stood on the hassock, wearing the dress so her mother could pin it up to be
hemmed.
“I think you can probably wear the grey coat that Ruth wore last spring. It will be a little large, but not too bad. And somewhere
in my button bag it seems to me I have some pretty little buttons to
dress it up.
“Your black patent leather Sunday shoes still fit. If they’re a
little tight, you can take them off as soon as we get home from church.” Betsy could hardly wait the two more days until they got
on the bus. . .
“Can I wear the same Easter hat that I had last year?” Betsy asked, getting into the spirit of “making do.” “With a
ribbon and some flowers to freshen it up, I think it will be just fine! her mother smiled.
It was a big help when her children didn’t fuss about not having
special things. It was hard enough getting through and making do—having children who didn’t complain (usually!) was a great help.
Here at Last!
Good Friday finally came, and after going to their own church, all of
the Andrews family trooped off to the bus station. Mickey “helped” the driver and decided that maybe he’d be a bus driver
in addition to being a soldier.
“There’s Grandpa!” Ruth shouted, forgetting for a minute that teenaged young ladies don’t do unladylike things like shouting.
“AND he’s driving Babs and Billy!!!” cried Bud. He was so excited he couldn’t sit still.
“Who are Babs and Billy,” asked Mickey. “Horses, you dope,”
answered Bud. “I’m not a dope, you’re a dope,” Mickey kicked
Bud.
“Children! Stop it this instant! If you’re going to behave like
this, we will get on the next bus back home.”
“Sorry,” muttered both boys, glaring at each other.
Betsy was very quiet. She remembered how scared she had been of Babs
and Billy when she was a little girl. How big those horses seemed then!
“Dad, what’s all this about?” Mrs. Andrews asked her father.
“Well, we figured that taking old Babs and Billy out of retirement
was a good way of helping the war effort—saves lots of gasoline, you
know, and I never really got used to that fancy tractor anyway. Doesn’t hurt their spirits none, either. I reckon horses
like feeling useful, just like people.”
Betsy clung closely to her mother, after giving her grandfather a big
hug—she still wasn’t too sure about Billy and Babs, even though they weren’t as big as she remembered them. Gradually she got
closer and closer to them as the other children were stroking them and talking to them. “Why, they seem to know that we’re talking
about them,” she said, as Billy nodded his head.
Babs’ head drooped down as she gave a little whinny. “I think she’d like you to stroke her nose,” Grandpa said. “She‘s
very gentle.”
Betsy looked into Babs’ big brown eyes and all of a sudden realized
that she wasn’t afraid anymore. “Her nose feels like velvet,”
she whispered.
On the Farm
Tasty smells and a Grandma full of hugs greeted them as they entered
the kitchen of the old farmhouse. After a filling supper of macaroni
and cheese, peas, and salad fresh from the garden, everyone hustled off to bed. They were all tired from their long trip.
“Mabel and Flora will be here tomorrow! And Mabel and I get to share a room together!” was Betsy’s last thought as her head hit
the pillow. Mabel and Betsy were the same age and were best friends
even if they were cousins and didn’t see each other very often.
In the morning the whole family got up early for a breakfast of oatmeal with milk fresh from the cow. Grandma was up, putting more
coal into the big, black, old stove to keep the oatmeal hot. “Grandpa had his breakfast hours ago,” she said, “that’s one
of the nice things about oatmeal—it’ll keep on the back burner of
the stove for a long time.” Life begins early on a farm!
While they were eating, Grandpa came in with a frown. “Henrietta’s missing,” he said. “All of the other chickens
are in the coop where they belong, but Henrietta’s gone. I can’t
figure out how she could have escaped.”
“She’ll turn up sooner or later,” Grandma promised. “In the
meantime maybe Mickey and Betsy can help you gather the eggs—we’re
going to need more than usual if anyone has an interest in coloring eggs for Easter.!”
“We do! We do!” the children shouted. “Well, don’t dawdle over your oatmeal then. Bud would you feed the horses and cows?
Ruth, your mother and I could use your help in the kitchen.”
The morning flew by and before they knew it, Mabel and Flora had driven up with Aunt Margaret and Uncle Mark in their Model A Ford.
“You’re going to sleep in with me!” Betsy cried as Mabel climbed
down from the car.
“Great!! We’ll have such fun! We can tell ghost stories all night!” Mabel was excited to see Betsy, too.
After lunch all the children helped color the eggs from the chickens. Once they were dyed, Grandma whisked them away to the
pantry. Everybody knew that tomorrow afternoon while the children stayed in the house, the grownups would take all the eggs outside and
hide them. Then the annual family Easter egg hunt would begin! To make everything fair, each child knew that they had to stop hunting
when they had found six eggs.
As they got ready for bed that night, Mrs. Andrews reminded the children that it was war time for the Easter bunny, too. “You may
not find as much candy as you’d like, but I hope you won’t let that spoil your fun!”
Betsy and Mabel were so tired out from running all over the farm, coloring eggs, and helping with chores, that their promise to each
other to stay up and tell ghost stories all night was short lived.
Happy Easter!
Flora and Mickey ran into Betsy and Mabel’s room with Easter baskets
flying. “He came!! The Easter bunny came!” they cried. “Let’s go look for our Easter baskets,” Mabel said to Betsy.
“I wonder if ours are together,” said Betsy.
There they were, side by side, behind the couch. “Ooohh! Jelly beans! Marshmallow eggs! And we each get a chocolate chickie!
I’ll trade you my black jelly beans for your green ones!”
“No candy before breakfast,” Mom and Aunt Margaret called from the
kitchen. “And put your robes and slippers on for breakfast.”
Mickey was so excited he was hopping on one foot. Flora, who was six
years old, was helping Ruth butter the toast. Bud was quietly counting all of his candy, so that he would know if anybody touched it!
“At least we don’t have to worry much about not having food to eat
on a farm,” said Grandma as she passed around a platter piled with
fluffy scrambled eggs.. “Bacon may be rationed, but as long as
we’ve got chickens and cows, we’ve got butter, eggs, and milk.”
After breakfast everybody got ready for church. Grandpa had made corsages for Grandma, Aunt Margaret, and Mom out of the early
blooming flowers in the garden.
Betsy and Mabel took a long time getting ready. This was such a special day that they wanted to look extra nice. And it was made
even more special by the fact that they both had brand special dresses to
wear!
“I remember that fabric,” said Aunt Margaret. “It looks so pretty on you!”
“This is the first time in a long time that I’ve ridden to church
in a horse and buggy,” Mrs. Andrews said.
“Look at Babs,” Betsy cried. Sure enough there was Babs with a straw hat on her head with holes cut out for her ears, and it was
covered with ribbons and flowers! “Happy Easter, Babs!”
The church was filled with people even though they got there early. There were pots of beautiful Easter lilies everywhere. Everyone
seemed so happy that it was Easter.
Back home at the farmhouse, Betsy and Mabel sat on the sofa to trade
jelly beans.
“Betsy! Mabel! Flora! Mickey! Bud! Ruth! Come out to the barn!” Everyone came running.
“Shhh!” Grandma said. “Be very quiet! We’ve found Henrietta!” Taking Betsy and Mabel by the hand, everyone followed
into the barn behind the hayloft. It took a minute for Betsy’s eyes
to adjust to the dim light. There in a hollow in the hay was a nest
of yellow fluff.
“Look,” said Grandma, holding up a tiny yellow chick. Very gently
she rubbed the little tiny ball of fluff against Betsy’s cheek. Betsy’s eyes shone. “This is the very best Easter surprise!”
The End!
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