He was getting better at jumping up the steps on his good leg, but he still needed someone to carry the crutch up the stairs for him. Once he reached the top, Isaac handed him his crutch. He took it and slipped it under his arm.
“It’s hard, isn’t it, Pa?” Isaac asked.
“What’s hard?” Dave asked in return.
“Patience. It’s not easy to wait, is it?”
Surprised Isaac brought the subject up, Dave asked, “Are you talking about my leg?”
Isaac nodded. “Remember when you said crops grew fast, and I said they didn’t?”
At once, Dave knew where Isaac was going with this conversation. “Alright,” he relented, “it is hard to be patient when you’re waiting for something good to happen.”
Isaac smiled in satisfaction. “I told you so.” Then he bounded down the steps and practically flew out of the house.
Dave shook his head. Who knew an eight-year-old could remember a conversation that happened two weeks ago? Isaac not only had a good memory, but he was showing a little bit of Sally in him. Sally would do the same thing while growing up. She’d remember little details other people forgot, and then she’d bring them up to prove she’d been right.
Dave hobbled to his bedroom and shut the door behind him. When he heard Isaac calling out to Mary, he went over to the window. He saw Isaac run into the barn. Dave waited for a while, but he couldn’t hear much of what was going on. He was sure Rachel laughed and a cow mooed.
Out in the pasture, his three horses, Susannah, Jack, and Libby were eating grass. Dave let out a heavy sigh. Jack had always been a good horse. He couldn’t blame him for his fall. He should have known better than to take him so close to the river. But even as he reasoned this, he wished Jack had done a better job of keeping his balance. He shook his head. No. He couldn’t blame the horse.
Jasper barked, and he turned his attention back to the barn. Isaac ran out of the barn with Jasper at his heels. The two ran for the fenced-in area Dave had erected for Jasper. His gaze went back to the henhouse that was right by the barn. He hoped Jasper’s being so close to the barn wasn’t going to upset the hens. Mary hadn’t brought in as many eggs over the past couple of days as she had been. Maybe it was due to everyone letting Jasper run around so much during the day. It wouldn’t be so bad if they’d keep Jasper away from the henhouse.
Even with Dave’s parents coming out to help, little things were starting to get neglected around the place. But he couldn’t blame anyone. There were three children running around, and while Isaac was old enough to behave, he was still a child. From time to time, he’d slip up. Mary and his parents’ attention were divided. They couldn’t focus exclusively on the chores like he could.
Rachel came out with a pail of milk, and, as she was walking, she turned to look behind her. She stumbled over something and fell forward. The pail fell with her, and milk went all over the grass. She sat up as if in surprise and then tried to scoop the milk back into the pail.
Mary led Adam out of the barn and then closed the door for the night. Adam ran over to Rachel, and she pushed him away before he could walk onto the milky part of the grass. He landed on his back and let out a shrill cry as Rachel continued her pointless activity of trying to scoop the milk back into the pail.
Dave decided he’d seen enough. He let out a frustrated sigh and hobbled over to the dresser. It was hard to stand around and watch that kind of thing. If only he’d been more careful on Jack. If only he’d walked to the river instead of taking him down there. If only he hadn’t put his hoof in the hole in the ground. If only, if only, if only…
Four to six weeks to go. And each day was getting progressively longer than the last. He inspected his broken leg, wondering how far along he’d come in healing. Was the bone still broken? Had it had time to get back into place? Was his body taking care of itself like Joel had said it would? Since he wasn’t a doctor, he had no way of telling what progress, if any, his leg was making.
Forcing his attention off of his leg, he pulled open the drawer and realized he had no clean nightshirts. He glanced over at the laundry pile, surprised to see that it was overflowing. He was sure Mary and his ma had discussed doing the wash today. Then he remembered that Maureen and Connie had stopped by for a visit, which meant that Mary and his mother had to spend hours talking to them.
His pa had checked the corn for bugs and had entertained Isaac and Rachel since they had wanted to join him. Adam, meanwhile, had stayed inside with the women. And Dave had dozed off to sleep because there hadn’t been anything else to do, and he wasn’t about to spend time in the parlor while the women talked about food, clothes, and children.
His leg couldn’t heal soon enough. Dave shut the drawer and went to the bed. He settled on it and removed everything but his underwear. He draped the pants over the iron frame at the foot of the bed. He didn’t know if he had any more clean pants in the dresser. He took another look at the laundry basket,
