Free RR05 - Tender Mercies by Lauraine Snelling Page B

you please tell me your names?”
    They stared at her without moving. Finally the tallest one, a girl, said something. It was something all right, but all in Norwegian, and Mary Martha had no idea what she’d said.
    “Oh.” She sent a glance to the man in the front of the room that could have melted his shirt buttons. She should have sent Katy here instead of coming herself. But Katy still didn’t feel well and was doing her best to hide it. Tomorrow she’d stay home where she belonged and help Katy. If this self-righteous such-and-such wanted help, he could just sing for it.
    The three stared at her.
    She glared again at Pastor Solberg.
    He must have felt her consternation because he turned to her and said, “I’ll be right there.”
    Mary Martha nodded. She could handle this, of course she could. She laid a hand on her chest. “I am Miss MacCallister.” She spoke slowly and enunciated carefully. Then she pointed to each of them.
    “I am . . .” She waited for the older girl to fill in the blank.
    “Ingrid.”
    “Good.” Her smile brought a hint of life to the girl’s eyes. “Now say it all.” She waved her hand as if she were conducting an orchestra. Nodding, she started, “I am Ingrid.”
    The girl followed her and earned a pat on the hand from a teacher who could hardly sit still.
    She followed the same routine with the others.
    “Very good.” John Solberg had joined them, and she hadn’t even noticed.
    “Why didn’t you tell me they didn’t speak a word of English?”
    “I thought I’d be right over.”
    Now what could she say? A few names came to mind, none of them complimentary.
    He turned to the children and spoke in Norwegian.
    She wished she knew what he’d said.
    “I explained that we only talk English in school, that you will be giving them English lessons, and that they are to repeat what you say. I can always send Thorliff or one of the others over to help you. I’d start with some useful phrases if it were me.”
    At a call from another student, he turned back to his classroom.
    Mary Martha smiled at her three charges again, wishing she would get a smile in return. No children should be so solemn. She could hear the little ones piping their ABC’s . How much easier that would be. Her mind searched frantically for necessary phrases.
    “Pastor said I should come help you.” Thorliff appeared at her elbow.
    “Ah, good. When I say a phrase in English, you say it in Norwegian so they understand it. Then after they repeat it, I will write it on the slate.”
    “And I can write the Norwegian on another slate.”
    “You better ask them first if they can read and write Norwegian.”
    Ingrid could, but her sisters, Marta and Clara, shook their heads.
    Mary Martha’s stomach did a flip-flop. Why hadn’t she stayed in Missouri? She sent another glare in the direction of the teacher, silently threatening him with death and destruction. To her charges she sent a smile that she hoped conveyed some form of confidence.
    “All right.” Please, Lord, show me what to do, how to help these children. Please, right now. There’s no time to waste . “We’ll begin with ‘good morning.’ ” She nodded to Thorliff, who repeated both her phrase and the instructions in Norwegian. When they looked back at her after talking with Thorliff, she smiled and repeated, “Good morning.”
    Their response was less than enthusiastic, but they answered.
    She continued with “hello,” “good-bye,” “please,” and “thank you.” Some of those she had picked up from Katy. While they went back and forth, she racked her brain trying to decide where to go next. After reviewing one more time, she switched to the alphabet, printing the letters on a slate.
    By the time they were all excused for the dinner recess, she felt as if she’d been run over by a twelve-up hitch of horses pulling a loaded freight wagon. Manda and Deborah brought her dinner pail over to her.
    “You can eat with us if you like,”