"Give you long enough," said Grandma, "and you'll cobble new soles on its tires and patch its innards. Looks like it's held together with hairpins2 now."
Daddy drove with one ear cocked for trouble, and when anyone spoke3 to him he said, "Shh! Sounds like her pistons--or maybe it's her vacuum. Anyway, as soon as there's a good stopping place, we'll. . . ."
But it was the tires that gave out first. Bang! Daddy's muscles bulged4 as he held the lurching car steady. One of the back tires was blown to bits. "Now can we eat?" Dick demanded. Daddy shook his head as he jumped out to jack5 up the car. "Got to keep moving. This is our last spare, and there isn't a single tire we can count on."
Sure enough, they hadn't gone far before the familiar bumping stopped them. That last spare was flat.
"Now," Daddy said grimly, "you may as well get lunch while I see whether I can patch this again."
Grandma had been sitting silent, her hand twisted in Sally's little skirt to keep her from climbing over the edge. "Well," she said, "you better eat before your hands get any blacker. Dick, you haul that shoe-box from under the seat. Rose-Ellen, fetch the crackers7 from the trailer. Sally, do sit still one minute."
"Crackers?" asked Rose-Ellen, when she had scrambled8 back. "I don't see a one, Gramma."
"Land's sakes, child, use your eyes for once!" Rose-Ellen rummaged9 in the part that was partitioned off from Carrie. "I don't see any groceries, Gramma."
Grandpa came back to help her, and stood staring. "Dick!" he called. "Did you tie that box on like I said?"
Dick dropped a startled lip. "Gee11 whiz, Grampa! It was wedged in so tight I never thought."
"No," said Grandpa, "I reckon you never did think." Silently they ate the scanty12 lunch in the shoe-box, and as silently the men cut "boots" from worn-out tires and cemented them under the holes in the almost worn-out ones. Silently they jogged on again, the engine stuttering and Daddy driving as if on egg-shells.
"Talk, won't you?" he asked suddenly. "My goodness, everyone is so still--it gets on my nerves."
Sally said, "Goin' by-by!" and leaned forward from Grandma's knees to give her father a strangling hug around the neck. Sally was two and a half now, and lively enough to keep one person busy. The pale curls all over her head were enchanting13, and so was her talk. She had learned Buenos dias, good day, from a Mexican neighbor; bambina bella, pretty baby girl, from the Serafinis, and Sayonara, good-by, from a Japanese boss in the peas.
Rose-Ellen pulled the baby back and gave her a kiss in the hollow at the back of her neck. Then she tried to think of something to say herself. "Maybe they'll have school and church school at this next place for a change."
"Aw, you're sissy," Dick grumbled14 in his new, thick-thin voice. "If church was so much, why wouldn't it keep folks from being treated like us? Huh?"
Grandma roused herself from her limp stillness. "Maybe you didn't take notice," she said sharply, "that usually when folks was kind, and tried to make those dreadful camps a little decenter, why, it was Christian15 folks. There wouldn't hardly anything else make 'em treat that horrid16 itch17 and trachoma and all the catching18 diseases--hardly anything but being Christians19."
"Aw," Dick jeered20. "If the church folks got together and put their foot down they could clear up the whole business in a jiffy."
"We always been church folks ourselves," Grandma snapped. "It isn't so easy to get a hold."
"Hush21 up, Dick," Grandpa ordered with unusual sharpness. "Can't you see Gramma's clean done out?"
Grandma looked "done out," but Rose-Ellen, glancing soberly from one to the other, was sorry for Dick, too-his blue eyes frowned so unhappily.
Rose-Ellen tried to change the subject. "Apples!" she said. "I love oranges and ripe figs22, and those big persimmons that you sort of drown in-but apples are homiest. I'd like to get my teeth into a hard red one and work right around."
That wasn't a good subject, either. "I'm hungry!" Jimmie bellowed23.
And just then another tire blew out.
The old Reo had bumped along on its rim6 for an hour when Grandma said in a thin voice, "Next time we come to any likely shade, I guess we best stop. I'm . . . I'm just beat out."
With an anxious backward glance at her, Daddy stopped the car under a tree.
"I reckon some of you better go on to that town and get some bread and maybe weenies and potatoes," Grandma said faintly.
Grandpa and Daddy pulled out the tent and set it up under the tree, so that Grandma could lie down in its shelter. Then they bumped away, leaving the children to mind Sally and lead Carrie along the edge of the highway to graze, while Grandma slept.
"I never was so hungry in all my days," Jimmie kept saying.
All the children watched that strip of pavement with the hot air quivering above it, but still the car did not come.
Suddenly Rose-Ellen clutched Dick's arm. "Those two men look like . . . look like. . . . They are Grampa and Daddy. But what have they done with the car?"
"Where's the car?" Dick shouted, as the men came up.
"W'ere tar10?" Sally echoed, patting her hands against the bulging24 gunnysack her father carried.
"Here's the car," Daddy answered, pointing to the sack.
"You . . . sold it, Dad?" Dick demanded. "How much?"
"Five dollars." Daddy's jaw25 tightened26. "They called it junk. Well, the grub will last a little while. . . ."
"And when Gramma's rested, we can pull the trailer and kind of hike along toward them apples," Grandpa said stoutly27.
But Grandma looked as if she'd never be rested. She lay quite still except for the breath that blew out her gray lips and drew them in again, and her closed eyes were hollow. The other six stood around and gazed at her in terror. Anyone else could be sick and the earth went on turning, but . . . Grandma!
They were too intent to notice the car stopping beside them until a man's voice said, "Sorry, folks, but you'll have to move on. Against regulations, this is."
"We're Americans, ain't we?" Grandpa blustered28, shaken with anxiety and anger. "You can't shove us off the earth."
"Be on your way in twenty-four hours," the man said, pushing back his coat to show the star on his vest. "I'm sorry, but that's the way it is."
"Americans?" Daddy said harshly, watching the sheriff go. "We're folks without a country."
"May as well give the young-ones some of the grub we bought," Grandpa said patiently.
It was while they were hungrily munching29 the dry bread and cheese that another car came upon them and with it another swift change in their changing life.
Two young women stepped out of the chirpy Ford30 sedan. Neither of them looked like Her, nor even Her No. II--yet Jimmie whispered excitedly to Rose-Ellen, "I bet you a nickel they're Christian Centerers!"
And they were. Sent by the churches, like the Center workers in the cranberries31, in the peas and in Cissy's onions, they went out through the country to help the people who needed them. The sheriff, it seemed, had told them about the Beechams when he met them a few minutes ago.
First they looked in at Grandma, still asleep with the Seth Thomas ticking beside her. "Why, I've heard of you from Miss Pinkerton," said one young woman. "She said you were the kind of people who deserved a better chance. Maybe I can help you get one." Then they talked long and earnestly with Grandpa and Daddy.
Grandpa had flapped his hands at the children and said, "Skedaddle, young-ones!" So the children could hear nothing of the talk except that it was all questions and answers that grew more and more brisk and eager. It ended in hooking the trailer, which carried the tent and Carrie, to the sedan, into which was helped a dazed Grandma. The rest of the family was packed in and off they all rattled32 to town.
There the "Centerers" left the Beechams in a restaurant, but only to come back in a few minutes, beaming.
"We got them on long distance, and it's all right!" they told Grandpa and Daddy.
"What's all right?" asked Grandma, beginning to be more like her old self once more.
"A real nice place to stay in the grape country," Grandpa said quickly. "And Miss Joyce here, she's going to take us down there tomorrow. Down in the San Joaquin Valley."
Next morning Miss Joyce came to the tourist camp where they had slept and breakfasted. She looked long at Carrie. Was Carrie worth taking? Did she give much milk?
Jimmie burst into tears. "Well, even if she doesn't, she does the best she can," he sobbed33. "Isn't she one of the family?"
Miss Joyce patted his frail34 little shoulder and said "Oh, well . . . !"
So Carrie was fastened into her trailer again, and the sedan rattled southward all day, through peach orchards35 and vineyards where the grapevines were fastened to short stakes so that they looked like bushes instead of vines.
"It's . . . real sightly country," said Grandma, who felt much better after her rest. "If only a body could settle down, I can't figure any place much nicer. Them trees now, with the sun slanting36 through.--We ain't stopping here?"
Yes, the sedan, with the trailer swaying after it, was banging into a tiny village of brown and white cottages, with green gardens between them and stately eucalyptus37 trees shading them, while behind them stretched evenly spaced young fruit trees. Before the one empty cottage the sedan stopped. The Beechams and Miss Joyce went in.
There was little furniture in the clean house, but Grandma, dropping down on a wooden chair, looked around her with bright eyes. "A sitting room!" she said. "A sitting room! Seems like we were real folks again, just for a little while. Grampa, you fetch in the clock and set it on that shelf, will you?"
Grandpa brought in the old Seth Thomas, its hands pointing to half-past three. "Tick-tock! Tick-tock!" it said, as contentedly38 as if it had always lived there.
The children went tiptoeing, hobbling, rushing through the clean, bare rooms, their voices echoing as they called back their news. "Gramma, there's a real bathroom!" "Gramma, soon's you feel better you can bake a pie in this gas stove!" "Gramma, here's an e-_lec_-tric refrigerator! And a washing machine! And a screened porch with a table to eat at!"
Good California smells of eucalyptus trees and, herbs and flowers drifted through open doors and windows, together with the chuckling39, scolding, joyous40 clamor of mocking birds.
"I . . . I wish we didn't have to move on again!" Grandma said.
"It's a pretty good set-up," Grandpa agreed. "Good school over yonder; and a church--and big enough garden for all our garden sass and to can some." He was ticking off the points on his fingers. "And a chicken-house, and then this here cooperative farm where the folks all work together and share the profits."
Jimmie flung himself down on the floor, sobbing41. "I don't want to go on anywhere," he hiccupped. "I want to stay here."
But Dick was looking from Grandpa to Miss Joyce and then to Daddy who had come, smiling, in at the back door. "You mean. . . ." The words choked Dick. "You mean we might settle here? But how? Who fixed42 it?"
"The government!" Grandpa said triumphantly43. "Mind you, this place is the government's fixing, to give migrants a chance to take root again. It's an experiment they are trying, and we are having the chance to work with them. We can buy this place and pay for it over a long term of years. We've got the Christian Center and the government to thank."
"Why, maybe after a while we could even send for the goods we stored at Mrs. Albi's!" Grandma cried dazedly44.
"You mean this is home? Home?" shrieked45 Rose-Ellen.
"Carrie thinks so," Daddy, said with a smile. "Run along and see if she doesn't. Run along!"
The children rushed past him into the backyard. There stood Carrie, still a moth-eaten-looking white goat. But now she had a new gleam in her amber46 eyes, and at her feet a tiny, curly kid, as black as coal.
"Maaaaaaa!" Carrie said proudly. From within the brown and white cottage Seth Thomas pealed47 out twelve chimes--eight extra--as if he, too, were shouting for joy.
The End
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1
orphan
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| n.孤儿；adj.无父母的 | |
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hairpins
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| n.发夹( hairpin的名词复数 ) | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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bulged
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| 凸出( bulge的过去式和过去分词 )； 充满； 塞满（某物） | |
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jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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rim
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| n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界 | |
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crackers
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| adj.精神错乱的，癫狂的n.爆竹( cracker的名词复数 )；薄脆饼干；（认为）十分愉快的事；迷人的姑娘 | |
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8
scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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rummaged
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| 翻找，搜寻( rummage的过去式和过去分词 )； 已经海关检查 | |
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10
tar
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| n.柏油，焦油；vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于 | |
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gee
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| n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转 | |
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12
scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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13
enchanting
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| a.讨人喜欢的 | |
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14
grumbled
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| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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itch
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| n.痒，渴望，疥癣；vi.发痒，渴望 | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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20
jeered
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| v.嘲笑( jeer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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21
hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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22
figs
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| figures 数字，图形，外形 | |
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23
bellowed
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的过去式和过去分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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24
bulging
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| 膨胀； 凸出（部）； 打气； 折皱 | |
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25
jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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26
tightened
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| 收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧 | |
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stoutly
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| adv.牢固地，粗壮的 | |
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28
blustered
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| v.外强中干的威吓( bluster的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮；（风）呼啸；狂吹 | |
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29
munching
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| v.用力咀嚼（某物），大嚼( munch的现在分词 ) | |
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Ford
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| n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过 | |
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31
cranberries
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| n.越橘( cranberry的名词复数 ) | |
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32
rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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33
sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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orchards
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| （通常指围起来的）果园( orchard的名词复数 ) | |
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slanting
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| 倾斜的，歪斜的 | |
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37
eucalyptus
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| n.桉树，桉属植物 | |
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38
contentedly
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| adv.心满意足地 | |
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39
chuckling
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的现在分词 ) | |
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40
joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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41
sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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42
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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43
triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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44
dazedly
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| 头昏眼花地，眼花缭乱地，茫然地 | |
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45
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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46
amber
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| n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的 | |
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47
pealed
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| v.（使）（钟等）鸣响，（雷等）发出隆隆声( peal的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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