Deliverance

They were a brother and sister living in Deliverance, Dakota Territory. It was 1890. They were 16 and 14. The nearest city was Sioux Falls. They would sit holding hands on the porch while their parents worked in the fields and in the house. At night, the father would play the violin and read the Bible. The mother would sing gospel songs. They would sing along. During the day they walked to a one room schoolhouse.

There was one saloon in the town and the saloon keeper was the school-mistress. She served food but no alcohol and didn’t tolerate any nonsense.

It was hard, now, living in a charred house. The fire had been in the kitchen but the bedrooms were mostly spared. They still had nightmares of the screaming and the shallow pits they dug for their parents after dragging the bodies to the woods.

Now they were alone. They remembered their mother’s saying when they misbehaved, “The wages of sin are death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The father would say, “If you do wrong you will be punished in this life, not just the next.”

They would plow the fields by themselves, spring wheat, canola and barley. One day the brother said, “I am going to town to get supplies to build this house back up.” The sister said, “God go with you.” He said, “You need to come along and help.” So they went.

They arrived in town with some money for wood, nails and a stove, and dishes. They went to the saloon because they were hungry and they needed lunch. So they sat down meekly and ordered some biscuits and sauerkraut. Then some men came up to the table (the men were in their twenties) and said, “What’re you kids doing here?” They said, “We have come to buy some wood, nails, stove, and some dishes.” They said, “Ain’t you pretty.”  They laughed at their hand sewn clothes. The boy got mad and yelled “Get away from us!” They laughed and kicked him. The sister begged, “Brother, let’s go.”  But the men said to the brother, “You’re not a man till you drink with us.” So he sat with them, while the sister watched nervously. So they got him drunk and laughed at him.

The sister took him to a house that a woman rented to boarders. He sobered up the next day. But then he said, “I want to have fun like the people here,”  She said, “Mother would not like this place, I want to go home.” He said “Do what you want, I’m staying.”

The men told him of a place where he would meet women. She warned him, “The wages of sin are death.” He laughed and she went home.

She had to plow the fields by herself. It took a long time. She was very tired. He never did come back and she made do by cooking the wheat barley and canola with water from the well. She planted some vegetables, too.

One day she got a letter from her brother, “I have contracted a disease. You must go to St Michael’s Catholic Church and make some acquaintances. There are some good people there.” The boy was now 18, he had syphilis. He knew he had to change his life. He wanted to become a priest, but he knew the people would laugh at him there, so he went to Sioux Falls. He wrote to his sister, “You must find a husband, I may not return. The letter came back from his sister, “I am happy with the Lord, I don’t want to marry.” He wrote back, “I won’t be coming back. Provide for yourself.” She was afraid, but she went to town and asked where St. Michael’s was.

It was Sunday and the sun was shining bright. She stepped in. It was the most magnificent thing she had seen. The organ was large and gleaming, the altar was decked out in flowers, and the stained glass windows shone brilliantly. The organ had the biggest sound she had ever heard. She watched the other people. Many of them appeared kind and good. She thought of how imposing the altar was and how awestruck she was by the statues. She smelled incense. She prayed to God for her life and for her brother.

©Copyright 2023 by Cecile Bianco

Featured image by Ylanite Koppens from Pixabay