The Village Squire, 1981-08, Page 22VILLAGE SQUIRE FICTION
Myske
"Are we going to buy a farm Papa?"
Ja, Myske , some day ."
by Cecilia Peiterse Kennedy
171
hen the flag was up there
was mail in the box. One day the
mail lady stopped and honked her
horn until Mom put her coat on
and went out of the house. Regina
watched from the window. Snow danced
between her mother and the mail lady
and the red flag on the box. There was a
big package wrapped with string and
brown paper. Mom was smiling when she
came back down the driveway. The
packaged disappeared into her bedroom
closet and Mom set the table for tea.
It's from Opa and Oma." she said.
"We'll open it at Christmas time." There
was a letter too and she read it while she
drank her tea. Regina had some tea with
milk and sugar in it. She, looked at the
white sugar bowl with blue flowers on it.
It didn't have its handles anymore.
"Tell me again where Opa and Oma
are?" asked Regina.
"In Holland," said her mother, looking
up from the blue aerogram. "Thousands
of miles away over the ocean."
"Oh." said Regina. holding her tea
cup with both hands. "Is it nice there?"
"Yes." said her mother. "It's always
wet there, all water and ditches, little
bridges and every village has a steeple.
The wind blows in the marshes and it
rains. Your Opa has a boat to row to his
fields."
"Did Papa row a boat to the fields?"
"Yes"
"Oh." said Regina.
"We got a package from my Opa and
Oma." said Regina to Barbara, the girl
who lived across the yard. She was bigger
than Regina, she was between Regina
and her brother John.
"What's an Opa?"
Regina thought. "Like your grandma."
Barbara was not impressed. "Probably
has socks and underwear in it.
"Does not!"
"Let's play dolls."
Regina went across the yard to get her
doll Myske and bring her to Barbara's
house. Myske had a china head. She wore
a white sweater knitted with tiny needles
that Mom had made and checkered pants
that were white and black. Myske herself
had come from another brown paper
package from Opa and Oma.
"That's a dumb name," said Barbara,
while they played on the kitchen floor in
her house. "That's a dumb name. This is
Sandra." Sandra wore a pink dress and
wet her pants.
PG 20 VILLAGE SQUIRE/AUGUST 1981
Barbara's house smelled like dust
because her mother was running the
vacuum cleaner. When she came to clean
the kitchen floor she sent the girls
outside.
"Let's go see the pigs." said Regina.
Regina was afraid of the pigs but she
went to see them anyway. There had
been chickens in the shed with the pigs
and the chickens disappeared and Papa
said that the pigs ate the chickens. Mom
said, get rid of those pigs Wout, think
what they might to the kids. Barbara and
Regina stepped into the dark musty shed.
There were two high pens behind which
the pigs grunted. pushing their pink
snouts against the cracks in the boards.
John was in the shed. sitting on a bale of
straw. watching the pigs. He was
Regina's brother. He was bigger than
Regina.
"You're not supposed to come in
here." he said. "Go on out of here."
Barbara didn't like the pigs and she
went home. Regina went into her own
house. It was warm because the stove
was on and Mom was getting dinner
ready. Her house had a smell too, warm
stove. salt and carrots and Papa's
cigarettes. Every house in the world has a
smell. thought Regina.
"What's wrong with Myske?" Regina
asked her mother. "Barbara doesn't like
her."
"I don't know." said Mom, who was
cutting up the vegetables for dinner.
"She is your Myske. your little girl, like
you are your Papa's myske."
Papa was big and each day when he
came home from work he tickled her and
rubbed her cheek with his rough beard
until she screamed. Papa wanted to buy a
farm. In Holland he had been a farmer
like Opa but he had never had his own
land. There had been a war there with
Nazis who banged on the door and took
the radios away. You couldn't go out at
night and they almost sent Papa to
another country to work in a factory like
Oom Wout who always fell asleep after he
came back. They didn't get enough to eat
there. Regina was afraid of Nazis.
Now the war was over and Papa had
come to Canada to have a farm.
On Sundays they got in the car and
drove around. looking at farms. They
went on the backroads through the little
villages and bought ice creams. Unce
they had a flat tire. It was winter, cold,
Regina sat on the top rail of a fence in her
snow suit. Papa swore and kicked the tire
and Regina knew he was mad. J ohn
watched Papa, ready to hand him tools
when he wanted them. Mom stayed in the
car. Papa lifted the heavy tire off of the
car and he was sweating.
Another car stopped, pulled off the
mad onto the snowy shoulder. It was old
and round like their car. A man got out
and walked to them.
"You got trouble?" he said. There was
something familiar and warm about his
voice.
"Ja." said Papa, "Got a flat tire."
They looked at each other. "You must
be a Hollander too," said the man "Ik
ook. Henk Peper van Schagen in Noord
Holland " and he put out his hand. He
and Papa shook hands.
"Wout Capel," said Papa, "van vlak
bii Alphen Rign."
A lady and some kids came out of the
other car. Mom came out of the car. John
advanced boldly toward the other boys.
They were all white blond. Regina
swung on the rail fence. Mr. Piper helped
Papa put the spare tire on the car.
Later they visited Pipers often on Pap's
day off from the plant. Their house was
alone on a gravel road and it smelled of
eggs and milk. There was a big tall barn
with cows and chickens and cats in it.
Harry and Cor were the two Piper boys.
They had white, white hair and Cor had
freckles on his nose. John and Harry
whispered to each other and wouldn't let
Cor play with them. He was too small
they said, and ran behind the barn to
build a fort in the lumber pile.
Cor was mad but he took Regina into
the barn to see the animals. He showed
her how to find the eggs and she even
saw one drop from a chicken into the
VILLAGE SQUIREIAUGUST 1981 PG 21