Mike Stearns was waiting for them when they came out. “Mr. Blanton, thank you for taking care of her. None of us had any idea where she went after she knocked Dan down and ran off. We’ll see if we can find a place for her to stay until her parents are ready to go home.”
George looked at Anna, then at Elizabeth, and back to Mike. “She has a place to stay, Mike. And her mother, too, when she’s ready.”
“I thought you liked living alone, George,” Elizabeth said softly. “That you didn’t want any company.”
“I thought so too, Beth. But I guess that I was wrong.” Smiling at Anna, he held out his hand. “Kommen, Anna. Let’s go home.”
2
The drive back to George’s farm was silent. Neither of them could speak the other’s language beyond a few words.
Anna didn’t want to risk annoying the old man. She was getting a sense of him, of his personality. He wasn’t really a mean old man. He was just set in his ways. That, at least, she understood. Grandfather Steffan was like that about some things. He had his own ways, and no one could change him. That thought steadied her.
She looked out at the scenery as it sped by, amazed by how fast they seemed to be going, and how smooth the ride was. The farm wagon was nothing like this. Soon they were driving into the barn.
George opened his door and got out, but Anna just sat staring at the door.
“Well, what are you waiting for? Expect me to open the door for you like you were some lady?” he asked harshly.
Anna looked at him in confusion. She didn’t understand him, and she couldn’t see how to open the door.
The expression on her face finally registered, and George sighed. “Here, like this,” he said, tapping on the door and pulling the handle.
Anna watched him carefully, then tried it. There was a click, but nothing happened. George said, “Push,” and she looked to see him pushing the door with his other hand. Her hand came up and the door opened. She turned a radiant smile on him that stopped George in his tracks as she climbed out. She followed the example that the Reardons had set at the school and pushed the door closed behind her, then walked around the truck and stood waiting for him.
“All right, Anna, let’s go inside and get you settled,” George said, motioning toward the house. Anna walked beside him, watching him closely as he brought out the bundle of keys. Once the two were inside, George was at a loss as to what he should do. Elizabeth had taken her dictionary with her, and the five or six German words that he knew just weren’t enough.
George finally sighed and shook his head. “What did you do that for, Blanton? Take on a foundling that you can’t even talk to.” He looked at Anna and saw her puzzled expression, and smiled. “Don’t mind me, Anna. I’ve been the only person that listens to me for years. Living alone can do that.” He smiled and saw her smile in return.
“Well, the first thing to do is get you settled in a room. The only rooms with beds are mine, the guest room that Beth used and… and Dave’s room.” He paused as a wave of grief and sadness washed over him. “I think Dave’s room has been empty long enough,” he said softly to himself. To Anna, he simply said, “Kommen.”
Dave’s room was at the far end of the house. That had been Mary’s idea, to give him some privacy from his parents’ prying ears. After all, he had been thirty-three when he had moved back in with them. And a handsome man as well, if the women that he attracted were any indication. He had kept his affairs light and quiet during the years that he had been there, and seldom woke his parents late at night.
The room was musty and dusty. George hadn’t really kept it up after Dave’s death. He hadn’t really cleaned it after Dave’s death. Now he sighed deeply.