Believing the Dream Read Online Free PDF Page A

Kaaren’s deep-thinking actions. Something good would come from their discussion, something really good.
    When she heard Mr. McBride come in through the door, she fixed a plate with the leftover bread and cheese and poured a cup of coffee. Perhaps with a bit more encouragement, including food, George McBride would be more amenable to bending his fingers again.

    That evening, when supper was finished and everyone had pitched in to do their share of the chores, the Knutson family and all the deaf students gathered in the parlor that had been enlarged enough for everyone to have a seat. Lars and Trygve, his elder son, carved new wooden spoons for the cooks, and Samuel, the baby of the family at six, played with a kitten from the batch who lived behind the kitchen stove. Kaaren took up the book she’d begun reading a few days earlier and turned to where they’d left off, reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer aloud while Sophie signed so the deaf students could enjoy the story too.
    “We have a black man living here in Blessing too, huh, Ma?” Trygve, setting his carving in his lap, interrupted the story. “I like Mr. Sam.”
    “The Lincolns are fine folks,” Lars said around the stem of his pipe, which as usual had gone out.
    “How come some people don’t like them or Metiz and Baptiste either?” Trygve asked.
    “Because they are stupid.”
    “Sophie, how can you say such a thing?” Kaaren kept her place with one finger and frowned at her daughter.
    “Well, they are. Toby Valders said something mean to Lemuel, and he had no right to do that. He’s not just stupid, he’s mean too.”
    “Me and Andrew are going to—” Trygve clapped a hand over his mouth.
    Lars took his pipe from his mouth and set it on the table beside him. No one in the room moved, not even George McBride, who’d been tapping his foot where he sat over in the corner.
    “Now, Trygve, finish what you were about to say.” Lars looked straight into his son’s eyes.
    Trygve stared down at his hands. “We want to teach Toby a lesson, one that he remembers for a good long time.”
    “And what are you going to do?”
    Trygve shrugged. “Don’t know yet.”
    “I see. And what has Pastor Solberg been teaching Andrew and Toby?”
    “How to chop wood?”
    Kaaren kept herself from smiling at the innocent look Trygve gave his father. She put her arm around Samuel so he could lean against her shoulder. Lord, help these sons of ours to learn to love peace and seek righteousness, not with their fists. There must be a way to get through to Toby . She remembered the day the two little boys had been discovered stealing food from Penny’s store. They’d hidden on the train coming out of the slums of New York and finally made it to Blessing before getting caught. The childless Valderses had adopted them, and life had never been the same in Blessing.
    “Don’t you think chopping wood is to help them consider what they’ve done wrong and to help them learn to live right?” Lars rested his elbow on his knees and stared intently at his son.
    “Oh.” Trygve played with a curl of wood. “But Far, sometimes Toby is mean to Grace too, and—” His sister laid a hand on his arm and shook her head no.
    “He is too.”
    One of the other children stood and came over to Kaaren, standing by the arm of her rocker until, with a smile, Kaaren put her other arm around the girl.
    “It’s all right.” She spoke slowly and clearly so the child could lip-read. “I think we should talk about this later, or we’ll never get our reading done tonight. Trygve, you get the Bible and turn to First John. Sophie, let’s read.” She opened Tom Sawyer to the page they’d been on and continued reading, the kitten purring in her lap while Samuel stroked its fur.
    When finished with the chapter, Kaaren took the Bible from Trygve and began reading. “ ‘Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God. . . . ’ ” When she finished, she said, “This is what God has