For my aunts Lucile Barker Kane and Amandalee Barker Knoles with thanks for their stories about their young years near Provost Alberta
1 W H O A G I N G E R said Josie The sturdy bay pony halted in the dusty wagon track She was used to resting for a moment in this spot because Josie always stopped here to look across the fields at the silver house Even today when her brother Sam was far ahead of her in a tearing hurry to get to town she could take just a minute to admire it The silver house stood all alone on a small rise of ground It didn’t have even a chicken house to keep it company or a path to invite a traveler to its door Nothing around it moved except the prairie grass stirring gently in the hot wind Today it seemed to Josie that the house was just lightly settled on the earth like a big gray bird At any moment it might spread its wings and slowly fly away back to a place where such houses were common Of course the house was not really silver It was built of unpainted boards that had weathered to a soft silvery gray The house Josie lived in was built of weathered wood too but nails had been pounded into it snowballs thrown
against it and clotheslines attached to it It looked like a house that had been well used for three years by five people and by horses who loved to rub against it to get the flies off But no one had ever lived in the silver house Josie knew the story Mr Ranald McLeod had come to the Curlew district from Ontario just like thousands of other homesteaders He had worked for three years to prove up his claim and build a house for his bride who would come from back east as soon as it was finished Josie thought that he must have loved her very much because he had built a fine house It wasn’t big no homesteader could afford the lumber for a big house but it was not a one-story box like the other houses around Curlew It had an upstairs with two dormer windows one in front and one in back as well as curly gingerbread trim under the eaves and a wide front porch On a hot day like this Josie liked to imagine sitting on that porch with a glass of cool lemonade in her hand looking out over the wide prairie landscape There would be no chores to do no one to hustle her out to pump water or bring in the washing Josie heard hoofbeats and looked down the track It was Sam of course He was taking the chance to get King up to
a gallop for a few minutes In this weather Pa always said Let the horses take it easy when they can But Sam couldn’t resist an excuse to go fast The train will be here in five minutes he said We shouldn’t be wasting time I know said Josie She pressed her bare heels into Ginger’s round sides and the pony reluctantly started trotting at a gentle pace Sam turned King and rode alongside The track had been worn through the prairie grass by horses and wagons In the three years the Ferriers had lived near the town of Curlew it had gotten wide enough for two horses side by side Josie could remember when it was so faint and narrow that it could barely be seen in some places Now Pa said that soon it would be a proper road and then maybe they could get a Model T Ford Sam looked over at Josie Why do you like to look at that house so much he asked idly Josie thought for a minute It’s special she said It’s like a house from far away that got here accidentally And it’s so sad that Mr McLeod doesn’t live in it Somebody should It’s the best house around here She didn’t tell Sam that she always thought of Mr McLeod’s lost bride She was the sad part of the story of
