For Forrest and his cousin the amazing Magnolia Marie Cole s
CHAPTER ONE Coming to Colorado b Where’s Papa Belle Martin asked looking around the train station Carrie shook her head Hush she whispered Belle frowned Was Carrie suggesting that if she hadn’t asked about Papa Mama wouldn’t have noticed he wasn’t there to meet them Belle searched the depot hoping to spot her father Perhaps he was lost in the crowd of people milling about She saw men removing farm equipment that had come in on the train and putting it into wagons A boy helped his father lift bags of seeds out of one of the cars and stack them on the depot platform A woman wearing a worn shawl over 1
her head tried to hold on to half a dozen children talking to them in a language Belle didn’t understand Carrie had told her they were immigrants people who had come to America from other countries hoping for a better life They expected to farm in Colorado Women got off the train and stood on the metal platform and searched the crowd for their husbands then smiled when they found them Belle watched one woman as she hugged a man As his face turned red he removed her arms But she would have none of it Six months since I’ve seen you and I’ve the right to a little affection she said But there was no Papa One by one as their husbands claimed them the women left the platform a few getting into automobiles or trucks but most into wagons The immigrants too crowded into rickety wagons and drove off across the brown prairie leaving only the Martins A few people glanced at Mama who looked frail and sick and leaned against Carrie for support But they didn’t ask what was wrong or offer to help And nobody paid attention to Belle who stood at the edge of the rough boards holding the hands of two little girls Sarah age four and Becky two Belle’s brother Frank eleven sat on 2 HARDSCRABBLE
Chapter One one of their trunks with another brother Gully five Beside them were boxes and barrels of dishes and pots and pans and sacks of flour and sugar There were containers of salt and spices and dozens of other items Mama thought they would need on a farm We haven’t seen Papa for six months either Where is he Belle Is he coming Frank asked He’ll be here He expects us He promised to meet us Then she added Maybe he got the day wrong This is June 11 1910 isn’t it And this is Mingo Colorado isn’t it Frank shrugged in a How would I know gesture Belle tried not to think of the conversation she had overheard on the train A man had been talking about a woman who had arrived in Mingo just a week earlier to meet her husband only to discover he wasn’t there at all He was supposed to have left the East to file for a homestead near Mingo but instead he’d taken their money and run off So there she was no husband and not enough money to buy a ticket back to where she’d come from Belle half expected to see the woman standing on the platform still but of course she was gone The Martins too didn’t have the money for return 3
