The next day, Aunt Helen took what she called “her girls” to Union Station. On parting, the three of them were nearly in tears. Dell met them at Belleville Station. He had the two children with him. The first thing Dell asked was, “How did the pair of you make out in the bright lights?”
Nancy said, “Aunt Helen treated us like royalty. I enjoyed myself and I think so did Phoebe.”
“Oh, I had a wonderful time, Dell. Why it is like you’re in another world,” Phoebe said.
“Aunt Helen took us around the Parliament buildings,” Nancy went on, “and told us that was where you and all your cohorts dreamed up all of them silly laws that we resent. Know something, Dell, Phoebe has got an invitation to be a guest singer in auntie’s church choir.”
Dell patted Phoebe between her shoulders. “Go for it, girl.” To Nancy, Dell said, “That is one church service that you and I won’t miss.
When Phoebe got home, all the family were anxious to hear all about her sojourn in the big city. She said that it was like a mad house. She was a very very careful not to make a slip about her invitation to sing in the Ashcroft church. If that got out in Dunadry, she would be ostracized. She was saying that when the organ started up you would think you were floating on cloud.
Sister Esther and brother Earl were off to a young people’s meeting up in the Township Hall. Phoebe told the maw and paw about her invitation to sing in the big church.
“But, for God’s sake, never mention it to anyone.”
“Listen, dear, you do not know how your dad and I worry about you. It might sound good. I think you had better stay closer to home.”
Phoebe said, “I understand that they pay good money to a guest singer.”
“Phoebe, that don’t make sense to me. No church pays out money to nobody only the minister and caretaker. You be careful, girl. You know as well as I do that if it were not for the volunteers felling the trees and buzzing them up into stove wood, we would freeze to death. Phoebe, wake up. Even in your room we have the material for you to make your own choir gown. No, it’s too much worry for your dad and I even dream of you away from home, maybe staying at one of them there big skyscraper hotels.”
“Well, listen, Maw. I’m going to make this short and sweet and you don’t have to reply. I’ve got your message loud and clear for some time. Dad was your first and only boyfriend and you were his first and only girlfriend. Well, Mum, I can read between the lines and that’s the way it’s going to be with me. End of discussion.”
Mum looked over to dad with half a grin.
“Well, Dan, that takes a load off our minds. But don’t forget, dear, we worry about you all the time.”
Dan said, “Well, you will all have to forget your gallivanting. Next week Gregson’s is starting to process asparagus and they tell me the strawberry patches will blossom white in a week or so.”
Phoebe was beginning to think seriously about applying to the Kingston School of nursing for the fall seminar but would just have to wait until she received the results of her exams. She was still mulling it over in her mind if she should accept that invitation to sing in Toronto or not. It would be great as she could make enough money to put a larger thirty-two inch buzz saw blade on the daddy’s outfit. He could then buzz up to a fifteen inch log. But then again we would need more power, she thought. I’ll bet we could get a more powerful star motor from Rob Dennison, the wrecker, and get rid of that model we are using now. Then again I should take mum’s advice and forget at all. Mum is right. No church that is God-fearing has money to pay singers. Maybe it would be a sin if I accepted money for singing in God’s house. After all, there must be poor people in Toronto that could be doing with their surplus cash.
It was nigh a month since Phoebe had been in Toronto. In the meantime, Nancy had a call from Aunt Helen wanting to know how she was making out with the girl. Nancy had to block Aunt Helen on that call as there were six on her party line. Nancy told Aunt Helen that she would call her from the pay phone in the village later as it was the only private line available and convenient.
Note: In the 1930s several people shared a single telephone line and, by lifting the receiver carefully, one could listen in on the conversations of others on the same line. It was a popular form of stealthy entertainment and people took care never to say anything they didn’t want the whole neighbourhood to know. Each household had its own distinctive ring which all the houses heard, giving away who of interest was going to be talking on the phone. Long distance calls were expensive and rare.
Nancy called Aunt Helen from the payphone.
“It’s an iffy proposition because the parents can’t get it through your heads how can a church pay anyone to sing and call themselves Christians. And you would be surprised to learn just how much Phoebe agrees with her parents. I would think that the only way would be for Dell and I to go down to the village and try to explain to the Croiners just how the church gets its finances through investments and just how it pays the minister, the choirmaster and the organist and the janitors etc. and besides, pays thousand dollars for other charitable needs in Toronto. If we were fortunate enough to secure Phoebe for the service, let me warn you that she cannot be routed out of our church here on a Thanksgiving service or the Christmas musical. That is a no-no. Also, it is the fruit processing season down here. Well, Aunt, Dell and I will do our best to explain the situation to Bertha and Dan and if we can get a commitment of sorts we will be in touch.”
Phoebe came home from babysitting for the Sintons. Dell and Nancy were away to present old man Seth Mulligan with a plaque from the government on the occasion of his one hundred and third birthday. After the Amos and Andy radio program, maw and paw were more attentive to what Phoebe had on her mind.
“Well, Dad, Nancy and Dell are coming down Thursday night to explain to us how the Ashcroft church operates. Apparently, they would like to hear me sing up there.”
“Well, Phoebe, maybe they can learn us something but I doubt it very much. Why we had a chaplain here some years ago from Camp Borden to tell us all about his ministering to the wounded at Vimy Ridge. You know something, we had to lift a collection to buy a ticket for that man to get him back to Borden. Maybe all the rich people up in the city put $5 each on the collection plate.”
Thursday night, sure enough Dell and Nancy showed up.
“Planted any spuds yet, Dan?” was Dells’s first tenor of conversation.
“Well, Dell, I think that I will try the Irish cobblers this year. I didn’t have much luck with them Gems last year.”
“Well, Dan, about Phoebe singing in auntie’s Church. I can tell you that auntie has heard Phoebe a good many times down here. And she feels confident that Phoebe can hold her own with anyone anywhere. Auntie would be honored if Phoebe could see her away to come. Now Dan, I want you and Bertha to listen to me. First of all, I know for sure that she will be well looked after and I know that she will be well paid. Now Dan, don’t feel guilty about getting money from a church. They have a board of the smart businessmen and they know how to invest the church money to make money. They invest in gold, oil, you name it. Why if the church were to operate on the collection plate they would be living from week to week. This way they can pay off their bills and have thousands left to maintain their charities for the poor in downtown Toronto. You know, Dan, Phoebe is one of us. Take your time to think it over, all of you. Well, I suppose we will be seeing you at the weekend, Phoebe. “
As the Sintons put on their light spring coats and headed home, Dell said, “If by any chance Phoebe and you decide to go up to Ashcroft, that’s a service we all won’t miss. Up to Toronto and home all in the same day”
Dan looked at Phoebe. “Well, that’s a different kettle of fish. Darn it all, what does you and your mother think of it all?”
Bertha said, “It sounds fairly reasonable to me. The clincher is that if the Sintons and Aunt Helen are so sure of themselves I do not think we have much to worry about unless we drag along some of our false fears.”
Phoebe said, “If by any chance that we decided that I should go, there is one thing for sure, that I would have to be up there for a few days or so as I could have a few practices in the church and maybe with their choir so as I could get acquainted with that massive organ and the acoustics.”
The county was ablaze with blossom, the lilacs, the apple trees and cherry trees. You could even see it in people’s faces like they had thrown their winter blahs away with their winter overshoes. Phoebe was studying hard for her final exams as she wanted to get as high marks as possible seeing that she would have to show them on her application forms for the School of Nursing. Dan and Bertha Croiner had talked it over between themselves. Well, like straddling an abyss, they finally decided to leave it up entirely to Phoebe.
At church on Sunday, after the service, most of the parishioners outside the church seemed to huddle in groups, some discussing weather, others discussing the service or if it was too early to plant corn. A big topic was when is the bloody council going to get around to having the roads graded. The Sintons and the Croiners were no exception in their little huddle. Dell asked Dan if they had considered the proposition of the Phoebe singing up in the Ashcroft church.
Well, Dell, now that we are up in the shadow of the church, we have left it entirely up to Phoebe. She will have to listen to the questions and have the answers. We have left it in the hands of God and we have all the faith in the world in Mrs. Forester.”
Nancy told Bertha that, “If we were not here in the public I would throw my arms around you and give you a big kiss.”
Nancy called auntie that afternoon and gave her the good news. Nancy carried on. “You know, Auntie, in thirty-seven days it will be your birthday. How about coming down here to celebrate?”
Well, Nancy, that’s an idea. I will mull it over and get in touch with you later.”
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