Time was swiftly passing and Nancy kept Helen up-to-date on the situation down on the farm. Well, it was nigh the middle of August and they were keeping their fingers crossed. At church on Sunday, Phoebe told Nancy that, by this Wednesday, she should have the information that they were all anxiously be waiting for. Sure enough, come Wednesday, at quitting time Phoebe called Nancy from the company phone.
“I was talking to Mr. Gregson and he told me that he was pretty sure they would have to close up shop for this Saturday and Sunday. He said to me, if I had any plans of going away with my boyfriend to go ahead.”
Well, that evening Nancy called her aunt and told her that if her and Mr. Gilson could see their way to be here on Saturday that we would be glad to see them.
Apparently all arrangements have been made for the visit of Aunt Helen and Mr. Gilson. They said that they would leave Toronto by nine a.m. With Dell and Nancy it was a time of anticipation, wondering if Phoebe could be persuaded to sing a solo for Mr. Gilson. Nancy thought that she would. Dell cut some hay the Friday before Saturday, giving it time to lie and cure for the weekend. Sure enough, before noon, Aunt Helen and Mr. Gilson drove up the driveway in Mr. Gilson’s Hudson.
On welcoming Mr. Gilson, Dell said. “Mr. Gilson, I’m Dell and this is Nancy and the juniors are Jean and Blake.”
“Well, Dell, this looks like beautiful country you have done this way.”
“Well, Mr. Gilson, we’d like to think so,” was Dell’s reply.
About 30 minutes later, Dan came charging up the driveway in his 1924 Durant with Phoebe. Mr. Gilson and Aunt Helen were out on the porch. Dell came out of the barn when he heard Dan’s Durant in the vicinity.
Dell said, “Dan, come on up and meet Mr. Gilson.” Dell said to Mr. Gilson, “This is Mr. Croiner, Phoebe’s father.”
Dan shook Mr. Gilson’s hand. “Plaised ta meet ya, sir.”
Dell said, “This is Phoebe, Dan’s daughter as you already know.”
It was quite a contrast seeing these two men, Dan in his working overalls and the weather beaten straw hat and smoking, of all things, a Peterson pipe.
“That is a fine daughter you have, Mr. Croiner.”
Indeed she is. Oh, she has a little bit of a temper and the muscle to back it up if she has to defend herself.” Dan pointed Mr. Gilson to Dell’s cut hayfield. “You know that girl could go down there and pitch hay all day and keep up to Dell any time.”
Nancy came out the door and hollered, “Dan, will you come in and have a bite with us?”
“No thanks. Bertha is busy down there putting up tomatoes. I will have to be getting some bug killer on them there spuds or the bugs will have them all. Dell, will I pick up the girl or when you run her down?”
“Don’t worry, Dan. I will bring her home.”
Phoebe was very reserved. In fact she was shy. Mr. Gilson could see that Phoebe was very familiar with the Sintons’ home, the way she helped to set up the table, etc.
Nancy asked if all you people liked pears or peaches. “Aunt Helen, what do you prefer?”
“Oh,” said Helen, “if it is alright with the rest of you, I would like to sample Mrs. Sinton’s pears.”
Pears were the choirmaster’s choice. Nancy asked Phoebe if she would run down the cellar and fetch up a jar of pears. Everybody was seated around a table laden with an abundance of farm food. Nancy asked little Jean if she would ask the blessings. After dinner, Dell went down to the barn to have a look. He had a heifer that was due to freshen (give birth) anytime. Mr. Gilson went with him to have a look. Nancy, Phoebe and the little girl, Jean, cleaned up the dinner dishes.
Nancy said, “Phoebe, did you ever consider the time and effort that it took to put on a good meal on the table then, bingo, in twenty minutes it’s a total wreck?”
After a while they all retired to the big screened veranda. Mr. Gilson looked very diplomatic in his sandy colored pants and shirt to match, also his fine sports shoes. His hair had receded well back on his forehead. He had to be a little coy getting Phoebe to express herself openly.
“Helen, tells me that you have successfully graduated from high school. Well, Phoebe, that’s what I call the first big hurdle in your pre-future. Oh, I just wish that it was my own graduating class. It’s a time to set goals. Sometimes we set our goals too high in the mountains and fail to climb its jagged rocks.”
Phoebe surprised him when she replied, “That all depends on who it is that is climbing the mountain. Surprise, surprise,” Phoebe said. “I have plans of my own. But do you know that many times farmers down here planted a big acreage of tomatoes, hoping to reduce or maybe to retire their mortgage, then, bingo, you may have about sixty percent of your crop delivered to the canning factory, then one morning you wake up to find that there has been at killer frost. That makes you to be a next year farmer.”
Dell told Mr. Gilson that Phoebe would probably be a schoolteacher or maybe a professional nurse. Mr. Gilson asked Phoebe if she would take up those professions.
“Well, Mr. Gilson, either one would suit me but you can’t count your chickens before they are hatched. My parents’ income is limited. I may have to go it alone but if I do I’m not the least scared. I have good backup here. I can still pick ninety or a hundred bushels of tomatoes a day here in season. I can still get lots of jobs here labeling in the wintertime. If it came to the worst, I can take one end of the cross cut saw. I have no idea how a city student survives if things don’t pan out as planned.”
Aunt Helen said, “Phoebe, don’t worry. I know you will succeed and you will have backup.”
“I think, Aunt Helen, if you grit your teeth and dig in your heels and ask the Lord for guidance most obstacles can be overcome.”
Dell said, “Let’s just change the conversation. How would Nancy and Phoebe like to favor us with the song or dance?”
Mr. Gilson said, “Helen and I will vote for that.”
Nancy said, “How about it, Phoebe?”
Phoebe looked sheepish. “Gee, Nancy, I never sang at a house party before.”
Aunt Helen said, “Mr. Gilson would be delighted to hear you, Phoebe. Give it a try.”
Nancy took Phoebe by the hand. “Let’s go, Phoebe.”
Phoebe said, “Just a minute. What will I try? ‘The Old Rugged Cross’ or what?”
Dell said, “This is Saturday, Phoebe. How about one of them you sang at the Scout’s jamboree down at the Hall? There it was ‘Bury Me Out on the Prairie’, ‘Danny Boy’ or ‘Galway Bay’. What will it be?”
Aunt Helen said, “’Danny Boy’ would be great.”
Phoebe said, “Okay,” as her and Nancy headed for the piano in the living room.
Helen said, “Sam, do we follow the girls?”
“I don’t know about you, Helen but I want to listen at a distance. That way, Helen, I can evaluate her voice. I think, Helen, that I will listen from the kitchen. I think that she will feel more relaxed if she doesn’t observe our presence.”
Nancy struck a note or two. That she turned over her music sheets to our national anthem. Nancy had in her mind that the anthem would be a good warm-up for Phoebe.
There must have been something about the anthem that sparked Phoebe’s patriotism. She unconsciously let loose. Mr. Gilson sat clasping his own hands. He had never heard the anthem sung with such voice and vigour before. He could see Helen was about to clap her hands. He raised his arms in the air and signaled her to keep quiet.
For a few minutes there was a dead silence in the living room. Then Helen and Sam Gilson could hear Nancy and Phoebe murmuring in the living room. This went on for some time. To Helen, it was like an eternity. Then Nancy hit a key. Phoebe started up on “Danny Boy”. Helen hit her two knees with her hands with a big grin on her face that reached from ear to ear. Sam Gilson was unconsciously clasping both his hands on his knees. Mr. Gilson knew that he stumbled upon something unusual and that he would have to be very very careful how he handled the situation. He didn’t want to elate Phoebe over her head.
When Nancy and Phoebe came out of the living room, Mr. Gilson said to Phoebe, “That was wonderful, Phoebe. I would like to hear the sound of that voice of yours in our church. The congregation would be elated. I do hope that you will try your best to make it. I understand that you will be in your own choir both Thanksgiving and Christmas.”
“That’s right, Mr. Gilson. I can’t be away on any of those occasions. I have also sent my application to the School of Nursing in Kingston. Yes, Mr. Gilson, I’m willing to go. I cannot make an appointment with you that I cannot keep.
“Well, Phoebe, I was looking over our church schedule and we are having a very special service on the last Sunday in October. We are going to burn our mortgage and that will be a very special service. If you could make a special effort to join us for that service, you would be doing the congregation and me a great favour.”
Chitchat was renewed out on the veranda.
“Suppose that you do come, Phoebe, as we hope and pray that you will do, is there any particular hymns that you are particularly familiar with? Or let us put it this way, have you any favorite hymns?”
Mr. Gilson was feeling Phoebe out.
“Well, Mr. Gilson, don’t you think ‘The Church has One Foundation’ would be appreciated at the mortgage burning? Then there is ‘The Old Rugged Cross’ and ‘What a Friend We Have in Jesus’. The Orangemen come to our church maybe twice a year and one of their favorites is ‘Before the Sun in Order Stood and Earth Received her Frame’. All these I am quite familiar with but I can handle most hymns with a little practice.”
“You see, Phoebe, you have heard of stand-ins or substitutions. All these professional actors and singers have them just in case one could take sick or be detained and not be able to show up at the appropriate time. In any case, this stand in takes over. Now in our church choir, you will be placed between two other sopranos in case you were overcome for some reason or other. You would give the soprano on your right or left a premeditated signal. Then that soprano would take over the part that you were supposed to perform. In that case, the church service and music is carried on without interruption. So you see, Phoebe, I would be putting my professional reputation on the line if I were to announce that a certain person was to perform then failed me through no fault of their own. We try to get these programs so that the show goes on as planned. This service will be very special. I would venture to say that the church will be filled to capacity.”
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