Late April 1870
Carsten had managed to keep up with the weeds with his friends’ help. But now the alfalfa was ready to harvest, and he knew his shoulder would not handle that well. His friends would help if he asked them, but they had done so much for him already. It would take longer, but he would figure out how to do it all on his own.
Carsten gathered everything he needed for harvesting and tried to give himself an encouraging talk to start. It didn’t work.
Instead, he picked up his scythe and went to the edge of a field. Carsten tried to hold it with one hand, but it was too much. There was no way he could swing it effectively. And his shoulder would kill him if he tried to harvest the alfalfa alone.
“Carsten!” a familiar voice shouted. “What do you think you’re doing?”
He looked around to see Amos jogging toward him. He waited for Amos to come closer before speaking. “Trying to harvest my alfalfa.”
Amos grinned. “I might be able to help with that.” He took the scythe from Carsten. “We did it.”
Carsten furrowed his eyebrows. “Did what?”
“Proved you innocent. And now everyone knows it, too.” Amos turned and whistled. “Edmund, bring them back here!”
A stream of people came around the house.
“What’s this?” Carsten asked.
“We’re here to harvest your alfalfa for you,” one of the men said.
A woman approached carrying a bag. “And we brought some food and material. The material is to make some quilts for the jail. We heard something about your desire for better bedding for the prisoners.”
Carsten straightened, his mouth open, unable to speak.
Another man carrying a scythe stepped up. “We’ve been unfair to you. We need to make up for that.”
All the tension Carsten had had before disappeared, and his words finally made their way out. “Thank you. Let’s get you started. The ladies can go to the house to work with Ma on the food and quilts.”
The ladies disappeared with the younger children.
“The men with scythes can start cutting down the alfalfa. Everyone else can follow far behind and work on spreading the crops out to dry. Since we have plenty of workers, I would do two spreaders to each scythe man.”
The group separated into trios, and Carsten watched as they got to work. He couldn’t believe this was happening. For the last five years, no one had been nice to him in this town, and now half the men were here harvesting for him. The last month had been one of the hardest of his life, but things seemed to be getting better.
Carsten knew it wouldn’t stay that way forever and there would be plenty of trials in the future, but for now, life was just about perfect.
The day went by faster than he expected it would. With so many people helping, they finished shortly after lunch.
Obadiah came up to him. “The alfalfa looks excellent this year.”
“Only by the grace of God,” Carsten replied. “It looked pitiful just a couple months ago.”
Obadiah clasped his shoulder. “I’d like to buy all of this alfalfa. Let me know when it’s dry enough, and I’ll bring some of my men over to bale it.”
“That isn’t necessary…”
Obadiah raised an eyebrow. “Your shoulder will not be healed enough even in two weeks to do the baling. It is necessary and also my pleasure. We’re done with the branding and in a lull. My men need a little hard work to do for once.”
Carsten grinned. “Yes, sir. I’ll let you know. And we’ll be sure to have a feast for them to eat afterwards.”
“Your ma will be okay with that?”
“She loves feeding hordes of people.”
Obadiah guffawed and went out to join the other men in the fields.
By the time the men finished, the ladies had food ready to eat. Everyone milled around the yard and sat wherever they wanted to.
“It’s wonderful, isn’t it?” Ma asked as she put her arm on his good shoulder.
“It is.”
“You should go get some food before it’s gone.”
“I’ll wait for everyone else. They did the hardest work.”
“I’m happy for you, Carsten. You learned a lot during this trial, and you are finally getting the respect you deserve.”
Carsten grinned and gave Ma a hug. “Thanks, Ma. For always believing in me.”
He headed to the end of the line for food. After filling his plate, he stood there looking over everything and everyone, peace filling his heart.
Trust. He had finally earned their trust. And it felt good to trust God.