CHAPTER
eleven

“Joe, I’m ready on this end!” Si called toward the woods. He and Harry had just turned a big wheel that opened a valve on a metal pipe about two feet in diameter. The pipe ran underground from the creek to the back wall of the lake.

“Jesse, you ready on the creek bank?” Anna heard Joe call from behind the trees.

Dolly, Anna, Daisy, and Evelyn were standing together on the porch of the skating rink, waiting for whatever might happen next. Everybody else on the loop who didn’t have something better to do had gathered on the boardwalk, no doubt to see if the lake would hold or if they needed to run home and move their valuables up to the attic.

“Jesse’s ready!” Joe called.

“Tell him to start the pump!” Si shouted.

“Start ’er up, Jesse!” Joe relayed.

“Lord Jesus, protect us all,” Dolly said, and Anna put an arm around her to offer support.

“We didn’t miss it, did we?” Jo-Jo shouted as she and her cousins came running onto the porch.

“Haven’t missed a thing,” Dolly said with a little quiver in her voice. She couldn’t seem to stop wringing her hands as they waited for the inevitable blast of water.

Just then everybody heard an engine crank somewhere in the woods. The women gasped at what sounded like gunfire.

“No cause for alarm, ladies!” Si shouted across the lake. “That ol’ engine on my pump is just talkin’ back a little!”

Within seconds, water from the creek came shooting out of the pipe like a fire hose—more like ten fire hoses tied together.

Si and Harry threw their hats up in the air, and a shout went up from the crowd as if they had all just struck oil. Creek water was gushing into the lake with such force that the stream almost reached the boardwalk on the other side.

“Dang,” Daisy said. “That’s a real gully washer he’s got there.”

“Might need to adjust the throttle!” Si shouted, slapping his knee and laughing as he watched the spectacle with Harry and Joe.

“See, Dolly, it’s gonna be fine,” Anna said. But she kept glancing toward the woods, hoping Jesse would come out soon.

“Well, at least we know the lake won’t be dry,” Dolly said. “Sure hope we don’t flood anybody out. And I sure hope this helps us pay that awful tax bill a little earlier.”

Just then Jesse came running out of the woods to join the men.

“Jesse!” Anna cried. “Are you alright?”

He was laughing with the men—all of them slapping each other on the back—but even from the porch, Anna could see that her husband’s face, his clothes, and even his blond hair were black with soot. She went running off the porch and along the far bank of the lake.

When she reached Jesse, he opened his arms, gave her a big smile, and said, “Kiss me?”

Anna giggled. “Who are you? All I can see are teeth and eyes!”

“That engine of Si’s—she smokes a little.”

“Apparently,” Anna said, looking him over.

“Just how big is that engine on your pump, Si?” Daisy asked as the women joined the others at the pipe.

“Took ’er off a Ford tractor—just temporarily, o’ course. Soon as we start makin’ money on the lake, I’ll get me an engine for the creek and put my tractor back together again.”

“Think ya mighta overshot the horsepower,” Daisy said as they watched the column of water spray the lake and begin puddling in the center.

“We won’t worry too much unless the water goes to white-cappin’,” Joe said.

“There isn’t any way your engine could start a fire in the woods, is there?” Anna asked Si.

Si opened his mouth to answer, but then he frowned, scratched his head, and said, “You know, you make a good point, Anna. In all the excitement, I didn’t even think about fire. Seein’ as how Jesse’s gonna need to jump in the slough and clean up anyhow, reckon you could fetch him some clean clothes and a little picnic lunch? If y’all could watch the engine for a coupla hours while I make sure everything’s runnin’ fine here and get me a bite to eat, I’ll relieve you this afternoon, and then I can hire a coupla the older boys on the loop to sit up with her tonight. Would that be alright?”

“Sure.”

“Just come get me up at the house when you’re ready to change shifts.”

Anna looked at Jesse’s soot-covered face. “I think I’ll see if Dolly can spare some soap—and maybe a scrub brush.”

“Well, I can’t hear myself draw with that ol’ Ford runnin’ full throttle,” Daisy said. “I’m goin’ home.”

Slowly the crowd dispersed, with Si and Dolly’s crew heading to the house for lunch and Jesse starting for the creek.

“I’ll be back!” Anna called to him.

“Hey, bring one of your mother’s quilts with you so we’ll have something to sit on for our picnic, okay?”

“Okay!” Anna waved to him and smiled as he disappeared into the woods. She actually felt butterflies in her stomach—just like the first night he’d picked her up for a date. How silly was that?

“That oughta do it,” Si said as Dolly joined him on their front porch.

“Do what?” She could see that he was watching Anna make her way to the woods, carrying a quilt over one arm and a basket that held lunch and Jesse’s clean clothes in the other.

Si winked at her. “That engine’s on a platform in the middle o’ the creek. It don’t need watchin’.”