Chapter 29 - Decisions…
The chaos of the 24-hours that followed should not be underestimated. Jan and Jones tried to have time to talk but their now much larger family all had demands of time and attention and the livestock needed care too. Cousin Gordon, or Big G, as the kids calls him so as not to confuse him with Gordie Cody, was still transitioning from the five years of hard labour. Jones was far more fragile than she wanted to admit. She was sure that he had been starved but he wouldn’t talk and finally she took her concerns to Sgt. Donaldson.
“Sergeant, do you have a few minutes?” She asked.
He sighed knowing what was coming. “I don’t have all the details… you should really wait for…” Jan shook her head. “Okay, here is what I do know. He was transferred from the Michigan National Guard barracks to a prison in Windsor, Ontario. I think its official name is something like the South West Detention Centre and it houses both men and women in a maximum security setting. They also have a special wing for special cases. He had been held by the MNG for about four days at that point. We still don’t know if they were trying to extract information from him or were just having fun torturing him. He had been marked for execution, so I think it was just some sadist having fun. The broke every bone in his right hand. And I do mean every bone. The rest of him was kicked and hit in every spot possible with the aim of causing the most internal injuries possible. Our medical team worked on him for more than 14-hours and we are still not sure that he is going to make it. The real thing to watch for are kidney and brain issues. He was repeated kicked in the head and we don’t know what that will do to him.”
Jan sat back, pale and shaky.
“Well we’ve got a doctor in-house, so we’ll have to take it from there. Thank you for telling me.
“Now,” continued Jan. “We need to talk about the land issue. Not sure what bill of goods were being sold around here but the Amish I have met with are seriously ticked off. Moreover, I have been told point blank not to accept the land I was given. That it matches neither the spec or the images we were sent and it is entirely tree covered. Moreover, it is part of a housing development and the open spaces we were told were pasture are now covered with vacation homes. As you can see none of the men here are able to log nor are we here on vacation. I doubt those who paid of $300,000 for a vacation home are going to be too happy having livestock crammed into the 2-acre lot next door.
“I have gone to the real estate agents around here and there is not much farm land around here in the first place. There is a 95-acre parcel on Grave Creek (MLS#5319306) about 16 miles east of Eureka with a 4-bed house, but at $1.2 million I expect that it’s a bit rich for all our blood and puts the kids too far from any apprenticeship opportunities. There is an excellent little farm south of Libby, at 51545 Hwy 2 (MLS#20137408) with 80 acres on a creek against National Forest land. It’s got a 4-bed house and is $650,000. Just north in Newgate, BC, is another 4-bed house on 100 acres (MLS#2390611). In this case, it’s got 30-acres in pasture, 30 in hayfields, 10-acres are tiered with irrigation. It also has a secondary plumbed building. But again it’s on the market for $699,900. Now making more sense for us is that north of Rexford off the old Hwy 81 that was submerged, is a piece of land, without a house, that is selling for $479,000 (MLS#233482).”
Donaldson grimaced and took the information that Jan had given him. With the way things were heating up he needed to get back east ASAP, but these were people who had dealt fairly all the way along and he didn’t want to leave them in the lurch. Moreover, as he had been hearing complaints, he began to wonder if anyone in the Relocation office had even come out here to look on the ground. It was a huge investment the army was making in ensuring food production for its own needs and if some idiot in the Pentagon had decided he could make decisions from a make and without recon, Donaldson figured it was time to shake some things up there too.
As he headed out, Jan went to check on Jones. He was sleeping. Mary was sitting with him. Her bruises were fading and she was moving more easily. She and Jan had had a long talk the night before and Mary had cried herself to sleep over what might have been, but she was glad that Jonas knew. She hoped that he would not be too long in his decision as she had her own to make. As she thought about it, she wasn’t so sure that marry Jonas and staying here was the answer. The world had changed and she wasn’t sure that she could sit quietly in a backwater and let it change without her participation. Once she could have, but she was now involved in this war at a very personal level. She had skills and abilities. She didn't want anyone to speak on her behalf ever again. She wanted her own voice. Once she would have been happy to have stood at the woodstove and been wife and mother. Now she wanted more and more than anything, after all that had happened, she didn’t want to feel like someone was doing her a favour in marrying her. She was angry that it felt like she was on trial again with neither the reason nor the outcome taking her personally into account.
“Jan,” she said softly. “I’ve reached my decision.”
*****
“You know,” John told the Committee. “When Donaldson and his units finally pulled out of Eureka, Mary and Matt went with them. My mother was right, Matt’s deferment was cancelled and he was called up immediately. He served in that long conflict that became known as the North American Civil War. Mary served too. She went into espionage. Her proudest moment was going back into Fenelon and dealing with that nest of vipers.
“Jonas and Mary did have a long talk. He had found a way to work through his fury and feeling of impotence at not being able to protect her. Jonas and his family were unwilling to allow what had happened to interfere with Jonas’ desire to marry Mary. However when Mary told them of her decision, Amos was relieved. He later told Jan that he was not convinced that the community would be so forgiving in the long term and he had been worried that it might be used against the young couple and any children later. Jonas later married Sama and they continued to run the dairy operation, later enlarging it to more than 60 head. They had nine children, who continue to live in the Rexford area.
“Mary did not live to the end of the war. She died in on a mission in Kingston, Ontario. She had just freed 4 political prisoners from the Kingston Penn. Her name is on the cenotaph in Rexford. In a tradition we brought with us from Fenelon Falls, every November 10th at sundown on the eve of Remembrance Day*, we light a candle in her name and place it on the cenotaph. Our cadet corps then stands guard over our memories until the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. In the going down of the sun and in the morning, we remember them.
“In the end Donaldson acquired the peninsula north of Rexford for us. The price and the lack of buildings made the difference. We were also then close enough to the Amish community to be able to take up apprenticeships as we reached the right age. The soil wasn’t much better than home, but our apple trees all survived and that made my mother happy.”
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*Note: The Remembrance Day Eve candlelight ceremony takes place every November 10th in Fenelon Falls, Ontario. The veterans, cadets, scouts, and guides all walk followed by the village members who carry candles, each named in memory of one who served or is in active service. The candles are placed at the base of the cenotaph and the cadets then stand guard through the night. In 2011, there were 2,500 candles lit. It is incredibly moving and such a small thing that we can do in memory of those who laid down their lives so that we might live in freedom.
thanks
Not good news about JOnes.