Once upon a time …
Joseph Oriel strutted down the road in front of the building they used as the church house, school house and dance hall. His hat was cocked on the side of his head, a smug grin on his face.
“Joseph Oriel thinks he owns the ground he walks on. I hate him,” Lodema exclaimed to her friends, Mitt and Maud, who just laughed. “C’mon, we’ll go around him. I can’t stand him.” Thirteen-year-old Lodema dragged her friends around the block in an effort to avoid Joseph Oriel.
“I don’t understand why we have to walk a block out of our way just to avoid that boy,” whined Maud.
“I do it all the time. I don’t want anything to do with him. He’s so proud and stuck on himself,” Lodema protested as she walked faster, carrying her ahead of the other two girls.
“Well, we need to hurry so we can finish planning the surprise for your brother, Elmer, and we’re going the long way around,” Maud said heatedly.
Lodema turned to face her friends, but continued walking. “We’ll still have plenty of time. This detour isn’t going to take that long –” Lodema stopped abruptly when she collided into something or rather, someone. The look on Maud’s face warned Lodema and she turned slowly to face her collision.
Joseph Oriel had reached out to grab Lodema when she collided into him. He was a good six inches taller than her and he smiled. Lodema looked up into the face of someone she had sworn to hate, but with his hands on her arms steadying her, the light shining on him just so changed something within her. Lodema tried to remember why she hated him but she came up blank.
Joseph Oriel reached up and pulled the hat off his head. “Lodema, I was hoping I’d run into you today.”
Lodema’s heart started beating a little faster. Had Joseph Oriel always been that handsome, or was it the light shining on him just now?
“I was wondering if you would like to go with me to Elmer’s surprise party.”
Lodema blushed. “Sure, I would love to.”
“I’ll see you, Lodema.” Joseph Oriel walked away, whistling a saucy tune.
Lodema turned slowly to face her friends who stood staring, their mouths open. Mitt came to her senses first. “I guess this means that you don’t hate him anymore,” she said smugly and Maud giggled. Lodema would forever remember March 13th. It was the day her brain figured out that she didn’t hate Joseph Oriel.
Over the next four years, Joseph Oriel and Lodema went out together off and on, much to the disapproval of her mother.
“Lodema, I think you’ve been seeing too much of that Richins boy. You’re too young,” Mother would say. “I don’t want you going out with him tonight.”
“Mother, I’m not going with Joseph Oriel tonight. I’m going with Nels,” Lodema said as she kissed her mother’s cheek. Lodema pinched her cheeks just as a knock sounded at the door from Nels.
Lodema walked with Nels to the dance hall where they met up with Maud and Joseph Oriel. They promptly traded partners – Maud’s mother hadn’t wanted her to go with Nels, so it worked out for both couples.
One night, after walking Lodema home, Joseph Oriel held her hands and said huskily, “I don’t know how to break this to you, so I’m just going to tell you. I’m moving to Mesa, Arizona for school. I’m going to stay with my aunt there. Will you write to me, Lodema?” Lodema blushed and nodded shyly.
But two weeks later, Lodema still hadn’t received a letter from him. Joseph Oriel thought she would write first and Lodema thought he would write first. Joseph Oriel wrote a letter to Agnes and asked many questions about Lodema and what she was doing and requested that she ask Lodema to write to him. Lodema laughed when Agnes told her, but still she didn’t write to him. When Agnes reported back everything that Lodema was doing, Joseph Oriel quickly remedied the letter situation. He wrote to her three letters a week for the rest of the year he was gone. But still Lodema didn’t return his letters. In irritation, Joseph Oriel wrote his step-sister that “Lodema wasn’t the only pebble on the beach,” which of course was reported back to Lodema.
Broken-hearted, Joseph scribbled some words on a scrap of paper and mailed it to Lodema. She opened the mail to read, “’Tis sweet to love, but Oh! Bitter, to love a girl, and then not get her.” Lodema considered writing him, but she had waited too long.
In December, Lodema went to church with Abner Keeler. Abner sat with the choir and Lodema sat with friends. She looked up to see Joseph Oriel walk into the building and sit down with the men. She looked away quickly, but everyone was watching her. Several times during the meeting Lodema stole a glance at Joseph Oriel and found his eyes on her. The hour dragged by and seemed twice as long as normal. When the closing prayer was finally said, she watched Joseph Oriel get up and walk to the door to the ladies’ side to wait for her, as he used to do.
Biting her lip, Lodema sat, thinking furiously. She had come with Abner Keeler. She couldn’t leave without him – could she? She excused herself and left with Abner, refusing to make eye contact with Joseph Oriel. Surely he would understand.
The following day, Joseph Oriel saw Lodema in front of the school house. He walked within a foot of her and passed her, being careful to not even look in her direction, even though he was painfully aware of her every movement. Several more times she found him within a few feet from her, but he didn’t acknowledge her.
Lodema knew she had hurt him by leaving with Abner yesterday, but she held her head high and didn’t let it show.
“Ann.” Lodema’s ears perked up when she heard Joseph Oriels’ voice speaking to her sister. She turned to watch. “I picked this apple from our orchard. I wanted you to have it.” Lodema looked at the biggest, most beautiful apple she had ever seen. She swallowed down the bitter jealousy that threatened to come out and turned on her heel and walked away.
Ann felt bad and gave Lodema a bite of the apple, but Lodema was upset that Joseph Oriel hadn’t given it to her so she could eat the whole apple. That night she let the tears fall, thinking she may have lost Joseph Oriel forever.
On Monday, Lodema was at the ball game with Leslie and Agnes in the buggy. Joseph Oriel strutted by, showing off as much as he could without speaking to her. Lodema felt sick about all of it, but had planned on going to the dance anyway. There was to be a lunch basket auction at the dance as well, and the girls were making baskets together. Boys would place bids on the baskets and “buy” a basket and would eat lunch with the basket’s owner. They drove to Agnes’s home to get cheese for the baskets and Joseph Oriel happened to be at the house.
Finally Joseph Oriel could stand it no longer. He strode over to Lodema and asked if they could talk. Lodema followed him into a separate room. “Lodema, please forgive me for whatever I have done. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since I left.”
Lodema nodded and grabbed his hand. “I forgive you, Joseph Oriel. I’ve missed you too.” Joseph Oriel pulled out a watch on a chain. “I got this for you, Lodema. May I?” She turned her back to him and he clasped the chain gently around her neck. Lodema admired the delicate watch. None of her friends had ever received anything half so lovely from a beau. “So I’ll see you at the dance tonight?”
Lodema hid the watch from her mother, afraid that she would make her give it back. That night, everyone wanted to see it. “Lodema, what time is it?” Agnes asked. Lodema laughed and held out the watch so Agnes could see the time.
During the auction, someone tipped Joseph Oriel off as to which basket was hers. Joseph Oriel bid $5 for the basket, because the other boys kept bidding to make him pay, knowing he was desperate to eat with Lodema. They burst into raucous laughter when the owner of the basket proved to be Lodema’s sister, Abby.
Joseph Oriel gritted his teeth and smiled, not wanting to make Abby feel bad. A hand on his shoulder made Joseph Oriel turn to face his friend, Ed Richardson. “I know which basket is Lodema’s.”
“I think you’re a little late to the party. I’ve heard that one before.”
“No wait. If it’s not hers, I’ll pay for the basket. I know Lodema’s basket.” His eyes looked sincere and Joseph Oriel nodded. When Ed gave him the signal, Joseph Oriel bid again. The bidding ran up to $3 before he won the basket. Lodema’s basket had cost him $8 total, but totally worth it. He got to eat with the girl of his dreams.
On March 13, four years to the day after Joseph Oriel asked her out the first time, he braved asking her one more time. This time he had a ring, “Lodema, will you be my wife?” Lodema squealed with joy. She had almost lost him once before because she hadn’t wanted to let him know how she felt. Not this time. She was happy to marry him.
And they lived happily ever after … even though they faced many trials and hardships, because they faced them together.
