Foreign Deed

The Arneson family knocked along the grassy terrain, heading northeast to the Iowa River. Otto always drove. Sometimes Andrine would sit beside him and the children walked; or sometimes all three would be in the back of the wagon. At this time, though, Sigrid was sitting beside her father while Nils was walking alongside the wagon. Alone in the back, Andrine had opened the tine once again, pulling out the letter to reread it. She knew it by heart and was a bit ashamed that she could not make herself destroy it. But the words written by Casper years ago reminded her of the little boy they had brought into the world. He had been given away before a name could be selected. Who was to blame for that? No one knew about the baby, for she had carried the child without showing any signs of pregnancy to her friends and family. Unfortunately, Casper could not marry her. She couldn’t keep the baby by herself. How old would he be now? Ten years old, two years older than Sigrid. She had never heard from Casper, only the letter which had arrived just before Otto and she had left for America. In the letter, he had explained that he couldn’t bear to lose the infant son, so he was going to try to find him. Andrine felt as though she was less of a person than Casper, for he was going to attempt to recover the boy, whereas Andrine had abandoned him.