Mama and the Leading Citizen

A Story for Mother’s Day

    Mama grew up in a board shack set on the rolling prairie of central North Dakota, a middle child among eight siblings. Her parents, hard-working German immigrants who’d had the misfortune of settling on some of the poorest farmland in the state, barely managed to feed all those mouths.

    Marie had beautiful big brown eyes, but unfortunately, they were crossed. Her parents couldn’t afford treatment, but the rural school district would pay for glasses if she could get to an eye doctor. Mr. Schuller, the school board president, the most respected man in the community, owned one of the first automobiles in the county. He offered to take the little girl to the doctor on his trip to Minot.
  
   Neither Marie nor her family knew Mr. Schuller personally. None of them had ridden in an automobile, nor had any of the children been to the big city. Marie was thrilled and excited when the shiny new Model T Ford two-seater with a fold-back top drew up in front of their home. Mr. Schuler boosted her in and off they went. She held on tightly to keep from being bounced out onto the dirt roads.

    The school board president left her in the receptionist’s office while he went about his errands. Later she ate lunch with him and another man in a restaurant. The two men retired to a curtained alcove. When they finally came out, their breaths smelled of alcohol.

    They finally started for home, the other man in the passenger seat. Marie climbed into the back beside some baskets of apples. The car veered toward one side of the street, then the other. Out in the country, they drove faster, but the weaving didn’t improve. Once the Model T darted toward a team of horses pulling a buggy. The horses reared, then took off at a gallop, as the shouting, fist-shaking driver tried to regain control.

    A couple of times the car ran into the ditch, but the men got it back on the road. Soon it got dark. The car’s headlights ran by a magneto (a needle fixed on the flywheel of the engine.) When they sped up, the lights got brighter, but when the car slowed, they went out.
  
   Finally they reached the town where the second man lived. Mr. Schuller didn’t stop when he came to intersections. Pedestrians scattered at their approach. One very large man couldn’t get out of the way in time. The car hit him, spinning him around. They stopped then and a policeman led the two men away. Someone took Marie to a big hall.

    Then Mr. Schuller appeared and told Marie what she was to answer if someone asked her about the accident. The room became very quiet. She saw a man sitting behind a big desk, with the school board president and the man he’d hit standing before it. Suddenly the man behind the desk asked Marie, “Little girl, did the driver stop before he drove through the intersection.”

    “Y-yes,” she gulped, knowing the answer was a lie, but answering as she’d been told.

    The man who’d been struck turned around and glared at her, but they were allowed to go.

    Twice more the car ran off the road, once nearly upsetting. Apples flew out and scattered all over the ground. In the dark, they gathered up what they could find and the driver got the car back on the road.

    Suddenly the car swerved across the road and over the bank, rolling onto its side. Marie was thrown into a field. Dazed, she got to her feet. She heard a moan. Stumbling through the tall grass she felt her way back to the over-turned car and tripped over Mr. Schuller’s sprawled body.

    “My leg,” he groaned. She realized that his leg was pinned to the ground by the steering wheel. She tugged, trying to raise the car off him. “Stop! You’re turning the wheel and hurting me worse,” he told her.

    She tried again to lift, pleading with God to please help. Mr. Schuller finally dragged himself free. He staggered up onto the road, where car lights had appeared in the distance. Their rescuer was the only other neighbor who owned a car. He quickly drove Marie home. Her parents were sleeping soundly, trusting that the respected Mr. Schuller would bring their daughter safely back.

    Marie eventually got her glasses, and her eyesight began to improve. But her opinion of their wealthy neighbor never recovered.