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Speaking Rolf
A fluid spate of words came from the backyard workshop. Anna sighed and walked to the open doorway leading to the back yard. Her husband had been in there for several hours making a new piece of furniture for a commission he had accepted. A well-established carpenter, he had made a good living for her and their children through his skills with wood. However, the words he yelled in German when things were going badly were so florid; they almost colored the surrounding air.
Their two younger girls hid behind her long skirt, the youngest with her thumb in her mouth, as they stared wide-eyed towards the building. They had learned that staying away from Daddy was the wisest thing to do when he was working. Isaac, their older brother, was standing motionless in the garden area, the crops only half-harvested, while the curse words floated over all of them.
Rolf only cursed in German, his native tongue, and a language that the children had never learned. Anna was suddenly reminded once again of why she had insisted that the language of their new land be the only one used at home. She hadn't wanted to explain to her children the various acts her husband was mentioning, nor the Gods her husband was maligning whenever things were not going smoothly. His curse words would color the air each time a board was slightly short, a cut went badly, he hammered his finger instead of the nail, or if the wood that was going to be used for an item turned out to be something unsuitable for that task.
She sighed. “Isaac,” she called. “Get that harvesting finished so that you can help your father in the workshop.” She knew Rolf tended to watch his tongue more if their youngest was in the same room with him, and some jobs were easier with four hands to help hold.
Turning her attention to the two younger girls, she clucked. “Now girls, we’ve got two buckets of blueberries that need washing and boiling so’s to be made into jam. Go to the well and fetch some water and I’ll meet you in the kitchen. It will take several trips, so don't overfill the bucket.” She knelt looking at her youngest and held out her hand. “Give your doll to me, Mandy. I’ll take care of her and make sure she’s in the perfect place to watch us work while we’re in the kitchen this afternoon.” With that, things returned to normal in the Schmitt household.
Several years later, when Isaac was in his mid-teens, they had saved enough money to take a trip back to Germany. They wanted to visit Rolf’s elderly parents and introduce them to their grandchildren for the first time. It was an adventure – the first steamer trip for the children, and only the second time over the ocean for Anna and Rolf. When the hired car crested the hill near the farmstead, Rolf almost wept seeing familiar places and faces.
Rolf’s parents, although elderly, were able to keep the farm working with the aid of Rolf’s two older brothers. On Sunday, after church, Rolf’s brothers and sisters who were still in the area gathered at the farm for a family dinner. A large pack of children,, nieces and nephews mostly, tumbled through the old farm house and then moved out into the rolling fields beyond, all playing together with their new cousins from America. Anna sighed as she relaxed in the large kitchen with a cup of tea, sharing the table with her sisters-in-law.
“Ach du lieber himmel!” she exclaimed as Isaac's voice rose above the rest of the children, in a beautiful and creative spate of curse words he had learned from listening to his father over the years. She shook her head and started to apologize to the women. Her companions, however, were laughing.
“Anna,” her mother-in-law said, “he might not speak German, but he’s learned to speak Rolf very well indeed.”
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- Erulisse (one L)