By Sheri Schofield
Hi friends. My husband Tim and I just returned from a long trip which took us through the Wyoming wilderness where rolling hills are covered with sage brush and mountains thrust their peaks up sharply from the desert floor. The ground and mountain colors vary, sometimes gray, sometimes red, and other times almost white, where a different layer of rock thrusts up against the blue-gray mountains like giant, smooth fingernails clawing their way to the sky. It is a wild, rugged, beautiful land. As we drove, I imagined living in the area, where towns are small, few, and far between. What would a young woman do in such a setting? I let my imagination take over, but every now and then, I’d ask my husband, retired physician who once served in the military, for advice about the hero in the story I was imagining. Now I share it with you – “The Newcomer.”
Anna Carpenter waved good-bye to her last piano student and reached for her gardening gloves, a trowel, and one of her geranium plants. She knew everyone in town thought of her as an old maid, for she was twenty-seven and still lived with her mother. But this did not bother her, for she was happier than many married women she knew in town.
Nevertheless, she did harbor a secret longing for marriage and children. Sometimes in the evening when she was brushing her long, sandy colored hair the recommended hundred strokes, she found herself wishing for a husband. Her gray eyes would deepen in color as she dreamed. Then she would shrug, sigh, and move away from the mirror. There was no point in wishing for something that would probably never happen, she thought. Having grown up in the small town of Elk Crossing, she had also grown up with the young men and hadn’t found one who shared her interests in books, music, or flowers, and she couldn’t imagine being married to someone who didn’t share those interests.
She was planting the geraniums in the large, wooden barrel in her front yard that afternoon, when a moving van pulled into the house across the street. The house was set back behind the country feed and farm supply store which had been empty for several months. Mr. Jansen, the previous owner, had moved to Cheyenne to live with his daughter in his old age. Anna had heard that the house had recently sold, but nobody knew who the new owner was.
Curiously, Anna stood and looked across the street. A tall man with a slight limp climbed out of the truck and walked around to the back an opened the doors. It wasn’t a large truck, but he might need help. From where she stood, she could see that his face was framed with dark hair with some gray around the edges. She pulled off her gloves, dropped them beside the barrel, and walked across the street
“Hi. Welcome to Elk Crossing,” she said hesitantly but with a smile. “I’m Anna. I was planting flowers at our place across the street and saw you come in.”
“Hi Anna,” the man nodded. “Glad to meet you. I’m Jared Jones.” He reached out and shook her hand, a shy smile on his face. He looked to be about thirty, and he was pale, as though he had been ill for some time. She noticed he wore a brace on the lower part of his left leg.
“Could you use some help unloading the truck?”
“I could, but I don’t want to impose.”
“No problem. I’m glad to help. Do you have family coming?”
“No. It’s just me.” A sharp look of pain crossed his face for an instant, then he relaxed.
“I can help,” she said.
“Thank you, Anna.”
Together they began unloading the truck in companionable silence, speaking only when necessary. Having two older brothers, Anna understood the need to focus on the job. She also knew he would be hungry after unloading.
“My mom has a beef roast in the oven and scalloped potates ready to add. Would you like to join us for supper?”
Jared’s face lit up. “That sounds great. What time?”
“In about an hour. We’ll see you then.” Anna smiled and headed back to her place to alert her mother about their guest and to finish planting the geraniums.
Over the next week, other neighbors stopped by to welcome Jared to town, and though he received many invitations to meals, he thanked them for the offers, but said he needed to focus on unpacking and getting the feed store open. They understood, but everyone was curious about him. Anna smiled quietly to herself when she heard of the invitations and said nothing.
Sunday after church, Jared accepted the invitation to join Anna’s family for lunch. Her brothers liked Jared, with reservations which they shared with her later.
“Anna, he’s a nice guy. But with that limp…and he wears a brace… you could do better,” Kurt said.
“You don’t want a man you’ll have to take care of,” Josh said. “You’ll want someone who will look after you, sis.”
Their wives nodded complacently, satisfied that their husbands were strong and healthy.
“You need to think about that when choosing a man,” Josh’s wife Mandi said.
“Of course,” Sally, Kurt’s wife, added with a nod.
Anna just smiled and ignored their interference. She had gone out with the various single men in town and was not interested in them. She’d gone to school with most of them since childhood and felt nothing but casual interest in them as adults. But she liked Jared. He had a dry sense of humor, and he rarely said anything unless it was worthwhile. Being quiet herself, Anna appreciated his reserve and good manners.
Later that week as she was working again in the garden, Jared walked across the street.
“Anna, I’m not familiar with what people need in a feed store around here. Would you advise me?”
“Sure.” Anna stood and walked across the street with Jared. She told him what the last owner had carried, and he promptly ordered those items.
Jared took frequent breathers as he stacked the heavier items when they arrived. “I can’t work as steadily as I used to,” he commented. “I spent the last several months at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in D.C. recovering from an injury.”
“Oh! You were in the Army?”
“Yes. I flew a chopper in Afghanistan for a few years. Got hit in the knee with a bullet when I was pulling some soldiers out of an ambush by the Taliban. Army sent me home.”
“You flew a helicopter in a war zone?”
“Yes. It was dangerous work, but I enjoyed it.”
Later that day, Jared invited Anna over to his store for tea and cookies, which he had bought at the local bakery. Later he showed Anna through the house. Though he didn’t have a lot of furniture, it was enough to get by. She noted with satisfaction the guitar in the corner and the bookcase in the living room which indicated there were shared interests between them.
Anna saw a framed portrait of Jared and a dark-haired woman on his dresser. They looked happy and in love.
Jared reached for the photo. “This was my wife. Her name was Hunoon, which means compassionate. And she was truly compassionate. I adored her. She and her family were secretly Christians, which was not accepted in her village. We were only married a few months when the Taliban massacred Hunoon and her family when she was visiting her aunt in a nearby village. She was expecting our first child.”
Anna heard the grief in his voice. She touched his arm gently. “I’m so sorry, Jared.”
“Thanks for caring.” He inhaled and stood straighter. “Let’s get outside in the sun. It helps.”
“I noticed you are planting geraniums. Do you buy them locally?” he asked, changing the subject.
“No. We have to drive into Casper for flowers. It’s too expensive to drive all that distance, and I usually like a lot of color in my garden, which is also expensive. I winter over my geraniums. That helps keep the cost down.”
“Hm. I see. I wondered about flowers. I haven’t seen any stores in town that carry them. I was thinking about putting a greenhouse behind the feed store and growing flowers as well as fruit and vegetables to sell locally.”
“What a good idea!”
“Will you help me? I don’t know what the people here like to grow.”
“Sure. Be glad to.”
Anna’s brothers scoffed when she mentioned the greenhouse idea. It didn’t seem manly enough for them. But she kept her thoughts about Jared to herself and didn’t tell them about his military experience. She knew his worth and respected his private confidences. Jared would speak up when he was ready.
By July, Jared had the greenhouse up and operating. He imported plants to get started, and they sold well. The feed store was a necessity in their community, and the ranchers were grateful to have a nearby supplier.
Over a Sunday dinner in October, Josh and Kurt announced they were going on an elk hunt back in the wild country. Their freezers were getting low on meat for their families. Jared asked where they would be hunting. That was all it took to turn the conversation toward elk, deer and antelope habitats and past hunting stories.
Josh and Kurt had been gone for almost a week when Josh called on his satellite phone. “Kurt and I are stranded in the canyon east of Red Mesa. He broke his leg. We need to be airlifted out. Call 911.”
Anna called the emergency number. Soon a helicopter landed in field outside of town. She drove out to meet the pilot and showed him where her brothers were located.
He studied the map and shook his head. “Well, I can try. But I don’t think I can land in that canyon. It’s too narrow. I’ll have to land about six miles away. We’re going to need more help.”
“We have an experienced helicopter pilot who flew in Afghanistan living in town. He might be able to fly in, if you’re willing to let him.” Anna searched the pilot’s face.
“He flew in ‘Stan, huh?”
“Yes.”
“I’d like to talk with him. I served there myself, and the country is wilder than this. I’ve seen those chopper pilots dive into places I’d never attempt.”
Anna drove him over to the store and led him inside. “Jared, Josh called. He and Kurt are stranded in a canyon east of Red Mesa. Kurt broke his leg. I called for an emergency airlift, but the pilot—what is your name?”
“It’s Henry, ma’am.”
“Thank you. Henry doesn’t think he can get into the canyon. Would you take a look at the map and see if you might be able to help?”
Jared walked over, looked the location over carefully and asked a few questions. “Sure. I could do that, if you’re willing to let me fly?” He looked at the pilot.
“Anyone who flew in ‘Stan is good enough for me. I know what y’all did. Let’s go.”
At the helicopter, Jared climbed into the pilot seat and donned the headgear. Glancing back at Anna, whose brows were furrowed with concern, he said, “Don’t worry. I’ve got this. Better get back. I’m going to start it up.”
Anna moved away and the blades began to move. The helicopter rose into the air and flew toward Red Mesa in the distance.
Anna called Sally, Kurt’s wife, and let her know what was happening. Sally drove their van over and waited nervously for the helicopter to return.
“He was a helicopter pilot in Afghanistan?” she asked, her eyebrows rising high. “Why didn’t you say so?”
“I don’t share what people tell me in private.”
Sally rolled her eyes. “Tsk,” she snorted.
Less than an hour later, they heard the chopper returning and drove out to the field. Sally drove the van to meet the aircraft. Josh and Henry moved Kurt out of the helicopter on a stretcher and brought him to the van.
Jared had climbed down from the helicopter and handed his headgear to the pilot, who shook his hand. “Man, I’ve never seen anything like it! You did a fantastic job, sir.”
Jared smiled. “Lots of practice.”
The pilot flew Kurt and Sally toward the hospital in Casper, leaving Anna with Josh and Jared in the field.
“So, Jared, how many missions did you fly into the mountains of Afghanistan?” Josh asked with great interest.
Anna smiled quietly and listened as Jared opened up about his life to her brother. They hardly noticed when she left them talking in the field and drove home. She knew just what to expect later that afternoon when Josh dropped by the house.
“He’s quite a guy,” Josh said quietly, patting Anna on the shoulder.
“Yes, he is.” Anna smiled.
That evening Jared and Anna sat on his porch swing listening to the crickets.
“Anna, thank you for recommending me for that helicopter rescue flight. It meant a lot to me.”
“You were obviously the man for the job,” she said complacently.
Jared slipped his arm over her shoulder and drew her closer.
Anna leaned her head against his shoulder. This was her man. She understood him and loved him just the way he was.
Complete acceptance and respect. It is the mark of true love which lasts forever. Anna smiled into the night, knowing she would never again feel alone as long as Jared was by her side.