The Imperfect Marriage novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: The Hat

They came to my father's house that evening, in work boots, with the crew chief in front.

I counted fourteen men and women on the porch, and more on the lawn.

I knew them from one Monday morning in the yard.

The silver-bearded crew chief held a welding helmet in both hands, upside down.

It was full of envelopes.

"Mrs. Stenbeck," he said.

"I'm not Mrs. anybody to you," I said. "Come in, it's freezing."

"We'll stay out here. It won't take long."

My father stood behind me in the hall with his oxygen cart and his pump bag, perfectly silent for the first time in his life.

"Faith came by the yard at lunch," the crew chief said. "She said a man named Lowell is calling in your dad's house."

"She had no right to-"

"She had every right. She's one of ours."

He held the helmet out.

"Seventy-one thousand, four hundred and twelve dollars. We counted it twice. The twelve is from the apprentice. He wanted it known."

A young man in the back turned bright red.

I put my hands behind my back.

"I can't take that."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't take money from people I haven't earned it from."

"You earned it in the bay on Monday," said a woman near the steps. "Forty of us heard you say what you said in front of that man. You didn't blink."

"You think that cost me something?"

"We think it cost you," said the crew chief. "So we're paying it back. It's not charity. It's a loan, no interest. You can pay us whenever."

"Take it, Dag," my father said, behind me.

I turned.

"Dad."

"You've never owed anyone, and I raised you that way. It's a good rule." His voice shook. "But a man gets to pay a debt too. They owe you a Monday."

I looked at fourteen faces.

I took the helmet, and it was heavier than it looked.

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