When she came up for air, she said, "I'm sorry, Kaapo. I hope dinner isn't ruined, but the smell of cooking made me sick." She went to one of the four copper-covered sinks and splashed water on her face.
"I'm sure dinner will be all right. Should we go to the clinic?" The countess had hired a doctor and then two Grantville-trained nurses to look after the mill town.
"No," Sanna said. "It is like morning sickness. It will pass."
She started toward the stove and Kaapo said, "No, you sit down. I will see to it." Which he did, including the cleanup afterwards.
"How did your day go?"
"Fine. We made bowls. I brought another one home." They already had a stack of them. The bowls were turned out of hardwood like the pipes were, and any bowls which were not perfect were thrown out. Anyone could take them if they wanted. Sanna and Kaapo had already taken a large stack home when they went to visit their families in the village where they were raised.
"Ari didn't complain too badly?"
"Just typical. I can put up with it. The bonuses are good to have."
****
On Monday they were back to making pipe. This time they were running an eight-inch exterior diameter blank with a four-inch bore. Ari let Kaapo help move the four-inch pipe; pipe being measured to the inside diameter. Ari moved with a passion, as if to make up for Saturday on the bowl production and Sunday off. Kaapo had to hustle to keep up.
At lunch Kaapo raced through the provided meal of rich stew, good bread and a short beer. Then he went to where they cut the pipe stock to ten foot lengths before they turned them on a lathe. There he picked up a piece of scrap.
Ari, coming back to work-early as usual-asked, "What are you doing?"
Kaapo put the side job aside, "Making a stop."
Ari looked puzzled. "A stop for what?"
"Sanna and I bought one of those new chests of drawers they're making in the furniture shop." The wood shop was designed to make exportable furniture, after it met the domestic needs. So far, exporting furniture looked like it would be a long time coming. "Now she's expecting. Buying a cradle is out. Back home I would borrow one or make one, but there's no one to borrow from here and I don't have the tools, so we'll make do with one of the drawers. I just want to make sure it doesn't open all the way and fall out or shut with the baby in it. So I'm making a stop to keep it mostly open."
"Oh," Ari said, while getting back to work. “If you can afford a chest of drawers, why can’t you afford a cradle?”
“That’s the point. We couldn’t afford the chest. I bought it on time. When I brought it home, Sanna hit the roof. I wanted to go ahead and get a cradle too. But Sanna absolutely forbade it. She doesn’t like being in debt. She’s right. We can get by without it.”
Kaapo thought it odd when Ari didn't complain about the side job.
****
The next day Ari asked, "Do you want a part-time job?"
"How many hours and doing what?"
"The shipper who runs his boats up the coast making deliveries and picking up fish has one boat coming in every afternoon. After work I help unload. One of his regulars just got a job in the boatyard. So he can use another man. I told him you would come."
"How long does it take?"
"Depends on what he has. Barrels of fish heads, and salted or dried fish roll off pretty easy. The front of the boat lowers like a ramp. Boxes of fresh fish have to be carried off. It's the loading for the next morning which can take longer. The expediter has it ready, but you never know what you'll be putting on."
Kaapo said, "Give me some idea. I don't want to work another nine hours."
Ari laughed. "I don't want to either. Rarely less than two or more than four hours. The worst of the job is loading the fish heads for the glue shop on the wagon. The rest of the barrels get rolled into the warehouse. The boxes of fresh fish get put on another wagon for the store, but they are so light, it's easy."
"I'll have to stop home and tell Sanna."
****
Winter passed. The ice melted. Ships came for some of the pipe in the warehouse, along with paper, plywood and cut lumber. Some of the pipe went in the ground once it thawed and dried out. Summer also passed, as summers do.
September saw them taking a turn sanding and waxing bowls.
"I hate making bowls," Ari complained. "They do not sell!"
Kaapo replied, "If the countess wants us to make bowls she cannot sell, what does it matter? It all pays the same. Even if she is losing money on it, it is all the same."
"The difference is that making pipe is a job fit for a man and it makes money, not like making bowls. If the countess isn't making money, how long can she keep it up?"
Kaapo laughed. "Just as long as she wants. Do you have any idea how much she's making off of everything else? Did you know they were looking for something to do with the sawdust they weren't using to make garden soil so now they are going to cut ice, store it for the summer and ship it out packed in sawdust."
"That is the dumbest thing I ever heard. Who is going to buy ice?"
"The Ayrabs in Ayraby."
"I don't care if it is packed in sawdust. It will melt before it gets there."
"They don't think so. They're building a big ice house and another dock."
"I still think it's dumb."
The foreman came around. "Kaapo, they want you at the clinic. Your wife's water broke and she's in labor."
Kaapo left so fast that Ari and the foreman laughed.
When Kaapo arrived at the clinic the baby rested in Sanna's arms. The delivery had been quick and incredibly easy, especially for a first pregnancy. Sanna looked fine as she smiled and cooed at the tiny, wrinkled, red baby.
Kaapo, being concerned, asked, "Is he all right?"
"Don't be silly, Kaapo, and he is a she. She's beautiful. This is what all babies look like when they first come out."
They named their daughter Klara.
****
That evening Ari stopped by Kaapo and Sanna's apartment. He knocked on the door, and when Kaapo opened it Ari said, "Help me get this inside before it gets rained on." The "this" he needed help with was a new cradle from the furniture shop.
Kaapo looked at it. Before he could say anything Ari complained, "I just couldn't stand the idea of your kid sleeping in an open drawer. Don't worry. It's a gift. If you feel bad about accepting it, you can plan on loaning it out when you're through with it."
The next week he knocked on the door with a half bolt of good linen cloth. "You will need some more diapers."
Sanna invited him in and he spent a half-hour making faces and odd noises over the cradle.
****
"Kaapo," Sanna asked as they walked home from church on a day when the sun bounced and sparkled off of the fresh November snow, "why don't you invite Ari to dinner next Sunday? I know one of the girls who works the bag line who would make him the perfect wife. The way he loves our daughter, he will make a truly good husband and father."
"Sanna . . ." Kaapo breathed deeply before he continued. "I am sure when Ari is interested in getting married, he can find his own bag girl."
"Nonsense. He's just shy."
This caused Kaapo to snort. "Shy? Ari? Are we talking about the same man?"
"Yes, he's shy. Now you listen to me, Kaapo. Ari will be much happier when he is married and has children of his own. You ask him to Sunday dinner."
On Monday, near the end of the shift, Kaapo screwed his courage up and broached a topic he was not completely comfortable with. "Ari, Sanna told me to ask you to come to our house after church for dinner this Sunday."