Lucy Cow (Lucy Baca's translation of her name)

Bonnie and Sarah pulled Brent by the legs. “Come back inside. You’ll get electrocuted with the lightening. “ Uncle’ Glenn’s daughters were entertaining their cousins during the afternoon rainstorm. But when it changed to hail, Brent had wanted to stick his hand out the window to catch some, and caught a bolt of electric shock instead.
“Why don’t you kids get a little wood for the fireplace before it gets any wetter? It looks like this storm is going to last a while. ”Uncle Glenn had suggested from the kitchen table where he was putting the finishing touches on the weekly edition of the Round Valley Paper. There’s wood cut and stacked on the porch, so you won’t have to get wet.
“It’s surprising how cold it can get in the White Mountains in the summer.” Mom agreed, as she observed her older brother at work. “Better grab your jacket, Lynae, I don’t want you getting all wet and cold.”
Brent shuddered against the arctic blast of wind that struck him as he found himself on a back porch in Quemado, New Mexico. The year was 1922, and it was a cold December morning.
"Eliseo, Marian," their grandfather Baca called from the door. Bring Lucy inside, I must talk to you. The children obediently went into the house; Grandfather did not seem to notice Lynae and Brent follow them in.
"Is Papa awake?" Eliseo bravely asked. "We have to talk to him. We have to tell him some things." Eliseo spoke as confidently as he could to his grandfather.
"Your papa is home, but you cannot talk to him; he is very ill with influenza. The doctor says he is not going to get well."
Eliseo explained to Brent and Lynae that their father had been out in the pasture two days before and had come home very ill. They had never seen him so ill; the doctor had been at the house several times.
The doctor came from Nazario Baca's bedroom and shut the door; he looked at the children, looked at their grandfather and shook his head. "He is gone," was all he said, but we all knew he meant that Nazario Garcia Baca was dead from pneumonia and complications of influenza. It was December 6, 1922. He was buried the next day in the Quemado Cemetery next to his beloved Clara. All over the world the influenza had been taking lives by the thousands. There were no medicines, nothing to stop the illness once it took over, and it spread among communities and countries as the soldiers returned from war and pilgrims made their way to safer places to avoid the illness, it traveled with them til it had spread over the entire world in just a few months. The plague of influenza lasted only a few years, but depopulated entire cities and countries[1].
"What will happen to us now?" ten year old Marian questioned her grandfather. “Where will we go? Where will we live?"
"You can't make us stay with the step mother. She is cruel to Lucy and she frightens us." Eliseo took on new courage and strength in this moment of loss.
Grandfather Baca giving due consideration to the situation, finally announced: "I will take you back to Santa Fé with me. There is a school there, Loretto Academy, where my two daughters are nuns; they teach school there. It is a good school and you will be well taken care of by the sisters of Loretto. We were planning to take you there, and Lucy would have followed in a few years. Eliseo, you will return to St. Michael’s Academy, for boys, in Santa Fé. It will take time to make the arrangements. You will stay with my brother Ramon García and his wife, Anita. Immediately after the funeral you will go home with them."
"What if our step mother will not let us go with you?" Eliseo asked pragmatically, knowing that to cross her would bring punishment.
"She will not have any say in the matter. Her husband is dead; she no longer has any custody of you children. I am your grandfather, and I will take charge of you. I will see that she does not ever bother you again."
Lynae and Brent returned in March 1923, to accompany Lucy and Marian to Santa Fé. It would be fun to see the town again, and they looked forward to getting acquainted with these two very special little girls.
The trip back north to Santa Fé was a long train ride for the children. Lynae held five year old Lucy most of the way seeing that she was kept warm, and rubbed her back gently when she seemed to be agitated or frightened. Lynae began to sing the little ditty she had sung on the trail so many times before. "Sana Sana colita de marana, si no sanas hoy, sanaras manana." Ten year old Marian sat bravely between Eliseo and Brent, trying to sit like a little lady of great courage.
Santa Fé still looked like it did the last time they were there, nearly a hundred years ago in their adventure time continuum, except for the Loretto Academy. It was completed and a very busy place. Three centuries of white wash sparkled on the older Santa Fe buildings in the early spring sunshine.
They were met at the train station and taken to Loretto Academy by car. The aunt nuns took the two little girls straight to the dormitory of the academy. They didn't have to ask any questions to know that these little girls needed nursing and care. They glanced questioningly at Lynae and Brent, but were more concerned about the two little nieces. Grandfather Baca made the financial arrangements, opened a bank account in their name and went on about his business, leaving two very frightened little girls in a strange land, at a strange school, in the care of two aunts who before that day had been unknown to them.
Brent and Lynae wondered how Lucy would live through the night, much less to grow up to be their grandmother and great grandmother to their own children in the twenty-first century. At dinner that night Marian and Lucy were led into the refectory. Marian began to cough, and Lucy followed. They were removed immediately to the infirmary as the nuns recognized the tell-tale symptoms of whooping cough. Lynae looked around for Brent, and not seeing him asked one of the girls she saw wearing the school uniform. “Where did they take Lucy Cow and Auntie Marian?”
“Who’s Auntie Marian?” The girl looked puzzled. “You better put on a clean uniform and report to the chapel before you get in trouble.” Lynae didn’t know what else to do, but she wasn’t sure where the dormitory was. She stumbled into the chapel and recognized the beautiful circular staircase. There was Brent, inspecting the miraculous structure, reverently touching the under part of the staircase.
“That pitchy wood made a roaring fire in a hurry.” Uncle Glenn spoke, startling Brent from his trance. “Maybe now, your mom will make some of her famous fudge and we can all play a round of Scrabble with Aunt Dorothy.” Uncle Glenn suggested, rubbing his hands together to soak in the heat from the wood fire. Brent and Sarah agreed, as they also warmed their hands over the fire.
Lynae looked around the room and for a minute still wondered where little Auntie Marian and Grandma Lucy had disappeared to.
[1] The American Experience - Influenza 1918
From PBS.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/amex/influenza/ (web site from PBS 1918 influenza)