Árdís - 01.01.1966, Side 45

Ársrit Bandalags lúterskra kvenna
43
March
HALLDORA P. BJARNASON
At first it was just a speck on the distant horizon. Then it
increased steadily in size and took definite form. Two pairs of eyes
watched intently from the cabin window. The blue eyes belonged
to Veiga, a beautiful young woman of nineteen years with the
typical white and pink complexion of the Icelandic race. Her pale
gold hair was drawn softly back from her face and gathered into
a knot at the nape of her neck. The clear eyes, intelligent brow,
the small sensitive mouth, the firm chin and the rather proud set
of her lovely head on slender shoulders all spoke of a strong
character, so necessary to pioneer women. The serious grey eyes
belonged to her younger, less fragile sister, Beta, a girl of thirteen
whose fair hair hung down her back in two heavy braids.
The beauty of the Red River sunset was breathtaking. The
western sky resembled golden flames shot through with tongues
of red, purple and yellow and here and there dark blue-grey,
which were in realty not flames but clouds, the bright ones flimsy
and feathery and the dark ones heavier and more substantial.
This gorgeous display of the heavens was reflected on the
snowcovered vastness of the ever rolling prairie making it into
a sea of gold of almost blinding brilliance. And right in the midst
of this splendor was the speck the girls were watching. As it came
closer its shape became more defined until it emerged, a sleigh
drawn by a team of horses, driven by a man who had enthroned,
on the seat beside him, a dog.
The joy on Veiga’s face resembled the beauty of the sunset
as she watched her husband of a few months coming home to
her out of the heart of this magnificent celestial display. Even as
they watched, the brilliance of the billows of this golden snow-sea
faded and gradually turned to the hazy opalescence of a prairie
winter twilight.
The jingle of the sleigh bells and the barking of the dog were
the first noises to break the seemingly endless silence for the two
inside the cabin.