The Icelandic connection - 01.12.2020, Qupperneq 34

176
ICELANDIC CONNECTION
Vol. 71 #4
The Ten Dollar Bill
by Einar V igfusson
It was not easy to acquire a ten dollar bill
in the late thirties and early forties. This
is a story which shows the real value of one
of these...
One fine June day my father announced
to three of us boys that he would be taking
us to the city the following week.
“I just sold three of the cows and I'm
going to Winnipeg next week with my
brothers, Einar and Bergur and we will
make a deal to buy an overshot hay stacker.
These stackers are built in Manitoba and
we need one to replace our old one, Dad
said.
There should be ten dollars left after
we have paid for the machine.
We couldn’t believe our ears!! Dad and
his brothers would take us along!! We had
never been to the city in our lives.
The day before we were to leave for the
city, Dad was finishing the mowing on five
acres of hayland southeast of home. We
were out there and had lunch with him
which we always loved to do.
For some unknown reason, he carried
the beautiful ten dollar bill in his pocket.
At four o’clock he stopped his work and
had his coffee lunch with us. Reaching into
his pocket he suddenly announced, “I’ve
lost the bill and if we don’t find it you will
not be able to go with us tomorrow. It was
to be our fun money. “I don’t understand
how this could have happened. I am so
sorry for my carelessness”.
We were devastated and set off
immediately to look for the bill on the hay
meadow. After an hour or more we came
back to our lunch spot empty handed.
Needless to say we were heartbroken.
Just then I looked out on the field
and thought I saw something waving in
the wind. We all ran excitedly towards it.
Yes!! It was the ten dollar bill! Our trip
tomorrow was on!
To us boys this trip was definitely one
of epic proportions akin to that of the early
explorers. We looked forward to it with
great anticipation.
We were up and ready very early the
next morning. The old Ford was fully
loaded and also carried three patched
spare tires. The so called pavement of the
city streets was simply a sand and tar mix
which became very, very hot in the summer
sun. It was murder on the poor rubber tires
of the day.
So off we went on the greatest
adventure of our young lives. The endless
miles of country road seemed to go on
forever.
The poorly graveled road was hemmed
in by mostly deciduous trees.The evergreen
trees had not moved south as far as they are
now. Once in awhile we saw farmsteads cut
out of the woods and small fields, sloughs
and hay meadows.
Suddenly the city appeared before us.
It did not appear to be anything like we
had imagined. The streets were narrow
and dirty at first but as we approached the
city centre, it improved a bit. An overhead
maze of electrical wires hung over the
streets. They supplied the power to run all
the lights and also the street cars which we