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Show in my father's house/ 86 for a family addition and when Elsa finished high school. But the trials and sentencing changed all that. One evening, Elsa sat propping her bare feet in the coal bucket as she scribbled math problems on the kitchen tabletop. My father rushed in to pick up his sister -- Uncle Levi's third wife -- for an examination. "We're going to Brother Rulon's office," Uncle Levi announced. "Come with us, Elsa." Aunt Elsa gasped. "Dressed like this?" She gestured at her housecoat and laughed in her breathy way. "At least let me comb out my pigtails and put on a dress. I was ready for bed!" Uncle Levi glanced at my father. My father shook his head. "No time, dear. Come as you are." They drove to my father's office in downtown Salt Lake City. Elsa clutched her coat and walked in the shadow of the others, hoping passers-by would not notice her coal-dusty, slippered feet and housecoat. Soon they were inside my father's office. My father ushered his sister into an examining room. Uncle Levi and his daughter sat quietly in the outer office. "Are you ready to get married?" Uncle Levi asked. Elsa blushed and looked at her blackened ankles. "I'm sure I will be when the time comes. I've already embroidered six dish towels and crochet-edged a set of pillow cases." |