For his first few days in the Brimmer household, Amon refused to let Elizabeth out of his sight. He watched in silence as she did her housework, followed her around when she went on errands, and wouldn't go to sleep unless she sat beside his bed, rubbing or patting his back.

Blackberries began to grow and then ripen, and one Saturday morning, Paul drove his family to a big open field full of blackberry bushes. Max and Laura dashed excitedly away from the car, while Amon took Elizabeth by the hand and held his basket in the other. Elizabeth showed him a bush with berries in various stages of development.

"We only pick the berries that are black." She said the words and signed them at the same time. "The black berries taste sweet. The green and red berries taste sour, so we don't pick them."

Unlike Max and Laura, who quickly began a contest to see who could pick the most berries in the shortest period of time, Amon didn't pick any berries at all. He was content to watch Paul and Elizabeth fill their own baskets.

"I'm worried about what's gonna happen when he starts school in a couple of years," Elizabeth said to her husband. "How will we ever get him to stay for the day?"

Paul sighed. "He may not even be able to go to school, not here, at least. He'll probably have to go to a special school for the deaf. I'll have to find out where the nearest one is and hope we can afford it."

"But he's getting so good at learning to read lips!" Elizabeth replied. "In a couple of years, he should be far enough along to keep up with the teacher and the other children."

Paul only shook his head. "The other children would bully him. You know how they pick on anyone who's different. He'll have to be with other children like himself."

Just then they heard Laura scream. Paul grabbed the knife he always carried in his glove compartment and crept stealthily over to where she stood frozen in fear. Elizabeth and Amon followed at a safe distance. When Paul saw the hissing rattlesnake, he moved swiftly and chopped its head off, then went to comfort his daughter.

Elizabeth looked around and saw Amon sitting on the ground, eating blackberries out of the basket Laura had dropped, dark red berry juice smeared all over his mouth.

"Mama, he's eating my berries!" Laura complained.

"That's all right." Elizabeth picked the basket up and began to replace the berries that had fallen out of it. "I think we just about have enough for at least one pie now."

"Aw, do we have to leave already?" asked Max.

"Of course not, but I'm ready for lunch, if everyone else is," said Paul.

He helped Elizabeth spread the quilt on the ground and unpack the fried chicken, potato salad, and rolls. Paul led the family in the blessing, and then they all dug in. Amon ate his drumstick and a couple of rolls but let his potato salad untouched.

"It's good," Laura signed. "Try it."

Amon dumped the dollop of potato salad onto the ground. The family finished their meal, cleaned up, and returned to picking blackberries. Amon even tossed a few into his basket.

As the sun began to set and the mosquitoes to get really bad, the family got back into the car and headed for home.

"How many pies do you think we have enough berries for, Mama?" Laura asked as they rode along.

"Oh, I'd say at least two or three," Elizabeth replied. "I'll bake a couple tonight, and we can have them for dessert tomorrow."

"Can I help?" asked Laura.

"Of course you can!"

After dinner, Laura helped her mother clean up, as she usually did, and Elizabeth got out the flour, eggs, and sugar and preheated the oven. She put the blackberry and sugar mixture on to boil, then read aloud from the written recipe while Laura added the ingredients for the crust and mixed them. Then Elizabeth showed her how to roll out the dough and cut it. When the berries were ready, she poured them into the pie pans, then showed Laura how to arrange the slices of dough on top in a lattice pattern.

At last it was time to put the pies into the oven. Elizabeth did that while Laura went to shower and get ready for bed.

When the family got home from church Sunday, they ate a delicious meal of chicken and dumplings, and then Elizabeth and Laura served blackberry pie with cream.

"That was the most delicious blackberry pie I ever tasted!" Paul said as he winked at his daughter.