Some months had passed and the two older Lay children had been adopted into a family with four other children, the Cook family. They had all girls...So Leonard was the only boy in the family. Leonard and Barbara's new adopted sisters were Hannah, she was 14, Cherith, who was 10, and Norah and Corah, who were twins of the age of 7...This whole time, little Fred was living with Mrs. Argall and her husband, Todd.
"Would you like some milk and cookies, Fred?" Jane asked, looking at Fred, sitting in his chair at the table.
"Eh! Eh! Eh! Eh!...Eh!" Fred said in a high pitch and he held his hands out in front of him.
"No Fred...You use your words when you want something. What do you say?"
Fred sat there, with his blueish-gray eyes looking so innocently at her.
"You say 'please' when you want something, and 'thank you' when you receive it...Now what do you say?"
"Pease?" He said quietly. Jane Argall laughed quietly at the three year old's attempt to say please, and how he had miss-pronounced the word. She then set a plate of cookies and a glass of cold milk on the table in front of Fred."Tank you!" He said and immediately he grabbed the glass of milk and a cookie.
"Fred...before we eat something...we always pray...Go like this..." She said, while putting her hands folded in prayer above her head. Fred did the same.
"And then you bring them down!...And when you get past your mouth...You're as quiet as a little mouse." Mrs. Argall said and brought her hands down and she whispered the last phrase. Fred brought his hands down and when they were past his mouth, he was quiet.
"And you bow your head,...and close those little eyes!"
Fred bowed his head and closed his eyes and Mrs. Argall quietly prayed. "God is great and God is good, And we thank God for our food; By God's hand we must be fed, Give us Lord, our daily bread...Amen."
Fred opened his eyes and Mrs. Argall whispered in his ear. "Can you say, 'Amen', Fred?"
"Amemn." He said quietly. Jane silently laughed and she smiled at him. "Now you can eat."
Fred grabbed a cookie, dunked it in his glass of milk and took a bite. His little head turned as the front door flew open and Mr. Argall walked in with an older man. Jane went up to them and Todd put his arm around his wife's waist. "Jane...This is Mr. Amos Beck...He's been working with me at the blacksmith shop."
"Pleased to meet you Mr. Beck." Jane said and shook his hand.
"He'd like to see about adopting the boy." Todd whispered. Jane went to the table and picked Fred out of his chair, she let him walk while holding his hand, and they went over to Mr. Beck. Jane picked Fred up and held him. "Can you say hi to Mr. Beck?" She whispered in his ear.
"Hi." Fred said quietly. Mr. Beck gently patted the young boy's head of blond hair. Fred immediately warmed up to Mr. Beck and the next thing either of them knew, Mr. Beck was holding Fred. After a while, he got a bit squirmy and wanted to be put down. But then, Fred wanted Mr. Beck to chase him, so heard throughout the whole front room, were little Fred's squeals of laughter and then he dodged him and hid under the kitchen table. Mr. Beck got down on his knees and playfully grabbed him out from under the table and started to tickle him which made Fred engulf in big belly laughs! Hearing Fred's laughing made Mr. Beck laugh too.
Todd and Jane Argall were standing back and watching Mr. Beck and Fred interact. Jane could tell that Mr. Beck was a kind man and she trusted him that he would give Fred a good home. Fred ran to her and she picked him back up.
"That's some little boy! Isn't he?" Mr. Beck smiled.
"He is...I can tell that you'll give him a very good home Mr. Beck..." Jane said.
"When would you like to start on all that paperwork, Amos?" Todd asked him.
"Well, maybe in a few weeks. I'd like the boy to get to know me a little better...and so he can meet the wife and get to know her..." Amos smiled.
Jane smiled and assumed that Mrs. Beck was a kind person...just like her husband.
A/N: The little, "Eh, eh, eh, eh!" noise is something I always did when I was little when I wanted something. lol.
Todd Argall, is always one of my own characters.
