The next day was Saturday, and Mary and Laura went out to do their chores. Fred was taking clothes out of his carpet bag so he could get dressed. He slept on the floor in front of the fireplace last night. Charles suggested that Fred sleep out in the barn that night, but Fred denied. Being in a barn like that reminded Fred of his horrible, rotten, miserable childhood...It reminded him of the beatings he suffered through, given by his aweful adopted mother, Mrs. Beck...And Fred feared that he would start screaming in his sleep as he always did when he remembered it...He was afraid he would scare the Ingalls to pieces, and of course...he didn't want to remember his childhood...

Fred was dressed in brown trousers and a red and brown plaid shirt...He was combing his hair in front of the looking glass. Caroline was clearing the table from that morning's breakfast.

"Oh Fred...Your trousers!...You've got the knees ripped out of them! And your shirt sleeve..."

Fred looked at his clothes..."Oh...Sorry, Mrs. Ingalls...I'm not much of a sewer! And so I just use things till they can't be used no more!" He chuckled. "...And the army always provided clothes for us to wear...so..."

"That's alright...Just go and change into some of Charles' clothes and I'll fix yours for you."

"Thank you, Mrs. Ingalls..." Fred said, going into Charles and Carolines room. There, he found some tan trousers of Charles' and a blue plaid shirt. He changed into them and came into the front room...

"Ummmm...Mrs. Ingalls..." He chuckled slightly..."We have a bit of a problem!"

Caroline turned around and covered her mouth to keep from laughing. There stood, 5 foot, 6 inches tall, all 155 pounds of Fred, and it looked like he was almost swimming in Charles' clothes. Charles' suspenders were even a little too big on Fred.

"I see we do!" Caroline laughed. "Can you tuck the shirt in?"

"Ummm...It is..." Fred said, looking down and then back up at Caroline.

Caroline laughed. "Ummm...Try and fix the suspenders so they fit you...and I guess you best be going over to the mercantile to get some trousers and and new shirt. So you'll have an extra set of clothes and you can change into those instead...Here I have some money..." Caroline said, reaching into her handbag.

"Oh no, Mrs. Ingalls...I'll pay for it!" He said, walking out the door...

Caroline went to the door and saw Fred met up with Mary and Laura, with him putting an arm around each girl..."That boy..." Caroline said, smiling and shaking her head.

Charles came up behind her. "He's not a boy, Caroline,...he's a man."

"That he is...And a good man, at that...I can tell..."

Charles smiled..."Just don't be playing matchmaker with him and one of our girls..."

"Charles..."

"What? Don't you think he's a little old for them?"

"So you wouldn't like it if one of your daughters married an older man..."

"Caroline...That boy's 20...Mary's only 13!..."

"Who said anything about Mary?..."

"I'm just using her as an example...They're 7 years apart!"

"Charles...Have you forgotten that you and I are only 5 years apart?"

"I guess you got me on that one, Mrs. Ingalls..." Charles said, giving her a kiss on the lips.

Laura, Mary and Fred were walking into town, and as planned they stopped at the mercantile so Fred could buy a set of clothes. Laura saw Mrs. Oleson at the counter and whispered to Fred..."Better watch out for Mrs. Oleson...She ain't nice to nobody!"

"She isn't and its...'Anyone'" Mary corrected.

Fred chuckled at the girls and then he whispered to Laura. "I think I know the type." He winked at her. Fred walked up to the counter.

"Oh...Hello...How may I help you?" Harriet said, smiling fakely and batting her eyelashes.

"Oh, I'd just like to look at your selection of shirts and uh...trousers." Fred smiled.

"Ah...Sunday best?"

"Um...No ma'am...For everyday..."

"I see..." She said flatly and brought him a few shirts and a few pairs of trousers.

"I'll take the brown trousers and the green plaid shirt...Please."

"What size?"

"Trousers are my size already...and I take a medium in shirts..." Fred knodded, smiling.

Mrs. Oleson grabbed his purchases. "Here you are then...That will be, oh...lets see...50 cents."

"Thank you, ma'am..." Fred said, paying her.

Just then Nellie and Willie came running in and up to the counter. Nellie grabbed a jar of licorice. Willie stuck his hand into a jar of gumballs...Fred was very surprised that they would just come barging in there and take handfulls of candy!

"Their parents own the mercantile..." Mary whispered to Fred, who looked shocked. Laura whispered to Mary, "Don't say it too loud! Nellie'll start bragging like she always does!"

"I see...said the blind man...to his deaf friend..." Fred said, who still had a look of shock of his face.

Mary and Laura laughed at Fred...He smiled down at them, and he winked at Mary.

"Who's he?" Willie obnoxiously asked, shoving a few gumballs into his mouth.

"I'm Fred Lay...A new friend of the Ingalls'."

"Oh..." Willie said, and he left the mercantile.

"So...Fred..." Nellie said, staring at him..."What brings you to Walnut Grove?...And why would you want to be friends with...Mary...and Laura?..." Nellie said, snearing at saying their names.

"Well Nellie, I just got out of the war...and one of my friends was a relative of the Ingalls'..."

"Why didn't he come intsead of you?...He's related to them...isn't he?" Nellie said, glaring at the girls. "I'd feel sorry for anyone who was related to...THAT.." She thought.

"Nellie...My friend...died...in the war." Fred said solemnly. "...And for me wanting to be friends with the Ingalls girls...Well, why not? They're nice girls...And by my first impression of you, that's something you need to work on, Nellie..." He told her..."C'mon Mary...Laura..." Fred said, linking an arm around each girl and they walked out of the mercantile, leaving Nellie standing there...dumbfounded.

Fred and the girls got halfway down the road out of town and the girls busted up laughing!

"I can't believe how you stood up to Nellie like that, Fred!...You just met her!" Mary exclaimed. A smile was spread across her face.

"It wasn't so hard!" Fred smiled. "I just spoke my mind...and I believe you should stand up for yourself!

"Well, it sure worked!...Nellie didn't know what to say after that!" Laura laughed.

Fred chuckled..."I guess sometimes...me speaking my mind gets me in trouble."

They all laughed..."Reminds me of someone I know." Mary said.

"Don't look at me!" Laura laughed.

Mary laughed..."Nellie probably didn't say anything, because she knows what you said is true, Fred!"

"Probably!" Fred and Laura, both said at once, and then they busted up laughing.

Fred and the Ingalls girls had made it home and Fred ran ahead up to the front door and held it for them..."After you, ladies..." He said and watched Laura go in, but Mary stood at the door, smiling up at Fred.

Fred smiled and put a hand on his hip. "You gonna go inside yet, Mary?" Mary was still gazing at Fred.

"Sure..." Mary smiled and walked through the door. Fred laughed to himself and followed her inside.

Caroline was getting supper ready and Mary and Laura were helping her. Fred was helping out by keeping little Carrie occupied. They were at the kitchen table, with Fred bouncing her on his knee. Carrie was smiling and laughing, she loved it!

Fred smiled down at her..."My two nieces love it when I do this...Bet ya they think they're ridin' a horse!...Their names are Anna and Elisabeth...I think they're around your age."

"My middle name's Elizabeth!" Laura spoke up.

"Its a real pretty name, isn't it?" Fred said. Laura smiled.

"Mary's is pretty too...Her's is Amelia..."

"Also a pretty name!" Fred looked at Mary, who was grinning at him.

"Fred...What's your middle name?" Laura asked.

"John..."

"Is your first name Fredrick?"

"Nope...Its just Fred." He smiled.

"Why's that?" Mary asked.

Fred smiled..."Gosh Mary...I'm not quite sure...I guess my Ma and Pa just didn't care for the name, so they named me...just Fred..."

"My baby brother's middle name was Fredrick...His name was Charles,...after Pa..." Carrie spoke up.

Mary put her hands on Carrie's shoulders..."Ma told us not to talk about Freddy..." She whispered.

Fred, getting the message, changed the subject a little..."I'm named after my Pa."

Laura smiled. "Was his name Fred?"

"Nope...His name was John..." Fred smiled.

That night at supper, Mary got to sit by Fred. She thought a few times, that Fred moved his leg and his knee touched her leg...and when she would look at him,...Fred would smile at her. That made Mary look away and a smile would spread across her face.

"Wanna go swimming with us tommorrow, Fred?" Laura asked.

"Why sure." Fred said.

"Laura...Tommorrow's Sunday...We have church."

"Yes Ma...but I meant after church...:" She smiled.

"Will you be coming with us tommorrow, Fred?" Caroline asked.

"I...ummm...wasn't really planning on it..."

"You don't go to church?" Charles asked.

"No sir...I stopped going when I was 12...Haven't darkened a church door since..."

Charles just stared at him.

"Why haven't you?" Mary asked Fred.

"I have my reasons..." Fred said and began to remember going to church as a young boy...It was all coming back to him now...No,...he didn't dare act up in church, for Leah Beck would've surely tanned his hide...So when he did attend, he sat in the pew in front of Mr. and Mrs. Beck, scared stiff if he acted up that she would do something to him...Fred also began to remember when there was a new preacher at the church they attended. He was a hard preacher. One that preached Hell-fire and brimstone. He sure knew how to shell the corn, so to speak!

...FLASHBACK...

The hard preacher, as he would preach, would get turn all red, and get really excited. Fred was sitting in the front row, watching him and listening to him preach...

"There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:

And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,

And DESIRING to be FED..." He raised his voice, and continued, bringing his voice down a notch. "...with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.

And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;

And in HELL," The preacher screamed the word, and scared young 12 year old Fred to pieces! Fred was practically glued to the back of the pew and he still listened as the preacher was preaching,"...he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am TORMENTED in this flame." The young preacher preached with such emotion,...and he was LOUD! He would holler and jump up and down, wave his arms, pound his hand on the pulpit!...

"But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.

And beside all this, between us and you there is a GREAT gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you CANNOT;..." The preacher yelled, and continued, "... neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house:

For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment." "...You see! The rich man had a great burden for his own brothers! His own family! He didn't want them to end up in that horrible place,...as he had!" The preacher preached...

"Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.

And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.

And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead..."

The preacher was still preaching, this time, out of another portion of Scripture...

"And if thy hand offend thee, CUT IT OFF:" He yelled, for emphasis. "...it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:

WHERE THEIR WORM DIETH NOT, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED:" The preacher hollered, pounding his pulpit.

"And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the FIRE that NEVER shall be quenched:

Where their worm dieth not, and the FIRE is not quenched..." He screamed, pounding his pulpit once more, every time he did, it made Fred jumped almost out of his skin!

"And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:

Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.

Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another..."

The young, Hell-fire warning, screaming preacher, ended his sermon by begging for people to accept Christ as their Saviour and as the Lord of their life...He pleaded with tears streaming down his face...All the while, Fred thought the preacher was pointing his bony, skinny finger right in his face...The preacher called an invitation and Fred was so scared...he gripped the back of the pew as tightly as he could. He was so scared and under so much deep conviction, his arms and hands and knees were shaking...As soon as the church service was over, Fred slipped out as quickly as he could, and went out to the wagon...

...END OF FLASHBACK...

"Fred...Fred..." Charles kept saying. "Fred..."

"Wh-what? Huh?" Fred said, snapping out of it..."What?"

"I said...You're allowed to come with us to church tommorrow...but we're not gonna force you..."

Fred knodded slightly and remained quiet through the rest of his supper.