A year later...
On one hot summer day, Big George Gruber decided to clean out the barn...everyone else was in the house.
Big George was minding his own business, cleaning out the barn...when suddenly...he saw Troubles, the mean bull. Troubles backed Big George into a corner. It may not have shown on the outside that Big George was scared, but on the inside, he was terrified! There he was, trapped in the corner by Troubles the bull, who was huffing and puffing, his nostrils flaring...and ready to charge!...Soon, he grabbed Troubles the bull by the horns and wrestled with him! Now, Big George, hence his nickname, was a pretty good-sized man...but if he hadn't been, he surely would've been gored to death!...The rest of the Gruber family were inside and didn't know Troubles the bull had cornered Big George...
"Frances, stir the stew for me, please?"
"Yes, Ma..." She said and went to the cookstove.
"Better be careful! Wouldn't want to burn yourself!...Or the stew!" Joseph teased her.
"Shut up, Joe!"
Just then, the door FLEW open, and in ran Big George. His face was as white as a sheet!
"George, what on earth is the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost!"
Big George ignored his wife, brushed past her,...shouting profanities in German..."Gott verdammt, Sie Sohn-von-a-Bitch! Sie dumm verdammte Bull...Ihr Ende ist sehr nahe!" Yes, though a faithful church go-er, Big George still had some things he hadn't given up...swearing being one of them...drinking being the other...He rushed up the stairs with 3 or 4 clumps of his big feet...went to him and his wife's room, grabbed his 44 caliber Smith & Wesson revolver...bounded back down the stairs, still cursing and swearing in his native language... and went back to the barn...
"Bang!" They heard the gun go off..."Bang!...Bang!...Bang!" They heard it go off a few more times...
"What,...It isn't DEAD yet?" Joseph said...
"SHUT UP, JOE!" Everyone shouted...Well, everyone except for Ma...She just gave him a look...
"Bang!..." They heard it go off again...the sound of the gun going off made Frances...and her mother, flinch..."BANG!" One last, powerful gunfire went off...and EVERYONE,...Ma Gruber, Little George, John, Joseph, and Frances, all headed out to the barn.
There he was,...Troubles the bull, laying on his back, twitching spasmatically...and then he stopped twitching...
"You KILLED our only bull!" Ma Gruber said, weakly...
"Took care of that, didn't I?" Big George said, triumphantly..."Now we'll have TONS of homemade sausage..."
That evening, it being the weekend, and wanting to celebrate his triumphant doing away of Troubles the Bull, Big George was getting ready to go into town and buy him and all his buddies a round of drinks...
"George, please!...I really wish you wouldn't spend our hard-earned money on beer!..." Ma Gruber pleaded with him..."George, please don't!...GEORGE!" She tried tugging on him, in an effort to get him to stay home..."George, please don't do this!...Just look at all you're wasting!...George, please don't go out and waste everything! We worked hard to earn that money!" Though all of Franziska's pleading was to no avail...Big George Gruber grabbed his hat, so he could be right in style (and considered dressed back then...because you were considered underdressed if a man went without his hat) when he left for his night out on the town...There he stood, Sunday best, hair all combed neatly, and his black handlebar mustache was all waxed up...Big George was a man of few words, and so Franziska's pleading fell on deaf ears...and he was about to put on his hat, when she snatched it from him...ran outside to the outhouse...plunged the hat into the urine-filled pot (they called it a thunder-mug), thanks to all four of the Gruber children having previously used the outhouse...she ran back inside, and threw the soaked hat right into Big George's face! His handlebar mustache was drooping from all the urine...Big George let his soaked hat fall to the floor...and let out a roar like a wounded lion!...As fast as her legs would carry her, Franziska ran out the back door and into the summer kitchen and hid behind the door...Big George ran after her...and just that quick she ran back out and LOCKED Big George in the summer kitchen!...So Mr. Gruber spent that WHOLE night in that summer kitchen and Ma Gruber let him out in the morning...Big George had a pretty quick temper...but I guess he also got over it quick!
"I think get the message...Don't spend our hard-earned money on beer..." Big George chuckled, putting an arm around his wife...
"You kiss me with that nasty mouth and you will surely pay for it, George Michael!..." Franziska laughed..."Go wash your face! Better yet, take a bath while you're at it!"
"I'll go get the wash tub!" Frances said...still laughing at the whole situation...and she headed out to the well...
She set the wash tub on the ground and and began pumping the water-pump so she could fill up the wash tub...She heard a team of horses coming up the road and looked up and smiled when she saw who it was...she stopped pumping the water-pump and ran to meet the visitor...
"Hey, you're here early!" She smiled at him..."Wanting to picked up John, already?..."
"Well, yes...and no..." Fred smiled..."I wanted to ask you something..."
"Oh really?..." She smiled and bit her bottom lip...
"Yeah...You know that church picnic coming up?"
"Mmm...yeah..."
"Well...I was wondering if you'd do me the honor of going with me...
"Oh, I'd LOVE to go with him!...But, maybe I'll just...mess with his head a little..." She thought.
"Well,...what do ya say, Frances? Will you?"
"Ummmmm..." Frances smiled up at him..."Let me think on it...and I'll get back to you...All right, Fred?"
Fred was silent for a minute or two..."You'll think about it..." He said at last...
"Mmmhhmmm..." She smiled, knodding her head..."I'll go get John for you..." She said, walking away from him and back into the house...She looked back at him...and she saw he was pacing back and forth, talking to himself...and she was sure it was about her!
She laughed to herself..."Its just so fun messing with him!"
Fred picked up John, so they could go to work at the iron factory...and all the while, Fred couldn't stop thinking about Frances and what she told him!
"She said she'll 'think' about it...What in the world is there to think about? I mean...I have feelings for her...I've known that ever since I met her!...I coulda sworn she does too! Or does she?...Maybe she doesn't...she did say she'd think about it..." He thought..."She's so confusing!" Fred quietly thought out loud...
"Who is?" John asked...
"Who's what?"
"Who's confusing?"
"Oh...nobody...Just some girl..."
"Ah...Anybody I know?"
"Yeah..."
"Well, I'm with you there, buddy...Women are confusing, all right..." John said...
"Well, that was sure a close one!...I better keep my mouth SHUT from now on..." Fred thought
"Frances...what do you think of Fred?" Liz Palmer asked...Liz had stayed the night over at the Gruber's place...and the girls were up in Frances's bedroom up in the loft...talking about all sorts of things...and soon the conversation turned to none other than...men.
"He's...very sweet...and respectful...and he's kind..."
"And he's soooooooooooooo dreamy!" Liz said, breathlessly...
"Liz!" Frances said...
"What?...He is!...When I see a good-looking man, I make it known!"
"Well, yeah he is..." Frances blushed...
"You keep blushing!" Liz said in a sing-songy voice..."Frances loves Fred!"
"Shut-up, Liz!" Frances said...knowing her chin was starting to quiver...again!
"Hey, if you won't take him...I WILL!" Liz smiled.
Frances was quiet after that..."She better NOT take him...I want him!...but, its been a year already. Maybe he doesn't want me as I want him...Or maybe he does and he's just taking his time...I don't want to go into this lightly either..."
"I AM SOOOOOOO BORED!" Liz said, and flopped onto Frances' bed...
"Find something to DO then!" Frances smiled...
"Hey, lets go and steal John and Joseph's trousers!" Liz suggested, and started laughing...
"Why would we do THAT?" Frances chuckled.
"To mess with them, duh!...C'mon! It'll be so funny!" She laughed...
Frances sneaked into the boys' room and grabbed her older brothers' tan trousers...and sneaked back upstairs to the loft...
"So...I got them...Now what do we do?"
"Let's put them on!"
"Liz! We can NOT put on men's clothing!" Frances laughed...
"Sure we can!...I do it all the time at home with my brother's old trousers!...Oh, c'mon...it'll be tons of fun!"
So, Liz and Frances both put on a pair of trousers...Liz put on Joseph's and Frances put on John's...and they started dancing around the room, linked arm in arm, and danced around in a circle...
"This is so stupid and silly!" Frances laughed...
"I thinks its LOADS of fun!" Liz laughed, flopping down on Frances' bed again..."I could wear them everyday if I could!"
"I feel funny wearing trousers!" Frances laughed..."I'm just so used to wearing my skirts and dresses..."
"Oh, who needs skirts? They're such a bother!...The wind picks up and your skirt flys up over your knees!...And getting down from a wagon?...PUH-LEASE!...You can't help but be indecent!...Men don't have that problem! They get to do whatever they darn well please!"
"Okay...anyway...I just feel strange...I'm taking these off!" Frances said, letting the suspenders fall to the ground, and she undid the zipper on the trousers...
"Party pooper!"
"I am not!...I just don't feel right doing this, Liz..." She said, changing into a brown skirt and a blue, purple and brown plaid button down blouse...
"Well, I am going to lounge around in them some more!" Liz said...
"Fine...do what you want!...Just don't have my Pa or one of my brothers catch you wearing them!" Frances told her...
A/N: The story of Big George and Troubles the bull is true! And so is the one about Big George wanting to spend their hard earned money on beer. lol. Mrs. Gruber sure got him, didn't she?! lol.
Lizzie Palmer was Frances' best friend as a teenager. Their interaction in this chapter remind me of and my friend. Also, the chin quivering is one of my own traits. lol.
