"C'mon boys! Lets be gettin' a move on pretty soon!...Or you're going to be late for school!" Arrah hollered out the door to Graham and Drew who were doing their morning chores. She sees them coming up the walk. Drew, carrying a whole mess of firewood, and nine-year-old Graham was carrying the milk pail, for he had just came from milking the cow.
"You know Arrah, the cow's ours now and we still haven't named her!" Graham exclaimed.
"Well, we'll just have to fix that, won't we!" Arrah smiled. "Let's see...We're going with a Bible name theme, right?"
"How about Esther? We could call her Essie." Drew suggested, but Graham shook his head.
"I don't think that new girl in school, Esther Dolan, would like having a cow share her name!" He laughed. "How about Ruth? We don't know anbody with that name!"
"Ruth the Cow." Drew said out loud. "Seems nice enough, I guess."
"Ruth was a very determined lady from the Bible, too. She grew up, you know, in the Godless nation of Moab...where all was heathen, and she married one of the men from Bethlehem-judah. Her father-in-law and husband and brother-in-law soon died, and Ruth and Orpah were told by their mother-in-law, Naomi, to go back to Moab. Orpah went back to Moab but Ruth said to Naomi, "...Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me." Ruth returned to Bethlehem with Naomi and later met and married a man named Boaz, they had a son named Obed, who became the grandfather to King David."
"So Ruth became an ancestor to Jesus Christ!" Drew said.
"Exactly right!" Arrah smiled. "So there's your Bible lesson for today, boys." She laughed. "Now lets get you boys going and off to school!"
"Yes Ma'am." Drew said and added the firewood to the stacked pile leaning against the house, and Graham took the milk pail into the springhouse after skimming it. Then, Arrah followed the boys inside.
"Oh Graham! Just look at your shirt! You've got milk spilled all down the front of it!" Arrah said looking at the large wet spot on his dark blue plaid shirt. "What happened?"
"I'm sorry Arrah! Ruth kicked over the milk bucket and well, you know what happened now. I tried to save as much milk as I could!" Graham said. "Am I in trouble?" He winced.
Arrah put her hands on his shoulders. "No Graham. You're fine...It was an accident." She smiled at him. "Just be careful with the milk next time...C'mon, lets take off your shirt so you can go change into a clean one right quick."
Graham let down his suspenders, and Arrah helped him unbutton the shirt some so he could easily slip out of it. Arrah took the shirt and put it with rest of the dirty clothes that she was to wash that afternoon. Arrah bent over and picked Leslie up, as he was running around the room as wild as a three year old little boy could be!
"Land sake's, Graham! Looks like you'll have to change your underclothing too!...The milk has soaked through! Go on. Get going!" She said, slapping Graham on the rear end, and he ran off to his room to change his clothes. The suspenders were dangling at his thighs as he went. He unbuttoned the front of his brown trousers and the suspenders that were attached and took them off, dropping them onto the floor, and he shed himself of his long-johns. Graham's skinny, lanky body was just beginning to develop as a young boy's body should, but he was concerned that he was too short. All the children his age were already taller than him. He wasn't sure how to talk about these kind of things to Cage, and he knew talking about them to Arrah wouldn't be the thing to do. She was a woman and wouldn't know what to tell him. She wouldn't understand about boy things. He went and grabbed a new pair of reddish-pink long-johns and put them on, buttoning them all the way up and he put his brown trousers back on. All the while, Graham thought somebody was watching him. He looked out his window to see if there was someone out there. He didn't see anyone, but he closed the curtains anyway. He picked out a red shirt and put that on, tucking it into his trousers. He heard Arrah calling him.
"Comin' Arrah!" He hollered. He grabbed his suspenders and pulled them on and left the room. Outside, a little, blonde, eight-year-old girl came out from the bushes and saw that the curtains to Graham's window were closed.
"Oh, fiddlesticks!...I barely saw anything! All I saw was Graham in his dumb trousers and suspenders!" The young girl grabbed her tin lunch pail and headed off to the school.
"Hurry up Graham! We're gonna be late!" Drew hollered. He was waiting for Graham in the yard and was starting to get annoyed by his brother always lagging behind.
"I'm comin' Drew!" Graham's boyish voice yelled, grabbing his lunch pail from Arrah. She followed them out into the yard and gave both boys a quick kiss on the cheek.
"You boys be good at school today! And as soon as school's over come home, I've got some jobs for you to do."
"Hey Arrah! You've got your 'visiting' dress on today!" Graham observed.
Arrah smoothed out a few wrinkles on the dark blue cotton dress with gold buttons, just like the rust-colored one, except on the blue one, the buttons had pine trees engraved on them, instead of flowery vines. "I'm going to make some social calls and run a few errands today...I might visit the widow Hosek, Laura says she's been so lonely since her husband Cal died...She needs a friend." She said, putting on her dark gray Sunday bonnet. "Now run along to school!...Hurry now!"
"Bye!" The boys said and started to run off. Leslie started to follow them, but Arrah held him back by the hem of his little nightshirt.
"Oh no you don't, Mr. Leslie!" She laughed and picked him up. He wiggled in her arms to get free.
"I wanna go to school tooooo!" He whined.
"Les, you won't be going to school for a couple years yet!...You're comin' visiting with me today!"
"Where's Cage?" Leslie asked, looking up at Arrah's pretty face.
"With Mr. Wilder, working at the mill."
"Can we go see 'em?" Leslie asked.
"No sir we will not!...Its not a place for us to be...It's quite dangerous for a little one like you especially."
"Aww, shucks!" He says and sticks out his lower lip while crossing his little arms.
"Now don't you be having a bad attitude!...C'mon let's go get you dressed." Arrah walked into the house carrying Leslie, and went to his room and got him changed into a brown-checked shirt and brown trousers. She came back into the kitchen with him following close behind her, and grabbing her rose-printed calico handbag, they headed out the door. They walked into town and made their first stop at the mercantile. Arrah walked through the door holding Leslie's little hand. Mr. Willie Oleson was at the counter smiling down at the little boy. They approached the counter and Arrah picked Leslie up and balanced him on her hip. "Won't you say 'hello' to Mr. Oleson, Leslie?" She whispered in his ear.
Leslie was being a little shy and he buried his face in Arrah's shoulder. "Say 'hello!' Don't be so shy Leslie, Mr. Oleson's a very nice man..."
"Can I get a high five, little bud?" Willie asked, holding out his large hand. Leslie stared at his hand a few seconds, then he grinned and slapped his little hand on top of Willie's much larger one.
"Such a cute kid." Willie smiled. He tapped his hands on top of the counter-top a few times. "So,...what can I do you for Mrs. Lay?"
"I'd just like to look at some of your bolts of fabric...I was thinking of making some new shirts for the boys and for Cage..."
"And nothing for you?"
"No sir...And like I said, I'd just like to look at the fabrics..." Arrah smiled.
"Here you are then..." He said pulling out two bolts of calico fabric. One, a blue striped pattern, and the other, and brown plaid pattern. Arrah ran her hands over the soft fabric.
"Isn't it pretty, Leslie?" She asked him, and Leslie reached out to touch one of the patterns. "Do you like the brown one?" Arrah smiled at him. He nodded his head and smiled.
"I do too." She smiled.
"Would you like me to save it for you, Mrs. Lay?" Willie asked, putting the calico bolts back on the shelf.
"No thank you, Mr. Oleson...I'd like to talk to my husband before I make any purchases." Arrah smiled, and transferred Leslie onto her other hip.
"Seems only right." Willie said.
Arrah smiled and nodded and then turned her head and smiled at Leslie. "Well, I guess we better get a move on Les, say goodbye to Mr. Oleson!"
Leslie grinned at Willie. "Bye-bye, Mr. Oleeeson!"
Willie laughed and leaned over the counter and whispered to the three-year-old boy. "My name is Mr. Oleson...but you can call me Mr. Oleeeson if you want to." And with that, Willie ruffled the three-year-old's head of blond hair.
"Well goodbye for now, Mr. Oleson. Tell Rachel we'll see her in church on Sunday." Arrah smiled and turned to leave.
"I will...Oh wait!...Before you go, I've got a little something for the boys to enjoy!" Willie said, filling a small sack full of candy and handing it to her. Arrah was about to protest, but it was too late, Leslie's eyes got as big as saucers and he grinned like a little Cheshire cat at the sight of all that yummy candy! Arrah smiled and laughed silently at the face Leslie made. "What do you say to Mr. Oleson for the candy, Leslie?"
Leslie smiled as wide as could be. "Thank you!" He exclaimed.
"You're welcome kiddo!" Willie told the young boy. "I learned from the best, I guess...My Pa used to give out candy to all his younger customers...Well, when my sister and I didn't get into it first!" Willie laughed. It made Arrah giggle, thinking of all that Laura had told her about Nellie and Willie. "Well, goodbye, Mr. Oleson." Arrah smiled and nodded and walked toward the door. All the way there, Leslie was smiling and waving his little hand goodbye to Willie and it made him smile as well. "Such a cute little rascal!" Willie said to himself, when Arrah and Leslie disappeared out the door.
Arrah and Leslie walked through town awhile and then came to the widow Hosek's house. A lovely little place, with beautiful scenery and a little house that looked like it was straight out of Czechoslovakia. Arrah gazed all around her...She could tell the fields were at one time plowed...but hadn't been for some time. They were just bare...No crop anymore. By the side of the little cottage were two gardens. One, a very large flower garden and the other garden was chalk full of different kinds of produce. Arrah figured that this was this older woman's only form of income now, but then a chicken ran past her and Leslie. Arrah gazed over and saw the small chicken coop. She looked over at the chicken which was running wild all over the place! Arrah laughed, taking Leslie's hand and ran all over the yard chasing the chicken and put her back in the chicken coop with the other hens. Arrah locked the chicken coop and picked Leslie up and walked up to the front door. She knocked on it a few times, and even Leslie rapped on the door, wanting to help. After several minutes a short, slender but not a bit feeble, older lady in her late fifties, opened the door. She was strong and as healthy as a horse. Her hair was salt-and peppery. A deep, dark brown with gray hairs here and there. It was pulled back into a bun.
At first, the older lady spoke in her native language. "halo!nazdar! Jak se máte?"
Arrah just stared at her. She didn't know how to speak Czech. The older woman laughed at her a little. "I said, 'Hello! How are you?'"
"Um...I'm doing very well, Mrs. Hosek...I thought I would just stop by for awhile...My name is Arrah Lay...I'm your new neighbor...About twenty miles down the road I'd say..."
Mrs Hosek's kind, deep brown eyes beamed with laughter. "Well, don't just stand there!...Come in...come in!"
Arrah stepped inside, with young Leslie on her hip.
"Oh, you're such a pretty young thing!...How old are you, dearie?"
"I'm nineteen, Mrs. Hosek." Arrah smiled.
The older woman started talking to herself, remembering sweet little memories of her past. Though she spoke in English, you could still hear a bit of Czech in her accent. "...Oh Kitty,...Do you remember when you were nineteen?...Newly married and first settled in this very house...With Cal..." She smiled, remembering her late husband. "He was such a caring, loving, hardworking man...Soft, wavy brown hair and a pair of charming blue eyes that just radiated love...Oh, enough of an old woman rambling on!" Kitty said, snapping back into reality. "So who is this little half-bag of sweet sugar?" Kitty smiled at Leslie, who was looking up at her. "Is he your son?" She asked.
"This is Leslie...and no...he's not my son...He's my brother-in-law." Arrah smiled.
"Oh how interesting!...And pardon my manners! Let me get you two something to drink and a little something to eat." Kitty said, browsing through her tiny kitchen. "And don't you try and say no to me!...I love feeding people and watching people eat!...Now you two just sit there at the table." Arrah took off her gray bonnet and sat down at the kitchen table and pulled Leslie onto her lap. Both looked around the room, which was filled with all things Czech. On shelves on the walls were all sorts of china: a few sugar bowls, soup bowls, cups and saucers, dinner plates, desert plates, anything you could think of! Kitty also had little trinkets and things from Czechoslovakia all throughout her home. Though she didn't wear the traditional costume of the Czech people anymore, she had a dress and other things hanging on the walls of the tiny front room. Kitty set out some tea plates and some little cups, all which were white and had little pink roses on them.
"Oh how beautiful, Mrs. Hosek!"
"Thank you sweetie! It was a wedding present from my dear Cal's family...And you can call me Kitty."
"Is your real name Katherine?" Arrah asked.
"No...its just Kitty." She smiled and went to go get the tea-pot off of the stove-top. She heard it whistling. Kitty returned, carrying the tea-pot and filled up her and Arrah's cups. She went rumaging through her kitchen and returned with a glass of milk for Leslie and a plate full of Czech desserts.
"Oh Kitty, those look wonderful!" Arrah said, taking a pastry filled with fruit preserves in the center of it, and tasting it after saying a silent prayer of thanks to God for the little treat and for the fellowship with this dear lady. "Oh,...mmmm! They taste wonderful too!" Arrah smiled. "What are they called?"
"They're called Kolaches, pretty one!...And we Czech people are serious about our food! As serious as a heart attack!" She laughed. "My Cal always said, Fat is flavor, grease is good and cholesterol is your friend!"
"Cal seemed like such an interesting man! " Arrah smiled.
Kitty sighed happily. "He was, Lord bless him...Oh, but he's gone to meet His Lord and Saviour up in Gloryland!"
"How long ago?" Arrah asked Kitty.
"A year ago." Kitty replied solemnly. "And sometimes these days, I feel I'm not far behind him!" She sighed, grasping her tea-cup.
"Oh don't say that Kitty!...You don't look a day over 50!"
Kitty chuckled and stretched out her hand across the table to Arrah's slender one and patted it. "I turned 59 last month, dear child!"
"But your hair!...You barely have any gray in it!" Arrah exclaimed.
Kitty's hands smoothed over her deep brown hair that did show some gray in it, and she chuckled. "Well, the Good Lord certainly has been kind to this old woman!"
"I can see He has...and He gave you a wonderful man who loved you very much." Arrah smiled.
"Oh, that he did. That he did!...Would you like to see a photograph of my dear Cal?"
"Yes I would, Kitty."
"Well, I will go get the photographs, but first, how about you two have another Kolache!" Kitty said, giving little Leslie a strawberry-filled Kolache. His eyes went wide and a huge smile crept across his face. "Well, look at that smile!...He's just as cute as a button!" She said, with her hands on her hips and went down the hall and into her bedroom. Kitty came back a few minutes later with two framed photographs. One of Cal in his twenties and the other was of Cal about a few years before he died. They looked at the picture of Cal in his younger years. "My goodness, Kitty! Cal certainly was a looker in his younger days!" Arrah said, looking at the picture. She saw the kind-looking eyes, the wavy, dark brown hair that was parted on the right side, and in the corners of his mouth were dimples that made him seem almost boyish.
Kitty chuckled. "Why do you think I married the man?" Arrah laughed along with Kitty, knowing she was only joking with her. Kitty gazed at the picture and wonderful memories of her and Cal flooded her mind. "We were a partnership,...him and me..." She smiled, tears almost flooding her eyes. She missed him. So much that words couldn't express it. "We worked this very farmland...together...I know many a time I found myself behind a plow, working my fingers to the bone alongside Cal..." Kitty clutched the picture to her chest and she looked over at the pretty young woman. "Arrah,...stand by your man. You two are a team...Give that man all your love, all your faith,...submit to him..." She paused and picked up the other picture of Cal. "Cherish your years together, Arrah. For someday, one of you will be gone...and you'll miss those years when you two were together..." She set the photograph of Cal in his twenties on the table and showed the other to Arrah. She saw the same kind-looking, smiling eyes, but the face was wrinkled with age. Deep lines had settled in his face, by his lips down to his jawline. His head was bald, except for some silver hair on the sides.
"What happened to all his hairs?" Leslie asked.
Kitty looked over and chuckled at the little boy. Smiling, she leaned forward and spoke to him softy, "He was a bad boy and so I cut it all off..."
Believing what Kitty said was true, Leslie went wide-eyed. He spoke up shyly. "...When I'm a bad boy, I get a spankin'...Its no fun at all...It hurts!...Why didn't you give him a spankin' if he was a bad boy? Why'd you cut off all his hairs?"
"Leslie!..." Arrah looked at Leslie, astonished at what he said. Kitty laughed, she thought he was as cute as a little bug's ear!
Kitty got up and put her hands on Leslie's shoulders. She squeezed them gently as if she were giving him a hug. "Well Leslie, spankings are for children...aren't they."
Leslie blinked his big chocolate brown eyes and was silent, as he was thinking. Then his eyes lit up! "And he's a growed-up! So he don't need no spankin's!"
Kitty smiled. "That's right." She went back to sit down at the table to talk with Arrah. Kitty told Leslie to eat another Kolache, so Leslie grabbed another one. This time, a blueberry-filled Kolache. He took a huge bite out of it. Moments later, Kitty and Arrah looked over at Leslie and suddenly burst into laughter. He had blueberry preserves all over his face! Arrah took a handkerchief and cleaned Leslie up. He was such a mess! Blueberry preserves were everywhere! Especially on his hands, they were so sticky!
Back at the schoolyard, the school-children were outside having recess. Games of blind man's wand, deerstalker, hoops and sticks, and marbles were in full swing. One of the boys gathered his stockings into a ball and they were playing a game of townball. Drew was one of the captains and the other oldest boy, Ethan Keller, who was two years younger than Drew, was the other captain. Rose Wilder, much like her mother at that age, was playing with the boys. She was on Ethan's team.
Jenny Wilder was sitting on the front steps with the other girls her age. They were talking and laughing and one of the girls, Hattie Keller, Ethan's twin sister, got everyone's attention. "C' mon! Lets play a game of "The Needle's Eye." With that, all the childern lined up, eight feet apart, boys on one side, girls on the other. "Amy, you start it off!" Hattie said to one of the girls.
Amy Christiansen, started it off by chanting, "The needle's eye that doth supply, the thread that runs so true; I stump my toe, and down I go, All for the want of you!" Then, she ran as hard as she could and tried to break through the clenched hands of Ethan Keller and a fourteen-year-old boy named Roy Albero. She broke through and accidentally knocked Roy down on the ground. She was on top of him, and both of them were laughing and everyone was staring at them. Amy got up, dusted herself off and Roy was picking himself off of the ground as well. "Guess you didn't know your own strength!" Roy laughed.
"I guess so." Amy said, her face now turning red. Roy and Amy stood there, looking at each other. Roy smiled and said, "Uh...um...I guess we better get back to the game." "Right." Amy said, and both joined their lines.
"Wait a minute!...I gotta use the outhouse!" Graham said, taking off toward the little building.
"Can't you wait till AFTER the game's over?" Drew hollered.
Graham looked back and yelled. "No I can't!...I REALLY gotta go!" He took off running and finally made it the outhouse, let down his suspenders and opened the front of his trousers. He was doing his business and he looked around and saw a blue eye peeking through one of the holes in the outhouse. "Who's there!" Graham asked, but the bearer of the blue eye didn't answer. "Get out of here!...Quit peeking in at me!" Graham looked at the wooden outhouse wall in front of him and went back to take care of his business...Moments later, Graham looked again and saw that the blue eye was still looking through the peep-hole. Graham rears back, points himself in the direction of the peep-hole...And all of a sudden, you hear this high-pitched wail, "YOU PEED IN MY EYE!" The little blond haired girl went into the direction of town, wailing all the way, "Maaaaaammmaaa!...MAAAAAAAMMMMAAAA!...He peed in my eye!...Graham Lay PEED in my EYE!" Graham leaned out the door of the outhouse and hollered in the girl's direction, "Now that'll teach you to peek in on somebody!...Won't it!" As Graham came out of the outhouse, all the school-children stared at him. Then, the boys all started laughing their heads off! Some were rolling around on the ground!...The girls on the other hand, just looked disgustedly at Graham.
"What!...She shouldn't have been peeking in on me!...I told her to go away and she wouldn't!"
Drew came over and layed his hand on his younger brother's shoulder. He couldn't stop laughing, but he managed to get some words out..."I don't think she'll be bothering you any longer, Graham!" Then, as Drew went back into hystarical laughter, he held his side because it hurt so much from laughing so hard!
The children heard the school bell ringing and saw that Miss Corrie Sonnen, the school mistress, was calling the children back to class. "Recess is over, children!...Let's get back to our studies and then we'll have a lunch break!" The girls entered the building first and the boys followed them. Miss Sonnen waited till the last student was in the building and she followed them in. The boys went to one side of the classroom and the girls were on the other. Each student stood by their desks until Miss Sonnen allowed them to be seated. She scanned the classroom and saw that one of her students was missing.
"Has anyone seen, Emma Sue Causer?" The whole classroom burst into laughter. Twenty-three year old Corrie Sonnen got her students to quiet down. "That's enough class!...I asked all of you a question. Where is Emma Sue Causer?" The laughter died down some and EVERYONE looked right at Graham. Miss Corrie came and stood in front of Graham's desk. "Graham, have you seen Emma Sue?"
"Um...uh...um, well..." Graham stuttered.
"Well,...have you, Mr. Lay?" Corrie asked, with her hands on her hips. She looked at him, and Graham felt as if her eyes were tearing into him like a lioness tears into her prey.
"Umm..." Graham gulped. "Yes ma'am..." He said quietly.
"Care to tell me where she is?"
"Um, well...Uh, you see,...She went home...She's not feeling all too good." The whole classroom roared with laughter!
"Children!" Miss Corrie raised her voice. "That's quite enough!...All of you! Get back to your studies! Now!...Sixth through Eighth Grade, open your McGuffey readers to page 42 and read two chapters. Third through Fifth, turn to page 17 read it and write down each word you don't understand and for homework, do a word study on those words. You First and Second Graders, work on your alphabet please."
Graham turned to page 17 in his reader and began to read. "Graham, may I see you outside for a moment?" Miss Sonnen asked.
"Yes, Miss Sonnen." Graham winced. He knew he was in trouble. He just knew it. He got up and followed his teacher outside, his shoulders hunched forward.
"I know what you did to Emma Sue, Graham." Corrie said, leaning herself against an oak tree.
"Yes ma'am...I'll go get the leather strap..." Graham said, and turned to go, but she stopped him.
"No need Graham...In a way, I'm glad you did what you did. You stood up for yourself..."
"But...Emma Sue..."
"Yes,...she shouldn't have done what she did either. She was also just curious..."
"What are you gonna do to her?" Graham asked.
"Not one thing...I think she's learned her lesson!"
That made Graham laugh a little. "All she wanted to do was peek at me, but she got more than she bargained for!"
Miss Corrie made a face and inwardly laughed. "I'm letting you off with a warning this time...Now c'mon...lets get back to class. All right?" She smiled.
"Yes Ma'am." Graham said and walked back into the school building.
Back at the widow Hosek's house, Kitty, Arrah and Leslie were in the front room. Beautiful music was coming from an instrument called a dulcimer. Kitty was playing the wonderful hymn, "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" Arrah just couldn't help herself and started to sing,
"Come, thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace; streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it, mount of thy redeeming love."
"You have a beautiful voice, child." Kitty said.
"Thank you, Kitty." Arrah smiled, her cheeks were turning a little shade of pink.
"Sing the second verse with me, will you?" Kitty said and started to play the hammered dulicmer again. They sang the second verse together.
"Here I raise mine Ebenezer; hither by thy help I'm come; and I hope, by thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God; he, to rescue me from danger, interposed his precious blood."
"Could you sing the next verse by yourself, Arrah?...It was always Cal's favorite." Kitty smiled.
Arrah sang, "O to grace how great a debtor, daily I'm constrained to be! Let thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love; here's my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above."
"Beautiful, child!...Oh that was just beautiful!" Kitty said, dabbing her eyes with her handkerchief.
"Thank you, Kitty...I never really thought of my voice as beautiful."
"It is!...It is,...oh have some faith and believe in yourself, child!"
Kitty played yet another hymn on the dulcimer, another one of Cal's favorites, "Ring the Bells of Heaven" Arrah noticed one word that stood out to her in both songs: wandering.
"Was Cal a wanderer?" Arrah asked.
Kitty chuckled. "Only in his heart!" She thought once more of her late husband, and her lips formed into a smile. "Oh...I'm sure there were times where he wanted to travel...See the world...but he never did."
"Why not?" Arrah asked.
Kitty sighed happily and spoke, "We both fell in love with each other...Soon we married and I guess Cal thought that traveling all over the globe with his new wife just wasn't feesable...There are many things in this life that would be nice to do...but sometimes they just aren't feesable...Oh,...I would've loved to have gone with him if he had...Just to be with him...Talking with my dear Cal was wonderful...Communication is one of the most important things in a marriage, I think...but oh...I enjoyed just being with him! It was enough for me...For the both of us, I think. " She smiled.
"He probably figured that that sort of life wouldn't be right for a wife...and children." Arrah said.
"Oh...No...Cal and I never had any children of our own..." Kitty said. Her chipper and bright mood had changed. She quickly changed the subject and started to clear the table of the tea cups and plates.
"I'm sorry, Kitty." Arrah said quickly.
"What for, child?" Kitty asked, a slight smile was on her face.
"For what I said...It upset you...I never should've said anything...It's not my right to."
"Oh,...you didn't upset me one bit, child." Kitty said, smiling.
The boys' day of school was soon over and they came home, Drew changed into some working clothes and went out to help Cage plow the fields. Drew was wearing a brown shirt and trousers. He rolled his sleeves up to his elbows and got behind one of the plows. He started to work and Cage was already hard at work on one of the fields that he was almost finished plowing. Meanwhile, nine year old Graham was chopping and gathering the wood to stock the wood pile. Arrah was inside, fixing up a hearty supper of hickory-smoked carp, fried potatoes and asparagus. Leslie was in the front room, playing with his wooden 'pioneers' and 'indians'. Arrah had put the tea on the stove-top and began to set the table for supper. Leslie came in from the front room and lifted his arms up, wanting to be put into hs chair at the table. "Please lift me up!"
Arrah smiled at Leslie, picked him up and set him in his chair. Graham came through the front door and was about to take off his coat.
"Graham...did you wash up for supper?"
"No ma'am." He said quietly.
"Go and do, please." She said, placing a plate of smoked carp, fried potatoes and asparagus on the table.
"Yes ma'am." Graham said and raced out the door to do so. Cage and Drew had washed up for supper and headed to their rooms to change their clothes. They came downstairs to join Arrah, Leslie and Graham at the kitchen table. Cage said a quick prayer of thanks for their meal. And began to ask his wife and brothers about their days. Graham was dreading it...He didn't want to tell them what he did to the little blonde girl.
"Graham...I uh...heard you had an interesting day with that Causer girl..."
Drew could'nt help but snicker.
"Drew...hush please." Arrah scolded him. Drew lowered his head and pulled off a piece of carp with his fork and quickly stuck the morsel into his mouth.
Everyone looked at Graham. Cage knew what Graham did to Emma Sue, but he just wanted to hear the boy say it.
Graham was sweating, and he felt that all eyes were on him, staring holes right into him. He gulped and quietly began to speak. "I peed in her eye." Graham muttered.
"What was that, Graham?" Cage asked, munching on a fried potato wedge.
"I peed in her eye, ok!" He practically yelled. That made Cage, Drew and Leslie burst into laughter.
"I don't think this is very funny." Arrah said, flatly.
"I'm sorry, sweetheart." Cage muttered. He admitted that this wasn't the kind of topic to be talking about at the suppertable.
"I think its hilarious!" Arrah exclaimed and started to laugh, which made Cage, Drew and Leslie laugh as well. Graham soon began to loosen up and began to laugh. Leslie was laughing big belly-laughs, which made everyone laugh even harder!
"Bet from now on she'll have a special gleam in her eye when she sees you, Graham!" Drew said, laughing his head off.