And I am back from vacation and back in writing mode! Still working full time, and will be going on another trip in a few weeks, but between now and then expect some updating!
Penny hadn't realized how badly she had needed to return to where she'd grown up with Leonard and her children in tow. She hadn't been there since she was pregnant with Savannah, and it had been a long five years since she'd walked through their long backyard out to the barns, where the cows wintered and the couple of horses snorted in disgust at being trapped inside. Holding Savannah's hand so the girl wouldn't slip on the ice, Penny led her inside and lifted the girl up so she could see over the stall door.
A pregnant cow lifted her head from her feed and regarded them calmly. "Cow!" Savannah shrieked, clapping her hands.
Penny lowered the girl and turned her so they were face to face. "Savvy," Penny said, "what did I tell you about the loud voices?" Savannah didn't respond. "Did I tell you that might scare or upset the animals?"
"Yes," Savannah said. She put her finger to her lips. "Shhhhh."
Penny repeated the motion. "Good girl." She picked her daughter up again and let her rest her hands on the stall door as she peered in to see the animal.
"I'm sorry, cow," Savannah whispered.
"You don't have to whisper," Penny said, "if you don't want to. Just talk normally."
"Is that cow going to have a baby?" Savannah asked.
"Yes," Penny said. "Soon."
"I noticed because her belly is fat like yours was before Ada."
"Are you calling me fat?" Penny asked, feigning offense.
Savannah giggled.
"Do you want to see the horses?" Penny asked.
"Can we ride them?"
"Not today," Penny said. "It's very cold outside." She put Savannah on her hip and walked down to the end of the barn. "Hey there Husker," she said quietly to the animal inside.
Savannah gasped. "He's so big!"
"He's pretty big," Penny said. She shifted Savannah so she had a free hand and extended it to the big chestnut. "Come here, Husker."
The horse put his head over the stall door and Savannah leaned away slightly into Penny. Penny backed up a step. "You okay?"
The girl nodded, so Penny resumed petting Husker's forehead. "You can touch him, baby girl," Penny told her, and the child reached out and patted Husker on the face. "He's so soft!" she said in a stage whisper.
"Pet his nose," Penny said. "Down here where he's darker colored. He won't bite you." Savannah still looked apprehensive. "I promise he won't bite you," Penny said. "He's been here fifteen years and he ain't bit anyone yet." Raising her eyebrows slightly at her slip into vernacular, Penny looked at her daughter. "Go ahead."
Savannah put her hand between Husker's nostrils, and her eyes got wide. "He's even softer here!"
"Uh-huh," Penny said. "Do you want to see the other horse? I think you'll like him."
"Yes," her daughter said. She smiled. "Bye bye, Husker!"
Penny did a one eighty and stepped to the stall across the aisle. "This is Ed," she said.
Savannah squealed – just quietly enough that Penny didn't chide her. "He's got spots!"
"He's an Appaloosa," Penny said. "Some of them have spots all over their body, but he's solid brown except for the top of his butt. They call that a 'blanket'."
She giggled. "Why would you just have a blanket on your butt?"
"Silly girl," Penny said, "it's not an actual blanket."
"Come here, Ed!" Savannah said, stretching out her arms. The horse lifted his head from his hay and turned, pointing his nose at his left shoulder. "Why is he doing that?" Savannah asked.
"To see us better," Penny said. "He is blind in his right eye. We call him Pollard sometimes because there was a man who rode horses in races that was blind in an eye."
"Why is his name Ed then?" Savannah asked as the horse returned to eating.
"He was named after his first owner's grampa," Penny said. "They didn't know he was blind at first."
"What kind of horse is Husker?"
"Quarter Horse."
After a few more minutes, Savannah said she had to go to the bathroom. "I'll let you go back to the house by yourself if you promise to go slow and watch for ice," Penny said.
"I wish there was snow."
"It's supposed to snow tonight," Penny told her. "So we might have a white Christmas. Now go like a big girl."
She watched Savannah maneuver the icy spot like she'd been doing it her whole life, and then run the rest of the way back to the farmhouse. Penny smiled proudly, and then went back inside to feed the cows as her father had asked. When she returned to the house, she found her parents, Leonard, and the girls in the living area. Her mother had the old guitar that she could only sort of play, and she and Wyatt were singing the song about the feather bed.
It was nine feet high, six feet wide, soft as a downy chick. It was made from the feathers of forty 'leven geese, took a whole bolt of cloth for the tick.
Penny came in and sat down next to Leonard, who was smiling at Savannah, holding Ada in her lap and trying to sing along. Penny grabbed his hand and joined in with her parents and oldest daughter.
It could hold eight kids, four hound dogs, and a piggy we stole from the shed. Didn't get much sleep but we had a lot of fun on Grandma's feather bed.
When the song was over, Penny's mother put the guitar down, smiling, and looked at Leonard. "So, how is that old roommate of yours?"
"Crazy as usual," Leonard said. "We haven't seen much of him lately, he and his wife have some things they need to work out."
"They fighting?" Wyatt asked.
"Dad, you're so nosy," Penny said.
"Must be where you get it from," Leonard teased. "But no, they're not fighting, it's not like that. Just some husband and wife stuff."
"I'm surprised that boy got married," Wyatt said. "But Amy's quite the girl."
"Yeah," Penny said quietly. "Yeah, she is."
"She loves him," Leonard said. "She understands him, which is really essential. I've known him for almost twenty years and still don't know what he's thinking half the time."
Penny blinked. "You know what he's thinking half the time?"
Leonard laughed.
"You're pretty good friends with Amy, Penny," her mother said. "Isn't that right?"
"Well," Penny said after a bit of silence, "I wish that were the case."
There was another period of silence. Leonard put his arm around Penny.
Wyatt cleared his throat loudly. "Who is up for another sing along?" He looked at his wife, who picked up the guitar, and then smiled at his grandchildren. "Kids, I bet you know this one."