Amazing Grace by Nancy Allen Page A

seeds, and a girl in my class handed me two more packets. I’m going to grow lots and lots of pumpkins and sell them. People will want to make pumpkin pies and jack-o’-lanterns with them. I’ll use the money to buy a bicycle. Grandma says it takes gumption to follow through on a plan like that, and she said she had faith in me to do it. Johnny said he had faith in me to grow lots and lots of plants, but most people called the kind of plants I’ll grow “weeds.”
    Mr. Wilson sold the red bicycle at his store, but he’s trying to find another one like it. If he does, he’s going to paint it red. Red is my favorite color and the perfect color for a bicycle.
    Mom took me to work with her for a little while today. She made apple trees. Honest. The apple trees Farmer Smith plants in his orchard don’t grow from seeds. Mom pieces the tree together like Grandma pieces a quilt. Mom cuts off a bud, and then she cuts a slit in the bark of the tree. She presses the bud into the slit and wraps tape around the bud to hold it there, good and tight. It’s called “grafting” an apple tree. Mom says the buds will grow and make Macintosh apples.
    The orchard has a shed with a stove in the back corner, like the one at my old school. The pot-bellied stove has a big, round middle like Santa’s belly. The belly holds the wood and coal where the fire burns. I’ll take you to the shed when you come home and show you how to graft a bud onto an apple tree. I hope I won’t have to wait too long.
    We listen to the wireless every night. I listen for news about you.
    I love you,
    Gracie Girl
    P.S. Look at the picture of Spot I drew for you. See how big he is. Spot said WOOF WOOF. In dog talk, that means, “Hurry home.”
    One Saturday morning in May, Grandma’s neighbor, Mr. Wick, brought his mule Moonglow over to plow the field behind Grandma’s house.
    Spot ran over to Moonglow. I had never seen anything like it. That mule and my sweet mutt were nose to nose, sniffing. Spot wagged his tail, and Moonglow twitched his ears.
    â€œI never did care much for a mutt,” Mr. Wick said as he watched those two. “I declare, Moonglow seems right taken with Spot.”
    Mr. Wick was right. Those two were friends in the making. It made me so happy to see that while I was busy making friends at school and adjusting to our new life, Spot was doing the same.
    Mom walked over and said, “I’m going to have a separate place plowed for your pumpkins, Grace Ann. Pumpkin vines spread, so I don’t want them with the other vegetables.”
    A separate garden was fine with me, so long as I had a place to grow the big orange jack-o’-lanterns.
    â€œWhat about a place for my carrots?” Johnny asked.
    â€œYou can plant your carrot seeds near the tomatoes,” Grandma answered. “While Mr. Wick plows, you two need to make a scarecrow to keep the birds away.”
    â€œWe could hang Grace on a fence post. With that face of hers, she could scare off a whole flock of birds,” Johnny smartmouthed. “We wouldn’t need a scarecrow.”
    â€œOh, yeah?” I answered. “Somebody might not think you’re so funny. That somebody might be me.” I leaped toward Johnny. He bounded across the field and out onto the path we walked to school.
    I chased Johnny with Spot at my heels, but I didn’t really try to catch him. All that joking around reminded me of Daddy. He laughed when Johnny and I joked and pretended to fuss.
    I walked back over to where Grandma stood, sorting seeds for planting. I told her how much I missed having Daddy home and that I wished he was here to help plant the seeds.
    â€œWe all miss your daddy, my sweet child.” Grandma poured bean seeds in one cup and cucumber seeds in another. “But remember, we have to be strong. Have gumption.” I heard a little catch in her voice. As she jerked her face away from mine, I