Equal Access by A. E. Branson Page B

only did the
short fence keep her out, Sadie knew better than to try coming
through the gate to join her masters. The dog was too bulky and
klutzy to avoid trampling the plants. Her thick white coat looked
pretty rough this time of year because the dog would pull out her
own shedding hair as a way to cope with the heat, which actually
sort of added to how intimidating Sadie could appear when she
started to bark.
    Barking was the first recourse in Sadie’s job
to guard the turkeys. Although actually quite friendly, especially
to people she knew, Sadie left no doubt in a coyote’s or stray
dog’s mind that she would shred it to bits if it ventured too
close. Dulsie was also quite proud that the dog had even mauled a
couple of opossums and a raccoon in the past three years.
    “What’re your plans for all this?” Shad
glanced between their baskets of produce.
    “Make fried okra and tomatoes for lunch.”
Dulsie looked down at her own basket. “Have green beans with supper
tonight. Make a squash casserole to take to dinner tomorrow.”
    Every Sunday after First Day meeting, their
families would gather at either the Wekenheiser home or the Delaney
house to share a meal and visit.
    “You sure about the casserole?” Shad asked.
“You know we’re all eating squash these days.”
    Dulsie laughed. “If we don’t eat them,
they’ll take over the planet.”
    “Maybe you could take some to work after this
weekend and give them to your coworkers.”
    “Are you kidding?” Dulsie grinned at him.
“This time of year they make sure they lock their cars so nobody
can leave a bag of squash in there.”
    Dulsie led the way out of the garden, and
after Shad closed the gate they walked together toward the house.
Sadie lumbered to her feet and trotted over to one of the oak trees
beside the house to lie down again in a shady area.
    There was a stoop on the back corner of their
house closest to the turkey gate. The door there opened into the
kitchen, and when Dulsie and Shad entered they set the baskets on
the counter beside the sink.
    Dulsie had nicknamed this place the
Handyman’s Delusion. It wasn’t a bad house, really, but it had
issues related to both its age and the changing styles of the
times. From the outside it was sort of cute with its broad front
porch and white clapboard siding. But the inside showed either
signs of wear or evidence where past repairs had been performed.
The house was also a testament to modeling changes over the last
eighty years.
    With its two bedrooms and one bathroom it was
only one room larger than the apartment they had rented while still
living in Columbia. There was still no central air or heating
installed, so a small furnace stood in one corner of the living
room and a window air conditioner was perched at the side wall.
Dulsie and Shad had added another cooling unit to one of their
bedroom windows.
    Every room but the bathroom had two windows,
and all had all been replaced with aluminum storm windows over
thirty years ago, adding to the eclectic timeframe of the house.
The windows really did need replacing again. They were drafty and
provided, Dulsie suspected, some of the many entryways the mice
used to regularly show up in the house. At least during the
summertime her discoveries of mice were much rarer because the
snakes were as adept at getting in. Dulsie decided she preferred
snakes to mice, but the first time somebody offered her a free
kitten she would snatch it up.
    Shad started taking tomatoes out from their
baskets and setting the fruits closer to the sink while Dulsie
picked up the wooden cutting board and drew a chef’s knife from the
block at the other end of the counter.
    “Beat it.” Dulsie walked around Shad and set
the implements to the other side of the baskets.
    Shad arched an eyebrow at her as he set the
last tomato on the counter. “Looks like you mean it.”
    Shad deferred to Dulsie in the kitchen.
Although he could cook – his parents had seen to that – Shad