present.” I held my breath, waiting for his answer.
“Not before you finish the dishes and bring the clothes in from the line,” he said in return, his eyes never leaving the Bible propped in his lap.
I rolled my eyes. Give me a break already.
Even as I stomped through the door, biting my tongue to keep from talking back, I noticed the rest of the family in various places around the yard, cleaning tools, locking up animals, bringing in buckets from the garden, and of course, hauling water. Janice was trying to teach Joyce how to shell peas into a bucket.
Kill me now , I thought, eyeing the end of the drive with longing.
I tore the sheets, coveralls, and diapers from the clothesline. The soft cotton and denim fabrics snapped in my face as I folded them quickly into my arms. Smells of lavender and sunshine floated past my senses. I had never actually thought about the smell of sunshine before, but I could feel it trapped in the folds of the warm pile, the clean vibrant scent exactly what I imagined sun would smell like straight from the source.
Gran appeared behind me, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Put that laundry in the living room. I’ll fold it later.” She gave me a knowing wink. “You’re only in love once,” she said.
I didn’t wait around, knowing another chore could be found before I could blink.
Lining the wood counter by the sink basin were three tall piles of dishes and one large, greasy frying pan. My shoulders sagged and I exhaled loudly. I wouldn’t see Dave before midnight at this rate. Plugging the hole of the basin with a towel, I poured hot water from the stove reservoir over the dirty plates and added a dab of Borax soap. I washed the dishes faster than I’d washed anything in my entire life. As an afterthought, I rubbed some of the soapy water up my arms and around my neck, wiping myself clean with a hand towel. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing.
Racing down the gravel drive, I ignored the hoots and jests yelled at me from Matthew and Patrick.
My father, Dean, sat quietly on the tractor seat, his eyes sad as he watched me sprint away. His little voice called out, barely carrying to my retreating back, “Be careful!”
Smiling, I didn’t turn around, but lifted my hand in a casual wave. A little boy, playing the protective, watchful guardian; it was too ironic. If he only knew…
Chapter Five
First Date
My pulse slammed into my neck like the rapid fire of a machine gun. Slowing to a walk, I tried catching my breath, not wanting to arrive at my first date sweaty and panting like a dog.
The rapids were not far down the road from the farm. Trying to walk carefully on the side of the road to avoid the rocks and prickly thorn bushes, I swore quietly every time a stone or needle poked my tender skin. My bare feet were dusty and scraped from my day in the fields, and were far from being hardened and calloused like the rest of the family. It was hard to believe that something as ordinary as shoes were a prized treasure in the house and only worn to school and church. My only option for footwear were the tall rubber work boots worn in the barns, and I figured I was smelly enough as it was.
I passed a small plot of land with a dented mailbox at the end of the drive. The name, Slater, was handwritten in careful black print on the side. The house was really a doublewide trailer set up on blocks, but it was kept neat and tidy with flowers springing up from a pot on their front steps. A separate, larger building sat to the side of the trailer, a homemade painted sign reading “Slater’s Farm Store” hung just above the glass door entrance. The store looked like a country store out of a magazine; a wooden well bursting with flowers and a rusty wagon sat out by the edge of the driveway.
A wooden sign hanging in the breeze advertised Shasta soda for five cents and Bazooka bubble gum, three for a penny.
I felt my pockets and realized I didn’t have the luxury of a
“Not before you finish the dishes and bring the clothes in from the line,” he said in return, his eyes never leaving the Bible propped in his lap.
I rolled my eyes. Give me a break already.
Even as I stomped through the door, biting my tongue to keep from talking back, I noticed the rest of the family in various places around the yard, cleaning tools, locking up animals, bringing in buckets from the garden, and of course, hauling water. Janice was trying to teach Joyce how to shell peas into a bucket.
Kill me now , I thought, eyeing the end of the drive with longing.
I tore the sheets, coveralls, and diapers from the clothesline. The soft cotton and denim fabrics snapped in my face as I folded them quickly into my arms. Smells of lavender and sunshine floated past my senses. I had never actually thought about the smell of sunshine before, but I could feel it trapped in the folds of the warm pile, the clean vibrant scent exactly what I imagined sun would smell like straight from the source.
Gran appeared behind me, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Put that laundry in the living room. I’ll fold it later.” She gave me a knowing wink. “You’re only in love once,” she said.
I didn’t wait around, knowing another chore could be found before I could blink.
Lining the wood counter by the sink basin were three tall piles of dishes and one large, greasy frying pan. My shoulders sagged and I exhaled loudly. I wouldn’t see Dave before midnight at this rate. Plugging the hole of the basin with a towel, I poured hot water from the stove reservoir over the dirty plates and added a dab of Borax soap. I washed the dishes faster than I’d washed anything in my entire life. As an afterthought, I rubbed some of the soapy water up my arms and around my neck, wiping myself clean with a hand towel. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing.
Racing down the gravel drive, I ignored the hoots and jests yelled at me from Matthew and Patrick.
My father, Dean, sat quietly on the tractor seat, his eyes sad as he watched me sprint away. His little voice called out, barely carrying to my retreating back, “Be careful!”
Smiling, I didn’t turn around, but lifted my hand in a casual wave. A little boy, playing the protective, watchful guardian; it was too ironic. If he only knew…
Chapter Five
First Date
My pulse slammed into my neck like the rapid fire of a machine gun. Slowing to a walk, I tried catching my breath, not wanting to arrive at my first date sweaty and panting like a dog.
The rapids were not far down the road from the farm. Trying to walk carefully on the side of the road to avoid the rocks and prickly thorn bushes, I swore quietly every time a stone or needle poked my tender skin. My bare feet were dusty and scraped from my day in the fields, and were far from being hardened and calloused like the rest of the family. It was hard to believe that something as ordinary as shoes were a prized treasure in the house and only worn to school and church. My only option for footwear were the tall rubber work boots worn in the barns, and I figured I was smelly enough as it was.
I passed a small plot of land with a dented mailbox at the end of the drive. The name, Slater, was handwritten in careful black print on the side. The house was really a doublewide trailer set up on blocks, but it was kept neat and tidy with flowers springing up from a pot on their front steps. A separate, larger building sat to the side of the trailer, a homemade painted sign reading “Slater’s Farm Store” hung just above the glass door entrance. The store looked like a country store out of a magazine; a wooden well bursting with flowers and a rusty wagon sat out by the edge of the driveway.
A wooden sign hanging in the breeze advertised Shasta soda for five cents and Bazooka bubble gum, three for a penny.
I felt my pockets and realized I didn’t have the luxury of a
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