Grand Dad Jim

The beautiful, creamy white fresh milk slowly ran out of the faucet into the bottle. Mary held it very, very still, useing both hands. Not a splash, not a drip. Perfect! As the bottle bagan to fill Emily said, "don't forget to turn it off a little BEFORE it's cleaar full!" "I won't," said Mary quietly, one hand now on the faucet handle. Both girls held their breath as they concentrated on the milk. The bottle was ALMOST full. Emily said, "NOW!" "Ok," said Mary, and she carefully turn the handle closed. Emily reached to take the full bottle But......BUT.......BUT!!!!!!!!!!!!! The faucet DIDN'T close !!! The bottle started over flowing, milk pouring out over the top! Not just one precious drop, but POURING! Franticly Mary turned the hendle HARD. Maybe it's the other way!" yelled Emily. Emily had carefully placed the full bottle on the table and reached for another to hand to Mary. Mary turned the handle the other way, while at the same time trying to get the new bottle under the faucet, and then back the first way. No matter which way she turned, milk kept pouring out. "Let me try," said Emily, and when she did, the handle came clear off into her hand. By this time there was milk all over the floor of that yellow doored room. Mary and Emily's shoes were sloshing in milk. The bag of dog food Farmer Friend kept in the corner was standing in milk. And the books about how to raise cows, and take care of them when they get sick were starting to float off of their low shelves. It was a flood. A flood of milk. A flood of precious, precious, fresh milk. And it was still coming out. More and more and more. Mary sat right down in it and started to cry. "NO!" shouted Emily, "come ON! We've got go find help!" She pulled at Mary to stand up when, surprising them both, Mary jumped up! "I've got an idea," she said, running to the clean rag drawer, "let's see if we can stuff one of these in there!" They tried and they tried, but the force of the pouring milk kept pushing the rag out. "Let's go find Grand dad Jim," Emily said, quiet now.

Grand Dad Jim was Hilda's father. He lived sort of next door, but, because it was a farm, surrounded by pasture, his house wasn't exactly just right THERE. But Mary and Emily knew the way! Grand Dad Jim was one of their favorites, and they had often been to his house. He was too old to work anymore so he mostly sat in the yard and carved animals out of wood. He made BEAUTIFUL birds and then painted them just the right colors. He made small woodland animals, and, sometimes made up creatures. He always had a story to tell about the animals he carved.

QUICKLY! Past the big red barn, past the farm house kitchen window, through the garden, around the apple trees, "Why didn't we think of Grand Dad Jim right the minute it HAPPENED?" panted Emily as she ran, tripping over Ruffles, who wanted to play more ball. Emily fell. "Oh!.. Emily! Are you all right?" Mary said. "Yes!," Emily said scrambling up and wiping off her knee at the same time, "let's go!" Just on the other side of the apple orchard, running along the wall to the back pasture was a little stream. Friend Farmer had built a small bridge over the stream, to get back and forth to Grand Dad Jim's place more easily. Now, over that bridge ran the girls, around the corn field (milk still pouring!) and THERE! There was Grand Dad Jim's woods! Mary and Emily knew the trail well and even bofore they were into Grand Dad Jim's sunny yard they both started shouting. "Grand Dad Jim! Grand Dad Jim ! Oh!!! GRAND DAD JIM!!!!!" And there he was. Sitting in the sun, his back to the forest, bent over his carving. Of course he heard the girls, and turned slowly toward them with a big smile. "Mary!" he said, "Emily! Come on over here quickly and take a look at this little racoon I'm......" When he saw their unhappy faces, and realized they were both crying and talking and pointing toward the farm, he turned his chair, looked directly at them and listened. "Slow down. One at a time. Take it easy. Whatever it is, it'll be all right." "NO!" cried Mary, "it's NOT all right !" And she handed him the faucet handle that whe still had clentched in her fist. As quickly as they could, Mary and Emily explained to Grand Dad Jim that milk was pouring all over the milk house floor. "Let's get there!" He said, turning his chair toward the path even before they finished. Now, I may not have mentioned that Grand Dad Jim was in a wheel chair. Many, many years ago, back when Hilda was just a girl herself, Grand Dad Jim had fallen from his tractor and broken his legs, both of them, so badly that he was not able to use them again. But he sure could use his arms, and they were STRONG! And now those strong arms went into action, spinning the wheels, flying towards the woods. Through the woods, around the corn field, over the bridge. It was a bumpy ride all right, but Grand Dad Jim took that chair over the bumps so fast Mary and Emily could only just keep up. By the time they got to the milk house, milk was pouring into the yard. Ruffles and all of the barn cats sure were enjoying that ! Mama Cat had even left her kittens in the box on the porch to join in the feast. Grand Dad Jim stopped at the door and took a deep breath. "OK girls, let's get to work. I'll tell you exactly what to do." He handed the faucet handle back to Mary. "Put this right back on the faucet where it was. Try to get it lined up, straight. That's right, good. Now, put the long screw carefully down the center." "What screw?" asked Mary, looking around. "You don't have a long center screw?" he asked, showing with his fingers how long it should be. "NO" said Mary, crying again. Emily was crying, too, and the milk kept pouring. "Mary," said Grand Dad Jim. "Hold steady. Just keep hold of that handle right where you have it. Emily, over there, in the top drawer, no, no, the one on the right, there should be a long screw in there. Do you see it?" Emily was rooting around in a drawer full of all sorts of stuff. String and pens, a band aid, twisty ties, nails, tiny screws, cough drops, corks......CORKS! "Can we stop it with a cork?" "Don't think so, " Grand Dad Jim sighed, but I guess it's worth a try, eh? Are you SURE there are no long screws in there? MAN I wish I could get through this door!!!" "Yes," said Emily, running over with the cork. "I am sure."