Once upon a time there were two little girls and their names were
Mary and Emily. They lived with their Mama and Daddy in a small
village. To the north of the village were the mountains - usually with
snow on top. To the south of the village was the forest - deep and
dark and cool and green. To the east of the village was the city - so
full of lights it made Mary and Emily blink! And to the west of the
village was the prairie - vast and sunny and open with the biggest sky
in the world!
One winter Emily and Mary's grandma didn't feel well. She had slipped
on a ladder and hurt her back. She had to walk very slowly and she
couldn't bend. Mary and Emily went to her house EVERY morning to help
her get her shoes on, and tied. And then they went every evening to
UNtie hem, and take them off. In between the morning and the evening
they rode their bikes to the store to get Grandma a movie, or tea, or a
brownie. They brought wood in for the fire, and sometimes read their
school work to Grandma, or played the oboe, or guitar or piano. Mary
and Emily's Mama or Daddy went every lunchtime with soup, and every
suppertime with meat loaf, or spaghetti, or chicken. "Could you
bring me a fresh glass of water while you're here?" Grandma called as
Mary and Emily put the tea in the cup board and the brownies on top of
the fridge so Grandma's old dog couldn't get them. "Coming right up,
Mam!" the girls giggled.
Well, Grandma's house was a mess! For two weeks, snow had been
melting into mud. And for two weeks Emily and Mary had been running in
and out, doing Grandma's errands, tying her shoes, along with Mama and
Daddy coming and going. The mud made a trail from the front porch,
down the hall to the living room, right over to the couch where Grandma
spent most of the day lying by the fire. The muddy tracks even went
on, into the kitchen.
One morning, at the end of the second week of Grandma's back ache Mary
and Emily noticed a fresh, clean feel to the air. They both must have
noticed at the same time because they looked at each other and,
together shouted, "SPRING!!!" At once they started running and ran all
the way to Grandma's house, up the sidewalk, leaped onto the porch, in
the door and WHAM! Mary slipped on the mud in the hallway and fell
backwards. WHACK! She crashed right into Emily who toppled onto the
floor beside her. AGH!!! They didn't know if they wanted to scream or
cry or laugh. Grandma, who felt a little better today, walked (slowly)
into the hall and at the sight of her two dear little girls sitting on
the floor, with their backs against the door, their legs spread out in
front of them and mud all over the place, couldn't help but laugh. And
she laughed and she laughed and she laughed. Of course that got the
girls going and they all laughed so hard that Grandma ALMOST fell over
on the muddy floor herself.
When they were able to catch their breath, Mary and Emily helped each
other up and opened the front door. "Grandma! SMELL!" the girls
commanded. "Ah, yes," said Grandma, "spring is in the air! I knew
there was a reason I was feeling better today! OH! It makes me want
to go dig in the garden. That Betsey Bear better not get my tomatoes
THIS year!" Then, closing the door because it still was quite cold,
Grandma looked at the floor and said, "well with all the mud in here
maybe I should just start a garden in the hall." "Oh! GRANDMA," said
Mary, shaking her head. "I'm really feeling lots better, but I still
can't bend enough to get these floors clean." "We'll do it," said
Emily, you go back and lie down." "Oh THANK YOU!!!" Grandma smiled,
"then can you stay a bit for a brownie and hot chocolate before you to
home?" "Sure!" the girls called, already on their way to the pantry
for the mop and bucket.
The next week Grandma's back was even better. Now she could tie her
own shoes and fix her own food. So Mary and Emily asked their Mom if
they could take Grandma for a surprise picnic. "I think it's a
wonderful idea," said Mom, "getting out will be really good for her."
"But be careful she doesn't over do it," said Dad. "I have an idea,
Mom said, "Dad and I can take all the stuff you will need up to the
meadow, then, you girls could take Grandma on a 'walk,' and she'll
never know a picnic awaits!" "GREAT!" shouted Mary. "I'll take that
lawn chair she really likes," added Dad, "I doubt she's ready to sit
on the ground." "YES!" shouted Emily. And so it was set up. The
surprise picnic would be on Saturday - when the girls had no school and
Mom and Dad didn't have work. "What should we take? What are some of
Grandma's favorite foods?" "I could pack some fried chicken," said
Mom, "there's a couple of pieces left from last night." "Noooooooooo"
thought Emily. Then all at once both faces lit up and together both of
the girls said, "MEATLOAF SANDWICHES!" "With lots of lettuce," said
Mary. "And mustard," added Emily. "I could make a peach pie," offered
Dad. "YES!" said both girls, AND Mom. "Hot tea?" "potato salad?"
"maybe some chips?" "Or soup? Instead of tea? Something warm anyhow."
"And let's take that old soft blue blanket for her chair," added
Emily.
That Saturday, as Mary and Emily walked to Grandma's house they made
their plan. They would tell Grandma that they wanted her to go with
them for a walk to the meadow so she could teach them the names of the
wildflowers. They had brought their wildflower book along, to be
convincing. They would promise her that they would walk slowly. Mary
said she would tell Grandma that she had to know the names of the
flowers for a school project. "I really do," she told Emily, "it's
just that I have already DONE it!" "That'll work," laughed Emily
And it did. In fact, they had such a nice time walking slowly
together, looking at every new little green stem bursting from the
earth, talking along the way, stopping to rest now and then, laughing,
that they had no idea how much time was passing. When Mary finally
looked at her watch it was 1:30 in the afternoon! They had asked Mom
and Dad to have the picnic there by 12:00!! Oh well, shurgged Mary, we
have all day, and she walked over to see what Grandma and Emily were
looking at.
When they finally got to the meadow they saw that it WAS a perfect day
to learn about wildflowers. They were EVERYWHERE! Like a quilt of a
zillion colors. Mary and Emily immediately spotted the picnic site.
There was Grandma's chair, set up by the big flat rock, and there was
the blue blanket. There was a quilt for the girls to sit on, and on
the quilt was Mom's best. biggest picnic basket. When Grandma looked
up from the flower identification book and saw the picnic her face
burst into a huge smile. "GIRLS!" she laughed, I think someone has
left us a wonderful surprise!" Mary and Emily couldn't help but hop up
and down and dance and sing, "it was us! It was us! Mom and Dad !
And us!'' "Well it's a good thing. I'm mighty hungry!" "There's hot
garden soup in the thermos - it's the last from Mom's freezer, and your
favorite meat loaf sandwiches! There's potato salad, apples, and
carrots." "Maybe Dad got some chips," interrupted Emily," "And
there's peach pie AND cookies!!!" "YUM!" shouted Grandma to the sky,
"let's go get it!" As they climbed up to the big flat rock Emily
slowed to a stop. Something was funny. There was something that
didn't seem right. What was it? Emily tugged on Mary's arm. "Mary?"
she said, "why do you think the....." but she never got to finish
because they were all there now, looking at the basket. The napkins
weren't folded nicely in the basket, In fact, they weren't folded at
all OR even in the basket. They were..........well.............they
were torn and wet and tossed around all over the place.
And..................oh! NO!...........the lid of the basket was
Open. Emily could see the sandwich bag hanging over the basket handle,
empty. And the cookies were gone, the plate up side down in the grass.
The apples were gone, too, the potato salda, the carrots and the
chips! "OHHHHHHHHHHHHH" the girls wailed, "what happened to our picnic
surprise !?!?!" Mary plopped down in the chair and started to cry.
Before Grandma could get over to Mary to try to comfort her, she heard
Emily shout, "Look!!!" Emily was pointing to a tree a little farther
up, toward the mountain, where a potato chip bag hung on a pine tree
branch. "Whaaaaaaaaattt????"
SOMETHING had gotten their picnic, but what? WHO? Oh! The SADNESS
that covered the meadow! It blocked the sun light and hid the colors
of the flowers. Every heart felt heavy. Grandma sat down and shook
her head. What to do? What to do? "OK," she said, 'let's see if
anything's left." "Soup," said Mary taking the thermos from the
basket, "and pie. It's in that old tin box with a tight lid." "Soup
and pie?" asked Grandma, "sounds good to me! Those are my favorite
parts!" "Mine were the chips," said Mary sadly. "Me, too," echoed
Emily. "Oh, poof!" said Grandma, "we can buy chips any old time. I'll
get you a bag as soon as we get back. I was thinking anyhow that I
should give you two a thank-you party for washing up that muddy floor
of mine. What do you say? Chips and games at my house? Pringles? Or
Ruffles? " she asked, knowing that Mary wanted Ruffles, Emily Pringles.
"BOTH!" laughed the girls, suddenly feeling better. "Come on, let's
eat what's left before WHATEVER it was comes back for more!" She
poured them each a cup of garden soup. Ahhhhhhhh did it ever taste
good! And feel good. And smell good, like summer. "That's better,"
they all agreed. Lazily the girls lay on their backs, Grandma in her
chair with the old blue blanket over her lap, looking at the clouds,
seeing the shapes of animals, faces, an old time truck. Then Mary
said, "look over there at that little fluffy one. No, over THERE," as
she pointed way to the left. "Doesn't that one look exactly like a
rabbit? See his ears? His tail?" "I wonder," said Emily dreamily,
"if it was a rabbit that goat into our picnic." They were all quiet
for a while, the sun shinning on their hair, seeping into their bones,
warming the earth. "No," said Mary, "it had to be bigger than a
rabbit." "Racoon?" asked Emily. "Still too small, I think," said
Grandma. "That was a LOT of food." "Well............then a FAMILY of
Racoons?" "I suppose it could have been." "But the chips bag -- it
was sooooooo high in the tree......." "Racoons climb trees." "Yes,
but look, If a RACOON carried the bag up the tree, wouldn't it have
been left more in the CENTER? Don't you think? Near the trunk? See?
It's just dangling from the outter branches. See?" "Yeah."
"Maybe it was kids from school." "Alice Ann knows about this place!
Remember? We brought her here last time we came!" "Alice Ann would
never do anything this mean." "You're right, she wouldn't." "Maybe,"
said Mary, "maybe.................it was something even bigger than
Alice Ann. "
"Maybe....................maybe..............something
like..................maybe something like a...........PANTHER!" No
one knew what to say. Mary and Emily moved a little closer to Grandma.
Emily rested her head on Grandma's lap, Mary reached for Grandma's
hand. "I wonder," said Grandma. "What?" "I wonder if it was Betsey
Bear." "Oh, Grandma!" said Emily, more than ready to be rid of the
panther, "I'll bet it WAS!" "Come on!" said Mary, pulling at Emily's
sweater sleeve, "we know her favorite spot to drink down at the stream!
Let's go look for paw prints!" And off they went.
Grandma was just about to fall asleep in the sun, in her chair, with
her old soft blue blanket, when she heard the girls, "YES!! YES!!
YES!!" The sound rose from the creek bank, bounced off the tree
tops, brushing through the wildflowers like birdsong on the wind, and
Grandma smiled. The girls came running from the creek both talking at
once about the bear paw prints they'd seen and how they were SURE they
were Betsey's prints because they recognized her one paw with the scar
from that time she stepped on the broken glass, and the hospital where
Uncle Jake works wouldn't put stitches in a BEAAR and the vet said HE
didn't work on bears and Dad had to rent that truck and drive her all
the way to the zoo in the city! REMEMBER?????
Feeling warm and happy and safe, Grandma said, "how about pie?
No comments:
Post a Comment