Cinnamon Rolls

"Here." She handed the cork to Mary, who looked over to Grand Dad Jim. "Go ahead," he said, "hand me the handle, and try to work the cork up in there." "It's too big!" wailed Mary, her hands and arms covered in milk. Quickly Grand Dad Jim flipped open his wood carving knife. "Give it to me!" In a flash he cut away part of the bottom of the cork. "Try again!" He handed the cork back to Mary. Pushing with all of her might against the flowing milk she got the cork to stay! "It's a perfect fit !" she cried. The milk stopped flowing. "But," said Grand Dad Jim, "it won't hold. We've GOT to find that screw!" Mary plopped down on the soggy bottomed dog food bag, Emily, on Grand Dad Jim's lap and for a moment, they all were silent. The room was filled with relief and sorrow and the sounds of milk being lapped up from the puddles in the yard. As they sat there they heard the familiar clanking of Friend Farmer's old truck. As he pulled into the yard, seeing Ruffles and all of the cats feasting on milk, Friend Farmer burst out of his truck. "Whaaaaaa????????????" Mary and Emily came to him through that bright yellow door, both of them crying again. Between gulps and tears and the happy barking of Ruffles, they tried to explain. "You weren't here....and........and......." "We waited and......we WAITED......and....." "......the families.......breakfast......" "we'd helped you............before........and.....we......" ".......we knew how.........we THOUGHT we knew......." Grand Dad Jim patted his lap for Emily to return to him. Mary ran into the open arms of Hilde, both girls spbbing.

"We just ran into town," Friend Farmer said. "This morning when I came out to get started, I noticed that, that old screw was really loose. We don't have any more replacements. I used the last one on the tractor the other day. So I just ran into town to get a couple............how...............how much is gone?" He pulled down the ladder (this tank is SO BIG, as I have said, to get to the lid you have to climb a ladder that is kept clamped to the top of the tank.) He unscrewd the lid and with a crank and pully, lifted if off. Looking deep inside he said, "About half." He cranked the lid back in place, climbed down the ladder and clamped it. Looking at the floor he shook his head. "That's a real loss," he said quietly. Instantly Mary and Emily were on their feet, jumping around Friend Farmer. "Oh ! We'll pay for it" they said together, "I can baby-sit!" "I'll get a paper route!" "we can have a bake sale !" "Grandma will help!" "I will, too," said Hilde, " me, too," piped in Grand Dad Jim. "We'll give you our allowence EVERY WEEK!" "We can rake leaves in the fall!" "shovel snow in the winter!" "we can...." "Now, now girls. It wasn't all your fault. You shouldn't have tried to do the milk by yourselves, but I knew you were coming this morning. I could have left you a note. I SHOULD have been back on time. We would have been, too, but they were JUST taking cinnamon rolls out of the oven at the coffee shop. We smelled them all the way from the hardware." "I think they must have a fan that blows that smell all over town," added Hilde. "We were just going to run in and out, but we ran into Jess, you know how she goes on and on, and then Peter had to talk to Fred about some new tractor gizmo, you know how it goes in town on Saturday morning! EVERYONE in there and wants to talk, talk, talk. We should have realized...." "So we were late getting home. I should have been here by the time you came. I KNOW when you come! It's not your fault. It just happened." By this time Ruffles and the cats had finished up their feast. Ruffles lay down by Grand Dad Jim's chair, Mama cat returned to her kittens on the porch, the farm cats to the barn where they found cozy straw to curl up in. "I sure could use some help cleaning up this mess!" Friend Farmer finally said.

While Mary got out the hose, and Emily found the broom, Grand Dad Jim talked to Ruffles, and Friend Farmer spoke quietly to Hilde. Mary and Emily carried the table by the tank out into the sun and spread the wet cow books on it to dry. The scooped the part of the dog food that didn't get wet into a big metal trash can, and the part that was ruined into a trash bag. They spread their wet jackets on the grass, took off their soggy shoes and socks and laid them in the sun, too. Then they got to work in the milk house. They took turns with the hose and the broom, spraying and scrubbing every thing they saw, including each other. By the time Hilde came out with a pitcher of raspberry ice tea and cinnamon toast for everyone, Emily and Mary were thoroughtly and truely soaked. But they were laughing again, and proud to show Hilde, Friend Farmer, and Grand Dad Jim the sparkling clean milk house. "We even washed the yellow door!" Emily said. "Hasn't looked this good in some time, " said Friend Farmer, "nice job, girls."

As they all enjoyed their morning snack by the stone wall, Firend Farmer said, "I should have replaced the extra screw the minute I used it on the tractor. Then I could have replaced the old one in the faucet THE MINUTE I noticed it was loose. It was just irresponsible to let that go." "I think we need a big chalk board, " said Grand Dad Jim. It could help us keep track of things. You could keep a list of who the girls deliver to, and their phone numbers. You could keep track of which cows need medicine, or are about to calf." "And when we need supplies - like screws!" added Friend Farmer. "That's a GREAT idea!" chimed in Hilde. "There could be a corner just for notes. Like, when you're out in the field and I want you to know that dinner will be late, or early, or well, whatever." "And you could leave notes for us!" "It's DONE!" said Friend Farmer, smiling. "I'll run back to town this afternoon and pick one up." "No need," said Grand Dad Jim, "I've got one from when they took the old school house down. Kept it all these years for no reason at all." "I guess there is a reason, afterall," said Emily with her mouth half full of toast. "Maybe," said Hilde, "there's always a reason for things and most of the time we just don't see it."

On their way home Mary and Emily stopped at each house that had been expecting fresh milk to explain why there was no milk today. On this Saturday, there were no blueberry muffins, or fresh squeezed ornage juice, or pancakes. It was, afterall, almost afternoon!

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."

Fresh Milk

Once upon a time there were two little girls and their names were Mary and Emily. Mary and Emily lived with their Mama and Daddy in a small, friendly village. To the north of the village were the mountains, where their friend Betsey Bear lived. To the south of the village was the forest. They liked to take picnics there. To the east was the city, so busy and full of noise and lights! And to the west was the prairie with it's wind and sun and sweeping grasses.

Mary and Emily's Mama and Daddy had a friend whose name was Fred. He was a farmer, and when Mary and Emily were very little girls, they called him Friend Farmer. They still call him that! Only, once in a while, they call him Friend Fred, or, Farmer Fred. ONCE they tried Friend Farmer Fred, but that took too long. Well, Friend Farmer had lots of cows. I mean LOTS of cows! Maybe 75 or 100. He milked the cows with a big machine, not with his hands like Grandma did in the old days. That would take all day! He lined up 12 cows, each in a little stall, each with a rack of cow food. Then he attatched the machine to their teats and truned it on. Voila ! Milk! Then those 12 cows went back out to the pasture and the next 12 took their turn in the stalls. It went on like that till all of the cows were milked. He did this twice a day, morning and evening. Now you can imagine that this made a big, big, BIG amount of milk! The milk was kept in a big, big BIG tank, about as big as your Grandma's swimming pool, only taller. Many of Mary and Emily's neighbors liked fresh farm milk, instead of store milk. So Mary and Emily had a special Saturday job. They would get up early Saturday morning and line their bike baskets with plastic bags, the kind you get at the grocery store when you forget to take your own cloth ones. They put on old shoes, special for going to the farm, zipped their jackets, found their bike helmets, and were off to Friend Farmer's farm. Beside the big red barn was a room that had almost nothing in it but the giant humongous, google-plex tank of milk. This room had a door painted bright shinny yellow. It always made Mary think of sunshine. It made Emily think of butter! While Friend Farmer filled bottles and jars with milk from the tank, Friend Farmer's wife filled the bike baskets with ice, to keep the milk cold while being delivered. Mary and Emily helped them both and soon were on their way with about 4 bottles of milk in each basket. They delivered the milk right into the kitchens of all of the neighboars who loved that fresh milk. Sometimes, in one of those cheerful kitchens they would get a warm blueberry mufin, or a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. Once, pancakes ! It was a great job!

On this particular Saturday, Mary and Emily got up bright and early, lined their bike baskets with plastic bags, and rode off to Friend Farmer's big red barn, just like always. But when they got there, no one was there. Not Friend Farmer, and not Friend Farner's wife, who, by the way, was named Hilda. The cows had all been milked, Mary and Emily could see that they were already out in the back pasture, but there was no one anywhere about. What should they do? They knew that the families were expecting their milk for breakfast, but, what should they DO? They decided to wait. They climbed a few trees, ate an apple or two from one, walked along the stone wall as far as the woods, and played ball for awhile with Ruffles, the farm sheep dog. But time was passing ! And Mary and Emily knew the families were waiting, maybe even watching out their windows, looking for them.

Mary and Emily KNEW how to get the milk out of the tank. They had helped Friend Farmer do it many, many times. They knew how to wipe off the rim of each bottle with a clean rag from that drawer, right over there. They knew how to hold the bottle, just so, RIGHTunder the faucet so you don't lose a single DROP of milk. They knew how to turn the faucet handle slowly, so no milk would splash, and how to turn it off just BEFORE the bottle was all the way full, not spilling the teeniest drip. That fresh milk was PRECIOUS! Mary and Emily looked at each other. They looked at the tank. They looked at the clean, empty bottles, lined up on the shelf. Together they walked to the drawer of clean rags. CAREFULLY they lifed each bottle down and wiped the rim. CAREFULLY they carried the bottles to the table beside the tank, just like Friend Farmer did. CAREFULLY the put the first bottle under the faucet, just SO, and CAREFULLY they turned the faucet handle.

Mary and Emily's Surprise Picnic

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?

Mary and Emily's Winter Picnic

Once upon a time there were two little girls and their names were Mary 
and Emily. They lived in a small friendly village. To the north of 
the village were the mountains, usually covered with snow. To the 
south was the forest, deep and dark and green. To the east was the 
city with tall buildings and many lights, and to the wast was the 
prairie, vast and golden in the sun.

One day when winter was still deep and dark, Mary and Emily got to 
thinking about spring time. They thought about all of the things they 
like to do in the spring: Build castles in the sandbox; ride bikes; 
run up the hills near the mountains and roll, roll, roll down; gather 
spring flowers; help Grandma plant her garden; and......GO ON 
PICNICS!!!!

They ran to Mommy and said, "Please, please, PLEASE may we go on a 
winter picnic!?" "Oh! My no!" said Mommy, "it is MUCH too cold today 
and the wind is FIERCE. But I heard on NPR that the sun is supposed to 
come out in 2 days and perhaps then, IF you wear your snow suits, we 
can think about a winter picnic."

TWO DAYS!!!!! What would they do for two days!?!


One of Mary and Emily's regular jobs in the winter was to go to 
Grandma's house and help carry in wood for the fire. They also feed 
the cats and bring in the mail. Today they were especially eager to go 
so they could tell Grandma that they had to wait TWO DAYS to go on 
their picnic. They walked down the street, past the school, past the 
church, past the grocery store which was called Mr. Grocer's and that 
really WAS his name, to the edge of the village. Then, through 
Grandma's garden gate, past the sleeping flower beds and the picnic 
table, still out in the snow, and into Grandma's back porch. Emily 
helped Mary pull off her boots, and Mary helped Emily with a knot in 
her hood. They hung their mittens on the radiator to dry, put their 
boots on the rug by the door, and dumped their coats on the floor. 
"Oh!" said Grandma, "I am SO GLAD you are here!" I was just needing 
two girls to measure." Grandma was sewing both girls flowered dresses 
for spring, ("because spring WILL come, she says,) "How tall are you 
today?" she asked. "But wait! you look like you could use some 
warming-up. Come on! I just got a big box of oranges in the mail. 
Let's make some hot chocolate and peel oranges by the fire. Mary, you 
heat up the milk. Emily, measure in the chocolate and get us each a 
few of those little marshmallows, you know, they're in the pantry. 
I'll go get the oranges, they're on the back porch." The girls got 
right to their tasks but soon heard a loud "AAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH" from the 
back porch. They ran in to see what was the matter and found Grandma 
holding two drippy wet, cold coats from the floor. "HOW did you girls 
get so wet on the way over here?" Grandma asked. "We made snow angels 
on the church lawn," Mary said. "No one had walked there and the snow 
was PERFECT!" "And then we had a little snow ball fight with some kids 
in the playground," added Emily. "But it was just for fun, not really 
fighting." "Then we had to help Mr. Addison catch his dog. TWICE I 
almost got her, but both times Winnie jumped away just as I was 
reaching for her. She ran off down the street and I landed in the 
snow!" "It was pretty funny," Mary laughed.

We got her though," Mary said, "at the top of that hill just before 
the turn onto your road. We held her tight while Mr. Addison climbed 
up the hill. "Good grief!" said Grandma, "These coats will never 
dry piled here in a heap and you will be plenty cold if you have to go 
home in wet coats. Let's see....." She looked around, thinking what 
to do. "What we need is a clothes line." Grandma found a piece of 
rope, some nails, a hammer, and the ladder. She put the ladder in the 
far corner of the porch. "Emily, can you climb up and pound this nail 
right there in the corner?" "I'll try," said Emily. "I can do it!" 
said Mary. "Good," said Grandma, "because we need another one in that 
corner. Be careful not to pound your finger!" When both girls had 
successfully pounded nails into the corners, Grandma handed one end of 
the rope to Mary, still on the ladder. "Here. Can you loop this 
around the nail and tie it?" Then Grandma handed the other end of the 
rope to Emily, who was standing on the radiator with one foot, and on 
the windowsill with the other foot. "Here. Now pull it pretty tight 
and tie your end., Don't fall!" They hung the coats on the clothes 
line. There! They will dry quickly since it's right over the 
radiator." "But look, Grandma!" said Emily, "our coats are dripping 
right onto our mittens!" "oh, dear. Well, we can just move the 
mittens over." "Grandma," said Mary, "can we move the boot rug over 
there beside the heater? Then ALL of our clothes will be warm when we 
go home." "Great idea!" said Grandma. And they did.

Once they were all settled by the fire with their sweet, juicy oranges 
and hot, hot chocolate the girls said, "Grandma, we wanted to go on a 
winter picnic and Mama says that we have to wait TWO DAYS. NPR told 
her that maybe there will be sun shine and not so much wind by then. 
But Grandma! TWO DAYS!!!" "Well!" said Grandma "It seems to me that 
two days is just exactly enough time to get a winter picnic ready. But 
we had better get right to work!" "what do you mean?" asked Mary. 
"Finish up that chocolate and come with me,"said Grandma.

"OK," said Grandma, stacking cook books onto the kitchen table, "what 
were you thinking of packing?" "I don't know," said Emily, "we didn't 
really think about that." "Sandwiches," said Mary. "Peanut butter and 
jelly." "Good!" said Grandma, "Here." She handed them each a paper 
and pencil. "Make a list. You should take something to warm you, 
too." "SOUP!" the girls shouted at once, "And cookies!" "Cookies to 
warm you? laughed Grandma. "YES! " giggled the girls. "You can see 
we'd better get busy."

While Mary and Emily looked through the cook books to choose what sop 
to make and what kind of cookies, Grandma started the bread for 
sandwiches. "Do you have potatoes?" "I think so. Look in the 
pantry." "Milk?" "No." "Write down milk." said Mary to Emily. 
"Butter?" "Yes." "Parsley?" "There's parsley in the freezer that you 
girls picked for me last summer." "Great!" "Grandma?" "Yes?" "Can 
we make ginger cake instead of cookies?" "Sure." "Do you have ginger 
and flour and brown sugar and baking powder and," "SLOW DOWN!" laughed 
Grandma. "Ginger, yes. Flour, I think there's enough. Sugar, no. 
Write down sugar. Baking powder, yes. what else?" "cinnamon" "yes." 
"salt, water, molasses?" "yes, yes, no. Write down molasses." "oil, 
lemonade, LEMONADE???" "yes! That's the secret ingredient , but no, I 
don't have any. " "And can we make the hot lemon sauce? And can we 
keep it warm in a thermos? And then our cake really WILL help warm 
us!!" "Of course! " said Grandma and they laughed and laughed and 
laughed.

As grandma spread flour on the counter and put out two lumps of dough 
she said, "I got a new game the other day and have been wanting to play 
it. We can try it out while the bread rises. You guys come here and 
knead this dough and I'll got the game set up. Are your hands clean?" 
"Yes!" said Mary. "No!" said Emily. "How about if you both wash up 
first, just to be sure. Shall we play in here or by the fire?" And 
all at once, at the exact same time, all THREE shouted, "by the fire!" 
Mary and Emily, with spotlessly clean hands, kneaded and punched and 
mushed and smuched the dough and Grandma set up the game. It was 
called "How does your garden grow?" When all was ready Grandma said, 
"AGH! Winter is so much work ! Look !" She pointed to the wood box. 
"We're each going to have to go get a load of wood before we can start 
this game. Boots on, everyone! The woodshed is COLD."

In the warm kitchen the bread rose. In the warm living room, the three 
happily played. The game was about getting seeds planted and drawing 
enough sunshine cards and rain cards for the seeds to grow and trying 
not to draw too many weed cards or insect cards and then getting to the 
place where you could pick the vegetables before the cold came. And 
things like that. At the end of the game Emily said, "Grandma, winter 
is a lot of work. We have to dry our coats, and mittens and carry wood 
and all of that. Bur summer is a lot of work, too! " "You're right," 
said Grandma, "but isn't it all such FUN!!! Let's go check on the 
bread and how about a little lunch?" "But Grandma!! " Mary and 
Emily cried, "Did you forget?!? You are having lunch at our house! 
REMEMBER??? THE COUSINS????" "Oh! I DID forget! We were so busy I 
completely forgot! How could I? We'd better get going! I want to 
be there when they arrive!"

And off they went, into the snowy day. And that was day one.

Day Two was gray, and a little rainy. The first thing that Emily and 
Mary did, that is AFTER eating several of Daddy's great pancakes, was 
plan the day. "We have to make the soup and the cake." "We can make 
the sandwiches, too, and put them in the fridge." "No, let's make them 
tomorrow so they are really fresh. We have to heat up the soup anyhow 
and we can make the sandwiches while it gets hot." "Yeah. We have to 
go to the store. Grandma doesn't have everything." "Do you have the 
list?" "No. Do you?" "NO!" Just then they heard feet stamping on 
the front porch and they ran to see who was there. "Hi, Grandma!" 
"Hi, Sweeties, I found your grocery list and thought you might need it. 
I am out of dog food so I'm driving to the pet store. Want me to drop 
you at Mr. Grocer's and pick you up on my way home? Then we can start 
the soup. There will be lots of potatoes to peel!. And we should do 
the cake today." "YES! YES !! YES!"

It rained and blew coldness all day long. Mary sat sadly by the window 
and said, "it sure doesn't look like a picnic out there." "Sure 
doesn't," said Emily. "Oh, you just never know," said Grandma. "When 
I was in getting dog food I had an idea." "What?" asked Mary and 
Emily. Grandma went on, "Betsey Bear has been in hibernation all 
winter long now, since when was it? When was the last time we saw her? 
Was it just after Thanksgiving?"

(Now you may not know about Betsey Bear. She is from 
a different story of Mary and Emily. She is a bear that lives in the 
mountains, just north of town. She was rooting around in Grandma's 
garden one summer day and, after finishing off all of Grandma's 
tomatoes, actually walked into the house to see what Grandma, Emily and 
Mary were eating! They have been good friends, and have had a few 
adventures together since then.)

Back to the story. "Yes! It was 4 days after, remember!? She 
followed us to school and all of the kids were so scared!" "Yeah !" 
"Yes, you are right. Well, anyhow, it's been a long time. And it's 
not spring, not yet, and she has to sleep a bit more. But I FEEL 
spring in the air, just around the corner, and she is going to be ONE 
HUNGRY BEAR when she wakes up. Why don't you have your winter picnic 
somewhere near her cave and you can take her some kind of snack. You'd 
have to leave it just outside of the cave. You can't wake her up ! 
It's important that she sleep all the way till spring, but then, when 
she DOES wake up Voila ! Snack! Think how happy she would be!" "What 
should we take?" "Oh, I don't know. What's her favorite thing, 
BESIDES my tomatoes!" "BERRIES!" "I have some blueberries in the 
freezer, and some of that strawberry jam that we made last summer." 
"Can we make her a strawberry jam-blueberry sandwich!?!" "Sure!" And 
so, they did.

Mary and Emily had a hard time falling asleep that night. They kept 
hearing the rain falling, falling. Mary said, "I bet there a million 
rain drops." "Let's see if we can count them," said Emily. "One, two, 
three, four......" So, of course, they were soon asleep, and that was 
Day Two.

The first thing that Mary and Emily heard when when they woke up was NO 
RAIN! Emily leaped out of bed and ran to the window. The rain had 
nmelted the snow away and all of the world, well, as much of it as 
Emily could see, looked brand new clean. "MARY!" she shouted, "LOOK! 
It's going to be a BEAUTIFUL day !!!" Mary ran to the window to see 
for herself and sure enough, a big bright sun was just peeking it's way 
over the church steeple. Of course, it was still very cold, still 
winter, but! The SUN!!! Mary and Emily pulled on thights and 
t-shirts, the first layer. Then they added sweat pants, sweat shirts, 
and socks. They gobbled down a quick breakfast. Mary had 2 bowls of 
cheerios with banana, and Emily had corn flakes, no banana. They were 
ready to go! "Wait!" called Mama. "Don;t forget your picnic basket 
and I have a blanket ready. The ground will be wet. You can sit on 
this." "I think we'd better take the wagon," said Mary. We have so 
much to carry: blanket, basket Betsey's surprise. I want to take my 
drawing table and colored pencils. Are you going to take that knitting 
you started at Grandma's?" "No, I want to take my book. I'm at such 
an exciting place! I will sit in the winter sun and read and you can 
draw me!" "LET'S DO IT!!" And off they went.

Mary and Emily walked north, toward the mountains because that is where 
Betsey, and all of the mountain bears, would be hibernations. They 
followed their favorite trail, the one that leads to the meadow of 
flowers, that is in the spring, when there ARE flowers. The meadow, 
even without flowers was BEAUTIFUL on this rain-washed winter day. 
When they got there Mary and Emily decided that it was indeed time to 
eat. They would deliver Betsey her surprise snack after lunch. Betsey 
was asleep anyhow. Mary and Emily spread out their blanket by a wall 
of large rocks. On one side was a stream, now frozen solid. On the 
other side were green pine trees, and the white-barked aspen. With 
their backs against the sun-warmed rock, the girls looked out over the 
whole valley. They could see the church steeple, and the sign for Mr. 
Grocer's, and they could ALMOST see over to Grandma's house. "I bet if 
I climb up on the rock I can see it," said Emily. "I don't know about 
that, " said Mary. She was already deeply busy drawing. There are a 
lot of colors in the meadow ! Even without flowers. Enily scampered 
up t he rock to take a look and she DUD see Grandma's house! "I see it 
! I see it !" she said jumping up and down. "I see it!" and "OH!" 
Swish ! Thump ! Scrape ! CRASH! Emily landed SPLAT! Right onto 
Mary's lap! Emily had forgotten that the rock was wet from the rain. 
She had forgotten that it was slippery. "EMILY!" Mary said angrily. 
"You landed on my picture! You broke the lead of my GREEN!!!" Then 
she saw blood dripping down Emily's cheek, and she heard Emily cry. 
"Oh! What's wrong? Where do you hurt? Why are you crying? Oh ! 
HELP!!" Mary gently lay Emily down on the blanket and bunched up one 
corner to make a pillow. She took a napkin out of the picnic basket 
and carefully wiped the tears and blood off of Emily's face. It was 
scraped. "I slipped and fell off of the rock." "I KNOW you slid off 
the rock! You slid right into ME! Are you ok?" Emily laughed a 
little remembering how surprised mary was when she landed on her. "I 
think I'm ok. I was really scared, and my face stings." "I will check 
you, " Mary said. Mary gently moved one of Emily's arms, then the 
other. "Arms ok." she said. Then she moved Emily's legs. "Legs ok." 
Mary poked around on Emily's stomach like she had seen Dr. Small do 
when they went for check ups. "STOP!" laughed Emily. "THat tickles!" 
Mary took the napkin to the stream and found a little edge where the 
ice had melted. She dipped the napkin in and brought it back to Emily, 
cold and wet. "This will help your face stop stinging," she said. 
Emily lay back on her bunched up blanket-pillow with the cold napkin on 
her face and smiled. "I DID see Grandma's house," she said, and 
settled down to read the last few chapters of her book. Mary had to 
start her picture all over again, but, it turned out that the second 
was even better than the first.

By the time Emily had finished her book (the ending was wonderful) and 
Mary was happy with her drawing, the sun had crept across the afternoon 
sky toward the prairie, and evening. "We've got to get going," said 
Emily "We still have to find Betsey's cave and leave her snack," Mary 
added. They packed up all of their stuff and set off, up the trail to 
the caves. "Which one do you think it is?" "I don't know." "Think 
it's that one ? Over there? By the big tree?" "Or maybe that little 
one, near the stream?" "What should we do?" Emily asked. "I'll go 
look," said Mary, and off she ran to the entrance of the nearest cave. 
"NO!" shouted Emily. "There are a lot more bars in these mountains 
than just Betsey! The other bears don't know us. If they wake up they 
might be really grumpy and REALLY hungry! Don't go in there!" Too 
late. Mary had walked into the cave. Emily ran to the door of the 
cave and listened. "Mary?" Emily whispered. "Are you there?" "Yes," 
mary whispered back. "Do you hear that?" "What?" "Listen. I hear 
something funny." Emily listened and listened but she couldn't hear 
anything. She squeezed her eyes closed and listened with all of her 
might. She was listening so hard, and her eyes were squeezed so tight 
that she didn't notice that Mary had come out of the cave and was 
standing right beside her. When Mary said, "did you hear it?" Emily 
was so sruprised and scared that shescreaded and jumped and grabbed 
hold of Mary. And THAT so surprised and scared Mary that SHE screamed 
and jumped ahd grabbed hold of Emily! Then they were both so scared 
that their screamingmight wake up a scarry bear that they screamed some 
more and ran all the way down to the trail where their wagon was 
waiting. They laughed and laughed and cried and laughed and told each 
other over and over what had just happened. "What WAS the sound that 
you heard?" Emily asked. "Was it like.......snoring?" "no, not 
really." "was it like.......bear breathing?" "I don't think so." 
"Well WHAT?" "I know that yoou are going to think this is really 
weird," Mary said, "but it sounded to me like......like.....Emily do 
you remember when we were little and I had a baby doll that squeeked 
when you squeezed her in the stomach? Remember?" SUre," said Emily. 
"THAT'S what it sounded like." "You think your BABY DOLL is in the 
CAVE??" "No!" Mary laughed. "That;s just what it SOUNDED like. I 
think we'd better go back and look. It was a sad sound. Something in 
there is sad. Come on!" "Let's take Betsey's snack just in case there 
in a grumpy bear in there. we can throw it to him and run." "Ok." 
Quietly, slowly, quietly, slowly Emily and Mary climbed back up the 
till towards the cave. The cave looked very, very dark. "I sure wish 
we had a flashlight," Emily said. "I have a candle in my pocket! " 
said Mary, "and some matches, too! They're left over from when we went 
Christmas caroling, remember?" "But Mom would NEVER let us light a 
candle by ourselves, Mary." II have an idea! said Emily, and she was 
gone. Emily came back with the tin foil that Mom had used to cover the 
ginger cake. " Foil doesn't burn, right? That's why we use it to wrap 
up our stew when we cook on the camp fire. And here's the lid of the 
thermos. I also brought the cake knife. We can dig a little hole in 
the earth, here, just inside the cave. Now, put the lid in and cover 
it with foil. Now we can stand the candle in it, and smush the foil 
all around so the candle stands up. That will light the cave a little 
bit and we won't have to carry the candle. Look !" "WOW!!! What a 
great idea!" "Now, we have to light the candle." "You strike the 
match, it was your idea." "No, Mom doesn't allow me to." Well, she 
doesn't allow ME to, either.....but......this IS an emergency. OK, 
said Mary, "I;ll do it. Stand back." The plan worked perfectly. By 
the light of the candle, and holding tightly to each other, Mary and 
Emily tip toed into the cave. They took 5 slow steps, and stopped to 
listen. Nothing. Then 5 more steps, listen. There it was. It DID 
sound like that old baby doll! It Was something sad! But what could 
it be? 5 more steps and it was getting darker. "LOOK!!!!!" There, 
stumbling and falling and crawling and crying were 4 tiny baby kittens. 
Oh my oh my oh my. How did they get into the cave? Where was their 
mother?

I think the kittens could smell Mary and Emily. Or, maybe they heard 
their soft whispers. Maybe they felt the warmth of Mary and Emil, 
standing there, for stumbling, falling, crawling, and crying they made 
their way right to Mary and Emily's feet. "Oh just LOOK!" Mary was on 
the cave floor scooping up a kitten. "It;s so SOFT!" she said. "And 
so cold," added Emily, picking up the gray one. "I'll bet they're 
hungry! Shall we see if they like blueberries and strawberry jam?" 
"No.......kittens just need warm milk." "But we haven't any!' "Let's 
take them home." "How!? We can't take them out of the cave! It's 
MUCH too cold out there and the sun's going down fast - it will be even 
COLDER." "But, said Mary, "they will die if we leave them here." Mary 
unzipped her snowsuit and put the orange and white stripe kitten down 
her sweatshirt. "He;s tickling me!" she laughed. Emily put the gray 
kitten in the pocket on her sweat pants, and the black one in a mitten, 
and then zipped it into her snowsuit pocket. Mary picked up the 
littlest, a calico and stuffer her into her sweatshirt with the orange 
stripe. "Hey! No fighting in there," she told them.

Mary and Emily, and all four kittens found a large, flat smooth rock 
that was pretty much close to the doors of all of the caves. That is 
where they left Betsey Bear;s Spring Snack, blueberry and strawberry 
jam sandwich, and, a piece of ginger cake. THey were sure that 
wherever Betsey was sleeping she would walk up and find her surprise. 
"WE found a surprise, too" laughed the girls as they carefully found 
their way back to the trail, and home.

And that is the story of Mary and Emily's winter picnic.