Once Upon a Summer

by Janette Oke

  “Is he sick?” I asked anxiously.

  “No, jest tired.” Auntie Lou shook her head.

  “As soon as you left for school this mornin’ Josh, Gramps left for town to find you another pup. I don’t know how far he walked before gettin’ a ride. When he got to town he walked the streets lookin’ for a dog with pups. This was the only litter he found and they were really too young to wean, but Mrs. Sankey, the owner, finally let Gramps take his pick from the lot. He tried ’em, one by one, to see if he could find one that would drink from a saucer. This was the smallest one of the bunch, but she caught on quickly ’bout how to lap up milk. Gramps walked home carryin’ her. She’s pretty special, Josh.”

  I nodded. She was special all right. Seemed like she should be called “Miracle” or “Love-gift” or something like that.

  I sneaked to Gramps’ door. I wanted to tell him thank-you if I could get it past the lump in my throat.

  He was already sleepin’—snorin’ softly. The puppy was cuddled up in his arms against his chest. I swallowed again. I’d have to tell him later, and it was sure gonna be hard to put my feelings into fittin’ words.

  CHAPTER 17

  Pixie

  I CALLED THE PUPPY Pixie. The name suited her. She was a tiny, playful, and mischievous bit of fur, and we all took to her right away. I didn’t bother to build her a doghouse. Everyone liked her so much that it was jest an accepted fact that a little mite like her couldn’t sleep out of doors. Maybe it was because Grandpa and Uncle Charlie had a soft spot for raisin’ babies.

  At any rate we fixed a box for Pixie near the kitchen stove where she could snuggle down in Gramps’ old gray sweater during the day.

  At night I took her up to bed with me and no one protested. I wasn’t sure if it was for my comfortin’ or that of the dog’s, that they let me get away with it—but they did.

  She was smart all right and from the start she entertained us. My whole world about turned around her, and I had to really take myself in hand to get my thoughts on other things.

  Gramps reminded me again of Auntie Lou’s comin’ birthday, and together one night we composed a letter for SueAnn. I carefully tucked it into my pocket; I’d deliver it to Willie the next day.

  SueAnn wasn’t long in replying. She and some of the other girls would be more than happy to help with a party. She suggested a corn roast and said that the girls would be glad to care for the lunch. If Gramps could see that there was wood for the fire, they’d do the rest.

  Gramps was pleased with the letter. He sat down right away and wrote to her again, confirming the plans and setting the date. He pulled a bill from a small box in his dresser drawer and tucked it in with the letter; the money would help the girls with their expenses for the refreshments. I took that letter to Willie, too, and he took it home to SueAnn.

  Uncle Charlie and Grandpa finished the stackin’ of the greenfeed and the good fall weather still held.

  I had only a few chores that were my responsibility now. Uncle Charlie took over most of them again, and Auntie Lou took back the carin’ for her chickens.

  The last vegetables of the garden were dug and were carefully stored in the root cellar. Odd jobs for the final preparations for winter were finished. It about got to the place that it wouldn’t have mattered none if a storm had decided to strike— even though we’d take all of the fair weather that we could get— but none did.

  The only thing that we really were concerned about was Auntie Lou’s coming party. If we could jest hold onto the good weather until after that, then we’d take whatever the season decided to send our way. We men managed to find some talkin’ time as we finished up the chores one night. Gramps had clued in Grandpa and Uncle Charlie about the plans for the party before we had written SueAnn. They were pleased about it and anxious to be a part of the action.

  The party was set for a Saturday night—Lou’s birthday. We decided to work in a trip to town as early as we could get away Saturday mornin’. Then we could give Auntie Lou her gifts and have our own little celebration at supper—and maybe throw her off the scent.

  I gathered the coins that I had managed to collect. They didn’t make much of a pile. I finally got up the nerve to ask Gramps if he’d mind if I threw in the two dimes, seein’ that we wouldn’t be doin’ anymore fishin’ before winter, anyway. He said that that would be fine and I felt a little better.

  When we got to the store, we did an awful lot of lookin’ before we made up our minds.

  Uncle Charlie finally settled on a shawl. It was a lacy-lookin’ thing. Didn’t look much for warmth but it sure was pretty.

  Grandpa chose a new dress. It was cream colored with pink ribbons here and there and lots of lace for trimmin’. I could jest imagine what Auntie Lou would look like in it.

  I found a lace handkerchief that really drew my eye, but when I counted my money, I didn’t have enough. I kept on lookin’. I never did spot anything else as pretty as the handkerchief, and I was still lookin’ when the rest were ready to go.

  Uncle Charlie saw me eyein’ the hanky, and I guess he figured out real quick what the problem was. I felt him slip some coins into my pocket. With mine, it paid for the handkerchief and left a nickel over. I studied the candy as Mrs. Kirk wrapped up the handkerchief, but then I turned away from it, determined to give Uncle Charlie back his nickel.

  We met Gramps outside at the wagon. He’d been down the street to another store and made his purchase there. On the way home he showed it to me.

  “It sure is pretty all right,” I agreed. “What’s it for?”

  “It’s a box to keep jewelry in.”

  I didn’t know whether to tell him or jest let it pass. Finally I said it.

  “Looks like a first-rate jew’ry box, Gramps, but there’s only one problem.”

  Gramps looked up at me funny-like.

  “She don’t got none,” I whispered.

  Gramps jest shook his head and smiled.

  “But she will have,” he said. “She will have.”

  Maybe that was the smart way to go, I decided. You get the box first and then you get the jew’ry.

  We could hardly wait to finish the chores. Even Pixie took second place to Auntie Lou’s birthday.

  Lou knew that she was expected to have a cake ready for herself. She had been bakin’ the birthday cakes in this house ever since she was big enough to use the oven. She had her cake ready and sittin’ in the middle of the table. We all grinned at it and could hardly wait to get the meal over with.

  We gave Auntie Lou our gifts jest before she cut the cake.

  They let me be first. I presented her with the handkerchief.

  “Oh, Josh,” she cried, “it’s jest beautiful! Where’d you ever get enough money to buy such a pretty one?”

  I looked at Uncle Charlie. He stared at me blankly like he didn’t know a thing about it. Auntie Lou gave me a warm hug.

  She opened Uncle Charlie’s shawl next and that really set her eyes to sparklin’. Uncle Charlie got a hug, too, which he seemed mighty pleased about.

  Grandpa handed Lou his gift. She lifted the beautiful cream and pink dress from the box and shook out the folds.

  “Oh, Pa, it’s beautiful. Really beautiful. I know that I don’t really need it, but—but I’m glad that you bought it. It’s so pretty.”

  That was Lou. None of this I-wish-you-hadn’t-done-it stuff. She said jest what she really felt.

  “I’ll feel so dressed up—so special. I hope that something important happens real soon to give me a chance to wear it all.”

  “Go put it on,” coaxed Gramps.

  “Should I?” Lou’s cheeks were flushed.

  We all urged her to try on the finery. We were all anxious to see jest how good our purchases could look.

  Lou laughed and gathered up her gifts. She was soon back whirlin’ her skirts and laughin’ as she pranced around the kitchen.

  The dress fit her perfectly. The cream color enhanced the creaminess of her skin and
the pink bows seemed about to match her cheeks.

  She draped the shawl about her shoulders, waved her lace handkerchief and pretended to flirt. We all laughed.

  We were enjoyin’ it so that at first I didn’t notice Gramps stand up. He cleared his throat and then stepped forward.

  “I have something for you, too, Louisa.”

  Lou stopped flutterin’. Gramps handed her his package.

  Lou opened it carefully and gave a little gasp when she saw the embossed box.

  “A jewelry box!”

  I was relieved that she hadn’t had to ask what the thing was.

  “It’s lovely, Gramps.”

  “Open it, Louisa.”

  She did, and there on the soft velvet lay the most beautiful locket that I had ever seen. It hadn’t been there before when Gramps had showed me the box, I was sure of that.

  Auntie Lou’s big blue eyes got even bigger. She couldn’t even speak. She looked down at the locket, then she gently lifted it out and let it lay in her hand.

  “It was your grandmother’s,” Gramps said in a hushed voice. “It can be worn only by the world’s most beautiful and sweetest women—your grandmother and you.”

  Gramps moved forward and took the locket from Auntie Lou. He stepped behind her and fastened the chain around her slim neck. Then he kissed her on the cheek.

  “Happy eighteenth, Louisa.”

  Lou was cryin’ by then, and she made the rounds again, kissin’ and huggin’ each one of “her men.”

  We probably would have kept right on laughin’ and lovin’ all night if Uncle Charlie hadn’t suddenly noticed the clock. He drew our attention to it with a nod of his head.

  Grandpa suggested the cake then. Lou made her wish and blew out the candles. Then she served us each a generous piece.

  She ate a small piece herself and then ran laughin’ to change back into her workin’ clothes.

  I shared my piece with Pixie. I didn’t dare give her too much for fear that it would upset her little tummy. She loved it. She licked her chops with her tiny pink tongue and then licked off my fingers to make sure that she got everything that was available to her.

  We all sat talkin’, the men drinkin’ coffee and me washin’ down my cake with milk. It had been a pretty good birthday party. We couldn’t see how the next half of it could be any better. Still, we were pleased that it was still to come.

  Out of the blue Grandpa sorta spoiled it for me. He turned to Uncle Charlie.

  “Burt Thomas will be comin’?”

  Uncle Charlie jest nodded.

  So that was the next name on the list. I gathered up Pixie and started outside thinkin’, Why spoil everything? We have Auntie Lou; she’s happy here. Didn’t you see her laughin’? Why spoil it?

  CHAPTER 18

  The Corn Roast

  IT WAS ALMOST EIGHT o’clock before the teams started pour–in’ in. Auntie Lou looked out of the window wonderin’ what in the world was goin’ on. It took her awhile to realize that it might have something to do with her.

  I figured that everybody in the whole countryside, between the ages of seventeen and thirty, must be pullin’ into our yard. There were even a few that I couldn’t put a name to.

  SueAnn Corbin and Rachael Morgan came in laughin’ to drag Auntie Lou out. She begged time to change her dress first and it was granted. I wondered about the new cream birthday dress, but Auntie Lou had more sense than to put that on. She dressed instead in a wide-skirted cotton print with white collar and cuffs. She looked great, but then she always did.

  While the girls were gettin’ things set up on an outside table that Grandpa had put there for their use, the boys took care of the teams. Our barnyard was full of feedin’ horses, unhitched from their wagons and tethered to the rail fences.

  It was noisy out in the yard. It seemed to me that no one really talked. The boys all yelled and the girls jest giggled.

  After things sorta settled down, SueAnn started some outdoor games. I found a spot beside the honeysuckle bush where I could watch the goings-on without bein’ in anyone’s way. I sat there, cuddlin’ Pixie and wonderin’ what it would be like to be part of the action. Everytime a girl squealed or giggled real loudly, I was glad that I had no part of it. The fellas didn’t seem to mind though; in fact, I kind of got the idea that they deliberately did things that would make the girls squeal even louder.

  The first game was one in which you needed partners. Auntie Lou was paired up with “Toad” Hopkins. He looked awfully pleased with himself. The game was a funny kind of a relay in which Lou and Toad almost won, but Burt Thomas and Nellie Halliday managed to beat them.

  Several other games were played. It seemed to me that each one got a little louder and a little faster. Anyway, they sure seemed to be havin’ a good time.

  I noticed Cullum Lewis. He wasn’t as rowdy as some of them, but he did look to be enjoyin’ himself. Poor Cullum. I didn’t suppose that he got to have a good time very often. His pa had been sick most of the time when Cullum was growin’ up. There were seven kids in the family and five of them were girls. Cullum was the only boy for most of the time, and then the final baby turned out to be a boy, too. He was still only about four and spoiled rotten.

  Cullum had to take over the farm when he was jest a kid, quittin’ school early. At first the farm didn’t do much; anyway, everything that Cullum was able to scrape together had to go to pay off his pa’s debts. I didn’t s’pose he was totally clear of the debts yet, but as hard as he worked, I hoped that the day would soon come when he would be. He still had his ma, five sisters, and a kid brother to care for. With all of that restin’ on his young shoulders, no wonder he was more serious than the other young bucks his age. Now as I watched him, he joined in the games with the others but not with the same silliness. One thing I did notice though—he sure kept close track of Auntie Lou. His eyes followed her wherever she went with kind of a haunted, hungry look.

  My teacher, Miss Martha Peterson, was at the party, too. Funny, I hadn’t thought of her as a young person before, but I guess she was only three or four years older than Auntie Lou. Some folks said that Barkley Shaw was sweet on her, but from what I saw, Barkley Shaw was sweet on anything in a skirt. I didn’t care much for Barkley.

  Grandpa stood beside me for a while watchin’ the action. I could see him smile every now and then as though he heartily approved.

  “Lou seems to be havin’ fun, don’t she?”

  “Guess so.”

  Grandpa stood a minute deep in thought.

  “She oughta have fun more often.”

  He pulled his watch out and checked the time. I could tell by the look on his face that it must be nine o’clock. I expected him to say, “Bedtime, Boy,” but he didn’t. Instead he said, “Tonight’s a little special”; then tucked the watch away. I knew that was my permission to stay up.

  The games ended and the open fire was lit. People carried blocks from the woodpile and placed them around in a circle, side by side, with the fire in the middle. Amid much banter and teasin’ the corn roastin’ began. The other food was laid out, too, and it looked like they would have quite a feast.

  Grandpa appeared again.

  “Lou,” he called, nice and loud, “yer Uncle Charlie made a big pot of hot chocolate and it’s ready. Burt, would you mind givin’ Lou a hand?”

  So there it was, I thought. I’d wondered how and when they’d weasel him in.

  Burt walked off with Lou, grinnin’ rather foolishly. Barkley looked a little annoyed. He had placed his block right next to Auntie Lou’s at the fire and had busied himself with explainin’ to her the best way to roast a cob—or something.

  Barkley was older than the other guys, but that sure didn’t make him any less a kid. After Lou had left, Barkley shrugged and busied himself with smearin’ butter on the block that Burt had jest been sittin’ on, tellin’ everyone in a loud voice to “jest you watch when the dummy gets back.”

  Barkley had his back turned and was l
oudly teasin’ Nellie and SueAnn when one of the fellows switched the woodblocks. When Barkley took his seat again, he found that he was sittin’ in the butter. I don’t think that Barkley ever did know who did it, but I did. It was done jest as quietly and seriously as Cullum did everything that he did. No one else had even noticed him.

  It seemed to take Auntie Lou and Burt an awful long time to get out there with that hot chocolate. I wondered jest what kind of a trick Uncle Charlie and Grandpa were usin’ to detain them. Eventually they returned, and Burt seemed to assume that he now had earned his place beside Auntie Lou for the rest of the evenin’.

  I was sittin’ there studying all the commotion when there was a quiet voice beside me.

  “Brought ya some grub, Josh.”

  I jumped so that I woke up Pixie who was asleep on my lap. I was so sure that no one could see me there where I was sittin’.

  It was Cullum.

  “Thought thet yer stomach must be fair growlin’ eyein’ all thet food an’ not gittin’ any.”

  “Thanks,” I said, takin’ it. I was powerful hungry.

  “Got ya a dog, huh?”

  Cullum reached down and picked up Pixie in his big man hands. He stroked her hair gently and chuckled to himself. I knew that he liked her. He didn’t even have to say so.

  “Can I git ya some more?”

  “That’s lots—thanks, Cullum. Me, I gotta go to bed soon anyway.”

  Cullum laid Pixie back on my lap and stood up.

  “Good party,” he said. He was lookin’ at Auntie Lou.

  “Yeah,” I answered. I don’t know why but I got the feelin’ that Cullum might kinda like to talk about Lou for a while.

  “We kinda had our own party before this one.”

  “Ya did?”

  “Yeah. We gave her our presents at supper time.”

  “What’d you give her?”

  “A hanky—handkerchief,” I corrected, “all lace and stuff.”

  “Bet she liked it.”

  “Yeah, she did. Said it was the prettiest she’d ever seen.