Free The Calling by Suzanne Woods Fisher Page B

delighted. Naomi, Mammi Vera, and Bethany were invited, but Naomi needed to rest and Mammi Vera said it was too hot and Bethany said she was in no mood for mosquitos. Mim thought that mosquitos or not, Bethany always seemed tobe in a touchy mood lately, but she was disappointed not to have her company, touchy mood and all. Her little brothers caused chaos and turmoil, even if they just stood still.
    Those boys wouldn’t be doing any standing still at Blue Lake Pond. It was their favorite place to be on a summer afternoon. The buggy hadn’t even come to a stop before the boys jumped out and hightailed it for the blackberry vines drooping with ripe fruit. Galen lifted old Chase out of the buggy as he was getting too arthritic to jump, though not too old to run after the boys. He loped behind them, tail wagging so fast it looked like a whirligig. Galen tied the horse’s reins together and fastened them to a tree so it could graze while they picnicked.
    Mim inhaled a deep breath. So sweet. The summer air smelled of sunbaked pine needles and lake water and freshness. She spread a blanket under the shade of a tree and set up the picnic.
    Her mom pointed to those blackberry vines and said, “Mim, we could have great fun making jam.”
    Oh, boy. Mim knew what the week ahead was going to look like: picking berries, pricking fingers, scratches on arms from thorns, followed by hours in a hot and steamy kitchen with pectin, Mason jars, wax, sugar, cheesecloth. Fun?
    Galen sat with his back against the tree and tipped his hat brim over his eyes. Mim liked that Galen was the kind of person who could sit and not fill every second with chatter the way Mammi Vera did. Sometimes, her head hurt from Mammi Vera’s ongoing commentary of Mim and her brothers. Of course, it was always critical. Her grandmother would stand tall and draw in a deep breath and pucker her lips like she was sucking on a lemon and . . . watch out! So unlikeGalen, whose words were few and soft, in that deep, gravelly voice, and when he spoke, others always listened.
    Her mom nudged her gently with her elbow and whispered, “Now there’s a sight you don’t see too often.” She pointed to Galen. His hat cast his face in a shadow, and his whole body looked relaxed and lazy. He was the hardest working person they knew, and that was saying a lot for a Plain man in Stoney Ridge. Mim pushed her glasses up on the bridge of her nose and smiled at her mom. It was a peaceful moment and she was glad she’d thought of coming to Blue Lake Pond.
    Then suddenly the boys were upon them, jerking Galen out of his all-too-brief nap. Juice ran down their faces and onto their shirts.
    “You’re more the color of berries than boys,” her mom said. Sammy smiled, his teeth white in his purple face. She gave him a cake of Ivory soap. “Get in the lake and scrub the stains off. Luke, watch your brother.”
    The boys dove into the lake in their berry-stained shirts. When Luke came to the surface, he let out a whoop that echoed off the trees. He went under again and stayed down a long time before coming up in the middle of the lake. Sammy, not as skilled a swimmer, stayed in shallow water with the bar of soap in his hand and watched his brother rise up and down in the water like a whale.
    “I don’t think Luke’s got stain scrubbing on his mind,” Galen said.
    The three of them sat side by side in the quiet, watching the boys as they swam. “Jimmy Fisher’s been teaching the boys to swim this summer,” her mother said. “Trying, anyway. They exasperate Jimmy. Luke, especially.”
    Galen glanced over at Mim. “Notice anything different about Jimmy lately?”
    “Like what?”
    “He’s . . . distracted. Off his feed.” Galen stretched one ankle over the other. “The kind of work we’re doing with Thoroughbreds—he has to keep his mind on the job.” He looked directly at Mim. “Anything you’re aware of going on with Jimmy? A new girlfriend?”
    Mim had a pretty good