Free Swan Sister by Ellen Datlow, Terri Windling Page B

turn back to the dry little lawns they’d been grooming. But the sunburnt man said, “Why would we need a scythe, little boy?”
    Toby said, “To clear a place in the green earth.”
    The man said, “But we know how to do that. See all these machines? I can clear my lawn of unauthorized weeds in five minutes flat with my four speed lawn mower. Our vines never grow where we don’t want them to because we spray them with poison spray. Our flowers stay in their tidy white boxes, and this whole subdivision is clear, clear, clear!” All the people nodded. They patted their machines but then hissed and sucked their fingers because the engines were still hot.
    “This scythe wouldn’t be much for taming vines, that’s true,” said Toby. “And you’d have to let your flowers grow out of their boxes if this was the tool you used. But see here. When you let the blooms bloom and the trees grow, you’ll make a peaceful place on the earth. You can sit quiet in the shade and hear the birds sing. When the vine flows across the path, you can flow around it and have a little peace in the world.”
    Peace and quiet were hard to find in the subdivision. The sunburnt man thought a minute, then dug a big gold coin out of his pocket and gave it to Toby. “I haven’t heard a bird sing for a long time.”
    A woman pulled off her gardening gloves and found another coin for Toby. She put it on the street next to Tilford Fortune’s old scythe. “I’d like a little peace with the earth; I’d like the earth to feel at peace with me.”
    And all the rest of the people gave Toby coins or gold necklaces. They put the loud, smoking machines away and let the plants and animals come back to live among them.
    When the children had walked a little way from the subdivision, little Molly sat down on the ground and started to cry. She hugged the wicker basket she’d carried on all their journeying in her lap.
    “Don’t cry, Molly,” said Sally. “We’ll find a man who’s never seen a cat. Or at least we’ll find out what a cat is for and take it to people who need it.”
    But Molly cried still.
    “Don’t worry, Molly,” said Toby. “We didn’t think we’d find out what roosters or scythes are for, but we did.”
    Little Molly shook her head. “I know what cats are for,” she said. “Cats are for holding in your lap when you’re sad or lonesome. I’m sad now, so I’m holding this cat here.”
    The lid of the wicker basket popped open, and the big yellow cat stretched out. He looked up into Molly’s green eyes and started kneading her stomach. He purred and purred.
    “But why are you sad, Molly?” asked Sally and Toby.
    “I’m sad because we have to sell our cat,” Molly said. “With all the watches you’ll trade for food, and with allthe gold you’ll buy new clothes. I know we need a new house, but I love our kitty.”
    Then Sally and Toby were sad too because they loved the cat as much as Molly did. So they sat on the ground, and the cat went around from lap to lap, purring.
    Finally, Sally stood up. She said, “We’re being silly. There are plenty of watches and coins to buy food and clothes and a new house.”
    Toby said, “But our father told us to take the things he gave us and trade them for treasure.”
    Molly thought about the last thing her father had told her. “No, Toby. He said to find someone who needs a cat, and that I would know what to do then.”
    Sally asked her, “Have you found someone who needs a cat?”
    Molly nodded. “We do,” she said.
    Then Toby asked her, “Do you know what to do now?”
    Molly nodded again.
    Then she stood up and put the tabby back in its basket, and she led her brother and sister home.
    They traded the watches and the coins for food and clothes, and their neighbors came and helped them fix the shingles and the shutters on their cabin. In the mornings they woke up and went out and did their work for a little while. In the afternoons they rested among the wild-flowers