Free Will O Wisp by Fay Risner

dirty. The shame is in staying that way for everyone else
to see,” Gracie declared.
    Melinda turned red faced and wavered
her finger at Shana. “How could you send this girl to the hen house
to be attacked by a mean rooster?”
    “ I didn't know Thad had a
mean rooster,” Gracie defended.
    “ Don't be upset, Aunt
Melinda. It tis all right, Aunt Gracie. I'll be prepared next time
for the mean bugger,” Shana said.
    “ There shouldn't be a next
time,” Melinda said, taking Shana's chin in her hand and turning
the girl's head one way and the other.
    Gracie corrected Melinda.
“Make up your mind right now that there will be a next time. What
happened is part of gathering eggs when a mean rooster lives with
the hens. We will find you a big stick to carry, Shana. You whack
that rooster when you see him before he gets the drop on
you.”
    Back in the barn, Gracie dumped the
feed in the manger. She brought the milk stool close by and opened
the door with the intention of calling the cow. She didn't have to
bother. In fact, she just barely got out of the way in time. The
cow stampeded through the door and stuck her head in the
stanchion.
    Gracie said, “Nice to meet you,
Clara.”
    At the sound of the strange voice,
Clara peered sideways to see who spoke to her. Not sensing a
problem, she went back to lapping down her grain.
    Gracie pulled the milk stool close and
patted the cow on the side before she sat down. When Clara didn't
flinch, Gracie eased down on the stool and milked.
    She was almost done when Shana came in
the barn. She looked clean and not any worse for wear after her run
in with the rooster. She stood back, watching the milking process.
When Gracie stood up and brought the pail of foaming milk from
under Clara, Shana said, “I have half a bucket of eggs so far. I
only had two broken completely and a couple cracked
ones.”
    “ Well, that ain't bad
atall. I saw a nest in the corner when I brought the milk stool
over. Crooked Beak flew out of it. Maybe more nests in that hay.
It's a perfect spot for them. You stand back now while I let Clara
out of the barn,” Gracie instructed.
    Shana stretched to reach the eggs in
the manger as she asked, “Clara? That be the cow's
name?”
    “ Yip,” Gracie said,
stepping out of the way as the cow headed for the open door. “Here,
Shana, take the milk pail with you to the house. Melinda will show
you what crock to pour the milk in. She needs to wash the bucket
for the morning milking. Make sure you put the lid on the crock to
keep the mice out of it. That's important.”
    While they ate supper that evening,
Shana asked, “Aunt Gracie, the chickens have names?”
    “ Some of them do. Crooked
Beak has one part of her beak crossed over the other,” Gracie said.
“There's a dark red hen that I call Two Feathers. That's all she
has in her tail.”
    “ Sounds like an Indian
name,” Melinda mused.
    Shana asked, “What will we do
tomorrow?”
    “ I'm thinking it would be
fun to go fishing,” Gracie said. “I have a nice pond just over the
hill in the pasture.”
    “ Sure it tis, I've never
fished,” Shana said.
    “ Neither have I,” Melinda
added.
    “ You're in for some fun. If
we're lucky, we'll have fresh fish for supper tomorrow night,”
Gracie said enthusiastically. “First thing we need to do is pick up
our fish bait tonight.”
    “ What is bait?” Melinda
asked.
    “ Nightcrawlers. The barn
yard should have some in it. Right after supper while you two do
dishes, I'll pour a few buckets of water over the barn yard fence.
Nightcrawlers come up best after a rain, but we might be able to
fake them into thinking it rained if the ground is wet,” Gracie
said.
    “ What's a nightcrawler?”
Shana asked.
    “ A large worm,” Gracie
answered.
    “ Oh dear!” Melinda said
under her breath.
    Gracie chose to ignore that
declaration. “We need a can to keep the worms in. Wonder if there's
an empty one around here somewhere?”
    “ I saw one beside