Free Getting Near to Baby by Audrey Couloumbis Page A

Uncle Hob to be set free. At least that was what we figured she wanted. She showed us how her fingers were too clumsy to loosen the string.
    Uncle Hob had a tiny pair of scissors in his pocketknife and he clipped the string off easy as you please without ever injuring the bug. Then he and Little Sister took it out on the porch and set it free. It flew right into the bowl of the porch light fixture and banged around on the sides. We all sat staring at the fixture till our eyes burned.
    â€œThat is one happy june bug,” Uncle Hob said, blinking like a flashbulb had gone off in his face. We were all blinking.
    â€œIt’s caught in there,” Aunt Patty said.
    â€œHeck, no,” Uncle Hob said. “If we turn off the porch light, he’ll be gone inside five minutes and probably banging around somebody else’s light fixture.”
    â€œWhen we turn out the lights in our room at night,” I said, wishing Uncle Hob would turn off the light, “we can hear june bugs banging around till we fall asleep.” I didn’t want to come out there the next morning and see the shadow of that june bug lying with its feet pointed up.
    â€œYou hear them banging on the walls of your room,” he said. “They can get out of the light fixture, but they don’t necessarily find their way out the door. This fellow, he’s already outside.”
    Sure enough, the next morning that june bug was gone.

12
    A Day at Bible School
    A unt Patty stayed “to see us off to a good start” that first morning. Most of the kids, boys and girls, seemed to know one another. Little Sister and I stood off to one side, sort of looking them over. Running and playing the way they were, no one looked unfriendly. They just looked like they didn’t have any reason to want to get to know us.
    â€œGo on,” Aunt Patty called to us from the car. “Get right on in there.”
    I walked Little Sister over to the other side of the yard where, if nothing else, we wouldn’t be able to hear Aunt Patty tell us how to be. But then this young woman stood outside all the movement and blew on a shrill whistle, blew loud enough to bend herself halfway over.
    The boys who weren’t already there made a dash for the ball field across the street. Aunt Patty beamed as the girls all joined hands to form a circle and sang “What a Friend I Have in Jesus.” By the time the song was finished, Aunt Patty had driven off with a cheery wave that no one returned—we were holding hands.
    Our teacher, whose name was Miss Pettibone, told us right off the bat that this was her first turn at being Bible school teacher, and that she would be the Bible school teacher for six whole days. She told us she was going to be our favorite. Miss Pettibone was pretty and had a voice like an angel, so I guess we all believed her.
    Her assistant, Mrs. Weeds, took some of the girls off to make flowers out of pieces of egg cartons. Some of the others ran for jump ropes and Hula Hoops. The oldest girls gathered around, waiting for Miss Pettibone. But Miss Pettibone asked Little Sister and me to wait up so she could give us name tags to stick on our shirts.
    Things started to go wrong right away.
    Miss Pettibone didn’t like that Little Sister would not tell her own name. “I’ll talk for her,” I said.
    â€œThat won’t do,” Miss Pettibone said. “You’ll be in the Sunbeam Group and she’ll be in, well, how old are you? Six?”
    â€œShe’s nearly eight,” I said. “She’s small for her age.”
    â€œYou’ll be in the Lambs,” Miss Pettibone said to Little Sister. “Do you understand? We can’t be running to your sister every time you want to tell us something.”
    Little Sister looked at Miss Pettibone as polite as you please, but she didn’t open her mouth. Miss Pettibone narrowed her eyes.
    â€œHas she ever talked?” Miss Pettibone wanted to