Free Bumpy Ride Ahead! by Wanda E. Brunstetter Page A

all the walnuts and only left us a few. I saw him runnin’ toward the trees on the other side of our fence with one of the walnuts in his mouth.”
    Dad cleared his throat real loud, and Mark sat there waiting with his eyes squeezed shut for the scolding he knew would soon come. Then, to his surprise, Mom and Dad burst out laughing.
    Mark opened his eyes and looked quizzically at his parents. They laughed so hard that Mom had tears running down her cheeks and Dad’s beard jiggled up and down.
    Mark looked over at Mattie to see her reaction, but she just shrugged her shoulders and started giggling.
    After Mom and Dad finally stopped laughing, Dad looked at Mark and said, “Well, son, it doesn’t excuse the fact that you should have done what I asked you to do with the walnuts right away. If you wouldn’t have been thinking of that frog and trying to catch him instead of doing what you were told to do, our bushy-tailed friend wouldn’t have stolen all the walnuts we picked.”
    “You’re right, Dad, and I’m sorry.” Mark hung his head, feeling pretty bad that all the work that had gone into picking the walnuts had gone to waste.
    “But we can’t blame the squirrel for finding an easy source of food for the winter.” Mom smiled. “In case you’re wondering, your daed and I were laughing because something similar happened to us when we were first married. We had a whole wagon full of walnuts that we’d just picked, and by mistake we left them in the wagon because we’d gotten busy doing something else that day. Only our story ends a bit differently.”
    “That’s right,” Dad said. “When we went out the next morning, the wagon was totally empty, and there was not one walnut to be found.” Dad gave Mark’s shoulder a squeeze. “Don’t you worry, son, we had a good time Saturday having family time together, and there are plenty more walnuts left where we picked those. So, Mark, maybe you can convince one of your brothers or Mattie to go along with you to pick some more nuts after school.”
    “I’ll go with you,” Ike quickly volunteered. “Since I missed out on Saturday’s walnut picking, I’d be glad to help you get more.”
    Mark was happy that Dad wasn’t too upset and that he’d be doing something fun with his big brother Ike. He’d also learned a good lesson, though, about doing what he was told to do instead of what he wanted to do.

    “You’re tryin’ to cram too much in,” Mattie mumbled when Mark put a big, thick book in the basket on their bike before they left for school. “What is that, anyway?”
    “It’s my dictionary,” Mark said. “I’m gonna study it during recess today so I can have some new big words to say.”
    Mattie frowned. “You don’t need any more big words to say. You’ve said enough of those already.” She stuffed her jump rope into the basket beside her lunch pail. “And you shouldn’t be taking up room in our basket with that big book.”
    “If you think it’s too crowded, then why don’t you take your jump rope out?” Mark asked.
    She shook her head. “My jump rope hardly takes up any room at all, and I’m takin’ it so some of the girls and I can have fun jumping during recess.”
    Mark shrugged. “That’s fine by me. Let’s just get going or we’re gonna be late.”
    Mattie climbed onto the back of the bike, and Mark climbed onto the front. As they pedaled out of the yard, a cool breeze came up, swirling some of the fallen leaves into the air.
    Mattie shivered. Fall was definitely here, and she was glad she’d worn a jacket today. From the looks of the gray sky overhead, it could even rain before the day was out. She hoped no rain would fall—at least not until they were home from school. It was never fun to be caught in the drenching rain, even though they no longer had to walk since they’d been given a bike.
    They were halfway to the schoolhouse when they hit a bump and Mattie’s jump rope bounced out. The next thing she knew the