Free In Grandma's Attic by Arleta Richardson

in the oven.
    “We’ll be up to the tops of our shoes in snow in our own kitchen,” Pa said as he went to close the door. “Who is responsible for this foolishness?”
    Of course everyone looked at me. “I just wanted to warm my clothes,” I said in a small voice. “I guess I forgot they were in there.”
    “You’ll have more than warm clothes if you pull a trick like that again,” Ma said to me. “Now get the broom and sweep out that snow. I declare, I don’t know what possesses you to be so thoughtless.”
    Ma picked up my clothes and held them at arm’s length.
    “Hardly even fit for rags,” she said. “My, I hope you grow up to have a little sense. It won’t be safe to let you out alone if you don’t.”
    I was properly ashamed and managed to be pretty quiet the rest of the day. Ma saw to warming my clothes from then on.

    Grandma laughed and turned out my light. I listened sleepily to the wind and was thankful for a warm bed and a grandma who knew such good stories.

18
    Grandma’s Prayer
    The day was very hot, and I flopped down on the steps where Grandma was shelling peas for supper.
    “Oh, dear,” I complained, “why does it have to be so hot? Couldn’t we pray that the Lord would send us some cold weather?”
    Grandma laughed and threw me a pod to chew on.
    “It will be cooler when the sun goes down,” she said. “I don’t think the Lord wants us to pray for something like that. In fact, I learned that lesson the hard way.”
    The heat suddenly seemed a little easier to bear if there was to be a story, so I settled back on the steps and waited expectantly. Grandma smiled to herself and began.

    It happened the summer I was nine years old. It was a day in August, much like this one. Pa had been up to the house several times for a cool drink and finally said to Ma, “I guess I’ll have to give up on the fences until later. It’s just too hot to work out there. But if this heat doesn’t let up so I can finish, we won’t be able to get in to town on Saturday. I’ll have to work early in the morning and after the sun goes down.”
    Pa returned to the barn, and I sat beside the cellar door thinking about what I had heard. Not go to town on Saturday! That just couldn’t be! Sarah Jane and I had planned the whole day, and I just couldn’t miss it.
    I turned the problem over in my mind for some time. What could I do about the heat? Nothing, of course. And if Pa said no trip, then it was no trip.
    After supper Pa took down the big Bible for prayers. The scripture he chose perked me up considerably. He read, “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”
    That was the answer! I’d pray for cool weather tomorrow so that Pa could finish his fences. While Pa thanked the Lord for His goodness to us and asked His blessing on our home, I had just one request: “Please make it cool tomorrow.”
    I awoke early the next morning and ran to the window to look for clouds. I knew at once that my prayer was not answered. The sun was coming up, and the sky was clear. It promised to be as hot as yesterday, perhaps even hotter.
    I ate breakfast in glum silence. Maybe I hadn’t prayed hard enough. Or maybe I didn’t promise enough in return.
    As soon as I had finished helping Ma in the kitchen, I hurried to my room to ask the Lord again for cool weather. This time I promised to be obedient, kind to my brothers, and more help to Ma.
    I was so sure I had been heard that it was no surprise to hear Ma say, shortly after noon, “Would you look at those black clouds coming over! Mabel, run and shut the windows in the boys’ room. I believe it’s going to rain!”
    The sky grew blacker and a chill breeze came around the porch as I watched the results of my prayers. But to tell the truth, I was becoming a bit worried. This didn’t look like an ordinary rainstorm to me. And it wasn’t. In a few minutes the clouds broke and it began to hail. Pep ran yipping under the porch, and I hurried inside to be nearer