Free In Grandma's Attic by Arleta Richardson Page B

Blue and I were not friends, and I did not look forward to my new job.
    True to form, Molly Blue began bawling soon after Roy and Pa had left for town the next morning. Ma looked out the door at me, and I sighed as I started across the barnyard. My feelings were not very charitable.
    Molly Blue was standing in the creek with her nose in the air, her mouth opened wide. I noticed that she had her eyes in the direction she knew I would appear, and as soon as she spotted me, the bawling ceased. Her foot was caught between two stones.
    “What’s the matter with you, cow?” I muttered crossly. “How come you can’t do anything for yourself?”
    I waded into the stream and moved the stones. Molly Blue calmly stepped out and turned her back on me. With a look of disgust, I went back to the house.
    The rest of the day was quiet, and when Ma reminded me of the time, I decided that I would show Pa that I didn’t need help with the cows after all. I left Pep dozing in the shade and started out alone.
    We had only four cows, and I knew that when Molly Blue turned toward the barn, the others would follow. I suppose I expected that she would be obliging, since I had spent so much time on her, but of course she was not. She stood placidly on the other side of the creek and stared at the scenery. I soon realized that calling would do no good; I would have to go over and prod her.
    As I waded into the water, my mind was on that stubborn cow instead of where I was stepping. Before I realized what had happened, I was sitting in the middle of the stream with my foot turned under me. Surprised, I tried to get up and found that I could not. My foot was firmly wedged between two rocks, and try as I would, I could not move.
    I sat in the water and watched Molly chew her cud. Why couldn’t she bawl now so someone would come and see what was the matter?
    The sun began to go down, and Molly Blue and I continued to regard each other darkly. I knew that someone would wonder where we were pretty soon, but my watery seat was getting more uncomfortable, and my ankle hurt terribly.
    I was right. Reuben had started to wonder about me.
    “Ma,” he called, “where is Mabel with the cows? She should have been in half an hour ago. I haven’t heard Molly Blue bawling, so she can’t be stuck someplace.”
    “No,” Ma replied grimly, “but you’re going to hear someone else bawling if that child is playing down there.”
    She sailed out of the door and down the lane. Pep followed along to see the fun. I must have been some sight, my dress soaked from the waist down with creek water and from the waist up with my tears.
    Ma always said she saw the funny side of things first; then the other side didn’t hurt as much. The funny side was not apparent to me, but Ma couldn’t help laughing. She hurried to move the stones, and when she saw that I couldn’t walk, she quickly became sympathetic.
    “I can’t carry you, Mabel,” she said. “You’ll have to wait until I send Reuben.” Pep had started Molly Blue back, and Ma hurried after the cows. I waited grumpily, wishing that I had never seen a cow.
    Reuben soon came and carried me back to the house. He couldn’t resist a comment about useless girls around a place, but he and Roy both waited on me until my ankle healed.

    Grandma folded the sewing she had been working on and stood up.
    “Brothers are more of a blessing than not,” she said.

20
    Grandma and the Gun
    I had been reading one of my books to Grandma while she worked. The story was about the pilgrims who carried guns to church to protect them from wild animals.
    “Grandma,” I said, “did your father have to carry a gun to church when you were little?”
    “Mercy, no!” Grandma said with a laugh. “I’m not quite that old. There were still wild animals around our place, but they didn’t often come out where there were people. Pa and the boys had guns for hunting, but they didn’t need them between our house and town.”
    “Did