by D. J. Holmes
* * *
Once again, the following day couldn’t come quickly enough. We both arrived earlier than when we had the previous day.
“Mary, look at this stream. It sure is a lot higher than it was yesterday.”
“It sure is, isn’t it? Did you bring the paper? I’m excited to sail a boat that I have made with my own hands. Where is the paper, Matthew? Where is it?” She said with a great deal of excitement.
I handed Mary a piece of paper, and slowly folded my paper, waiting until Mary, made the same exact fold. When we had completed the construction of our boats, Mary, rushed to the stream and put hers into the water.
“Look, Matthew, my first boat. It’s floating.”
“Let’s have a race, Mary.”
“Oh, you want to race do you?”
“I sure do. Do you think that your first boat will beat my boat, Mary?”
“Ah, do I detect a bit of arrogance, Matthew?
“I didn’t mean it that way.”
“Yes, you did so,” she said smiling. “Let me get my boat, we’ll just see whose boat will win.”
Looking at her with a twinkle in my eyes, intrigued with the spunk that Mary had, I asked, “Do you need some help?”
Running to catch up with her boat she answers, “No, I can get it. Thank you anyway.”
As Mary steps into the water to get her boat, she slips on a rock. Looking back at Matthew, she yells, “OH NO!” And as quickly as she falls into the water, she comes back up. Taking a deep breath she quips, “There was a fish that wanted to say ‘Hello’ to me.” They both laugh as Matthew runs to help her out of the water.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“I guess we’ll have to wait until you get dry to have our boat race.”
“Don’t worry, Matthew, it’s warm. I don’t mind if my dress and my hair are wet. I bet I can still win this race,” she says with determination.
“Are you always like this?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, most of the other girls that I know are always whining. They would have been mad if their hair got wet.”
“Why should anyone get mad just because they slipped in the water and got wet? That’s kind of silly isn’t it?”
“Well, it is to me. But I thought that that was how girls were.”
“I don’t know how other girls are, but it doesn’t bother me,” she says in a matter-of- fact way.
“I really like your attitude, Mary.”
“What you see is what you get, Matthew. I’m just myself.”
“I’ll let you go first.”
“No. If you don’t mind, we’ll both go at the same time.” Looking at me with a sly smile, she adds, “That is, unless you want to go first.”
I had never seen a girl who could play like a boy, who wasn’t afraid to get wet, and yet be graceful and beautiful at the same time. I liked her honesty and directness, but most of all, I liked the fact that she always had a smile on her face, and was quick to laugh at situations that would make other people mad. I was truly enjoying the time we were spending together.
A few days later, absorbed in one of our days of freedom and fascination with each other, I asked, “Mary do you think that you can reach that haystack before I do?”
“Of course I can.” And, she took off running before I could get my own feet moving.
We played all kinds of running games in the morning and by afternoon we were both famished.
“Mmm, can you smell that, Mary?” turning my head in the direction the aroma was coming from.
“I sure am hungry. I wonder what that farmer’s wife is cooking.”
“I don’t know. Let’s go ask her.”
We walked over to the kitchen door and said, “Madame, what are you cooking?” The farmer’s wife responded with, “I just got through cooking some of my finest custard pies.”
“We sure are hungry. Is there any work that we could do to earn a piece of pie for each of us?”
“There sure is,” she replied. “I need some eggs gathered, a cord of wood chopped, and this slop taken to the pigs.”
“We’d be glad to help you out, Madame.”
“The chicken house is in that direction,” pointing her index finger toward the hen house, “Here is the slop. The ax is over there behind the wood stump.”
“I’ll get the eggs,” Mary volunteers.
“I’ll take the slop to the pigs, and chop the wood.”
Mary goes to the hen house, and after a short time she brings the requested eggs back to the farmer’s wife. “Here they are,” she says with a proud smile on her face. The farmer’s wife looks at her in amazement.
Meanwhile, I had put the pail of slop in with the pigs, rather than pouring it into their pig pen and the pigs are fighting over it, trying to be the first one in the pail.
“I hope that’s how you do it. I don’t know why the pigs are making so much noise though. I’ve never heard this much noise from pigs before. Of course, I’ve never seen anyone feed them before either.”
Going to chop a cord of wood, I began thinking, “I have never chopped wood in my whole life. I’ve only seen James and Timothy do it.” Mustering up as much courage as I could, I began to think, “Well, how hard can it be?” Lifting the ax and bringing it down on the wood, one small chunk flies out of the log. “Maybe this is going to be a lot harder than I think it’s going to be. Obviously it takes more than one chop to go through a piece of wood.”
After several tries, I began to get the hang of it. Bringing the wood to the farmer’s wife, I proudly showed the stack of wood that I had just chopped for her, handing her the ax.
“Thank you for working so hard. Here is your pie,” she says to both of them. As Mary and Matthew are walking toward the shade of a tree, she turns to her husband and says, “If these children don’t have someone taking care of them, they’re not going to make it, from the looks of the work they both did for me today.”
After finishing our pie, we thanked the farmer’s wife. “The pie was delicious,” Mary expresses gratefully.
“Yes, Madame, it’s the best pie I have ever tasted.”
The farmer’s wife waves them off with her hands, “Thank you children, now be off with you.”
“That pie sure made my stomach full, Matthew.”
“Mine too. Do you think that we could walk back to the hayfields rather than run?”
“That’s a great idea. Let’s take it slow and easy.”
Walking slowly for a few minutes, we passed by a rose garden.
“Oh Matthew, do you see the red roses over there?”
“Yes.”
“Well, that’s my favorite color of rose.”
“Why is it your favorite, Mary?”
“In Roman times, it was associated with the Goddess of Love. But my favorite reason is that it also represents respect, and courage. I do so want to have courage, Matthew.”
“Mary, you are one of the strongest, most courageous girls I know.”
“I will remember that. Thank you.”
By the time we reached the hay fields, Mary and I were rested enough to begin our favorite game of hide and seek, until it was time to go home.
Laughing… exhausted and wishing that we had more time to play we finally slowed down and made plans to meet again.
“Matthew, I think that we should go back to the farmer’s wife and ask for another piece of pie, don’t you? That was really good,” Mary laughed.
“Ah, you are playing with me. I don’t want to feed those pigs again.”
Neither wanted to leave, but they both had to so their families wouldn’t know that they were meeting with each other.
“Do you think that we could see each other at the end of the week, Mary?”
“I’ll meet you whenever you are able to meet me.”
“See you then.”
“I’ll be watching for you, Matthew.”
Riding home as fast
as I could, entering the South Gate and quickly running over to, James, I said, “Hello, James. How have things been for you today?”
“It’s been a good day, Jon.”
“James, do we have enough wood for the fire place in the great room?”
“It could probably use a little more wood. Why do you ask?”
“I was wondering if you would show me how to chop some wood.”
“I’d be glad to, Jon.”
“Maybe we should exchange our clothes first, in case someone sees us.”
“Good idea, Jon.”
Walking over to the wood pile, James instructs, Jon. “Here is the ax. Make sure that the blade is sharp and that you hold the handle firmly. Lift it high above your head so that you get the maximum leverage needed to break the wood. The leverage and a sharp blade is what will make sure that the wood breaks.”
“James, would you chop some wood first and let me watch how you do it?”
“Sure, here goes….” As the ax comes down at the wrong angle a small chip of wood flies toward James. “Ah, watch for flying chips of wood, Jon, sometimes they fly toward your face and that could hurt.”
“Thank you for warning me.”
After watching James for a few minutes, I said “Let me try, James. I think that I can do it.”
“Here’s the ax, Jon.”
After a few swings as always, my nice friend complements me with, “You’re getting it, Jon. Just make sure that the ax is lifted as high as you can reach and your angle is correct.”
“I will, James. Thank you for showing me how to chop wood correctly.”
“You catch on quickly, Jon.”
“Maybe now that you’ve shown me how to chop wood I could help you once in a while when the wood pile gets low.”
“If you would like to, Jon, I would be more than glad to have your help.”
“Let me know when you need my help, James.”
“I will.”
“I think that I’ll go in now. See you tomorrow.”
“See you.”
Walking to the palace I smiled as I remembered my experience with Mary, as we both helped the farmer’s wife. As I got ready for bed, I couldn’t help but laugh at my adventure in the country. “What a day. But now, with James’ help, I know how wood should be chopped.”
The end of the week finally came and I left the palace once again to be with, Mary.
“Matthew. Matthew, I’m over here.”
Mary had been watching for me to walk through the meadow. At the edge of the meadow was the stream where we had first met. “Matthew, look at the beautiful mud? I’m making mud pies.”
“Mud pies, huh? I’ve never had mud pies before.”
“You don’t eat them, Matthew.”
“What do you do with them?”
“This!” and Mary throws a huge mud pie hitting me in the face.
Rubbing the mud from my eyes, I look at Mary while saying, “I can’t believe you just did that!” while at the same time picking up some mud, and throwing it back at her. Mary had begun to run, anticipating I would reciprocate. To make it harder for me to hit my mark, she ran in a zigzag pattern.
“Ah, so you think that you can get away from me, huh?” Running in the same direction, I tackled Mary, and we both rolled down the bank into the stream.
“Ha! Ha! That was good, Matthew. You got me.”
“Of course, I always get what I aim for.”
“Oh, really?” and Mary ducks under the water and begins to swim away.
“Where are you going, Mary? Come back here!”
“Come on Matthew, follow me it’s fun.”
“We’re going to swim in our clothes?”
“I don’t think that we have any other option. Besides, you want to get that mud off of you don’t you?”
She had a good point, so I began to swim. “This is fun, Mary. We’ll have to do this more often.”
“Well, most of this stream is quite shallow, but this area is deep enough to swim in. It’s one of my favorite things to do.”
I took the chance to get her back and splashed water in her face, “There you go, Mary, I got you back.”
“Yea, well you’re never going to be the winner here, Matthew,” and splashed me back. We both continued laughing as a splashing war commenced between us.
Finally, Mary calls out, “You win! Now, wait there for a minute. I want to show you something, but I have to get it ready first.”
“I’ll just swim on the edges while you’re in the middle.” A short while later Mary comes to the surface. “Swim over here. We’re going to sit on the bottom.”
“Sit on the bottom, on the rocks, in the mud?”
She motions for me to come, “Yes, there’s something that I want to show you.”
“Here we go.” Sinking to the bottom, Mary points to the place where she wants me to sit. Sitting directly across from me, she pretends to pour tea into imaginary cups. Smiling, we pretend to drink our afternoon tea, under the water, on the bottom of the stream.
Finally, swimming to the surface, I said, “That was fun, Mary. Thank you for the tea.”
“You’re welcome. Why don’t we go for a walk so that we can dry off?”
“Good idea. Look over there. Let’s walk through that apple orchard.”
“Sounds fun….”
“Do you like apples, Mary?”
“They are my favorite. Would you like one?”
“Can we do that? I mean, it belongs to someone else.”
“Well, maybe we could pick up the ones that have fallen on the ground. Sometimes they’re still very good.”
“Good idea.”
After carefully picking up a handful of round firm apples we ran to a nearby meadow, laying down in the tall grass and eating the apples where no one could see us.
Looking at the sky, Mary says, “Matthew, look at that cloud. It looks like a donkey.”
“It does, Mary. That’s funny. It really looks like a donkey. Pointing to another cloud, I suggest, “Look over at that one, Mary, it looks like a witch on a broom stick.”
“…Where?”
“Way over there.” I point where I want Mary to look.
“Where, Matthew?”
“Just above that highest tree over there,” I’m still pointing.
“I don’t see any cloud that looks like a witch. Are you sure that it’s above that tree?”
“Yes, Mary. Just keep looking. You’ll find it.” I broke off several sprigs of grass, and threw them in her direction.
“EEEEE,” she squeals as she jumps up and runs. Shocked, I jumped up, and ran after her. Soon, we were both laughing, and running across the meadow. All of a sudden, Mary tripped and rolled down a small hill. I ran down the hill to make sure that she wasn’t hurt.
“Mary, Mary are you all right?” I yelled. She didn’t answer. She was just lying on the ground. “Mary, you’ve got to be alright.” I sat down beside her and lifted her head onto my lap. Mary quickly opens her eyes, smiles and says, “Boo!”
“Why you little…I should….”
“You should what, Matthew?”
Mary begins to get up to run again. I grabbed her and pulled her to the ground. “Oh no…. You’re not getting away again.”
She twists and turns. “Quit moving, you little rascal. Do you know how much you scared me? What if you would have really been hurt?”
“I wasn’t, was I? Anyway, you were catching up to me. If I hadn’t played like that, I wouldn’t have put you off guard. And then I wouldn’t have been able to scare you, would I?”
“Why you…I think that I should spank you.”
“Matthew, don’t you dare lay a hand on me.”
Putting her over my knee, I raised my hand. Mary’s eyes begin to water and my heart begins to break. “What am I doing? I’m sorry, Mary, I’d never really hurt you.”
Mary is still crying, as I pull her into my chest, hugging her with all the tenderness that I had. I held her until her
crying stopped. Mary slowly looked up at me and smiled the biggest smile that I had ever seen. Looking directly into my eyes, Mary said, “You see, I also know how to not get a spanking.” We both laughed.
“So you’re all right?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Well then, shall we both meet in the hay field tomorrow?”
“Yes, I’ll see you tomorrow, Matthew.”
Having stayed out a little later than usual, I found James waiting for me.
“Where have you been? Your mother has been calling for you to come in.”
“I just couldn’t leave her. Let’s quickly change clothes and I’ll run in.”
“Her? What do you mean her?” James, questions. “I’ll tell you later. What does she want?”
“Who are you talking about, the girl that you met or your mother?”
“My mother, of course, who do you think that we have been talking about?”
“Well, at first I thought that we were talking about your mother. Then you mentioned her, and all of a sudden I wanted to hear more about the girl that you met.”
“Yea… Yea…. But, now I need to know what my mother wanted.”
“I don’t know. She just kept saying, Jon, stop practicing your archery and come in. I have something to tell you.”
“What did you do?”
“I just mumbled, ‘in a minute.’”
“How long ago was that?”
“What, the first time she called you or the last time?”
“Both.”
“The first time was about a half an hour ago. The last time was about five minutes ago.”
“Thank you, James.”
After James and I quickly exchanged our outer clothing, I patted him on the back. “Come on, James, think of the adventure that we are having!”
James looked at me like “What adventure?”
Looking back, at him I said, “Thank you, James, same time tomorrow?”
“Sure Jon, as long as I’m still alive.” James says whispering to himself. “I know that we are going to get caught. I can feel it in my bones.”
CHAPTER 3