by Unknown
On the way to Sarah Jane's, we stopped at the Gibbs's orchard.
"Some of these apples hit the ground pretty hard," Sarah Jane commented. "We'll have to eat around the bruises."
"It would be nice to have a whole apple straight from the tree, wouldn't it?" I said. "Of course, I'd rather have the windfalls than nothing."
Sarah Jane agreed, and we each picked up several. "I'd like to be around when that one falls," she said, and pointed to a dark red apple, about halfway up the tree. "Wouldn't that be a good one to take to Miss Gibson?"
Miss Gibson was a most beloved teacher. As we gazed at the apple we could imagine her delight at receiving it. She would undoubtedly hug us as she thanked us for it.
"Maybe if I just leaned on the tree a little, it would come down," I suggested. "Then you could catch it."
But my weight didn't budge that tree one bit. The apple hung solidly on its branch.
"Well," Sarah Jane sighed, "come on. Let's go home. We'll keep an eye on that one. Miss Gibson really would like it."
We watched that apple daily, making a special trip after school to stand under the tree and look at it longingly.
"I think it's going to spend the winter there," I said toward the end of the week. "Whatever is taking it so long to fall?"
"Tomorrow's Friday. If it isn't down by morning, we can't give it to her this week. It would be just like that stubborn apple to fall on Saturday or Sunday. Then it would be old by Monday."
I nodded. Neither of us thought her statement was ridiculous, in spite of the fact that winesaps stay crisp and crunchy, stored in the cellar, all winter long.
"You're a good climber, Mabel. Why don't you go up to the branch it is on?"
"Oh, I couldn't! We can't pick any of Mr. Gibbs's apples. That would be stealing."
"I didn't say to pick it, silly. I just said, 'go up on that branch.' If you shook it just a little bit, the apple would fall. A windfall doesn't necessarily mean the wind blew it off, does it?"
I had to admit that this was probably true.
Seconds later I was climbing awkwardly up the tree and inching my way out on the limb. A few gentle shakes, and the apple was loosened. Sarah Jane caught it as it fell.
"Oh, Mabel, watch out!"
Startled, I slid hastily downward. Then I heard a ripping sound. But this didn't stop me.
Once my feet were on the ground, I felt secure enough to look up.
A large piece of my skirt was flying from the branch.
"Now what did you have to go and do that for?" I demanded. "I thought sure someone was coming."
"I just wanted you to know that your skirt was caught on the branch," Sarah Jane said meekly. "I didn't know you'd just come sliding down without looking."
"I was looking," I said irritably. "I was looking to see if Mr. Gibbs was in the orchard. That's what you made it sound like."
"I'm sorry. I wasn't even thinking about him."
"You didn't have to. You weren't in his tree. And that's part of my school dress hanging up there. Now what will I do?"
"Go back up and get it?"
"You sure are a big help," I said crossly. "Of course I'll have to get it. But that won't fasten it where it belongs. What will I tell ma?"
"If it were me, I'd just say a branch caught my skirt."
"It almost never is you, so you can afford to think of dumb things like that to say. Ma knows that branches don't just reach out and catch things."
"Go on and get it. My mother will sew it for you. And you don't have to explain anything to her."
This seemed to be the best solution. Soon we were carrying the apple and the torn skirt to Sarah Jane's, where her mother mended it as best she could.
"At least it's in the back where you'll be sitting on it most of the time," Sarah Jane tried to comfort me.
"That's not all I'll be sitting on when ma finds out what I did. She'll tan me good."
"Why tell her?" Sarah Jane shrugged. "Turn your dress around so that it's in the front and put your pinafore back on. No one will ever know the difference."
"That might work until washday," I replied. "But whenever I try to keep anything from ma, she can tell right away. Anyway, we got the apple for Miss Gibson. I'll think about the dress later."
Ma didn't notice the mended spot that evening, and I said nothing about it. The next morning we presented our prize to the teacher. She was as pleased as we thought she'd be.
At recess time, Reuben came to where we were sitting. "Where did you get that apple you gave the teacher?" he asked suspiciously.
"In Mr. Gibbs's orchard," I replied promptly.
Reuben looked at me sharply. "That didn't look like a windfall to me."
"Well, it fell, all right. Besides, it's not your business."
"You know what ma would say if you picked any of his apples. It better have fallen."
I tossed my head and muttered something about interfering brothers. But to tell the truth, my conscience was twitching. And I still had ma to face.
Sarah Jane broke into my thoughts. "Did you remember that this is class meeting Sunday?"
I nodded sadly. "What are we going to say when the class leader asks us if we've been walking in the ways of the Lord this week?"
She was silent for a moment. "Maybe we better not go to class meeting."
"We have to, unless I'm sick," I reminded her.
"I am sick, every time I think about it. What are you going to say?"
"I'm glad Miss Gibson ate that apple at noontime," Sarah Jane said. "I sure don't want to look at it."
"You only have an apple to be sorry for," I replied. "I have a ruined dress to worry about, too."
After school, we started slowly toward home.
"Do you suppose it would be better if we told our folks together?" Sarah Jane wondered.
I thought about that. "It wouldn't make much difference. They already know that if you did it, I did, too."
"If this wasn't class meeting Sunday, we could wait another week," Sarah Jane said.
We walked along in silence, thinking about the task ahead of us.
"I'm going to have more sympathy for Eve when I read about her in the Bible after this," Sarah Jane declared. "We don't even have a snake to blame it on. It was all our idea."
We parted at my lane. "Ma might not let me come over tomorrow," Sarah Jane said. "But I'll see you Sunday. Are you going to tell them right now?"
"No, I think I'll wait until after we have prayer tonight. It will be easier after pa prays for me."
Which it was. But not easy enough. When I had finished my story, pa looked very serious. "I'm glad you told us, Mabel. Now what are you girls going to do about it?"
I was surprised. "Do about it? We can't take the apple back, because Miss Gibson ate it." Pa didn't say anything.
"Oh, pa! Do I have to tell Mr. Gibbs I climbed his tree?"
"No," pa replied. "You don't have to. We didn't have to know about it either. Why did you tell us?"
"Because I knew I did something I shouldn't have. I feel better when you forgive me."
"That's right, Mabel. But, it wasn't my tree. God forgives us when we do wrong," he added gently. "But we need to ask the person involved to forgive us, too."
"All right, pa. We'll go and talk to Mr. Gibbs tomorrow. But I don't think I like apples as well as I did."
"You will," pa laughed. "After this, just stick to the windfalls, and they'll taste just fine!"