Listen To Me Honey (9 page)

Amanda held her breath and put two
fingers in a cow pie. She scooped up some and rubbed it on her
legs. So far she couldn't tell it was doing a thing to relieve the
sting, but she continued the procedure until she had both legs
smeared with the smelly, brown mess.

By the time she finished, Grandpa
had Eleanor milked and started on Maybelle. “Feel better,
Mandie.”

“Not
really. My legs sure hurt, and now I smell as awful as the
outhouse,” Amanda said, wrinkling her nose as she
sniffled.

“Tell ya what, go see if yer grandma can tell ya what to
do. I'll be done here directly,” Art said.

When Amanda walked in the kitchen
door, Tansy was mixing up cornbread. She sniffed the air before she
looked up. “What is that awful smell?” Her mouth flew open when she
saw Amanda's brown coated legs. “Oh my! What did ya do? Trip on a
rock and fall down in a cow pie.”

“Not
exactly,” Amanda said, pulling a chair away from the
table.

“Oh
no, ya don't! Ya ain't sittin' in my chair. Now what happened?”
Tansy demanded.

Amanda explained how she followed
the cows through a weed patch and how bad her legs hurt.

“Best wear jeans to do chores from now on,” Tansy
suggested.

Amanda grimaced. “I already had
that idea.”

Tansy made a circle with her
finger. “So how did ya get like that?”

“I
hurt so bad Grandpa told me to smear fresh cow manure over my legs.
He said it would take away the sting, but it didn't,” Amanda said
forlornly.

Tansy put her hands on her hips.
“He did, did he? I hoped that trick wouldn't happen
again.”

Amanda nodded. “What
trick?”

“Never mind,” Tansy said quickly.

Amanda went on, “When that didn't
seem to help, Grandpa said to come ask you for a home remedy of
yours.”

“First thing I can tell ya is I'm fixin' ya a tub of bath
water. Hurry up while yer grandpa is still doing chores and get out
of yer clothes on the porch. I'll get the rinse tub off the wall
and put warm water in it. Once y'all smell good, we'll see what we
can do.”

Tansy made Amanda stand out in the
yard while she filled a bucket with water and scrubbed off Amanda's
legs. The bucket reminded Amanda of the one she used when she
scrubbed the outhouse, but surely Tansy had more than one of those
tin buckets.

Once she passed Tansy's inspection,
Amanda sank into the metal tub her grandma used to rinse clothes in
on wash days. Her legs hurt pretty bad when the water hit them, but
after while not so much.

Grandma brought her a towel. After
Amanda put on her nightgown, Grandma handed her a bottle of pink
lotion to rub on her legs. It turned Amanda's skin a strange pink,
but the stinging quit. She decided her legs were feeling better in
the color pink than in the color brown.

While she put lotion on her legs,
Grandma emptied the rinse tub into a bed of orange marigolds. “I
better get back to my supper.”

Tansy ushered Amanda into the
kitchen. She ordered the girl to sit at the table until supper was
ready.

It wasn't long before Art showed
up, carrying the two buckets of milk. “Feelin' better,
Mandie?”

“Some. Grandma made me take a bath.”

“Figured she might,” Art said. The corners of his lips
twitched like he was trying not to smile.

Tansy dropped a pot lid in the
dishpan, making an unhappy clatter.

“Grandma had me put a pink lotion all over my legs.” She
held her legs out so he could see. “That medicine is really
helping,” Amanda assured him.

“That's good to know.” Art set the milk buckets beside the
crock. He glanced at Tansy. She had her back to him, straight and
stiff. “Ya ready for supper, Mandie?” Art asked.

“Sure,” Amanda said tentatively, waiting for some sort of
explosion from Tansy.

Art washed and sat down at the
table. He clasped his hands together in front of his plate. Amanda
was pretty sure he was waiting for something to happen,
too.

Tansy ignored both of them as she
finished setting the table. Her face was beet red, and her lips a
tight line when she set the bowls of food on the table.

Finally, she faced them with her
hands fisted on her hips. She glared over her glasses at Art.
“Arthur Craftton, why did ya let that poor child come to the house
in that kind of mess. Didn't ya learn yer lesson when ya had to
clean up Jeff?”

“I
wasn't with her when she walked through the nettles, Tansy,” Art
said innocently.

Tansy shook an arthritic finger at
him. “That's no excuse. Ya know that ain't what I'm talkin'
about.”

“What then?” Art asked as if he didn't have a
clue.

“Grandpa, I think she means the cow manure remedy,” Amanda,
staring at her grandma, said out of the corner of her
mouth.

Tansy shook her finger at Art
again. “That's exactly what I mean. That was just plain mean and
---- and nasty. Amanda, he talked yer daddy into doin' the same
thing when he was a kid. I made Grandpa clean him up since he was a
boy.”

“When I was a kid, my dad used to use cow manure on our
stings all the time,” Art defended.

“Did
it work?” Tansy snapped.

“Don't remember, but it works on Jubel right well,” Art
returned.

Tansy shook her finger at the dog
and screeched like the wind in Chicago blowing off Lake Michigan.
“Jubel! That dog!”

Jubel flattened himself by the
door, ready to escape if Art had to leave in a hurry.

“Sure, Jubel rolls in fresh cow pies a right smart bit of
the time. He never has a problem when he goes through the stingin'
weeds,” Art said with a deadpan look.

Amanda focused on one then the
other of her grandparents in this heated face off. Grandpa was
really in the dog house.

Tansy sputtered as if she was a tea
kettle running out of steam. “I ---- I'm ready to eat. I've got
supper done such as it is.”

Grandpa winked at Amanda, but he
never once grinned. He knew better.

Tansy saw the wink as she plopped
into her chair. She stared from Art to Amanda a moment, deep in
thought. “Arthur, ya did all this on purpose so I'd defend that
child like I did Jeff.”

“Mandie, pass me the fried potatoes,” Art said, holding out
his hand. He took a spoonful and handed the bowl to
Tansy.

All Amanda could see good about the
nasty trick Grandpa played on her was Grandma defended her. She
knew from then on Grandma would always be on her side no matter
what.

Grandma had to be plenty mad.
Amanda had never see her forget to say grace over a meal before. As
mad as Tansy was, Amanda was pretty sure Grandpa wouldn't play
another trick on her again any time soon.

Chapter Nine

The next morning, Amanda dried the
dishes and put them in the cupboard. While Tansy went to the
outhouse, Amanda sat on the porch to wait for whatever was going to
happen next.

“Mandie, do ya want to he'p me fix the pasture
fence? It's been a few days since I've checked the fence line.
Probably been a deer or two didn't make a clean jump.

I thought when we’re done we could
mushroom huntin' in the woods next to the pasture,” called Art as
he loaded the fencing equipment into the back of Old
Blue.

“Sure! If it's all right with Grandma,” answered
Amanda.

Grandma called from the outhouse,
“Go with your grandpa. Sounds like more fun than here with
me.”

Amanda raced for Old Blue and
hopped in before Grandpa changed his mind.

The hilly hay field was greening up
and growing. Art drove around the end of the field toward the
pasture gate. The view changed to rolling hills specked with
grazing cattle and small calves partially hidden in grassy
gullies.

A quail covey popped up at the
hayfield edge. The birds saw the pickup and scurried into the fence
row. Another covey flew up in front of the pickup and narrowly
missed getting hit.

As Amanda looked out the window,
she thought about what Mrs. Longfellow said in Biology class after
they finished a nature course. “Class, remember if you get a chance
to walk in the woods take note of what you find. See how much of
what we’ve studied you can recognize. You’re one of the lucky ones
if you know someone with woods close by.

Our environment is changing fast
into urban developments. If grownups don’t try harder to take care
of what we have, the only way your children will learn about many
plants and animals will be to read about them in books. Maybe if
you pay attention, you can pass on to your children what you
remember.

There’s a saying, Stop and smell the roses. That’s what I
want you to do. Stop long enough to appreciate not only roses but
every living thing in nature. If you appreciate nature, you should
help preserve our environment for future generations.”

Amanda remembered the teacher's
speech so well, but she lost interest by the time Mrs. Longfellow
held up the pictures and described the plants.

Why hadn't she paid attention when
she had the chance? Truth was, school didn't mean much to her
except as a social place to see her friends. Suddenly, with a pang
of sadness, Amanda missed school, her teachers and
friends.

“Why
are ya so quiet all of a sudden?” Art asked.

“I was thinking about school. I had a biology
teacher named Mrs. Longfellow. She taught her class about what
nature was like in the timber and countrysides.

We are stuck in between high rises
and paved streets. So much about nature is a mystery to us. I
didn't pay any attention to what Mrs. Longfellow tried to teach me.
I was just thinking maybe I'd have a second chance with you. Think
you could teach me, Grandpa?”

“I
can sure try, but that kind of hands on education cain't be done in
a few hours. When I was yer age, families had to know about plants.
We knew which ones to pick fer food, dyes fer clothing and
medicine. We had to know which ones were edible, and which might
make us sick. We had to be good hunters and fishermen to put food
on the table, especially durin' the Great Depression.”

“What's the great depression?”

Art shook his head. “Ya really
didn't pay any attention in history class. Weell, ya best read
about the Great Depression and Eleanor Roosevelt fer
sure.”

The pickup bounced over the rocky
pasture as Art drove past the peacefully, grazing cattle. He headed
to the west boundary.

Sure enough, he pointed out where
the fence wires were broken. “Weell, I've seen the fence a might
worse. We only needed to splice a piece of wire onto the top two
barbed wire strands and staple the wires back to the posts. The job
won't take long.

After Art tied the barbed wire on
the roll to a wooden post, they walk along the fence holding the
ends of a steel pipe stuck through the middle of the wire roll. As
the prickly roll turned on the pipe, the silver wire fell off
behind them.

“This roll of wire is heavy,” Amanda
puffed.

She glanced over the fence, wishing
they could hurry the fence fixing. She wanted to take that walk in
the timber.

“It
is that. Set the roll down for a minute.” Art hooked the wire
stretcher to the strand, tightened it and sliced the end to the old
wire. He stapled the wire to the wooden posts back to where he tied
the loose end.

“Now
grab yer end again.” They started the trip along the fence again
with the second strand.

Suddenly, the sun disappeared
behind a cloud A strong, cool breeze gusted, causing the tree tops
to sway. Low, heavy, gray clouds darkened the sky, swirling and
changing to black. Lightning streaked across the sky, followed by
distant rumbles that soon turned to loud thunder.

The bird calls sounded frantic as
they warned one another a storm was near. The gray mourning doves
repeated their plaintive coo hooo coo.

The song sparrows chirped loudly in
concern. A cardinal flew over them, headed for cover of the grove
of oak trees.

“It's going to storm. There goes our mushroom hunt. We’ll
be lucky to get the fence finished,” groaned Amanda.

“Run
fer the pickup. These gully washers don't last long. I'll join ya
soon,” Art said.

The rain pelted the pickup as
Amanda watched Art get soaked while he hammered the last few
staples into the posts. He raced for the pickup, threw his hammer
in back and hopped in.

The shower change from large water
drops to small hail that bounced and melted on the warm pickup
hood.

Amanda asked, “Did my dad help you
make fence and mushroom hunt?”

Art rested his arms over the
steering wheel. “Ya betcha. Jeff had to do all kinds of things
different from what city life is like when he was a
kid.”

As suddenly as the rain came, it
moved away. The sun peered through the thinning clouds. The only
sounds were the faint rumble of far away thunder, and water
dripping from trees.