Corner of the Housetop: Buried Secrets (35 page)

When they were done eating, Devon said, "Best git to work."

"I'm going to finish cleaning in here," Derek said. "Anything else you want me to do?"

"Git the wagon hitched up around noon."

"Going to town?"

"Yes, and no, ya can' come."

Derek's shoulders slumped. "Gonna hurt yourself lugging those heavy boxes, old man."

"I bin handlin' worse fer longer. You jus' mind around here. Strawberries need pickin' down again, too."

"Late season," Derek commented as he picked up the bottle and tipped it above his mouth, trying to get the last of the milk at the bottom. Satisfied at the few drops that fell on his tongue, he pushed the bottle back into the basket with the towel, butter jar, plates, and knife. "Should've been done last week, shouldn't it?"

"Season's done when the berries stop growin'," Devon answered moodily.

"I wonder if I have to go to church tomorrow," he mused, ignoring Devon's tone. "As far as Mrs. Worthington knows, I still don't have a good shirt to wear, so she might let me off."

Devon made an uninterested grunting sound and walked away.

After a second, Derek went back to raking. As he worked, he fantasized about the ease with which he would learn to read once he had Gabriel helping him. Surely it would pass quickly and he'd be right where he wanted to be. Of course, he would have to impress upon Gabriel the importance of secrecy, but that shouldn't be too difficult.

Derek sighed and glared out the hay door towards the house. It was nearly time to get Blueberry ready to go to town and Gabriel still hadn't been to the stables. Granted the boy never said he was going to visit, but he had stopped in each of the past couple mornings so Derek expected it.

Sighing again, Derek strode across the loft and descended the ladder. Perhaps he would have a chance to see Gabriel when he was by the house getting the wagon ready.

"Ready to go, Blue?" he asked, opening the latch on the gate and taking the lead that he'd clipped onto Blueberry's bridle earlier.

His hooves clopping merrily, Blueberry marched out of the stall.

"That excited, huh? Wish I was going." Derek patted him on the nose and waited a few seconds for him to calm down. When he was ready, Derek led him out of the stables and across the lawn to the carriage house. As he walked, Derek glanced at the house frequently for any signs of Gabriel.

When Blueberry was mostly hitched and Derek was sure he wouldn't get to talk to Gabriel until the next day, he heard the front door of the main house open. Looking over hopefully, he was a little disappointed to see Atty come out with a wash bucket.

"Good morning," she said, dumping her bucket over the railing.

"'Morning," Derek answered. "Atty?"

"Yes?"

"Is Gabriel inside?"

"He's just getting ready for lunch."

"Can you let him know I need to speak to him. He, um, left something at the stables when he was there yesterday."

Atty smiled tensely and nodded. "I will tell him."

Smiling in return, Derek said, "Thank you." Finishing with Blueberry as quickly as he could, Derek tied him to the post on the porch railing then started back to the stables. He wasn't entirely sure how he was going to approach Gabriel and he wanted time to plan it out some. Somehow, just asking for help seemed very forward and embarrassing.

Derek waited for almost an hour before the stable door opened. "Derek?"

"Up here."

Gabriel climbed the ladder with more ease than he'd displayed in previous days. "What did I leave?"

Derek snorted a little. "Nothing. I just wanted to talk to you, but I wasn't sure if your mother would be there when Atty talked to you."

"Oh. No, she wasn't." Gabriel walked over and sat on Derek's bed. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Well, I thought a little about your offer to let me borrow those books," he started.

"You want to?"

"I guess. I mean, I might as well."

Gabriel's face lit up. "That's great! Should I go and get them now?"

Though the other boy's enthusiasm was very contagious, Derek fought to sound unaffected. "Only if you want to. Don't trouble over it."

"It's no trouble. I wasn't doing much of anything anyway."

Narrowing his gaze at Gabriel, Derek asked suspiciously, "Why are you so keen on doing this?"

Gabriel shrugged a little. "I don't know. It just sort of sounds like fun. It'll be like school, won't it? Only I'm not the one stuck doing homework."

"You're going to assign me homework?" Derek asked with a sneer.

"Well, yeah. It's necessary. Practice, and all."

"I guess." Despite himself, the thought of having homework, even if it was only assigned by Gabriel, made him feel important.

"I'll go and get those books. Be right back."

"All right."

Gabriel scurried back down the ladder and jogged out of the stables. When he was gone, Derek took out his books and sat down on his bed. Gabriel must have run both ways because it was only a matter of minutes before he returned, panting, three books clutched under his arm.

With unhidden interest, Derek took the smallest one and started turning it over in his hands. Its outside was thin, red cardboard with black letters on it. He was pleased to know he recognized all of them.

"That's the reader. You'll need it second. How are you at writing?"

"Fair, I guess," Derek said, taking the other books and looking them over. One was a practice book with a blue cover. It had one letter on each page and several lines to copy on. Most of the lines were already filled with crudely drawn letters.

"That was mine, but all you really need are the letters, so I figured you could use it anyway."

"What's this one?" Derek asked, lifting the third book questioningly. It was also red, though a little larger and thicker than the first.

"That's the first reader you'll use. Mostly has single sentences or small stories and passages." Gabriel took back both red books and said, "We'll start with letters first. Sure you can write them passably, but you need to know what they sound like."

"You can set those two over there," Derek said, motioning towards his little trunk as he sat on his bed.

Gabriel sat beside him. "Got paper and a pencil?"

"Yeah."

"Good." Gabriel opened the blue book to the first page. "So, copy the first letter. That's an 'A.'"

Derek wrote the familiar letter, then listened while Gabriel read the explanation of the letter followed by its pronunciation and several words that contained it. They did the same for the next four, then Gabriel assigned him to practice writing each one twenty times while he copied the marked up drills from the book unto a different piece of paper.

As he worked, Derek was surprised how easily he understood what he was learning. He was also pleased to see his penmanship improve, if only slightly, now that he had writing diagrams to follow. He'd been writing his B's terribly wrong.

When he finished copying the drills for letters A through E, Gabriel said, "There you go. For homework, finish your copying and then do each one another ten times. And do these drills. What you have to do is circle the letters where they appear in the words, and then pick which of these pictures starts with the letter."

Pointing at a small blob with a sickly-looking appendage growing out if its top, Derek asked, "What's that suppose to be?"

"It's an apple," Gabriel replied looking hurt.

Taking the paper skeptically, Derek said, "I'll do my best with it."

"Tomorrow's Sunday, so no work then, but Monday I'll check it over."

"All right." Derek set aside his papers and book, and leaned back on his elbows. "You don't think I'll have to go to church tomorrow, do you?"

"Don't see why you wouldn't. Do you have any more candy left?"

"In the chest. You ate all yours already?"

Gabriel pushed the shirts aside and took out the little bag. "Mostly." He took a piece and offered the bag to Derek who declined. "The only reason you got to stay home was that the Smithfields were here. They're gone."

"Yeah. It's too bad."

"Yeah."

After several minutes of comfortably thoughtful silence, Derek said, "Want to go swimming? I don't have any more chores to do until Devon gets back."

Gabriel grinned. "Sure."

The books and papers were left lying on the bed as Derek and Gabriel climbed down the ladder. Once they were down, Gabriel said, "Bet I get to the river first."

Derek paused for a second, pretending he didn't feel like racing. "I don't know…," he began slowly, then yelled, "GO!" and started running.

"Hey! No fair!" Gabriel yelled, taking off after him.

Derek laughed as he sprinted across the lawn and squeezed through the hole in the bushes. He could hear Gabriel coming close behind him, but there was no way the other boy could pass him on the narrow path. It was just like the old days.

Nearly three hours later, Derek and Gabriel emerged from the woods, soaking wet and laughing.

"You should have seen your face," Gabriel gasped.

"No worse than yours," Derek retorted. "Oh no! A squirrel!"

They both dissolved into laughter at the recollection of their mutual panic at a rustling bush that turned out to be a family of harmless rodents.

"There you are, boy! I bin waitin' over an hour for you to unload that wagon!"

Looking up at Devon's stern glare, Derek tried to stop laughing and look apologetic. "Sorry. You got back earlier than I thought you would, though."

"Never you mind when I got back," he snapped.

Derek smirked at the old man and said to Gabriel, "See you later."

"Have fun."

"I always do." Derek followed Devon back to the stables where Blueberry was standing, still hitched to the loaded wagon. "Is all of this going in here?"

"All but those three boxes on the seat. You can bring them to the kitchen when you bring the wagon back." Devon started to walk away.

"You aren't helping unload?" Derek asked with annoyance.

"I did my share."

His shoulders slumping, Derek glared at the five bulky boxes of farm goods and dozen bags of oats and grain.
Just like old times
, he thought, hefting the first grain sack.
When it all comes down, Gabriel goes back to the nice, comfortable house for tea, and I'm back to work.