Listen To Me Honey (11 page)

The next Sunday was picnic lunch at
Pleasant Valley church. Tansy baked a cake and fixed a big lettuce
salad from her garden.

“Amanda, ya want anythin' special to eat for the picnic?”
Tansy asked.

“Could I have a peanut butter sandwich?”

“That's easy enough. I can fix that,” Tansy said, bringing
the peanut butter jar from the cupboard. “After all, we are havin'
a picnic.”

After everyone filled their plates,
the men sat on the pickups front bumpers. The women spread out
quilts on the grass for themselves. The children sat under the
shade trees.

Willa and Amanda finished eating
about the same time. Willa put her paper plate in the trash sack.
“Want to go for a walk?”

Amanda tossed her plate in the sack
as she asked, “Where?”

Willa pointed. “Just down the road
and back.”

As they walked behind the line of
pickups, Amanda heard Clem Whitman's squeaky voice. “Art, I never
see y'all drive yer car. Did ya get rid of it?”

Art's husky voice answered, “Nope.
“It's sort of hid out.”

Amanda stopped to
listen.

Clem actually sounded as surprised
as Amanda was. “Why is that?”

“Weell, we got our reasons. I'll be drivin' the car one of
these days. I'll have to, or the battery will run down,” Art said
with a chuckle.

Willa noticed Amanda wasn't keeping
up. She waited. As Amanda caught up to Willa, she wondered what her
grandpa meant. She thought the only vehicle he had was Old
Blue.

When they came back from their
walk, Amanda and Willa got a glass of punch Kool Aid and sat with
the other children.

Amanda heard the women chattering
on the other side of the tree.

Willa's mother, Nancy Scott, asked
Tansy, “Y'all movin' back to town this winter?”

“We
haven't decided yet. We sort of like livin' on the farm especially
now that Amanda is stayin' with us. Makes sense if Art decides not
to get rid of the milk cows this fall and has chores to keep him
busy,” Tansy answered.

Wilma Cox said, “If y'all ever
think about sellin' that nice house in Saddle let me know. We'd
sure love to buy it from ya.”

“I'll keep that in mind,” Tansy said.

Amanda couldn't believe what she
heard. Her grandparents still had a house in town. Why didn't they
tell her that?

Willa kept their conversation going
the rest of the afternoon. She had all sorts of things planned to
do when Amanda visited.

What she heard at the picnic
worried Amanda. She was quiet on the way home and through chores.
She didn't know how to bring up that she'd like to know why her
grandparents lied to her.

While they ate supper, Tansy said,
“Amanda, ya feel all right?”

Amanda nodded. “Sure,
Grandma.”

“Ya
sure ain't been yer usual chatterbox self,” Art
surmised.

“I
was just thinking about leaving here I guess. What are you two
going to do after I'm gone?”

“Don't worry about us though it's mighty nice that ya are.
Things don't change for us none,” Tansy said.

“We're real homebodies,” Art agreed.

Amanda licked her lips and asked,
“If I was to come back on Christmas break for two weeks would you
be here?”

“That's a strange way to put it,” Tansy said. “Ya are
always welcome to come as often as ya can. Ya think we might not be
here?”

Amanda met her grandma's eyes. “I
do. You might be in your house in town during the
winter.”

“Now
how do ya know about that?” Art asked.

“I
heard both of you talking at the picnic. I now know you have a car
hid somewhere, Grandpa, and you do still own a house in town you
didn't tell me about. The thing is I can't figure out why the big
secret,” Amanda said. Her lower lip pushed out in a
pout.

“Mercy, Art. She's caught on to us,” Tansy said.

“The
cat's out of the bag for sure,” Art agreed.

“What's a cat in a bag got to do with you owning a car and
house?” Amanda asked.

“Weell, that's just an expression. Ya tell her, Tansy. Yer
better at explainin'.”

“Listen to me, Honey. When yer mother said yer thinkin'
needed some fine tunin', she asked us to he'p. When Iris sent ya,
she didn't tell us ya were stayin' more than a week, or what ya did
to get in trouble. She did say ya were sassy about wantin' yer way.
Ya wanted to spend money fer things that wasn't necessary and
didn't want to be told no by yer folks. Now does that sound
right?”

Amanda ducked her head. “I guess
so.”

Tansy excused, “The last thing we
wanted ya to see was we own a nice car and home in town. If ya
thought we were about broke, ya would have to learn to live the way
we do. Matter of fact, we brought yer daddy up this way, and it
didn't hurt him any. At the time, we thought it was only fer a
week.”

Art added, “Thing is, ya can move
farm people off the farm, but ya cain't take farmin' out of their
blood. We do come out here durin' the summer and love it. Durin'
the winter, we stay in town. Ya want to go for a drive in the
mornin', and see the city side of yer grandfolks?”

Amanda nodded yes.

The next morning, Art drove to
Saddle and through the north side up into the hills. He pulled in
front of a garage attached to a brick, ranch style home.

Tansy opened the front door with
her key. “Come in and take the tour. Our bedroom is the closest to
the bathroom. If ya ain't too mad at us, ya can pick one of the
extra bedrooms fer yers.”

Amanda found the house much more
modern and nicer than the farm house. When they were in the
kitchen, Art said, “Open that door to the garage and
look.”

A black, Buick Regal car gleamed at
her. Until then, Amanda had been very quiet.

“What ya thinking, Amanda?” Tansy asked as the girl shut
the door.

Amanda looked from Tansy to Art and
back. “I repeat, if I come back for Christmas break would you be at
the farm? I'd like to see the farm when it's a winter scene
complete with a tree in the parlor.”

“We'd be glad to be there fer ya,” Art said.

“Maybe I can even talk my parents into coming with me,”
Amanda said, shoving her hands into her jeans pockets. “Oh and the
bedroom at the end of the hall with the red drapes and bedspread.
That room is mine when I stay here. Okay?”

“From now on, it's yers even when ya ain't here,” Tansy
agreed. “Do ya want to move in here now instead of stayin' on the
farm? If ya do, we can stay here.”

“No
way, Grandma. I get what you did to help me. Believe it or not, I'm
okay with all of it. We can thank Mom for not being honest with you
about how long I was staying. Huh? The farm is much more fun than
here in town. Let's go home.”

The rest of the summer went
quickly. Amanda visited Willa on her father's bike. They waded in
the branch and had a sleep over. Willa returned the visits. Art
showed Amanda how to fish, and they invited Willa to a fishing
contest at the pond. Art won. Tansy grumped that he always
did.

When the time came to leave, Amanda
hated to go. She asked if she could call her grandparents often,
because she was going to miss them. Tansy told her she better.
Grandpa and her were going to be lonesome.

Amanda aced summer school and went
into her freshman year with her classmates. She studied harder than
before. She wanted to know more about the Great Depression and the
Roosevelts. She wanted to impress Grandpa. Also, it was important
to her to understand what was news worthy when her grandparents
were young.

Just before Christmas break, Amanda
explained to her parents she was going to her grandparents. She
wanted a real country Christmas. She'd like her parents to go with
her. Amanda was thrilled when her dad said he'd drive them to
Arkansas.

When they arrived in Pleasant
Valley, everything seemed the same as in the summer time. If Art
and Tansy had been living in town, Amanda couldn't tell it. The
farm house was warm with a glowing fire in the fireplace and
cheerful with the holiday spirits of her grandparents.

The next morning, Tansy tied on her
apron and hunted two more for Amanda and her mother. They worked
together to fix breakfast.

After lunch, Grandpa drove Amanda
and her father to the pasture to find tree. Grandpa drove Old Blue
in circles, waiting for Jeff and Amanda to pick the tree they liked
best. On the third go around, Art said, “Ya two best hurry up and
make a decision, or we're goin' to run out of gas. It won't be no
fun draggin' one of the big trees back to the house if yer a
foot.”

“He's right, Amanda. I remember doing that when I was a
kid,” Jeff grinned.

“Grandpa had Old Blue back then?” Amanda asked.

“He
did only the pickup was new at that time. Your grandpa didn't want
to waste gas so we walked after the tree and drug it home,” Jeff
explained.

Jeff and Grandpa fixed a wooden
stand and uprighted the tree in the parlor while Tansy popped a
dishpan full of corn. While the tree warmed up so its branches
relaxed, the family visited at the table and ate popcorn. Tansy,
Iris and Amanda strung popcorn garlands to decorate the
tree.

Grandma brought out the box of
decorations from the closet. As they took each one out of the box,
Jeff explained how they came to have that particular ornament. Some
of them, he made at school and Sunday school.

The next morning, Amanda ran to the
window and looked out. Light snow covered the farm in pristine
white just like a Christmas card. Amanda was so glad her parents
came with her to spend Christmas with her grandparents. The family
had such a good time that Christmas break. She didn't even mind
sleeping in the parlor on the couch so her parents could have her
bedroom.

Why should she mind? Sleeping in
the parlor put her closer to the real Christmas tree that gave the
house a cedar scent. As she fell asleep she never grew tired of
watching her favorite decorations, the string of colorful, boiling,
bubble candle lights.

Going to the farm was the start of
what became a holiday tradition for Amanda's family. It was the
kind of story book Christmas Amanda hadn't thought she'd ever be a
part of, and she was so glad for each Christmas.

Chapter Eleven

That Christmas morning, Grandpa
drove Old Blue. As usual, Tansy and Amanda bounced every time
Grandpa hit a pothole. They didn't complain. They just looked at
each other and smiled. Once in awhile, Amanda checked the side
mirror to make sure her parents car keeping up with fast moving Old
Blue.

She reaffirmed celebrating
Christmas in Pleasant Valley was the right choice for her when she
marveled at the many color changes that winter brought.

The trees that hugged the road
weren't green anymore. The bleak branches, now draped in Virginia
ivy, turned red and touch with snow dust, stood out amid stately,
dark green cedars.

On the edge of the road, frost had
dried up the red sumac and yellow goldenrod. The giant polk plants,
just stalks now, were decorated with frozen, purple berry
clusters.

Tansy told Amanda in the old days
women boiled the berries and used the juice to stain sheep's wool
to spin into purple yarn with their spinning wheels.

Silvery sparkles of snow coated the
plants, resembling Christmas glitter.

As Grandpa pulled into the church
yard, a chilly breeze gusted. The force of the wind swept a shower
of dried leaves flying from the trees to clatter on the roof. The
noisy leaves slide to the ground, skittered away and lodged against
the trees and bushes.

“Get
on out, Mandie. We’re the first ones here so we make a fire,”
explained Art.

Nothing had changed inside the
church since summer or for decades. Same wooden pews and the out of
tune, upright piano.

Grandpa carried an armload of oak
slabs from the stack in the blue wood box. He filled the heating
stove, and soon the chill was gone.

The row of pews on the north side
of the church were good spots sit to view the timber from the
windows. As the pews filled with people, Amanda scooted over next
to a window. The squirrels must be hibernating now. A rabbit darted
nervously from one bush to another. Birds flitted from tree to
tree.

Willa scooted in by Amanda and gave
her a welcoming hug. Amanda's parents talked to most of the
congregation as people came in. Jeff was glad to see people he knew
from his youth again.

For the next three years toward the
end of May, Amanda was always eager to spend two months in Pleasant
Valley, Arkansas on the farm. She loved chores with Grandpa and
helping Grandma in the kitchen. Willa was always around to visit
with.

Once Amanda settled in, it was as
if she had always lived on the farm in with her grandparents. This
was was truly her second home. She wished everyone could be as
lucky and happy as she was.