Almost Pioneers by John Fry

Author:John Fry
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: TwoDot
Published: 2013-08-05T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Home Life

Our husbands always thought that Jessie Day and I had too many ideas—especially the day that we decided we needed some beauty around our houses. There was nothing but gravel and grass near the houses, and we wanted some flowers.

We decided on an expedition up through a swale on their place where we might find some wildflowers to transplant. We were well armed. Each of us took a pail and a long-handled spade. Jessie persuaded Dr. Day to load his revolver and show us how to use it. Each of us carried a long stick to swish through the grass and scare the rattlesnakes away.

The men refused to go with us on such a foolish errand and merely laughed at us. They did order us not to bring back any cactus if we should find any.

We started up the hollow through the deep grass, swishing our sticks with every step. We were scared, but nobody had seen a rattler up through there. Rattlesnakes were usually out on the sunny, bare hillsides. We began to feel a little more confident. We started talking about different flowers we had seen during the summer, and wondering if we would recognize them since the blossoms were gone.

Suddenly we heard a buzzzzz.

We stood absolutely still for a second, and then we dropped everything we had, turned, and tore down the trail for home as fast as we could go. We picked up our skirts and ran until we were breathless.

“I don’t dare leave that revolver back there,” Jessie gasped.

“Well, we’ll just have to go back and get everything,” I agreed. “I hope we can find the gun in that high grass.”

We could see the pails, but they looked miles away. Going along step by hesitant step, watching ahead of us on both sides, we slowly retraced our way up the little valley. Finally, we were within a few feet of the pails. With our eyes and ears alert, we retrieved our possessions. Luckily, we found the revolver—as well as our other weapons. The rattler had escaped, as rattlers usually will, after giving his gentlemanly warning.

Swishing the grass again on our trip back to the house, we agreed that we didn’t particularly care for wildflowers anyway.

The men teased us about coming back so soon. “Couldn’t you find any flowers?” the doctor asked.

“We walked quite a ways up there, and we didn’t see any. So we decided to put it off,” Mrs. Day replied. It was a long time before we confessed what had actually happened.

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