Elsie Mae Has Something to Say by Nancy J. Cavanaugh

Author:Nancy J. Cavanaugh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2017-06-27T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

The next morning, Grandpa and Uncle Owen were headed over to Hamp’s to bring back his piglet and to organize a couple search parties. Uncle Lone was supposed to go with them, but they didn’t know where he was, and they couldn’t wait anymore, so they were getting ready to leave without him.

As they got into Grandpa’s boat, I asked one more time, “Why can’t I go with ya? I’ll be good, I promise.”

“Elsie, yer grandma’s right,” Grandpa said. “It’s too dangerous. We don’t know what these bandits might do.”

Uncle Owen sat in the middle seat holding Hamp’s piglet. He gave me a sympathetic look, but I knew he couldn’t give me permission if Grandma and Grandpa didn’t want me to go.

I knew Henry didn’t care about going along, but I wanted to go more than anything. The thing was, I didn’t just want to go, I needed to go. Staying back on Honey Island while they went and captured those hog bandits was never going to make me the kind of hero I really wanted to be or get my picture in the newspaper.

Grandpa headed the boat up the waterway toward Minnies Island where Hamp lived. And as I watched the boat move away from the shore, Grandpa turned back toward me.

I hoped maybe he was going to change his mind, but instead he said, “And you and Henry don’t go any farther than Billys Lake t’day. And stay away from Hollow Log Pond!”

I sighed. How would I have any chance of finding the bandits if I couldn’t go out searching for them?

I headed up the trail to see where Henry and Huck were. As I got closer to the house, I could hear Henry practicing his preaching.

“And by his faith he was healed!” Henry exclaimed.

Once I made my way to the front gate, I saw Henry on the porch standing at the railing. Because of us ripping that page out of Grandma’s Bible, Henry hadn’t had the courage to borrow it again. But not being able to use the Bible hadn’t stopped Henry from continuing to preach. He already knew a lot of scripture by heart, so he just practiced the same passages over and over.

Thankfully, Grandma hadn’t noticed the torn page yet. With Henry quoting scripture and preaching and praying all the time, she didn’t really need to read her Bible, so it would likely be a long time before she discovered the damage we’d done.

Before I got all the way up to the porch, I saw Uncle Lone coming around from the back of the house.

“What’s with ’im?” Uncle Lone asked, nodding toward Henry standing at the porch railing.

“The Lord bless you and keep you…”

“He’s jus’ practicing, ya know, to be a preacher like his daddy.”

“Yeah, his daddy’s a real preacher all right,” Uncle Lone said sarcastically. “And I’m a Sunday school teacher.”

How did Uncle Lone stay so ornery all the time? Grandpa and Uncle Owen were probably glad he’d been late this morning, so they could leave without him.

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