The Postcard by Beverly Lewis

Author:Beverly Lewis [Lewis, Beverly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2006-12-31T20:00:00+00:00

Just southeast of the B&B, farmers were cutting tobacco. Rachel didn’t have to see it to know. The smell was fondly familiar, pungent with memories of playing near the tobacco shed with Esther while their fathers and brothers worked hard to cut and store the moneymaking crop come September and October every year.

She wanted to go walking out to Mill Creek while Mam was out visiting Aunt Leah. The creek, which ran diagonally across her father’s property, was running full due to recent rains, Dat had said at breakfast. She had never gone so far on the property and decided today was the day for some adventure.

“Wanna go for a gut long walk?” she asked Annie, finding her cane in the umbrella stand just inside the back door.

“Mamma? Are ya sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“But you usually say you’d rather stay inside.”

“I know, but it’s high time I got out more,” she admitted. “Besides it’s a perfect day for a walk, ain’t so?”

“Can we take Copper along?” Annie asked, scurrying about.

“Not such a rowdy dog. He might lead us astray.” She laughed but meant every word.

She heard Annie’s feet slide against the floor. “You can’t be comin’ along with us this time,” Annie was telling the dog. “You best wait till Mammi Susanna gets back. Maybe then I’ll take ya for a walk.”

“That shouldn’t be too long now,” added Rachel. “So are we ready?”

They headed outside, past the flagstone patio, making their way through the wide backyard toward the direction of the orchard. The grass felt cool on her bare feet, and she thrilled to the buzzing of bees and the intermittent chirping of birds, some close in trees, others farther away. “Tell me what you see, Annie.”

“Well, there’s hardly any clouds . . . except for one tiny little one at two o’clock.”

Rachel chuckled at her daughter’s use of the traditional time positioning to describe the cloud’s location. “Tell me what it looks like. Is it a double dip of ice cream or puffs of cotton batting?”

Annie was laughing now. “It’s none of those things, Mamma. It’s like an upside-down tooth. Just like the tiny little tooth I lost last month. Remember?”

“Jah, I remember.” She thought about Annie’s tooth, how easily it had come out while Annie bit into a Macintosh apple—their very own. “Now, what else do you see?”

“Birds. There’s a robin over near the creek. Oh, we hafta be quiet . . . I think he’s taking an air bath.” She was silent, then—“Jah, that’s what he’s doing, picking away at his feathers.”

“That’s how they clean themselves,” Rachel said, recalling her own fascination with birds, especially baby birds in the spring.

“Hold my hand tight now, Mamma. We’re gonna cross the footbridge.”

“Is the bridge very plain?” she asked.

“Not so plain, really. There’s a nice wide place to walk. It’s all wooden, not painted any color—just the wood color, you know. But the best part of all is two people can walk side-by-side on this little bridge.”

Rachel’s heart sang as she tapped her cane with one hand and gripped Annie’s hand with the other.

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