Watermelon Days and Firefly Nights: Heartwarming Scenes from Small Town Life by Smith Annette

Author:Smith, Annette [Smith, Annette]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781441239280
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2002-07-01T05:00:00+00:00

IT WAS IN PART because of the good times he enjoyed with his Aunt Effie that Chief even considered taking into his house his New York City sister Chesley’s fourteen-year-old grandson, Pinkie.

Chesley had always been a fast talker. This time, as usual, she ran on and on. Pinkie’s single-parent mother, Chesley’s daughter, had been called upon to spend the entire summer working overseas. No one in the young man’s immediate family, including her, was available to keep him. His mother was at her wit’s end. And she had come up with the great idea to see if perhaps Chief would look after Pinkie. It would only be for two months. He was a good boy, Pinkie was—typical teenager, you know how they are—and would be no trouble.

“Chesley, I’m flattered that you thought of me, but why send the boy here? I haven’t seen him since he was about three. There’s not much for a kid to do in Ella Louise. Well, yes. Yes. I understand. How about you give me till tomorrow to think it over? I promise. I will. All right. Good-bye.”

Chief did think it over. He sat up most of the night thinking it over. By morning, he had not come up with a single good reason to say no. Actually, he told himself, this shouldn’t be so hard. He had been a fourteen-year-old boy once. He remembered what it was like. Things couldn’t have changed much.

Finally, Chief gave it up. He decided that he would do his best to show the boy a good time. A really good time. Shoot, he would take the boy exploring and camping, maybe to the dry river bottom where folks still found Indian artifacts with surprising regularity. Maybe they’d even join the Boy Scouts—surely the Boy Scouts had some kind of summer program. Come to think about it, the kid might already be a Boy Scout. Wouldn’t that be fun! And didn’t the Boy Scouts have some kind of badge or patch you could get for learning about Indian lore? Chief bet that such a badge would be hard to get living in New York City. Why, Pinkie would have it made in the shade. He’d be the envy of all of his friends. Imagine the paper Pinkie would write on what he did during his summer vacation. He, Chief, would personally see to it that Pinkie had a lot to say.

In preparation for the young scout’s arrival, Chief bought new sheets for the sofa bed and stocked up on groceries, laying in a big supply of beef jerky, which made a great snack and would be easy to pack when they went camping.

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