Once Upon a Summer (Seasons of the Heart Book #1) by Oke Janette

Author:Oke, Janette [Oke, Janette]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2010-05-01T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

Patches

MONDAY MORNING MY FEET seemed to drag a little; at the same time something within me said “Hurry, hurry.” It was the first day back at school. I hated goin’ back. The thing that bothered me the most was leaving Gramps. I wasn’t sure what he’d find to fill his day with me gone. Of course there was Auntie Lou. Her work would be slowing down now and she would have time for my great-grandfather.

I suppose there were other reasons why I hated to go back. One was the shoes. I had to wear them all day for school and after bein’ turned loose all summer, my feet sure did hate to be all shut in. The mornings could be rather cool at times now, and I didn’t suppose that I’d fuss much about shoes from now on anyway.

Then there was Auntie Lou. I still missed her when I was away from her, and I had the feeling that with harvest over, Grandpa and Uncle Charlie would take up the “man hunt” again. I didn’t like leaving Auntie Lou unguarded.

I suppose the final reason was jest the simple fact that boys are supposed to hate school. School and fancy clothes, sissy games and girls, that’s what boys my age didn’t go for.

Still, on the other hand, I had to admit that I kinda liked school. It was fun to be with the other boys and play ball or tag or prisoner’s base. I didn’t have much to play with around the farm.

I would never have admitted it for the world, but I liked the teacher, too. Her name was Martha Peterson. She was the youngest of the Petersons’ houseful of girls. She was tall for a woman, but slim as a sapling, and her voice had a soft liltin’ sound. I loved to hear her read. During part of each school day she would read us a chapter from a book that she had chosen. We had gone through several books together, and I could never get enough of them.

The truth was I jest plain liked my studies. I know, a boy is supposed to shy away from book learnin’. I didn’t. Books held so many interesting facts and figures that I found it awful hard to hide my enthusiasm. Arithmetic was my best subject. I always led the class with no trouble at all, but I also liked spellin’ and geography and jest about everything we studied. Didn’t care much for the music. Miss Peterson would trill up the scale and we were supposed to follow along behind her. We never could give a decent imitation and it embarrassed and discouraged me. All in all, even though I felt like a traitor to my sex, I liked school.

I think Gramps caught on. His eyes took on a twinkle as if he’d like to scrub up good, slick down his hair, and join me.

It was good to be back. There was a lot of shovin’ and yellin’ and slappin’ one another on the back as we met in the school yard.

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