6

Lilly skipped down the lane to the creek. She was so happy, she hopscotched without a hopscotch board. But if there had been one, she thought, she would have won. She bet she could even beat Kate Jasper right now. And that was never easy, for Kate had longer legs than Lilly. That was a definite advantage when you played a hopping game.

Maybe she would see Kate tomorrow night at the schoolhouse dance. Mama was letting her go with Manda and her family. Lilly thought it would be fun. Wow, two fun things to think about—a dance and a visit with Aunt Alice for the whole month of July!

Lilly had butterflies in her stomach just thinking about the trip. She would go on the train—she loved trains, with all the screeching of brakes and whistling of whistles and belching of smoke. And then Aunt Alice said that a circus was coming to Lexington. They had missed the circus last year.

Lilly wondered if Aunt Alice would have chocolate ice cream again. She licked her lips. She would like to meet the man who invented ice cream and the one who invented shaved ice too. Purple was her favorite color of shaved ice.

It would pay to be extra grown-up for the next couple of weeks so Mama and Daddy wouldn’t have any reason not to let her take a train trip by herself. Last night after supper when she was given Aunt Alice’s invitation, she could tell her mother didn’t really want to let her go to Lexington alone. Good grief. You’d think she was still a little kid. She held out her arms, threw back her head, and twirled around in excitement. When she stopped, the world kept spinning.

When her eyes settled, she saw a turtle trundling up the bank of the creek. He made slow but steady progress until a thick piece of driftwood blocked the way. Lilly watched to see how the turtle would solve his predicament. With his clawed front feet, the turtle tried to climb the refuse.

“Go around,” she said. “It will only take a little longer.”

But the turtle didn’t listen and fell backward in slow motion. The poor thing waved his stubby legs, rocking his shell, trying to right himself.

Lilly laughed. It reminded her of Jack flailing about on the rope swing.

When Lilly got close, the turtle’s head and feet disappeared lickety-split inside his domicile. It was the only fast thing a turtle could do. Carefully, she turned the creature over and lifted him by his middle. Stepping over the piece of driftwood, she carried the turtle up the bank and set him down facing away from the creek. She didn’t know his destination, but now he had a head start.

She wondered why animals were always wandering. There he had the perfect home with food and running water close at hand, but he wanted to be someplace else. It was like that with other creatures too, she had noticed. Sometimes on the way to town she would see a skunk or a possum lying dead by the side of the road. Why didn’t they stay on the safe side of the track? She would have to ask Daddy John.

Maybe traveling was an adventure for them like going to Lexington to visit Aunt Alice was for her. If so, she could understand, but there was no chocolate ice cream reward for turtles and skunks at the end of their journey.

As she walked along, Lilly watched for pretties to add to her treasure box. She had every color of feather you could think of: blue from bluebirds and blue jays, red from cardinals, rusty orange from a robin’s chest, soft gray from doves, brown from mockingbirds and wrens, gold from finches, and yellow from wild canaries. She kept them pressed in a heavy book. Maybe she would take the book to the city with her. If she asked, Aunt Alice would have her dressmaker sew Lilly a dress in each feather color. She thought about it. Would that make her spoiled? Mama always worried about Aunt Alice spoiling her, like she was a jar of tomatoes going bad. Maybe she’d just ask for ribbons in each color. She’d leave out the brown feather though. Brown did not go well with her hair.

Giving a wide berth, Lilly passed by the stump where the rattlesnake lived. Thankfully, he did not come out to greet her with his whirring tail today.

Farther up the creek she searched for traps. She didn’t find a single one. And the one she had busted was gone too. There was nothing left but a hole in the ground where the stake had been. Lilly puffed out her chest in pride. Someone was getting her message. Kneeling, Lilly smoothed the disturbed ground and covered it with decaying leaves. Because of her, no other animal would die on this spot.

Two chattering chipmunks chased each other around the trunk of a tree. High overhead a squirrel snapped his tail in warning.

Lilly walked on until she came to a low fieldstone wall. Her side of the wall was deep in the shadow of trees, so she stepped over and sat with her back against the warm rock, admiring the meadow full of wildflowers spread out before her. She wrapped her arms around her knees and closed her eyes to sharpen her hearing. Something scratched for food. A towhee, she decided. And that slow, deliberate pad of hooves was surely a doe. Holding her breath, she opened her eyes the least bit and peered at the backside of a huge buck. Suddenly the meadow was alive with deer. She had never seen so many. She wished Aunt Remy were sitting beside her. This was a sight meant to be shared.

She could hear the soft snort of the buck’s breath as he munched sweet grass and the tumble of clear water rushing over creek rock. A foreign but unmistakable sound intruded on the peaceful scene—the sharp, metallic cock of a gun.

What she was about to do was wrong—wrong and dangerous. Daddy John had explained to her about chickens and pigs and squirrels and deer and how God gave us meat to nourish our bodies, but she couldn’t sit by and watch. She jumped up and waved her arms. “Run! Run for your lives!”

At the sound of her voice, the meadow that had been so peaceful was full of thumping and thrashing as the deer bolted. Lilly’s heart thumped in tune.

A tall boy about her age stepped out from behind a walnut tree. He was barefoot and carried his gun in the crook of his arm with the barrel aimed at the ground. The hindquarters of two freshly killed rabbits protruded from a leather pouch fastened to his belt.

“You’re not supposed to hunt here,” Lilly said. “This is private property.”

“You’ve crossed over.” The boy pointed to the rock fence with the barrel of his gun. “Yon side’s Pelfreys’. This side’s Stills’. Best you mind your whereabouts.”

The threat made Lilly uneasy. She scrambled over to the shadowy side of the fence. “I’m sorry.”

A fat beagle ran up behind the boy, sniffing at his heels. The boy kicked backward, catching the dog under its chin. The beagle yelped and backed up.

“That was mean,” Lilly said, reaching across the top of the wall and snapping her fingers toward the dog.

“I never hurt her none. I barely touched her. Besides a hunting dog’s got to be tough.” The boy stared at her. “You’re over the line again.” With the barrel of the gun, he moved her arm aside.

“You’re being silly now,” she said.

“Are you one of them Pelfreys?”

“I’m Lilly Gray Corbett. What’s your name?”

“Tern Still.”

“How come I’ve never met you before? Don’t you go to school?”

Tern raked a shock of black hair out of his eyes. “I get my learning at the school of hard knocks.”

“Hmm,” Lilly said. “Hard Knocks. That’s a funny name for a place. Did you ever hear of Monkey’s Eyebrow?”

“Are you poking fun at me?” Tern asked.

Lilly broke a piece of the biscuit snack she had in her pocket and pitched it over the fence. The dog gobbled it up and looked for more. “She’s awful hungry to be so fat.”

“She ain’t fat. She’s expecting puppies.”

Puppies! Lilly’s heart turned over. “Oh, then you must feed her extra.”

“Ha,” Tern sniggered. “Fat chance. If she don’t hunt, she don’t eat.”

Lilly’s temper flared. She shook her finger at him. “Listen, I know a bunch about babies. If you don’t feed the mother right, the babies won’t be born healthy.”

The boy looked at Lilly. His eyes were the the oddest pale blue, like icicles in moonlight.

“It don’t matter none,” he said. “She’ll whelp curs. We won’t be keeping them.”

“Are they all promised already?” Lilly asked. “Maybe my mother would let me have one.”

A sharp whistle caused Tern to jerk his head around. “I’ve got to go,” he said.

Lilly held out the rest of the biscuit. “Would you take this for her?”

Tern’s hand was warm when it brushed hers.

“Good-bye,” she called as he walked away. “It was nice meeting you.”

He didn’t answer.

He isn’t very polite, Lilly thought. They must not teach manners at Hard Knocks School. Actually, she didn’t learn much about deportment at her school either, but her mother knew about such things, and Aunt Alice was a stickler. Lilly was to have private lessons on table manners while she was at Aunt Alice’s house. Aunt Alice had said so in her letter. Lilly couldn’t wait.

Tern and his dog were almost out of sight. The beagle was nosing the boy’s cupped hand. Lilly could tell she was eating the biscuit. That made her heart feel good, but she was disappointed that Tern had not offered to give her a puppy. She was all but certain her mother would have said yes to it, and if she didn’t, Lilly would have gone to Daddy John. She could talk him into anything.