Pokrewne

Start
Chelsea Handler Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang (epub
Brit Brinson [Dia of the Dead Dia of the Dead (epub)
Cody Goodfellow [Radiant Dawn Radiant Dawn (epub)
Cate Tiernan [Immortal Belove Immortal Beloved (epub)
C J Busby [Deep Amber 01] Deep Amber (retail) (epub)
Carl Ashmore [Time Hunters 01 The Time Hunters (epub)
Drew Hayes [Super Powereds 02 Super Powereds Year 2 (epub) i
Beth Harbison [Shoe Addict 02 Secrets of a Shoe Addict (epub)
Cara Lynn Shultz [Dark World The Dark World (retail) (epub)
[Le Couteau Du Partage 01] Enso Lois McMaster Bujold

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.” A cough tickled her throat and burst out, dry and hacking.“Sshhhh, Bonnie!” Mum hissed from behind her.“Do you want folks to think you’ve caught consumption already?”“By George!” Dad said.“That’ll be great.Count me in.”A low mumble came through the earpiece but even close by, Bonnie could not make out the words.“Right, I’ll meet you before long at the…Well, at the…you know.”What was Dad plotting? Bonnie wondered.“Well, what was that all about, Thomas?” Mum said sternly from beside the stove.“Oh, I’ve just hatched a little plan with our next-door neighbour, Herb Johnson.”“What kind of a plan?” said Mum, reaching for the poker behind the stove.“We’re going fishing.”“Fishing?” Mum’s brown eyes opened wide in alarm.“That’s illegal.It’s not fishing season.”“I know that, Amy.But we have no meat to eat this winter—not even a chicken’s neck to wring.”Bonnie looked hopefully at her father.She wasn’t so sure she liked fish, but it would be better than turnips.“I hope the game warden wasn’t listening in.It’s a party line, you know.”“Yes, but we talked the details over before.So I just needed the go-ahead now.”“Well, I thought you said plenty.And if you’re thrown in jail, what will Bonnie and I do?”“Go home to your parents.They’ll not put you out,” said Dad.His clear blue eyes twinkled.He seemed to know what his wife’s reaction would be to this suggestion.“I’d sooner starve than go crawling home!”“Well, you could always go on Relief.That’d pay the basics.”“Stop! Stop!” Mum hissed—something like a snake, thought Bonnie.She shuddered as she remembered the long snake on the little spruce tree.“I’m not in this alone,” Dad said.“Johnson and Post and Hubbs cooked up this scheme.”“Sure—and you’ll go to jail together.Or more likely alone.You won’t be able to pay the fine.They probably can.”“Don’t worry so much, Amy.The game warden seldom works on Saturdays, and besides, they leave someone as a lookout.I’ll slip right out of there if there’s any sign of the law.”Mum finished poking the fire and then banged the poker onto its hook behind the stove.“Well, I’m not comfortable with this.So far we’ve always trusted God to provide.”“Yes, I agree, but we have to do our part.‘Look to the ant, thou sluggard.Consider her ways and be wise,’” quoted Dad.Mum harrumphed.“I can’t stop you—just hope you can outrun the warden.”Dad turned to Bonnie.“Want to come along?”“Thomas, are you out of your mind?” said Mum.But Dad had already disappeared out the back door.Bonnie followed and grabbed her old, blue knitted sweater and her black rubber boots from the back shed.Sitting on the steps just outside, she threw her old shoes off and pulled the tall boots on.Since she was short, the boots reached up to three inches above her knees.Then she pulled on the sweater and rushed, boots flapping, to catch up to her father.She ran along the pathway to the small gate and into the barnyard.Just then, Dad came out of the granary with two empty sacks flung over his left shoulder.“C’mon, Bonnie,” he said.“Keep up or stay at home.” He swung back the long, heavy gate that separated the barnyard from the laneway leading toward the western boundary of the farm.It veered over steep hills until it reached a woodland of oaks and maple trees.Then it sloped down steeply to the main road that went south and west into the hamlet of Lang.“Are we going to walk?” Bonnie asked.“Of course.It’s not worth taking the horses.Burnham’s Dam is just a bit to the southwest.We’ll be fishing in Indian River—the same one that runs through Lang.”Bonnie was concentrating so hard on keeping up with her father’s long strides, she could hardly hear him.She was puffing just to keep breathing.Just last year, she’d been away from school for six weeks with a sore throat and swollen glands.Since then, she had never completely lost her cough.But Bonnie didn’t let that ruin her day.She was so happy to be out in the fields on this crisp day in early fall.It was much better than being stuck in a house that smelled so strongly of Lysol.Bonnie and her father left the hilly laneway and headed across the steep fields.Before long, they arrived at a rail fence.Dad climbed over and strode on across the grassy field on the other side of the fence.“I’m going to be ploughing this field next week.Hope I get all the ground worked up before snowfall.It’s plenty hard.Wouldn’t it be great if I could just push a button on a machine, and it would plough the fields in no time at all?”“Is that why Mum and Uncle Elvin call you ‘push-a-button,’ sometimes?”Dad laughed.“I guess so.”“Then you could plough more fields and plant more crops.For sure, we wouldn’t be in debt then,” said Bonnie, sliding easily between the rails.She plodded across the meadow behind her father and down a grassy hill, stepping in and out of his shadow.Then Bonnie looked up and saw one of their four black-and-white cows grazing in the sunny, green meadow.The others were lying under the tall maples.“There are those cows, lazing around as usual!” said Bonnie.“All they ever do is sleep, and all we ever do is work!”“That’s right,” said Dad, “and starting tomorrow morning, you’ll be bringing in those cows every morning for milking.I’ll wake you up at six o’clock.”Bonnie gasped.“But, Dad, I—”“I don’t have your Uncle Marsh or your Uncle Adam anymore.So you are going to do your share, young lady.You’ll get the cows every morning and every night till the snow flies.Then they’ll stay in the barn or barnyard.”Bonnie grimaced.She wondered what Mum would say about Bonnie’s new chore.After all, Mum made her work inside the house most of the time, where she didn’t have a chance to daydream.And she’d probably worry about Bonnie catching colds in the damp morning air.They’d come to the edge of their farm.On the other side of the rail fence, beyond the road, was a thick woodland.“Now, Bonnie,” said Dad, “the river is in the middle of those woods.Take a good look at where you are.” Bonnie stared straight ahead.“Now, turn around and stare back across our fields and up that big hill.Our laneway’s on the other side.”Bonnie did as she was told, although she could not see the lane let alone the house [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]