| Description |
risht in front of her feet was a fat, shiny writhing snake. She stopped dead still and stared at the snake while shivers traced throughout her "body. Her skin seemed to nse as ^.f sna^T^in1*" to altentxon. »^he coulu not screan or even breathe. ITever vrould she allow her "brother the satisfaction of knowing how frightened she was. After what seemed like frozen tine, she hatched a plan, '"./hat's the raatter, Ernie, are you scared?" her brother shouted "between slurps of laughter. Sunmoninc up every ounce of courage she could assemble, she slowly bent down toward the snake, squeezed her eyes tightly shut, held her breath and in her bare hand grabbed the snake behind the head. Trembling in terror, she rose up and carried the snake to the hayloft window. Her am was frigid with fright holding the twisting viper. "See I'm not afraid," she screamed as she threw the snake hard. With perfect marksmanship the snake sailed through the air and landed, splat, right on her brother's neck as he was bending over to reload his fork. "Don't you r-uffians know when to quit? This is your last warning," said Dad. '".fe've sot to get this hay put away before noon, so the horses will have a chance to rest up. \!e have to leave at midnight, and the horses need to be fresh to travel up to the coal nine. How quit waiting time and get your job done." Urna was still trembling. She couldn't even relax enou^i to savor her moment of victory. Gotta keep stacking' She thrust her pitchfork ancriity into a chunk of the dry alfalfa. Choking clouds of sun-dried leaves flew up in a flurry as she swiftly swuns the fork in a side arch to distribute and. level the stack. Repeatedly she c-wunc with as auch energy as she could rruster, Thun.':, the tines alarmed into a crossbeam. The sudden force of the imbedded tines sent her tumbling-. She landed with her face headlong into the scratch stack. There she stayed flat or. her stonach and started to cry. Tear:: 59 |
