Elijah of Buxton Read Free Page A

screaming once his ma lays that switch on his behind.”
    Pa smiled then walked away.
    Me and Cooter had to run near a mile afore we figured we were far ’nough away to really let our laughs rip out. And rip out they did. I ain’t
never
laughed so hard! We fell all over ourselves and couldn’t barely stand up. We rolled and rolled whilst talking ’bout the way Ma looked when she opened that sweater!
    We couldn’t neither one of us get a whole sentence out.
    I said, “Did you see the way —” then I commenced choking.
    Cooter said, “And … and … and then she —” and started pulling at the grass and slapping at the ground.
    Then I said, “I never knowed Ma could jump so —” and the laughing closed my throat right up.
    Once me and Cooter were all laughed out and commenced walking home, things changed. A gloom started creeping over me the same way clouds’ll all the sudden start sliding up to cover a full moon. Cooter was whistling and still laughing every once in the while and, doggone-it-all, I saw how unfair this whole commotion was turning out to be. He’d got just as much fun from everything that happened as I did, but it looked like
I
was gonna be the only one that had to do any kind of paying for the enjoying. I started working up a good apology fulled up with lots of sincereness for when I saw Ma.
    When I got home, Ma didn’t say a word! She must’ve thought the whole thing was too embarrassing and couldn’t see no way of ’buking me without bringing up the subject of toady-frogs again, so she let it go.
    I gotta say I was real proud of Ma ’cause of the good way she took the toady-frog joke. It’s funny, just when you think you caint admire your folks no more than you already do, something like that happens and lets you know you’re wrong.
    Â 
    Two days later I got back from helping Mr. Leroy down on Mrs. Holton’s land. Ma and Pa were sitting on the stoop. Ma was back to working on that sweater and Pa was whittling away. She must’ve baked, the cookie jar was sitting twixt ’em.
    She said, “How Mr. Leroy doing, son?”
    â€œHe’s good, ma’am.”
    â€œYou stop in and give my regards to Mrs. Holton?”
    â€œYes, ma’am, she told me to ask ’bout you.”
    â€œMrs. Brown come by, axed if you’s gunn go fishing tomorrow.”
    â€œYes, ma’am, right after my stable chores.”
    â€œShe done some baking too, say she hoping to trade for two of them big perch.”
    It waren’t Ma that baked, it was Mrs. Brown! This made the baking in the cookie jar a lot more interesting!
    â€œWhat she bake,Ma?”
    Ma reached down and picked up the cookie jar.
    She said, “You know how Mrs. Brown is, ’Lijah, always trying something new. She baked some sugar cookies and some other kind of cookie she call …” Ma quit knitting and looked over her spectacles at Pa. “Ooh, Spencer, I must be getting old. I caint for the life of me recall what she said they was, can you?”
    Pa held up on his whittling, looked at her, and said, “Naw, darling, I caint recall neither.”
    Ma slapped the arm of her rocker. “Oh yes! Now I ’member, she baked them walnut and sugar cookies and something she say she gunn call rope cookies. You’s lucky they’s some left. Was all I could do to keep your daddy out of ’em.”
    She tipped the cookie jar toward Pa and he reached in and pulled out a cookie that had walnuts stuck to the top of it and sugar dusted all over it!
    Pa bit on the cookie and said, “Almost as good as your’n, Sarah!” He winked at me.
    Ma leaned the jar at me but just as I was ’bout to reach in, she pulled it back and said, “Now, ’Lijah, you know better than that. You been working hard with Mr. Leroy. Go wash up first, son.”
    â€œYes, ma’am.”
    I ran ’round to the