Once Upon a Summer Read Free Page B

each another cup now.
    “Yer right,” he finally said; “it’s been tough fer Lou.”
    “What’ll happen is, she’ll go right from keepin’ this house to keepin’ someone else’s.” A slight pause. “And that might happen ’fore we know it, too.”
    “Lou? Why she’s jest a kid!”
    “Kid nothin’! She’s reachin’ fer eighteen. Her ma was married at that age iffen you’ll remember, and so was her grandma.”
    “Never thought of Lou—”
    “Other people been thinkin’. Everytime we go to town, be it fer business or church, I see those young whipper-snappers eyin’ her and tryin’ to tease a smile or a nod from her. One of these days she’s gonna notice it, too.”
    Grandpa stirred uneasily in his chair.
    “She’s pretty.”
    “ ’Course she’s pretty—those big blue eyes and that smile.
    Why iffen I was a young fella, I’d never be a hangin’ back like I see those fellas doin’.”
    Uncle Charlie had barely finished his sentence when Grandpa’s fist came down hard on the table.
    “Confound it, Charlie, we been sleepin’. Here’s Lou sneakin’ right up there to marryin’ age, and we ain’t even been workin’ on it.”
    “And what ya figurin’ we git to do ’bout it?”
    “Like ya say, it’s gonna happen, and it could be soon. We gotta git busy lookin’ fer someone fittin’ fer Lou. I ain’t gonna give my little girl away to jest any starry-eyed young joe who happens to come along.”
    “Don’t ya trust Lou?”
    “Look! Ya know and I know that she can’t see evil in a skunk! Now iffen the wrong guy should start payin’ calls, how is a young innocent girl like Lou gonna know what’s really under that fancy shirt? You and I, Charlie, we’ve been around some. We know the kind a fella that would be good fer Lou. We’ve jest gotta step in there and see to it that Lou meets the right one.”
    “How we gonna manage that?”
    “I don’t know ’xactly; we gotta find a way. Git a piece of paper, Charlie, and I’ll find a pencil.”
    “Fer what?”
    “We gotta do some thinkin’ and make a list. We don’t wanna be caught off-guard.”
    Uncle Charlie grumbled but I heard him tear a spent month from the calendar on the kitchen wall and return to the table.
    “Let’s be systematic ’bout this,” said Grandpa. “We’ll work to the south first, then west, then north, then to the east, includin’ town.
    “First there’s Wilkins—no grown boys there. The Peter-sons— all girls. Turleys—s’pose that oldest one must be gittin’ nigh to twenty, but he’s so shy.”
    “Lazy too—never lifts a hand if he doesn’t have to.”
    “Put him on the re-ject side.”
    The pencil scratched on the paper, and I could picture Jake
    Turley’s name bein’ entered on the back side of the calendar sheet under “rejected.”
    “Crawfords—there’s two there: Eb and Sandy.”
    “Eb’s got a girl.”
    Again the pencil scratched and another candidate was eliminated.
    “Sandy?”
    “He’s ’bout as bullheaded as—”
    “Scratch ’im.”
    “Haydon?”
    “There’s Milt.”
    “What do ya think ’bout Milt?”
    “He’s a good worker.”
    “Not too good lookin’.”
    “Looks ain’t everything.”
    “Hope Lou knows that.”
    “He wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t fer his crooked teeth.”
    “Lou’s teeth are so nice and even.”
    “S’pose all their kids would have crooked teeth like their pa.”
    I heard the pencil at work again and I didn’t even have to wonder what side Milt’s name was bein’ written on. By now I’d had enough. Jest as I pulled my achin’ self up from the step and was about to turn back up to bed, I heard Uncle Charlie speak again.
    “We still haven’t settled ’bout Pa.”
    “No problem now,” said Grandpa. “It’ll take him awhile to git here and with Lou married and settled on her own, she won’t need to be carin’ fer three old men. We can batch. We’ve done it before.”
    Uncle Charlie grunted, “Yeah, guess so.”