The Sisters from Hardscrabble Bay Read Free

you mean?”
    “Mother said that I could maybe help with the naming.” Avis turned and stared at her in that squinty-eyed way she got when she was mad about something. “If it’s born tomorrow, on May Day—” Idella stopped and smiled shyly. “I thought, maybe . . . Daisy May! Like May Day backwards.”
    Avis puckered her mouth into a tight wad of wrinkles. “Daisy May! That’s stupid! That sounds like a cow name.”
    “Well, what would you call it?”
    “Cow Patty!” Avis cackled.
    “Be serious. And quit picking the straw out of the mattress.”
    “If it’s a girl,” Avis asked, lying back and dangling her legs over the bed, “will she have to sleep in here with us?”
    “She won’t get a room of her own!”
    “Three in one room.” Avis groaned. “I think Dalton should share with whatever it is.”
    Idella climbed into bed. The girls stilled their bodies and listened for any sounds from down below.
    “Della,” Avis asked, “do you think the baby will get in the way?”
    “Of what?”
    “Of giving her the basket. What if she don’t notice it on the doorknob?”
    “She’ll notice.” Idella rolled toward the window. “I think she will. Now, go to sleep.”
    She was tired. Avis kept shifting around and rousing her from near sleep, whispering, “Are you asleep, Della?” She didn’t answer and pretended to be. Soon enough she really was.
     
    “Della! Wake up!” Avis was tugging on her. “It’s here! I heard the baby cry. I been awake the whole time.” Avis ran to the door and opened it.
    Idella roused herself from the bed and stood in the doorway behind her. There it was! A thin little cry barely made its way up the stairs.
    “It sounds like a lamb. Baaaaaa,” Avis whispered.
    The bedroom door opened downstairs. “I’ll go tell Bill he’s got another girl.” It was Mrs. Jaegel’s voice. “He must be in the barn.”
    “He’d best be sober,” Mrs. Doncaster said. “He was wanting a boy. Go tell him. And Dalton, too, if you see him. Funny kid.”
    Mrs. Doncaster came to the bottom of the steps carrying a lamp and looked up at the two girls. “I thought you scamps was moving up there. Come on down, then. Mother wants her girls to see their new baby sister. Be quick, mind, and be quiet.”
    “What day is it, Mrs. Doncaster?” Idella asked. “What’s her birthday?”
    “Well, that baby’d be born on the first of May, Della. Just after midnight.” Mrs. Doncaster held her lamp up for them as they tiptoed down the steps. It made their shadows slide along the wall beside them. Mrs. Doncaster waited with a cautioning finger pressed to her lips.
    “Your mother’s very tired. It come easy, but it still takes a lot out of a body.”
    The girls followed Mrs. Doncaster into the bedroom. The lamp by the bed was turned to a soft flicker. Mother sat propped on a pillow, her hair hanging loose down her back. She was holding the baby across her front. But it was so bundled that they couldn’t see anything of it to speak of.
    “Here’s all my girls. Together for the first time.” Mother smiled. You could see her smile, Idella thought, no matter how dim the light. The girls leaned as far as they could toward the baby to see what it looked like. Its tiny hands were pressed against Mother. Its face was closed up. “It looks like a walnut,” Idella said.
    “Oh, Della.” Mother smiled again. “I can’t even wake her up for long. She’s sleeping the sleep of the newborn.”
    “Can I touch her?” Idella couldn’t take her eyes off the tiny knots with fingers.
    “You can each touch her gently. Just don’t push on me, sweetie. Don’t touch my belly.”
    Idella brushed one finger on the baby’s cheek. It felt soft as warm butter. Avis laid her palm lightly over the top of the little head and then pulled it away quickly. “It’s wet!” she said.
    “That’s right.” Mother gave her a hug as best she could. “Now, it’s high time everyone got back to bed.”
    Mrs. Doncaster came