Way Down Deep Read Free

the tears by saying that he was going through a personal crisis.
    Ruby named the goat Jethro, and under her care he soon found health. She placed an old rug on the back porch, where he curled up exactly like a dog to sleep at night. A half wall protected him from the elements.
    During the day, when he was not busy at his job trimming the grass, Jethro romped and played in the enclosed backyard of The Roost. He developed a particular fondness for the woodpile against the fence, which he climbed daily. From the top he watched for Ruby to come home from school. He could also see most of the town, and often stood there to observe, with great interest, the daily goings-on of the townspeople.
    One day, when a life insurance salesman from Hartford, Connecticut, parked his car beside the fence where the woodpile was located, Jethro’s slow little goat brain fashioned an idea. Why not step off the wood and onto the roof of the car? He did so, and was absolutely delightedwith himself, because from this vantage point the view was much better. The regulars at The Roost soon learned not to park their cars in that spot, but they did not warn the strangers. Why spoil Jethro’s fun?
    In subsequent years, which were kinder to him, Lester Horton often returned to Way Down to spend a night at The Roost—as a paying guest, of course—to see how the goat got on. He was only one among many visitors who sometimes came to The Roost even when they didn’t have business in town.
    Upon entering the third grade, Ruby was allowed to help Miss Arbutus take care of the boarders when she was not in school. Her first job was setting the giant oak table in the dining hall every breakfast and supper.
    When she had conquered setting the table, filling the glasses with tea or lemonade, and drying the dishes, Ruby learned to take a feather duster to the antique furniture in the spacious common room, and in the bedrooms, while the guests were out.
    In time Ruby was sweeping the front porch several times a week. It was wide and wrapped around the front and partially down each side of The Roost. White rocking chairs with small tables between them were scattered about. Boardinghouse guests enjoyed sitting out there and watching the world go by.
    Almost every morning in warm weather Ruby found treasures on this porch. There were baskets full of ripe red cherries or strawberries, spring lettuce, pickling cucumbers,tomatoes, string beans, lima beans, beets, corn, melons, peaches, or blackberries—gifts from the townspeople.
    As she grew older, Ruby learned to help Miss Arbutus put up the most abundant of these foods for cold weather. She loved to have Jethro at her heels in the backyard as she helped sterilize Mason jars and lids in a big pot of water set over a fire. She also loved puttering about the kitchen with Miss Arbutus, preparing the food for canning. Eventually she found herself helping with the actual cooking of meals, and she was proud.
    Ruby also learned to care for the flowers that encircled the porch. Her favorites were the pansies. She adored those chubby faces peering up at her, eagerly looking forward to their daily drink of water. She talked to them, told them how beautiful they were, and watched them shamelessly primp and preen in the sunshine.
    Ruby enjoyed all the jobs she was asked to do, but when it was learned that she preferred running errands on Busy Street to everything else, Miss Arbutus purchased a red Radio Flyer wagon for Ruby, and sent her out after school and on the weekends to buy this, to buy that.
    Gradually Ruby took over all the shopping for the boardinghouse. It saved Miss Arbutus a lot of time and steps.
    Ruby became a familiar sight to the citizens of the town as they encountered her pulling her wagon from The Roost on Ward Street to Busy Street, where the storeswere located, and which ran parallel to Deep Creek. Outside of town, Busy Street turned into State Highway 99. It was the only road leading into