I'm Woolgathering

One day Pa asked me to come with him to the fields. “Mary,” he said, “I want to show you something.” I was shy but I went with him. It was quiet as we walked along. We came to the old picket fence and I started crawling over, but Pa lifted me and set me on the other side. I looked up at him and grinned. He didn’t grin back. He led me through the tall grass and into the woods where Emmeline had lived an’ all her cousins. Before Elephant, he stopped. I stopped too, and my heart. I knew he was gonna yell at me for riding Elephant an’ I started shaking. “What’s wrong, girl?” I began to bawl. “Sorry, Pa. I know we shouldn’ta rode ‘em.” “Rode what?” “The trees! Elephant!” “Who is Elephant?” “My horse. She’s right in front of us!” He knelt down beside me and put his arm around me in an awkward gesture.“I don’t care if you ride ‘em. They’re just trees. That’s not what I was gonna show you.” I wiped my tears away. Pa didn’t care! An’ he was hugging me an’ he was...

Li'l Henry told me his favorite kind of stars were orange stars. “But where do you see orange stars, Li'l Henry?” “Oh, back when Grampa din’t have a disease in his fingers, we would make taters in the fire. I’d lay down by the fire when I was full of taters, and there would be orange stars up in th’ sky.” I laughed. Li'l Henry was funny. “Were they good taters?” “Yeah, purty good. Salt n’ pepper n’ smoke. I would eat ‘em til I was stuffed an’ then I would watch the orange stars, remember?” “I ‘member. How’s Tod an’ Alan these days?” “Oh purty fine. They kinda sick o’ bread cause you know, grampa has that disease in his fingers.” I did know that Li'l Henry’s grandpa had a disease in his fingers, but I didn’t tell him that. Li'l Henry’s throne turned into a chunk of ice and we changed it from a castle into a frozen waterfall. We played we were Shelly and Thad walkin’ along an’ alsun’ there was a waterfall an’ we didn’t know it an’ we fell...

Winter came. Li'l Henry and I went skatin’. I had a pair of figure skates an’ Li'l Henry tied some slippery rubber to his boots. He would grab me by my yellow mittens and twirl me around faster an’ faster an’ faster til I landed in a heap laughing. Then we built a snow castle and a throne. “Li'l Henry, wouldn’t it be nice if Mui came?” A tear rolled down my face and froze right on my chin. “She’ll come someday, Li'l Maryalice, an’ bring us ta Flower Bower.” “But her house is gone an’ maybe she moved an’ maybe she thinks it’s me that cut it down an’ wha’f she forgets us an’ we don’t go?” “Well, then I guess we wouldn’t go. We’d just be normal little kids who never saw fairies an’ we’d play wedding with Shelly an’ Thad.” It was the worst picture he coulda ever painted. “Li'l Henryyy, NOOOO!” He laughed. “I was teasin’ you. Fairies have wings. They don’t forget their promises and they know you didn’t cut down Mui’s home.” “Li'l Henry, y’know...

Sometimes, when Eth was very kind, I would ask her questions I asked no other people but Li'l Henry. I always wished I hadn’t later, but sometimes I thought just maybe she would understand. Tonight when Eth tucked me in, she said she loved me, so I asked her, “Ever seen a fairy, Eth?” “Mary, fairies aren’t real…” I sighed and rolled over so I was facing the wall. It was yellow and peeling off, showing the old red. “Why do you ask, Mary?” “Never mind.” “They aren’t real, but Ma always told me stories of them when I was little.” I sat up. Ma? Fairies? Maybe Ma saw all the fairies! “What stories?” “I can’t remember…” I sighed again. Why would Eth try to remember them if fairies meant nothin’ to her? “G’night Eth.” “Night Mary.” I lay there and thought about Ma. I could barely remember her, but the time we’d dug potatoes together in the garden was very clear in my memory. She had rubbed the dirt off the taters an’ tossed ‘em in the pail, an’ ...

Thad felt a little bad, I think, cause he gathered eggs the next day two times. But Shelly just winked and grinned. And the teeny bit of my heart that was left was only filled with one thing. Hatred for Shelly. Where was Mui now? Probably she thought I had betrayed her. Probably she had moved and I couldn’t go with her an’ Li'l Henry to Flowerbower after all. “Muiii!” I called, but my voice broke, “Muii!” Li'l Henry came every day, even though I never talked to him. He just trailed behind me with Tod and Alan. Sometimes he sang, but I hated when he sang, and I screamed. “Maryalice, look at me.” I looked at Li'l Henry. “Where’d your eyes go? There’s just holes there.” I shrugged. “Talk.” “No.” “You talked.” I shrugged. “I’m not gonna come to see you tomorrow cause you don’t even care if I’m here.” I just looked at him. “Bye.” I waved. “Actually I’m not gonna go.” I shrugged. Then he started cryin’ an’ cryin’ an...