Late summer was a busy season for the Huddles. Mama had orders to make school clothes for children in our little community of Gabletown. She squeezed in time for canning. We had lots of apples the summer that Margaret came. Mama canned applesauce and made apple butter on top of the wood range in the kitchen. My new sister and I peeled and cored apples most all day to dry on top of the wood shed. We laid them out on a worn sheet. It was our job to turn them over twice in a day. In the evening we strung the apple wheels on twine and hung them on our back porch. One side wall was filled with dried apples.

Pledge helped Mrs. Pearl’s brother, Theo, pick red cherries for a week. Marcella, Margaret and I took turns removing the pits with a shoe buttonhook. Mama was proud of the twenty quarts of cherries she canned. The cherries looked so pretty on the pantry shelf.

The day that we worked so hard helping Mama can the fruit, Terry and Mac washed dishes and swept the house.

"That’s girl’s work," Mac complained, but he was sure glad to eat the cherry cobbler that Margaret made.

When the canning was done and the wash taken care of for the week, Mama let us play. Then the next day Margaret and I would iron our clothes. It was good to have a day without much work. Of course we did the small chores – feed chickens and gather eggs.

We sat lazy – like on the front steps in the sunshine for awhile, watching butterflies flitting from plant to plant.

"Let’s go swimming," suggested, Pledge. "I know where the good swimming place is."

"Why don’t we go fishing today," said Margaret. "I am hungry for fish."

"Do you know how to fish?" asked Mac.

"Sure, Pa and I often went fishing," replied Margaret. "He showed me how to clean the fish."

"How?" asked Marcella.

"You scrape the scales off with a knife," said the girl. "You cut the head off. Next thing you do is to split the fish belly-wise and scrape out its guts. Finally, you wash the fish with real clean water and dip it into cornmeal and drop it into the hot melted lard in the frying pan. Boy, oh, boy! Is it ever good eating."

"What are we waiting for," asked Terry.

"We’ll have to ask Mama," said Pledge. "We have to find a fish-hook for Papa’s old fishing pole. And we have to dig for worms."

"If we can’t find worms," offered Margaret, "We can make biscuit dough worms."

"I never heard of biscuit-dough worms," I said.

Pledge found the pole but there was no fish-hook.

We asked Mama to let us go fishing.

"All of you?" she asked.

"Can we?" said Marcella.

"Honey, I think you and Mac should stay home this time," Mama said. "Too much noise will scare the fish."

"It’s not fair," cried Marcella. And Mac went off pouting.

"Mama, we need a safety-pin to make a fish-hook," said Pledge. "How about two safety pins, I can find another pole and I have enough twine. Maybe we can catch more fish."

Pledge and Terry dug up a half-can of worms in the dirt behind the wood shed. While they dug up the worms Margaret made two fish-hooks out of the safety pins.

Pledge and I each carried a fishing pole and Terry carried the can of worms. Our new sister, we called her that, went ahead of us, pushing the bushes out of our way as we went down through the woods toward Clear Creek.

"Let’s try this spot," suggested Pledge, picking out a flat grassy place on the creek bank.

"I don’t know if there is any fish here," said Margaret, "but we’ll try it anyway."

"Terry, give me a handful of worms," the girl said. "You and Pledge take that spot over there and she pointed to a place a short distance away.

"Yeah," I agreed. "Margaret and I will fish here."

We were very quiet as we cast the line with bait into the water. We waited for what seemed a good while and finally, the line jerked and there was a small fish on my line. Margaret pulled out the fish-hook and I dropped the fish into my pail.

From where we were we could see Terry when he held up two fish he had caught.

"They’re catching more than us," I said.

"All right, we’ll fix that," my partner said. "Let’s go up the creek beyond them. I think that is where Pa and I caught a lot of fish."

We walked passed our brothers.

"Where are you going?" asked Pledge.

"We are going to find another spot," I replied.

"Yeah, this is it," declared Margaret when we stopped walking. "Pa and I used to sit here for hours and while we fished we enjoyed just being together. We hardly talked because we didn’t want to scare the fish away. One day we caught ten good-size fish. He gave most of them to the Jerneys. They had nine children."

"Where did they live?" I said in a low voice.

"They lived in that field across there," answered Margaret. "They moved away and the house burned down."

We got still and waited, but it wasn’t for long. There was a nibble on Margaret’s line, then a pull. She caught a fat fish.

"It’s your turn," she said to me.

"I can’t put the worm on the hook," I complained. "They wiggle too much and I don’t like to stick a pin in anything that moves, not even an ugly old worm."

"I’ll do it," my partner said. "But don’t be such a coward."

After Margaret put the bait on the hook, I tried fishing for the first time and I caught a little fish. I was very excited!

"Take it off," I said, watching a flipping fish.

"We’ve got enough," announced my friend-sister. "I have three fish. Let’s go see if Terry and Pledge caught any. I hope they are ready to go home."

Margaret and I waited a few minutes for Terry and Pledge. Then we victorious children headed for home with enough fish for our supper.

After we arrived at our gray house, Margaret taught me how to scale fish and get them ready for frying. First we took the scales off with a knife, then we cut off the heads. With a sharp knife the fish were split on their bellies and the inside organs scraped out. Then the fish were washed. I was glad that job was finished because I did not like to feel the fish.

"You’ll get used to it," said Margaret.

"Wonderful," Mama said, pleased with our work. "We’ll have fish for supper." She was so glad that she mixed corn meal into corn balls to fry with the fish.

"So good!" exclaimed Marcella, eating the fish.

Suddenly Marcella made strange noises with her throat. I didn’t know what happened to her.

"She got a bone," Margaret explained.

Mama handed Marcella a corn ball. "Eat this, I think you’ll be O.K."

She quickly recovered and we all enjoyed the meal but were careful to watch for the bones. Marcella even asked us to go fishing again. The fish was a real treat after all the pinto beans we had been eating.

Mama had fried apple pies for our dessert and not one of us was hungry when we went to bed that night.

After dishes were done Margaret and I played Old Maid cards. Marcella entertained herself with her dolls which she had named Annie and Frances. Pledge and Terry played checkers. Mac stood by the table watching his brothers. Mama sat in a green rocking chair, hemming a dress for Mrs. Betty at the general store.

‘I miss Papa, sighed Marcella. "I wish he would hurry home. Do you think he might be sick or got hurt?"

"He is probably having a hard time finding work," Mama replied.

I could see the look on Mama’s face. It was one of concern.

Before long Mama declared she was so tired that we should wash up for bed.

Next day we did the ironing. I ironed the girls’ dresses and shirts for my brothers. Margaret ironed the boys’ overalls and two dresses for Mama. The sheets flapped in the wind and needed no ironing.

In the morning Pledge went to the store to buy a bucket of lard and baking powder. He was gone too long. Terry went to find him.

Pledge had come across the Gateway children who were having fun walking on stilts.

"Want to try it?" asked one of the boys.

Pledge tried the stilts and just kept walking on them.

"I like doing this," remarked Pledge. Then he looked up to see Terry coming for him.

"Oh, I must get the lard and baking powder and hurry home," he said.

When Pledge got home he asked Mama for permission to go to Mrs. Pearl’s house.

"Mr. Theo, do you have two long sticks that you don’t need?" asked my brother.

"Yes, Pledge," the man said. "What on earth do you want them for?"

"To make stilts," answered Pledge.

"Come in the back yard and I’ll make them for you," returned Mr. Theo.

My brother walked proudly back to our house on the stilts. All of us Huddles had much fun taking turns on the new play things. Stilts are two long sticks with blocks of wood nailed about 12 to 18 inches up from the bottom.

It was hard for Mac to climb on the poles because he was so little but he made it with my help. My youngest brother had a big grin on this face until something awful happened. The poles cam out from under his feet and he fell, hitting his arm on a tin bucket near by.

"Oh! Oh!" he cried loudly. His arm was hurting and bleeding.

Mama came running out of the house to see what had happened to her youngest child.

"Sweetheart," she said softly, examining his arm. "We have to get you to the doctor.

"Minnie Mae, look out for the other children," Mama ordered. "Margaret and I are taking him to the doctor. I think Margaret is strong enough to help me carry Mac."

Doctor Heart just happened to be in his office. Sometimes he was out on house calls.

"The left arm is broken," said the doctor, "But the rest of him seems to be fine. He can walk home after I put the arm in a cast and sling."

The doctor fixed Mac up real good. Mama was grateful for his service.

"Doctor Heart, I don’t have money now but I will pay you when I can."

"Don’t worry, Mrs. Huddle," he returned. "You can pay when your husband comes home or if you like, make a neck time for me."

Mama thanked Dr. Heart and the three walked home.

"I’m glad he can walk," Mama said.

"Me, too," joined Margaret, "He did get heavy before we got to the doctor’s office."

Mac felt badly because his arm hurt and he felt sad because he could not climb on the stilts anymore. He sat on the porch steps watching his brothers and sisters. Pledge was sorry for Mac and came to sit by him.

Terry put the stilts under the porch and all of us stayed close to Mac for awhile.

"Minnie Mae," Mama called from the kitchen, "It’s time to gather eggs."

I gathered the eggs and took them into the kitchen. Margaret peeled potatoes to cook for our supper. Mama said that Margaret was much help and that she was glad the girl came to live at our house.

The rest of the day was rather quiet; we didn’t play anymore. After dark we all sat around the fireplace and listened to stories Margaret told us until Mama quit her sewing and said, "Children, go to bed now."