Emmie

Emmy was deep in thought, as she sat there on a log making little circles in the dirt with her bare toes. She always went barefooted, all summer long, she saw the chickens pecking in the yard, and wondered if the old hen’s chicks had hatched yet! She decided she would go look; she peeked into the little coop, and was surprised to see 3 little balls of fluff nestled around the old hen, there were little peeps coming from under the old mother and she could see that some of the other eggs were hatching. She watched as one broke free of the egg shell, Ma would be happy to know that all 12 eggs were going to hatch. Emmie was very happy; she skipped off into the edge of the woods to see what she could see. There was her favorite place, a huge rock in the middle of a clearing, it was covered with moss, with little tiny flowers growing out of it, and the light shining through the trees gave almost a misty light that made the whole clearing seem magical. The birds fluttered in the trees overhead, she knew they were busy with their own young in their nest. As she looked further there were 2 squirrels chasing each other here and there, she loved to watch them, they were so busy. They were so used to her being there that sometimes they would run right up to her. Emmie loved the woods, and the quite peace she found there. The trees, the animals all seemed to talk to her, and some times she would talk to them. She was really deep in thought as she went deeper into the woods exploring. She found a rabbit’s nest, and thought, my cute little family, she found where a deer had laid recently, and wished she could see it! She heard little quite rustling in the brush and knew that there were little tiny quail hiding there. She was so deep in her exploring that she almost forgot that, Ma would be mad if she wasn’t there on time to help fix supper, so she hurried back toward the cabin. She could hear Ma calling as she got closer to the cabin, she knew that Pa would be home soon and she wanted to hurry, she quickened her step. She liked to help Ma and Grannie fix supper, she merrily husked corn and cleaned off the silk ready for the cook pot, she left them there to be fed to the pigs later and hurried on into the house. Grannie was peeling potatoes in the old rocker, and Ma was mixing up biscuits, at the old beat up table. They had to get things going, Pa would be coming up the holler any time now. Emmie peered into the misty shadows, the trees made as she kept looking down the lane, as she looked there came Pa, a long way off, and she ran to meet him. He was covered in coal dust, but she didn’t care as he swung her up, in his arms and hugged her. She didn’t mind that he got coal dust on her feed sack dress, this was Pa, and he was home. She skipped along beside him swinging his miners pail all the way to the cabin. This cabin had been built by Pappy, for Grannie when they were first married many years ago. It is built solid, and has stood a long time, here on this side of the mountain. It has seen a lot of family come and go. It is so proud the way it stands in the big stand of trees, with its rock chimney, and big wide porch.